Now there is the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, setting up a company has (allegedly) become easier and cheaper so I thought I’d have a go. I found an agent who was recommended to me and went to visit him in his very small office in a very nasty part of Pudong. There are no gleaming tower blocks here, just dirty little noodle stalls, stray dogs and flaky buildings.
In just under an hour I had filled in all the forms, surrendered my passport and handed over 10,000RMB. There are two things you need to do in this first meeting.
Firstly you have to list all the services your business is going to provide.
Think about all the services and products you are going to offer while remembering that there are certain key words (e.g. ‘education’ and ‘training’) which are not permitted as they are controlled by the government. In the end we decided on some words which other companies had used and which sounded a bit like – cultural exchange of ideas – something big and vague enough to cover almost anything I want to do.
Secondly you have to chose lots of possible company names.
The agent explained that we needed to think of an unusual company name so that we would be sure it was unique and the company formation process would be quick. I started with some sensible names and as he urged me for more, the names started to become ridiculous and only time will tell if my company is going to be called Love Olives or not. 
Apparently there are more than 800 companies formed each day in Shanghai. I could barely believe this was true until the agent showed me his computer screen which shows live government data. It also shows how many were closed today (211) and how many had requested changes (over 1,000). And that was only around midday.
Back at home, I received a message from the agent that he had forgotten a couple of forms which he then emailed to me. Everything was going so smoothly until this point but hey.. not a big deal – I just needed to print the forms off, sign them and then courier them over the Huangpu river.
Not being able to use any of the online courier people for lack of Chinese skills, I walked in the rain to the post office on XiangYang Lu where I had a complete melt-down with the man behind the counter who wouldn’t take my documents because I needed to show him my passport. Of course, the agent has my passport so that was an impossibility. So, after (quite unfairly) shouting at him for a while, I battled what had by then become a thunderstorm to make my weary way home.To be honest, even before I had walked through the door of the post office I was angry and stressed because every dealing I have ever had with them has been negative. They seem to put any obstacle they can think of, in the way of helping you and they seem to enjoy seeing you suffer. I hate them even more than I hate the banks and that’s saying something!
I called a Chinese friend who booked a collection online for me and within 10 minutes there was a friendly man at the door ready to pick up my documents. Thank God for courier men who call at your door in the middle of a thunderstorm and take your package without wanting any money. I love them. So there you go – in a short time I had gone to quite relaxed about the company formation to super-stressed at the post office to relaxed again. The ups and downs of life in China.
If all goes well and there are no more hiccups I should have a Chinese company for around 20,000RMB within a month. Then it’s just the business of finding business.