Last year, Mindray Medical founder and chairman Xu Hang (CEIBS EMBA 2002) made his company China's first U.S.-listed medical equipment supplier. This year, he is taking on global rivals including GE and Philips - on their own turf.

Countless anti-Chinese business articles have been published around the world this summer. For readers, it looked like a contest to see which writer could use the most aggressive headline.

Over the last two years there has been a considerable increase in the interest shown by Chinese companies to acquire Western businesses. This trend stems from the need to acquire new markets, technology, know how, brand recognition and other capabilities from abroad faster than they can be developed domestically. It is also being encouraged by steps the Chinese Government is taking in recognition that failure to acquire these missing elements could slow down China's rapid economic pace. However, acquisition of foreign businesses presents many new challenges for Chinese companies.

The overriding theme of 2004 was "macro-regulation" for China. Despite worries and panics, the nation seemed to have a safe voyage. But what perplexes us most is why this happens repeatedly since the reform and opening-up whenever we try to speed up the economic growth but have to slow down due to the bottleneck of resources and the pressure of inflation. Will such a problem become a lingering nightmare? Will the labor-intensive growth pattern featuring high investment and low efficiency ensure sustained industrialisation and modernisation? The nation is developing its "Eleventh Five-Year" Plan, and at this critical moment, we must discover a new and proper road to industrialisation and economic growth pattern.