The China boom is by now a well-documented phenomenon. Who hasn't heard of the Middle Kingdom's astounding economic growth (8 percent annually), its mesmerizing consumer market (1.2 billion people), the investment ardor of foreign suitors ($40 billion in foreign direct investment last year alone)? China is an economic juggernaut. According to Nicholas Lardy of the Brookings Institution, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, "No country has expanded its foreign trade as fast as China over the last 20 years. Japan doubled its foreign trade over a 20-year period; China's foreign trade as quintupled. They've become the pre-eminent producer of labor-intensive manufacturing goods in the world." But there's been something missing from the dazzling China growth story-namely, the Chinese multinational. No major Chinese companies have yet established themselves, or their brands, on the global stage. But as Haier shows, that is starting to change. After 100 years of poverty and chaos, of being overshadowed by foreign countries and multinationals, Chinese industrial companies are starting to make a mark on the world. (170 words)
如今中同的经济繁荣已经批一种得到充分证实的现象了。难道还有谁还没有听说过中国令人目眩的经济发展(年增长率高达8%)、颇具魅力的消费市场(拥有12亿消费者)和外国投资者的投资热情(仅去年一年的外国直接投资就高达400亿美元)吗?中国的经济力量已经势不可挡。华盛顿一家智囊机构布鲁金斯学会的尼占拉斯?拉迪说:"在过去20年中,世界上没有任何一个国家的外贸发展速度像中国那么快。日本用了20多年时间才将其外贸总额翻了一番,而中国却翻了两番。他们已经成为世界上劳动密集型产品的主要生产商了。"不过,在这个令人目眩的中国发展故事中似乎缺少了一种什么东西,即中国跨国公司所扮演的角色。中国还没有一家大型公司在全球舞台上确立了自己的地位或品牌。但是,正如海尔公司所显示的那样,这种情况正在开始发生变化。经受了长达100年的贫穷、动乱以及长期笼罩在外国及其跨国公司的阴影下之后,中国工业公司开始对世界产生影响了。