Randy says he brought a properly signed and chopped invitation letter, only to be given another list of eight documents he would need to supply. Even if he had all eight documents, he reports being told, the visa notification letter would be issued only “in cases of extreme circumstances,” and that he should hope for no more than a double-entry, 60-day visa. The visa officer said “no more multi-entry business visas are being issued,” Randy says. The kicker: Randy says the visa officer told him that if he wanted to continue living in China, he would have to find a large Chinese company willing to sponsor him for a Z-class working visa–or marry a Chinese woman. “I’ve concluded that for all practical purposes, the F-class business visa is effectually dead,” Randy says. “I’d say the situation has become very nervous here for foreigners passing into China these days.”

Tim spoke for a while and covered a lot of important topics, but I’ll break down the main idea for you right now: China has a comprehensive body of business law, and if you break those laws you stand a very good chance of having a very bad time. What about your old-hand friends who tell those hilarious stories about making buckets of cash without filing a form or leaving a corner uncut? Talk to them when it’s time to sell, move or cash out. Those stories tend to be a lot less amusing.

1) Not everyone breaks the rules. In fact, if you are a foreign business in China, you are going to be scrutinized by a wide range of governments, bureaucracies and regulators who all hope to catch you doing something illegal. Those fines, penalties and overdue fees show up on their P&L statements, so good luck trying to squirm your way out of them. Oh — and if you are still having your receptionist negotiate with government officials, you may want to consider raising your game a little and investing in a relationship with a qualified lawyer, accountant or consultant. 2) It’s your responsibility to know the laws. If it is going to take 6 months to set up your WOFE or move the HQ from Beijing to Shanghai, then that is YOUR problem – not China’s. You can’t win in court by claiming ignorance. You can’t claim that the contract shouldn’t be binding because you can’t read Chinese. You can’t say you didn’t know you needed permission or approval to do business here. Those days, unfortunately, seem to be over. 3) China’s new HR rules cover western companies AND WESTERN EMPLOYEES in China. Yes, that’s right – all of your expat managers need contracts must receive some form of benefits, pay taxes and everything else listed in the new HR law. Will your Senior VP of Marketing who earns $150 k per year sue you for a badly worded contract? Probably not. Will the pissed-off salesman with the Chinese wife sue when you fire him for non-performance? Hmmm. Better make sure your paperwork’s all in order. 4) You have to spend your registered capital within a set period of time. Yes, I know how clever you felt when you started your WOFE and banked 75% of the required capital. That was great. Now invest the funds or plan on explaining to some VERY humorless bureaucrats why you didn’t. It won’t be a problem, unless you plan on expanding, moving, selling or getting audited by the government (which should be happening every year). 5) You need government permission to move, expand, open new branches or make significant changes to your business plan. Furthermore, if you want to dissolve your WOFE or rep office, you had best follow official procedures (which sound quite involved and time-consuming) if you ever plan on doing business in China again. China loves paperwork.

For those who are looking to contribute to current aid efforts underway, you can now donate money to the Red Cross Society of China which has formed a disaster relief working group to be dispatched to the earthquake-stricken Wenchuan County in Sichuan. They have also published an emergency relief hotline, along with bank account information to receive donations to assist their cause: Account name: Red Cross Society of China 开户单位：中国红十字会总会 For those who want to donate in RMB: you can send money to the RMB account at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China branch below: 人民币开户行: 中国工商银行 北京分行东四南支行 人民币账号: 0200001009014413252 For those who want to donate in foreign currency, you can send money to the foreign currency account at the CITIC Bank branch below: 外币开户行：中信银行酒仙桥支行 外币账号: 7112111482600000209 Hotline: (8610) 65139999 Online donations: Red Cross Society of China website: www.redcross.org.cn Click the tab for online donations

There really are two schools of thought. The first school is to avoid, and stay under the radar screen of the government. For some areas, like internet and wireless, you can start out small enough to fly under the radar. The second school is to use the government as a strategy to secure grants, land, financing, concessions. This makes more sense when there is larger capital to be raised....

Getting started can be easy. You can create a special purpose vehicle in BVI or Cayman Island for no more than a few thousand dollars. It's a cost-effective way to get started. Then do your fundraising. It's easy to start with a representative office in China. Can be fast and easy. If you are on a shoestring budget, you can just set up a cheap offshore structure to do preliminary activity. There is no need to set up a Wholly Owned Foreign Enterprise (WOFE). Don’t let people tell you that it costs $80k to set up a WOFE, you should be able to set it up for about $25k. Should be comparable to setting up a business here in Silicon Valley. There is also a registered Capital requirement of at least RMB100,000.

The bridge was truly amazing. It is not like a bridge. It is like a very long, straight road. Just like the Beijing airport: the impossible, done quickly and well. Query: why can they do these things and then not be able to put the right paint on a toy? There is reason at the bottom of all this, and I think pricing and profit margins play a role.