Business in China has come a long way, says UK veteran

There was one way to guarantee an audience when he first started doing business in China nearly 25 years ago, Peter Batey says. For a Westerner, just stringing a few Chinese words together was almost like a circus act, the 52-year-old chairman of private equity and corporate advisory firm Vermilion Partners says. "It was such a shock to everyone when a foreigner opened his mouth and uttered Chinese words. People almost stood there astonished," he recalls. Batey, who was president of the EU Chamber of Commerce during 2001 and 2002, was only in his late 20s when he arrived in 1986 to set up the China operations for international accountants Arthur Andersen in a hotel room at the famous Beijing Hotel in Wangfujing.