Time difference no bar for globally connected company

Fang Yuan is having a meeting with software engineers in their office at the Over-seas Students Pioneer Park of Dalian Hi-tech Zone, in Northeast China's Liaoning province.

Back at her home 15 km away, her husband Adam Ross Chesney is watching their 6-year-old son skating on a square near the seaside.

When some neighbors stop by, he smiles at them and says "Nihao" (Hello), and the boy can talk with them in fluent Chinese with a Dalian dialect.

Chesney works on Canadian time. Every working day from 9 pm to 4 am, he needs to keep pace with his partners in Toronto, where he was born and grew up.

Fang Yuan is not a local resident, either. She grew up in Jilin province.

Twelve years ago, Fang graduated from McMaster University of Canada, and took her classmate and boyfriend Chesney to her parents' place in China.

Her parents had retired. They bought an apartment in Dalian, where the climate is more comfortable than their hometown. Chesney fell in love with the city at once.

A 10-minute walk will take him to the seaside, where he takes a tent to pitch on the beach and swims in the sea.

"I like outdoor life. This city has amazing scenery and weather. I wanted to live here," he recalled. "I've been in this city for four years now. My business is here and my life is here."

They opened their own business, Redmaple Technologies Inc, in the city in March 2012, which is engaged in the research and development of stock trading compliance and risk management software.

The core competitiveness of their products is speed and precision.

The day after they received their business license, a government specialist contacted them and assisted them in solving follow-up issues.

When Chesney entered their office, which covers 230 square meters, he could not help saying, "amazing".

"My company is growing rapidly here. The software runs on the global bank sys-tem 24 hours, 365 days a year. It's awesome that the software we design here can process millions of transactions in a second," said Chesney.

When they made up their minds to do business in China, they decided to choose a home from among Beijing, Shanghai and Dalian.

The Overseas Students Pioneer Park of Dalian Hi-tech Zone was their first stop. There, they were greatly moved by local officials, who held a special meeting for them to introduce related policies and services for overseas students who wanted to set up businesses in the area.

"I had no idea about social insurances and housing fund policies, but the officials knew exactly what we needed. They told me everything I wanted to know and explained some issues I did not realize existed," Fang said.

Compared with Beijing and Shanghai, Dalian's human resources cost and office rent is low. Since their customers are in North America and Europe, they do not need to meet face to face. Therefore, it is not necessary to set up their office in big cities.

Dalian's software sector has been developing rapidly, with world famous companies such as IBM, SAP, and Oracle set-ting up R&D institutions in the city.

"The city boasts the best software parks and programmers," said Chesney.

At present, Chesney lives in Dalian with his wife and son. Every year, they go to live in Canada for three months.

"Dalian is very suitable for foreigners to live. There are many foreigners - some are here for study, some for business. It is easy to set up a friend circle," said Chesney, "I love yummy food. Thankfully, Dalian is home of some of the most delicious seafood in the world."

(China Daily 09/30/2016 page6)