On Tuesday (the seventh day in China) we began our exploration of Chinese business by visiting Tasly in Tianjin.

The trip began early and we took the high speed train from Beijing South station to Tianjin. The journey covers more than 120km in less than 30 minutes and hits a maximum speed of more than 300km/h.

At Tasly we received an introduction to the company, which is an innovative publicly listed pharmaceutical company that specialises in developing traditional Chinese medicines into products that are more readily usable. One of their products is currently undergoing tests for FDA approval in the United States.

Our briefing included a tour of the manufacturing plant.

After the briefing and tour we had the chance to sit and discuss business issues with two senior managers, one from human resource and one in charge of international marketing. Both executives provided us with a detailed understanding of some of the opportunities and challenges facing Chinese companies seeking to globalise.

As is becoming a tradition, we like to present a Nottingham University sweatshirt to those who have helped us