For anyone who is in Helsinki and interested in learning about my adventures, first from Finland the USA and later to China - I'm speaking at the annual Assembly seminar on Saturday at 1PM. The event is sold out as far as I know but there might still be ways to get in if you have a good enough excuse.

Assembly is an annual "demo scene" gathering, the largest in the world. It's basically a huge meeting of programmers, artists, designers, etc., who enjoy pushing computers to the limits and finding new and exciting ways to create entertaining shows. These "demos" are type of music videos, with the exception that usually nothing is pre-generated, everything is created programmatically in real time.

While demos are not made for profit, it's a great way to learn how to program or produce art and a lot of former demo makers - myself included - have ended with a career in the games industry. If you're coming to Assembly, feel free to come and say hi!

Note: I'm currently in the process of start a business operation in Finland. You can read more about in my blog titled Doing business in Finland.

The control of internet in China has been a popular topic in media. While most of the western websites are accessible, some notable restrictions do exist. I have personally found just one website which I really wanted to access but couldn't - Wikipedia. It has been blocked most of the time and sometimes unblocked. The current status is unfortunately blocked.

Chinese companies are also not free to operate a website, they need a license for that. Obviously this control only applies to websites hosted in China so I've never had to deal with the issue and I don't know what is involved in getting the license. My understanding is that the license requires you to do a great deal of self-censorship on the domain to make sure no undesireable content is present, and the license would then be revoked if things are not clean. But as I said, I actually have no first hand experience on it.

Something quite annoying is the control of personal web access. I knew the web traffic is monitored but only recently I found out how close home the monitoring reaches. Recently there have been times when I am unable to access some websites on the first try, and overall the web access has been very slow at times. I even suspected something is wrong with the XIHA Life server until I found the real cause. I opened XIHA Life, but nothing happened. I got a blank page which persisted for over a minute. I right-clicked and selected "View Page Source"... To my shock it contained a full page, just not what it was supposed to! Basically the content was a 1x1 pixel IFRAME with a link so a SRC and bunch of information as link parameters. After some research it turns out that the DSL modem does this for all page accesses! First it creates a page like this, which then automatically redirects me to the page I want to visit! So basically every single page I visit is logged.

I don't actually mind about it terribly much, but the problem is that apparently their server (which handles the IFRAME requests) isn't able to handle the amount of traffic they're getting and thus opening new pages is sometimes really slow. This is when it starts to bug me - watch me all you want but don't step on my way while doing it! Anyway, nothing to be done about it and I doubt it will change anytime soon... Gotta get used to the culture I guess.

When you post a job ad you will most likely get a lot of responses no matter what you're looking for. Many of these responses don't match the search criteria at all. Many people will want to apply for a job at a foreign company just to learn or get opportunity and many people seem to feel they can do anything they want and will apply to random jobs. I think it's probably a sign of a new and growing market where people are still looking for their place and learning how the system works. You will also notice that there are people who apply for jobs but will never get back to you when you invite them for an interview, and then some people schedule an interview but never show up.

Once you've decided to hire an employee you will give him or her an offer. In China the employment contracts are usually for 12 months and begin with one or two months trial period with lower pay. During the trial period you will have the right to terminate the employment at any time but after the trial you need to give a 30 day notice if you want to terminate the contract. The same terms apply for the employee too, should he want to quit the job. At least 30 days before the end of the contract term you will also need to let the employee know whether you will want to make another contract or not.

It is not uncommon in China to avoid tax by paying some of the salary unofficially and reporting only part of it. In fact, most likely the accounting company will suggest this, and likely at least some of the employees will ask to be paid that way. However, in the long run it is not a good practice. First of all; the more things you do "off the record" the more potential trouble you will have with the law enforcement. While the locals may be able to avoid issue and talk themselves out of problems as a foreigner you're in an alien territory. Second, you are probably already saving a lot of money in cheaper labor and other costs. If you would pay the required tax in your home country I would say you should do the same in any other country. And finally; if you ever think of selling your company or taking investors it's better to have good and accurate books and better to show realistic expenses and income. A short term gain may end up hurting you a lot in the long run.

My experience with Chinese employees is that they are hard working and willing to learn but require a lot of guidance. You will need to tell exactly what you want. Don't expect much creativity; that seems not encouraged by the local education system or job culture. Also due to communication issues (Chinese usually don't speak good English, if at all) be prepared to use illustrations when giving out tasks. I've found it useful to draw a sketch of the thing you want to accomplish. Keep in mind however that you will likely get exactly what your sketch shows so it's better to be quite specific.

So you have obtained business license and rented an office... but one important thing is missing - the employees! This leads us to the main reason for many people to want to do business in China these days - the labor costs. It is quite a bit of work to set up a company in China and doing business in a country where almost nobody speaks English is a challenge, but if you can make it work you will be able to operate at a much lower cost compared to many western countries.

One thing to note about the level of cost in China. It is raising on all fronts. Salaries in some industries, especially software development, are going up really fast as there is constant high demand for experienced people. The housing market was only opened a little over ten years ago which means China is in a continuous housing boom which drives the cost of living higher. At some point in the future it will reach the western levels. On the flipside, China is becoming more and more interesting target market for western products, even software. A good long term plan with China is to be there early on, producing for the western market, and then gradually shift the focus to the local market as it gets stronger.

Hiring is relatively straightforward once you have an office and business license. You are not allowed to advertise jobs in media without special permission. This is not a big problem as China is very internet oriented country and there is a whole number of job websites where you can post ads for a small fee (about 500-1000 RMB, or $60-120 USD per month). They do require to see your business license first and will verify all the information, so you are not able to start looking for people until you have the business license.

When you post job ads, it is a good idea to be very specific on what you're looking for. When we posted the first ad, we got more than one thousand responses in the first couple hours. This was, however, more trouble than worth. It took a long time to go over all applications and in the end none of them matched our requirements, even enough to invite for interview. Lessons learned, we drafted a series of new ads which were much more specific and this approach worked better.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Chinese generally value foreign companies higher, so it's a good thing to underline that fact in your ad. The flipside of that is that the salary expectations will go up as well but if you're looking for quality people then you need to prepare to pay a little premium over the average levels even in China. There is a lot of people but only very few are top talent.

Renting an office space is an important and a little tricky part of establishing a Chinese business. A business address is one of the requirements for obtaining a business license. This means that you need to have a rental agreement in place before sending in a business license application. Using your own personal address as a temporary address is not acceptable -the business address has to be an approved business location.

If you're using a consulting company to setup your business, they may be able to help out by providing a "business address". This is not really recommended though as things can easily go wrong and obtaining the license may get delayed. Using this type of a "fake" address is generally easy to detect so it will need to be paired with some creative pulling of strings, which is typical in Chinese bureaucracy.

So what can you do? Basically I would advice trying to find an office location which is of suitable size for your initial needs and signing a lease as short as possible. Try to sign the lease in advance so you will not have to move in and pay rent for couple months. Rental space is not expensive in China, and even though this may cause some extra expenses it will still help things go smoothly. Avoid all kinds of "creative" ways around the bureaucracy as much as possible.

In the end you may have to pay for an empty office space for a while. Technically you can't hire anyone until you have the business license in hand, and in fact you will find it hard to even post job ads or start interviewing until you are fully licensed. You will need to sign a lease, apply for license, wait for a month (or two), and then start looking for people...

To run a business in China you need a business license. The types of companies you can operate as a foreigner are more limited than those in most western countries, but it's not difficult to obtain a license. The most common type of foreing-invested business is wholly foreign owned enterprise (WFOE). As the name says, this type of company is limited to only foreign owners and in fact there are some perks to make this type of business rather interesting.

WFOE is a limited liability company in which the liability of the owners is limited to the investment they have made to the company. This obviously doesn't protect the owners from any illegal activities, but as long as the company is properly run, this provides a similar legal shield as Ltd./LLC type. The owners need to be non-Chinese legal entities; either corporations or individuals. For corporations, a business license is required and for individuals, a current valid passport.

The minimum required capital varies based on the business type, and it needs to be posted in monetary funds. Unlike some other countries, talent or promise of work is not acceptable form of investment in China. The lowest capital requirements are only 100k HKD (the capital is posted in HKD instead of RMB for some reason, probably because it's a foreign investment), which is about $12k USD. This limit applies to high tech software development as well as consulting services. Traditional businesses and those which require capital reserves or inventory have significantly higher limits, ranging from 300-500k HKD to several millions. Some industries are still restricted from foreign investments, but the restrictions seem to be getting fewer and more far apart these days as the Chinese economy is booming.

Obtaining the business license requires a fair bit of paperwork so I strongly suggest hiring a local company take care of the actual application process. It will cost about $1000 USD in a modern city like Shenzhen, less in the other areas. The laws state that the process should take no longer than two weeks but in practice it will take up to two months. Filling out all the paperwork, obtaining photocopies of passports, visas, business licenses, etc. will take time to begin with. Then, there will likely be obstacles which require correct "relationships" to be in place, like the required officer being in "vacation". Which is obviously another good reason to hire a local company take care of everything.

Your job will be to provide all correct information and review all the paperwork to make sure your name and the investment amounts, ownership percentages, etc. are correct. Be especially careful with the spelling of foreign names as most Chinese seem to have trouble getting those right. Don't get involved with the Chinese bureaucracy. As long as you're using a reputable company to take care of the application process, they will get it done sooner or later. China is notorious for its buraucracy so prepare to be patient and don't be surprised if there are small unexpected expenses (in the order of a few hundred yuan) along the way.

When you finally get the business license (most likely much later than originally promised), you will need to open a bank account for the company. In fact, there will be two accounts - capital investment account in HKD currency and the actual day to day use checking account in RMB. However, you won't be able to use the bank account until the capital has been verified, after which the capital account gets closed, so you basically only have one account in use at a time.

The capital needs to be transmitted to the capital account directly from a foreign financial institution, separately by each investor. The sending account's owner need to be exactly under the same name as the investor has been booked in the company's business license. Even a small difference in the name will cause a lot of trouble, and there is practically no way to explain anything. In my case, my business partner sent money from an account which was under his and his wife's name, which didn't work out at all. We tried submitting a letter from his bank stating that he personally sent the money and guarantees it is from him personally, but Bank of China didn't even accept the letter for reading. They only accept direct electronic communication from the foreign bank. In the end we had to ask them return the money and my business partner had to open a new account and submit the wire from there.

The company who takes care of the paperwork can technically opent the bank account for you too, but it's better to do this part by yourself or at least be present when they open it. You don't want to give them a chance to add their representative to the bank account, and they basically don't need to know any of the details. One thing is very different in the Chinese banking world - they use stamps instead of signatures. The company has a stamp and the company's legal person has a personal stamp (the company actually has a duplicate stamp which is handed over to the accountant). All banking matters require the use of these stamps. Instead of signing, you just put your stamp on the papers. This makes it convenient to send other people run errands, but it also means you need to be especially careful where you keep the stamps and who you let use them.

In the end, you will receive a whole pile of licenses and documents. There is a business license, tax certificate, ownership certificates and partnership agreements, and a list of others. In Chinese style, they're all packed in beautiful covers and everything is certified by official stamps. All in all, just that collection almost makes the whole process worth it!

Yesterday it was time for me to renew my Chinese visa, so once again I headed out for Hong Kong. Even though getting a new visa is easy, the process always takes me a whole day.

I hit the road up at about 7AM... I didn't sleep much in the previous night so I was already pretty tired. A good start, huh? Anyway, walked to the Dameisha beach and grabbed an orange juice and took the J1 bus. As I got to the bus I completely lost all the Chinese words I've ever learned, of course. With great difficulty I was able to remember a name of one station, Shang Bu. That's not where I was going, but it was good enough so I could buy the bus ticket.

In the bus I drank my juice and slowly started getting my memory back. Huang Bei Ling would be the right station and from there I could take a taxi to the railway station. While in the bus I also realized there would have been another bus that goes directly to the railway station, but oh well...

Getting to the railway station went without further incident. The taxi driver asked me something which I didn't understand, but I assumed he was asking where I would be heading so he knows where to drop me, so I said I'm going to Hong Kong. He didn't say anything else, but took me to the right place.

Inside the station it turned out that Monday morning is not a good time to go from Shenzhen to Hong Kong. The lines were extremely long, even on the foreigners side which usually is pretty quiet. As I filled in the departure record to leave China, I thought to myself - pen is the most important tool to bring with you to the border. There's forms to fill on exit and entrance and the public pens never work. I was really happy with myself that for once I remembered to bring a pen. Then on the line to enter Hong Kong I noticed I left my pen in the counter when I filled in the departure papers... so much for being smart!

Absolutely no public pens were available so I had to borrow a pen from someone. People always borrow their pen when you ask, but somehow at the Chinese border they never seem happy to do so. Perhaps they expect I will steal it, or perhaps they're just as tired as I was... Whatever the reason, I got through to Hong Kong side without problems and headed out to Starbucks to get a nice cup of coffee!

The train from Luohu to Hong Kong center takes about an hour. I like to buy a first class ticket as it almost guarantees a place to sit, and the price is not bad at all (72 HKD, which is twice the normal ticket rate). I spent the hour playing Mystery Case Files on my laptop, so the hour went by really quickly. The train goes to East Tsim Sha Tsui, but I needed to go to Wanchai, so I had to proceed to the convenient MTR - Hong Kong's subway system. Wanchai is only two stations away from Tsim Sha Tsui but it takes two different lines to get there. Another thing - the Hong Kong subway system is much like the one in London - it makes you walk a lot! It sometimes feels you walk at least half of the way.

One nice thing about the MTR is that the Hong Kong residents know how the subway works. They don't rush to the train if it's leaving and they don't push in if the train is clearly full. They just nicely stand back and wait for the next one.

The last time I went to Wanchai I had problems finding my way to the Harbour road so this time I paid more attention. The correct exit from the Wanchai station is A5, towards the Hong Kong Convention Centre. In Wanchai (and perhaps the rest of Hong Kong, I am not sure) most of the pedestrian traffic goes on walkways that are on the second floor level, above the ground. This is nice because the air is much cleaner and there are no traffic lights. The walkway takes from the MTR station all the way to the convention center, and Harbour road is right behind it. So the way is nice and easy as long as you know it!

I forgot to bring a photo, so I had to stop at a Kodak shop right around the corner to get a set. They tried to sell me a set of 12(!), but I don't need that many photos of myself, all tired and messy, so I took the smallest set they have - four - for 30 RMB. I got to the Chinese Consulate (at 26 Harbour Road) at about 11:50, or 10 minutes before the close the gate for lunch. This is quite an important deadline - if you're not in before noon you won't get in until after 2PM. I'm not quite sure what the reason for the "lunch break" is, since at least the visa section stays open even during the break.

It took about two hours of waiting in line and I got to hand in my paperwork. I asked for same day processing and got a ticket to come back at 4:50PM. This is the same exact time I was given in the previous occasions... it seems no matter what time you apply; the return time for same day applications is always the same. I had couple hours to kill, which isn't enough for any excursions really. The consulate closes at 5PM so I didn't want to be late. I grabbed something to eat and walked around taking some photos. I went back to the consulate at about 4:30PM to see if my visa was ready - and sure enough it was. I guess the 4:50PM deadline just means to pick up the visa before they close. I traveled back the same way I came and arrived home at about 7:30PM... some 12 hours after leaving.


The Hong Kong MTR map. The Shenzhen train goes to Tsim Sha Tsui, which has a connection to MTR.


Tsim Sha Tsui -> Admiralty -> Wanchai -> Exit A5 -> Walk towards convention center and arrive at Harbour Road. Easy, huh?


Hong Kong is cool... I wish I wasn't so tired and in a hurry.


Hong Kong is a city of tall glass buildings...

I'll post some more photos to a photo album... check them out!

Coming to China is easy enough - get a visa and fly over. While it's a little bit of an inconvenience having to apply for a visa, the process is quick and easy. It takes just one day to get it, and you can even request rush processing to get the visa in a few hours if needed. I settled in Shenzhen, and the easiest way to get here is to fly to Hong Kong (no visa required) and then take a minibus to the China border.



The regular tourist visa lets you stay for up to 30 days and has one or two entries. A business visa is valid for six months. I believe there are also visas for longer periods but that option wasn't available in the application form last time I applied. I didn't bother finding out more since it's easy to get a new one anyway. In any case, at least my latest business visa still required me to exit China every 30 days (and then turn back and immediatelly return for a new period). It's a minor inconvenience, but at least gives me a good reason to visit Hong Kong once a month.

Neither the tourist nor business visa actually gives you a permission to work, but start and own a business as long as you're not employed by the company. This gives you an opportunity to get the business process going quickly and worry about the paperwork to get the work permit later on.


This map shows Shenzhen, which is located in south China, across the border from Hong Kong. That's where I currently reside, writing this blog as we speak!

I'm Jani, a guy from Finland living in Shenzhen, China. I moved here a little over one year ago to start a software company. I'm writing this blog to talk about my experiences during the past year and going forward. Hopefully this information will be useful for some of you out there! If you have any questions, please feel free to send a message here at XIHA Life, I check the site daily.



During the past year I've learned a lot, about life as well as business. Prior to moving to China I lived five years in Las Vegas, in the USA. One might think that moving to the other side of the world would be somewhat a culture shock but it has been surprisingly smooth. Perhaps it's because I had already been through the process of intercontinental relocation once before, from Finland to the US. Or perhaps it's because life in China is not all that different from the rest of the world. You eat, you sleep and you work. In the end the daily routine is the same no matter where you live!