Every week, Claire Sandford does battle with elementary Mandarin in between managing a bulging portfolio of clients in PwC's Beijing office.

Her juggling act is skilfully choreo-graphed. By the time she and her husband return to London from her two-year secondment, the 34-year-old executive expects to have mastered the basics of the language and, through her expanded personal circle, be firmly plugged into the fabric of the world's next economic superpower.