Few foreigners working in Tianjin have experienced the transformation that China has undergone over the past two decades. Allan Wong came to China 23 years ago to start his career in the financial sector. He tried not to limit his abilities as he likes to delve into different facades that are beyond his job description. As a result he has overlooked land acquisition, projects construction and management of sites. He is the Pan Pacific Tianjin Hotel General Manager and a leader with all-round experience. Allan introduces to us his hotel, located beside the river bank and very close to the Ancient Culture Street.
The most important sports event in China at national level is the National Games of China that is held every four years. Tianjin is hosting the competition this year from August 27th to September 8th, and all business will be affected. The local government has taken the opportunity as well to transform the different aspects of the city.
The economy, overall, is seemingly healthy and is doing better than the downgraded expectations for the month. Chinese economy in most aspects during July either reached or surpassed expectations. China's GDP grew at a faster-than-expected 6.9% year-on-year in the first two quarters, well above the government's target for the year of 6.5%.
We dedicate the Feature Story of this issue to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a regional free-trade agreement (FTA) mostly between Asian countries, including Australia and New Zealand. As Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact after eight years of negotiations rounds, its future is now unknown. Most analysts believe that RCEP will become an alternative to TPP and the economic centre-piece of 21st century. When the RCEP negotiations finish, it will become the world's largest free-trade zone, involving a population of 3.4 billion people with a total Gross Domestic Product of $21.4 trillion, about 30 percent of the world's GDP.
This edition comes with many other interesting articles. You can learn how to identify a good location for your home or office using Ancient Feng Shui philosophy and the effects of China's New Cyber Security Law that took effect on June 1st, 2017.
Visit our website www.businesstianjin.com and follow us on our official Wechat account (ID: business_tianjin) for more on latest trends and information.