Recently in Dalian Category
DALIAN, China - It's often discussed by expats here how difficult it is to get people in our home countries to understand the magnitude of change occurring in China. Despite the coming Olympics and growing news coverage of Chinese affairs, old stereotypes persist.
"We've had people show up here expecting to see dusty streets and Chinese farmers in pointy hats," said Victor Jansson, who works in the business development division of the Dalian Software Park. It's his job to promote China's biggest software park, and wining and dining first-time visitors from around the world is part of his job.
Dalian is off the radar for most people, a city that most have either never heard of or have no idea of its whereabouts. For the record, it's on a peninsula about an hour flight northeast of Beijing, and this scenic waterfront city is continually rated as China's most livable.
Dalian is making a name for itself as China's outsourcing headquarters. According to the vice-president of the China Sourcing website, which works to link Chinese providers with overseas buyers, China drew just over $2 billion US last year in revenue from the outsourcing industry, compared to India's $40 billion.
But the industry in China is on a strong upward trajectory thanks to a high number of low-cost talent with strong university educations and good English skills. The average salary of an IT professional is under $500 US a month.
British Telecommunications opened in the park last September, and it's gone so well they have since put a claim on another building for planned expansion. BT has joined HP, GE, IBM, Sony, Dell, Toshiba, and others who are already in the park, bringing the total to nearly 400 companies.
The first and second phases of the park are complete, and cover more than three square kilometres. When everything is finished -- including two new huge developments and a resort and leisure area for employees -- it will spread out over 30 square kilometres, taking up roughly half of Dalian.
"Clients are shocked when they arrive to see state-of-the-art technologies, beautiful offices, and well-dressed staff speaking perfect English," Jansson notes, which makes his job of selling the zone a whole lot easier.
Although once one sees Dalian, most of the sales job is already complete.
I've been working on a fascinating episode of BizTraveler this week on outsourcing. It's not exactly a sexy topic by any stretch, but what is surprising (to me, an outsourcing ludddite) is how wide-spread this practice is, and how, as one executive told me, "Everything can be outsourced."
I sat down with the Vice-President of the China Sourcing website, and he gave me a quick tour of how it operates. The site works to link overseas buyers with local providers, and really, there is no project too small. Consider one buyer is looking for a simple list of all the swimming teams and clubs in the San Francisco bay area; why do it yourself when you can outsource?
In addition to my duties at BizTraveler, I've also been assisting one international IT outsourcing provider in China with their marketing, PR, and media placements. I knew very little to nothing about the industry before I started, and now I'm finding myself slowly following industry news and trends.
According to the Vice-President of the China Sourcing website, China drew just US $2 billion in revenues from outsourcing projects last year, compared to India's US $40 billion. But the industry here is on a strong upward trajectory, as a generation of Chinese emerge with strong English skills, university degrees, and western business experience.
I arrived in Dalian this afternoon to shoot two more segments of the show this week at the famous Dalian Software Park. It's my first visit to the city, and while I haven't been here long enough to draw any conclusions, the intial impressions are quite good.
I've been doing some Google searching of late to find any good restaurants or must-see sights while I'm in town. I'm sure many readers may be familliar with these already, but I thought I would jot them down for anyone else who happens to come up this way (the "Hong Kong" of the north as some call it, although I must say that's a stretch):
- Panda Passport: Guide to Dalian - This is done by Rick Martin, who also blogs for CNET's Little Red Blog.
- Dalian Expat - This site, will a little rough on the design (hello kettle, it's the pot), has a good selection of restaurant and bar reviews.
- DalianDalian.com - Another news/reviews/information site about Dalian. I clicked the "About" page, and got a link to a PDF that appeared to be broken.
As mentioned, I got in early in the day but slept most of the afternoon (note to self: must get to bed earlier) so have only walked around a bit tonight. I can't wait to see more of the city, and also check out the software park.
If anybody who lives in Dalian has any suggestions for places to eat, drink, and be merry, then please let me know!
