Sounds like a Thirsty Merc song but after one of my meetings with the Vice Director of the new Software Park in Xi'An, Mr Zhu Liming and his lovely college Ms Cindy Wang -  I now have '20 good reasons' why a business might like to setup camp in Xi'An.  

The software park was established 1998 and is nationally recognised.  Which is important in China.  It sprawls across over 100 hectares and boasts  400,000m2 of buildings.    Over 580 companies now use the Park facilities.  Amongst  these companies you'll find 40,000 engineers.

It turns over RNB 11.2 Billion and in export business alone US$55m.  Not small companies but companies such as Oracle, Sybase, Intel, Nortel and Fujitsu.  There are over 80 companies providing ITO services  totalling US$28m revenue.   The software park host the a global BPO conference here every year, attracting over 500 delegates. 

Many large multinationals come here to do R&D.  Why?  Well Xi'An is rich in hi tech talent.  94 colleges and universities have produced around 410,000 skilled engineers with 869,000 undergrads, 40,000 graduating in IT every year.    THE COST OF LABOUR IS VERY VERY LOW.  Companies pay about 2,300-5,500 RNB (Yuan) depending on the skill level per month for skilled engineers and developers.   Yes folks that's a staggering  A$383 - A$916 per month  (before you start to feel too sorry for them - I will note that the cost of living here is about 6 x less than Australia also).   How much do you pay for renting an office in the Park? That's only 40 RNB per m2 per month (about A$7).

What's the catch -  Maybe they can't get the internet? Maybe the staff turnover is huge? Maybe nobody knows who Thirsy Merc is? Maybe they speak Chinese?  Well folks - from the Park gets you access to 155 Mbps, Xi'An boasts 8.6% staff turn-over -  lowest in China (and why not its a nice place) and two expressways to airport (30 minutes). 

I have  found that the people that speak English are pretty good at it and I suspect that many others understand you but are not confident enough to speak it - I'm guess its not a high percentage though.  I'll do the Thirsty Merc survey later today.   

I was lead to believe that the Intellectual Property law's are - well kind of loose here in China.  I was assured that the Government has been working on that and it has improved in recent years.  

I reckon I heard 20 good reasons - 3 of them are very compelling.    

Travel tip of the day - No jetlag (its only 2 hours difference to Australia) - was that 21 good reasons?

Next - Next I travelled across town to Austrade to find out more about trade in China,  I meet some of the companies that use the park and after not actually walking all that far ... I have a foot massage!