Scaling the Great Wall

November 2001 the World Trade Organization voted to admit the People's Republic of China, opening the floodgates of new trade into the in United States, especially California.

Today, companies of all shapes, sizes and industries are panting to get into this market. At nearly 1.3 billion people (and counting), the world's most populous country is a tempting retail target.

Though the California Technology, Trade and Commerce Agency said the sale of California exports to mainland China fell 4.14 percent in 2002 to $4.48 billion, down from $4.67 billion the year before, the agency expects sales to California's sixth-largest export market to rebound as the economy improves and demand for California goods increases.

These figures do not include sales to Hong Kong. The former British colony that has been an Asian economic dynamo for decades was reunified with China in 1997.

"Adding the $3.68 billion in export sales to Hong Kong to the China figures would create California's fourth-largest export market," said Jason Kimbrough, the agency's assistant secretary of marketing and communications.

As if that weren't incentive enough, with the 2008 Summer Olympic Games set to take place in Beijing, many California companies are going for the gold.

China recognizes California's strength in a variety of industries including high-tech, media entertainment, security and environmental systems. California will be a strong presence in the Olympics infrastructure.

But as many American companies have discovered, scaling the Great Wall is harder than it looks.

Getting started: Margaret Wong, chief executive of West Sacramento-based McWong International, has extensive experience in the Chinese market. Her company owns four electronics plants in China and builds wastewater treatment systems in that nation.

Wong said it's important to do plenty of research before setting your sights on trade with China.

"First of all, do a feasibility study on the market in China," she suggested.

"Are you cost-effective selling your product to China? There are products that they would like to import, but there are others they make quite well," Wong said. "If you want to sell them shoes, it's not going to happen, because they make them better than we do."

Eric Ryan, president of E.C. Ryan International, a Davisbased distributor of security systems throughout China, said attending a trade show in China...