Changes amaze Middle East businessmen

Firm owners witness world's factory becoming an innovation powerhouse

CAIRO - In September 1987 in Beijing, Arafat Harahsheh spotted legions of commuters' bicycles on the streets of the Chinese capital. He thought the Chinese were holding a sports event.

"It must be some bicycle marathon going on," the Jordanian student thought. He had just arrived in China for his undergraduate studies. It turned out, however, that the "bicycle marathon" was just a common occurrence on Beijing's streets, and bicycles were the Chinese people's preferred method of transportation back then.