Basic Facts about Quanzhou
Quanzhou City is located in the Southeast of Fujian Province, which is to the west coast of Taiwan Channel. The city covers 11015 square meters, with the population of 6.54million (excluding Jinmeng County). Being built in 718 A.D., Quanzhou has a long history of around a thousand years. In 1985, the State Department upgraded Quanzhou Municipal Government to a higher rank in the policital system administrating its subordinative counties and inferior cities such as Licheng District, Fengze District, Luojiang District, Jinjiang City, Shishi City, Nanan City, Huian County, Anxi County, Yongchun County, Dehua County, Jinmeng County (to be unified) as well as Xiaocuo Administrative Committee and Qingmeng Administrative Committee.

Quanzhou is one of the twenty-four famous historic cultural cities firstly approved by the State Department .The assembled literature, the long-term mixture of Sino-Western civilizations, all these have brought up numerous brilliant scholars and writers, and have left over a large sum of cultural relics and precious Sino-foreign historic treasure, taking the Southern Opera, the Southern Music and Southern Shaoling Wushu as examples. Twelve scenic spots in the city are of the national protective cultural relics, thirty-seven of the provincial relics, and more than two hundred of the local ones. Quanzhou Liyuan Opera, Puppet Show, Gaojia Opera and Dacheng Opera have inherited the style of simplicity and elegance among which the Southern Music ---- admired as "the Lively Fossil of Chinese Court Music" ---- is regarded by the overseas Chinese as the dearest folk music. The local products like the porcelain of Dehua, the stoneware of Huian, the wooden puppet heads of Quanzhou, the Wulong Tea of Anxi and the vinegar of Yongchun are all well-known and well sold abroad.

Forms of Investment

Sino-foreign Joint Venture Enterprises
Sino-foreign joint venture is also called a stock-style jointly-managed enterprise. It is an enterprise jointly invested and managed by foreign companies, enterprises and other businesses or individuals together with Chinese companies, enterprises or other businesses on China's territory. The special character of such enterprises is that the two sides make joint investment and practice joint management while they will together run the risk, and be responsible for the profits and losses in accordance with the proportion of the investment they make. Each side of the joint management can make its investment with currency or with buildings, machines, site usage right, industrial property right or exclusively-possessed technologies, whose values will be calculated. The proportion of foreign investment should not be lower than 25 per cent. The organizing form of a Sino-foreign joint venture is a limited-liability company with board of directors as its organ of supreme power.

Sino-foreign Co-operative Enterprises
Sino-foreign co-operatively managed enterprise is also called a contract-style jointly managed enterprise. It is an enterprise jointly invested or run according to co-operative contracts by foreign companies, enterprises and other businesses or individuals together with Chinese companies, enterprises or other businesses on the Chinese territory. The investment made by the Chinese and the foreign sides is generally not divided into investment proportions and profits are not distributed according to their investment proportions, either. The jointly signed contracts clearly stipulate the rights and commitments of both sides including investment or co-operative conditions, profits or distribution of products, responsibilities for risks or losses, the style of management and the ownership of properties when the contracts expire. Generally speaking, in a Sino-foreign co-operatively managed enterprise, foreign co-operators provide all or most of the capital while the Chinese side provides land, workshops, useful equipment and facilities and sometimes a certain amount of capital. If the contracts by the Chinese and foreign partners stipulate that all the assets and properties of the enterprise will belong to the Chinese side when the contracts expire, the foreign side can retrieve its investment during their co-operation.

Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprises
A foreign enterprise is an enterprise with sole foreign capital. It is an enterprise established within the boundaries of China and in which all the capital is invested by foreign investors, who might be foreign companies, enterprises and other businesses or individuals.

Representative Office
A Chinese representative office (RO) is an office of the foreign enterprise established in China for liaison with Chinese businesses and customers on behalf of its parent company. A RO is not considered to be a separate legal entity. It must be emphasized that a representative office may not carry out direct revenue earning business activities. For example, it cannot enter into purchase/sales contracts and cannot receive payment for services, issue invoices. However, a RO can open bank accounts and employ staff to maintain liaison with customers and suppliers. Its headquarters can also enter into contracts with its supplier/customers in China in its own name, but not in the name of its RO. Therefore, before a foreign investor establishes its presence in China using wholly foreign owned enterprise (WFOE) such as equity joint venture, cooperative joint venture or a wholly foreign- owned enterprise, it could first set up a representative office to test the Chinese market.