For more than 30 years, China has been a place to buy and make. It is an industrial jungle, with enticing returns and serious risks. Although this jungle remains partially untamed, it has been thoroughly explored and mapped. The jungle is old news.

Today's headline is that China is a place to sell. It is a huge and growing market - and it has a powerful hunger for high quality products from overseas. The local culture has massive brand-loyalty. The poor quality of many domestically produced goods has created a mindset that puts a large premium on imported goods.

The 22 million urban residents of the following 5 Chinese cities: Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Ningbo, Beijing represent 37 billion USD in disposable income. Shanghai households alone have 18 Billion USD of annual disposable income. If Shanghai was a country its GDP would exceed that of New Zealand.

The local consumer prefers not to buy Japanese (if given a choice), is highly brand conscious, prefers western over asian brands, and is strongly peer and media influenced. Most brands are not here at all, or are here only indirectly. Great rewards await those who are forward-thinking enough to invest in mindshare now. From consumer goods to building products to food processing, now is the time.