Beijing made a rare official response to the concerns about Chinese seafood, the latest in a lengthening list of defective Made in China products that includes tyres, toothpaste and petfood. Instead of sitting back and exhorting others to clean up their act, western retailers and brand-name manufacturers can exploit these consumer concerns to their advantage...    more »

New York has opened a tourist office in Shanghai, thus becoming the latest in a lengthening list of countries and cities trying to attract China's growing number of globe-trotting tourists. Nevertheless, the US does not yet have "approved destination status" and while that bureaucratic barrier remains, NYC along with the rest of the US, knows it has its work cut out trying to attract Chinese tourists...   more »

2007 is the "Year of Spain in China" and Spain is pulling out all the stops to promote its culture, language and institutions -- and, of course, Spanish business. While trade links between the two countries have been pretty limited to date, around 300 Spanish companies have now established a presence in China and the Spanish-Chinese business summit, held this week in Beijing, sought to project a more modern image of both countries' economies...   more »

EngagingChina has long believed that great opportunities lie in China for western providers of testing and quality assurance services. So its good to see this thesis confirmed by the latest trading update from Intertek, a UK-listed provider of quality and safety services...   more »

Anyone who has visited China's big cities recently will have noticed the proliferation of LCD screens in public places showing advertising clips. This so-called out-of-home advertising technology is big business for Nasdaq-quoted Focus Media, but it is not the only player in this fast-growing market...   more »

China is poised to move to online publishing at a much faster pace than other countries where print has more of a foothold. That was one of the key take-homes from the FIPP World Magazine Conference, which was held recently in Beijing...   more »

Chinese consumers have a green conscience too. Under pressure from environmentalists, B&Q, the UK-based home improvement retailer, today announced it had stopped selling endangered hardwood in its Chinese stores...   more »

The Secret of the Magic Gourd, which comes to Chinese screens in two weeks, is the first locally-made Disney film to be launched in China. Are Chinese consumers tiring of the Disney staples? Perhaps. A more likely explanation, however, is that Disney has recognised that the Chinese market is now of sufficent size and importance that it warrants special attention...   more »

Can Amazon.com succeed in China when other big-name western internet brands have so far failed? Jeff Bezos, Amazon's boss, clearly thinks so and he was in China this week to boost interest -- and investment -- in Amazon's loss-making Chinese venture, now called Joyo Amazon.cn...   more »

China is already the third largest market for luxury goods with annual sales of more than $2bn and the market is growing at 20% a year. But can the heady growth continue? Western luxury goods companies are concerned that China's leaders are attempting to clamp down on ostentatious consumption of luxury...   more »