On 11 July 2006, the Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Commerce, State Economic Development and Reform Commission, People’s Bank of China, State Administration of Industry and Commerce and State Administration of Foreign Exchange (“SAFE”) jointly announced the “Opinions on Regulating Market Access and Administration of Foreign Investment in the Real Estate Market” (the “Opinions”).

On 11 April 2005, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Ministry of Finance of Peoples Republic of China ("MOF") issued a new regulation, known as <I>"Provisional Regulations for Transferring the State Owned Enterprise’s Property Rights to the Management"</I> ("Provisional Regulation"), governing management buy-outs of State Owned Enterprises ("SOEs") in China.

One of the most difficult issues faced by any company selling its products or services in China is how to protect them against counterfeiting.

In line with China’s declared intention to improve its laws and procedures for the protection of intellectual property rights, China Internet Network Information Center ("CINIC") published the Measures for Resolving Domain Name Disputes ("Measures") on 14 February 2006, which came into effect on 17 March 2006.

The number of Hong Kong listed mainland companies reached 307 accounting for 28% of the listed companies in Hong Kong and taking up 31% (about 2.109 trillion RMB) of the aggregate market value as at February 2005.

On 4 October 2004, the Hong Kong High Court made Winding-up Orders against Zhuhai Municipal Government's "window company" Zhu Kuan Group Company Limited ("ZK Group") and its Hong Kong subsidiary Zhu Kuan (Hong Kong) Company Limited ("ZK HK")

Amid concerns that the easing of monetary policy by the Central Chinese government in early 2009 have caused monies to be channelled to speculation in shares and real estate instead of the real economy and of the increasing risk of asset bubbles and bad loans, China Banking Regulatory Commission ("CBRC") issued the Tentative Measures for the Administration of Fixed Asset Loans (the "Measures") on 23 July 2009.

In line with company law reforms in other major commercial jurisdictions and with a greater awareness of corporate governance and small investor’s rights, China has recently made substantial amendments to its Company Law as part of its continuous effort to develop its legal system. The amended PRC Company Law came into effect on 1 January 2006.

With increasing foreign investments and mergers and acquisitions activities in China over the last few years, employees’ relocation has become a very important issue for foreign companies entering or expanding their business in China.

Hong Kong is an attractive place for PRC and international companies to do fund raising. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange currently ranks 8th in the world by market capitalization while Shanghai, Singapore and Shenzhen are in 14th, 21st and 24th position respectively.

Prominent HSBC private banker Mimi Monica Wong ("Monica Wong") recently won an award of HK$62 million from the Hong Kong High Court in her lawsuit against her dancing instructors Saccani and his wife, Fairweather, a 15-time world professional Latin dance champion.

The Provisional Measures for the Administration of Venture Capital Enterprises (the "Provisional Measures") were jointly promulgated by 10 Mainland Chinese agencies on 15 November 2005 and will take effect from 1 March 2006.

In line with China’s commitment to improve its dispute resolution system, the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China issued its "Interpretation on Certain Application Issues of the PRC Arbitration Law" ("Interpretation") clarifying issues on the validity and interpretation of arbitration clauses commonly used in PRC related commercial agreements.

The recent amendments to the PRC Securities Law issued on 27 October 2005 and effective on 1 January 2006, revise a stunning 40% of the original provisions and involves amendments to more than 100 articles.

The Companies (Amendment) Ordinance 2004 in Hong Kong ("Amendment Ordinance") was enacted in July 2004 to improve the prospectus regime for facilitating market development (Schedule 1), modernize the registration regime for oversea companies (Schedule 2) and enhance the corporate governance regime by strengthening remedies for shareholders (Schedule 3).

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission ("SFC") is an independent statutory body established under the Securities and Futures Ordinance ("SFO") to administer the securities and futures markets including the licensing of market participants and the regulation of offers of securities.

In the past, only arbitration awards were mutually enforceable between Hong Kong and the PRC pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding on the Reciprocal Enforcement of Arbitration signed in February 2000. There were no laws or treaties concerning the reciprocal enforcement of court judgments between Hong Kong and the PRC.

Generally speaking, a Hong Kong limited company can be incorporated with any name (except for names which are the same as existing company names) and it must be incorporated with an English name or a Chinese name or both.

The Hong Kong Code on Takeovers and Mergers (the "Takeovers Code") regulates takeovers and mergers in Hong Kong and applies to public companies and companies with a primary listing of their equity securities in Hong Kong.

On 21 August 2006, the Mainland government and the Hong Kong SAR government signed an "Arrangement between the Mainland of China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income" (the "New Arrangement").