Zhongguancun a name resounding through the "global village"

40 percent of the 20 Chinese enterprises listed on NASDAQ are from Zhongguancun. Lenovo, founded in Zhongguancun, surprised the US and the world with its take-over of IBM's PC business. And now Zhongguancun is on its way to take Chinese digital films into the world marketĄ­. Zhongguancun, a small village rarely known years ago, is building its resounding name throughout the "global village".

"Nasdaq welcomes Zhongguancun"

The NASDAQ has another newcomer from China recently. Techfaith, a Chinese mobile phone designer, became the 8th Zhongguancun-based enterprise listed in the NASDAQ after the company had been in business for 3 years. It is one of the 20 Chinese companies listed on NASDAQ, among which 40 percent are from Zhongguancun.

Zhongguancun, in northwest Beijing, used to be a small potato rarely known by the rest of the world beyond the land. The first sci-tech company was founded there 20 years ago amid much controversy. Since then Zhongguancun took off as the street for electronics and then thrived to be the pilot park for the hi-tech industry in the capital city.

Zhonghuancun has built its reputation in the NASDAQ. Sina, one of NASDAQ's first China-concept stocks, was born in Zhongguancun. In 2004, the two-year old kongzhong.com launched its IPO in NASDAQ and the short time it took to float there was a record in DASDAQ's history of having Chinese companies. NASDAQ's Executive Vice President Bruce Aust openly declared at the Global Fortune Forum in Beijing that NASDAQ welcomed Chinese hi-tech enterprises and welcomed Zhongguancun.

The acquisition of South Korean Hydis by BOE Technology Group has made BOE leap forward into the 2nd on the newly unveiled list of China's top 100 electronic and information enterprises and nudge into the world's top 10 in this field in terms of scale.

Hot discussions arisen around BOE's deal. In the previous acquisitions of foreign giants by Chinese enterprises, the acquiring corporation bought production lines or a few patents for further development. But BOE took over all the R&D and production system, retained R&D teams and transferred the production and technology owned by the acquired to China. This helped BOE build up its capacity of independent development.

Local Chinese giants acquire foreign companies through capital operation and then integrate and upgrade the new assets to make aggressive progress on technical level and technical innovation. This, as experts say, is the trend of China's sustained development. And they believe this trend will extend very extensively.

For the international market, China not only means a market, but also powerful manufacturing competence. It will play an importance role in the integration of the international industries.

Making presence in the international digital film market

Terracotta Warriors and Horse, a three-dimensioned digital film by Dongfang Tianyi, a Zhongguancun-based private company, will be completed in August.

Han Bo, producer of the film, said it was the third year that they had been working on this film. "Such a film can only be made possible by great determination as it needs enormous investment of both money and time while facing tremendous risks. But we take a long-term perspective. The film carries our own intellectual property rights. That's why we have carried on." said Han.

The US possesses the most advanced technology in digital film production. But in Zhongguancu, a land of passion, Chinese digital filmmakers are pursuing their dreams on this market.

"We'll 'revive' terracotta worriers," said Han confidently. He disclosed their ambition of bringing the film into the overseas market which, he believed, would applaud the China-made film of original Chinese flavor.

Zhongguancun actually is cradle of China's digital film. It was there that China's first three-dimensioned digital film Banban the Tiger Cub was produced. The film won two Chinese prizes for films: the Huabiao Prize, China's highest honor for films, and the Calf Prize, the highest honor for children's films.

The success of Banban the Tiger Cub has not only made its producer, Dongfang Tianyi, one of bellwethers in digital film production in China, but also made Zhongguancun the base for digital products.

By People's Daily Online