1、1? ? ?Table of Contents ? 2At the end of 1997the year when Hong Kong was returned to China and in the midst of the Asian Financial Crisisa precursor of the Business Climate Survey generated a list of members top five concerns about doing business in China:1. Restrictions on the scope of business2. L

2、ack of transparency of rules and regulations3. Inconsistent enforcement of rules and regulations4. Difficulty hiring Chinese employees5. High import tariffs and taxesTwenty years on, it would be easy to think little has changed. But of course the China of today bears little resemblance to that of 19

3、97. Its economy, now more than 10 times bigger, has greatly diversified and is creating cutting-edge technologies in the industries of the future. China is now a member of the World Trade Organization, the worlds second-largest economy and by far the worlds largest exporter. It is the largest foreig

4、n holder of US debt, one of its biggest trading partners and an increasingly influential source of foreign direct investment.Therefore, as we review the data from this, the 20th, edition of the Business Climate Survey, it is more important than ever to keep in mind the context, lest we misinterpret

5、what our members are experiencing in this increasingly complex operating environment.Regarding the economy, there is cautious optimism that the “new normal” rate of growth is sustainable for the foreseeable future, providing opportunities for business to expand. It is still hard to realize outsized

6、margins in China, but for many companies the outlook is generally positive.Nevertheless, the survey continues to paint a troubling picture of the regulatory environment in China. The best that can be said of this years data is that there appears to be a bottoming out of sentiment from the very low l