Investors in Inner Mongolia:
- posted in Doing Business in China, Finance, Mining Finance, Property, Rural Finance, SME Finance
In early September this year we flew north from Shanghai to hold a number of meetings in two cities in Inner Mongolia. The interest from the locals was not in bricks’nmortar, but in rural businesses in Australia.
The prospects we met had assets from USD 50m to USD 100m. Australia was unknown territory, the US not so.
Their back grounds ranged from finance, real estate development to mines. Only one gentleman was Mongolian, the others, Han; living in Inner Mongolia for a number of generations. Beijing was the place they gravitated towards- perhaps it would be easier to meet them there in future.
Driving across Inner Mongolia provided an interesting slice of history. We made time to visit certain G.Khan/Mongolian Museums. As most artifacts had been destroyed during the Cultural Revloution, one was more of an art gallery (this is the way we believe they looked).
The rolling lush pastures of Western Inner Mongolia were in stark contrast to the sharp, treeless, shale hills and valleys of the central zone.
These people are hardy. The dust (that begins here and plagues central Beijing each Spring) swirled mercilessly in the lee of the hills, the homes squalid and single level in the rural areas.
Yet fortunes have been made here in minerals; coal the main industry.
Each city in complete contrast to the other. One unplanned, sprawling, rutted roads, old construction, with much of the new high-rise stalled and unfinished.
The other city neatly laid out, orderly with obvious signs of Govt over-investment; quality roads with little traffic and streets lined with high rise dwellings finished and often empty.
The locals we met (the top 1%) were contented with their life style. The prospects from each of the two city’s despised the inhabitants of the other. The tea was similar to Tibetan tea, salt, soup, butter and other ‘delicacies’.
The money is there and a williness to look abroad.
Inner Mongolia – Population 24,706,321; GDP (2011 – US$ 8,854 per capita (6th region in China). This is surprisingly high.
Ethnic composition Han – 79%; Mongol – 17%; Manchu – 2%; then the rest.
The prospects we met had assets from USD 50m to USD 100m. Australia was unknown territory, the US not so.
Their back grounds ranged from finance, real estate development to mines. Only one gentleman was Mongolian, the others, Han; living in Inner Mongolia for a number of generations. Beijing was the place they gravitated towards- perhaps it would be easier to meet them there in future.
Driving across Inner Mongolia provided an interesting slice of history. We made time to visit certain G.Khan/Mongolian Museums. As most artifacts had been destroyed during the Cultural Revloution, one was more of an art gallery (this is the way we believe they looked).
The rolling lush pastures of Western Inner Mongolia were in stark contrast to the sharp, treeless, shale hills and valleys of the central zone.
These people are hardy. The dust (that begins here and plagues central Beijing each Spring) swirled mercilessly in the lee of the hills, the homes squalid and single level in the rural areas.
Yet fortunes have been made here in minerals; coal the main industry.
Each city in complete contrast to the other. One unplanned, sprawling, rutted roads, old construction, with much of the new high-rise stalled and unfinished.
The other city neatly laid out, orderly with obvious signs of Govt over-investment; quality roads with little traffic and streets lined with high rise dwellings finished and often empty.
The locals we met (the top 1%) were contented with their life style. The prospects from each of the two city’s despised the inhabitants of the other. The tea was similar to Tibetan tea, salt, soup, butter and other ‘delicacies’.
The money is there and a williness to look abroad.
Inner Mongolia – Population 24,706,321; GDP (2011 – US$ 8,854 per capita (6th region in China). This is surprisingly high.
Ethnic composition Han – 79%; Mongol – 17%; Manchu – 2%; then the rest.
