A cultural opportunity

Christie's first auction in Shanghai this fall is an example of how the free trade zone facilitates trade between China and other countries. Gao Erqiang / China Daily

Shanghai Ballet rented the venue itself, outsourced advertising, marketing and ticket sales and split the share of box-office income between themselves, local partners in the United Kingdom and Huiwen.

Difficulties arose, including how to deal with the international balance of payment, settlement and compliance design of the contract, which was signed with cooperative partners overseas. If these problems could not have been solved, it would have been costly.

Huiwen helped with the signing of a cooperative agreement; negotiated with relevant administrative departments; identified obligations of the three parties; classified various fees and expenditure particulars; and, more importantly, determined the tax rate of international settlement of the particulars according to the terms set by China and Britain to avoid double taxation.

Of course, the establishment of the FTZ brings hope to other companies.

United Asia Live Entertainment was registered in the Waigaoqiao free trade zone (now part of the FTZ) three years ago when it was founded. It's a joint venture of China Arts and Entertainment Group, Shanghai Media Group and CJ E&M in the Republic of Korea.

It produced Chinese editions of Broadway musicals Mamma Mia! and Cats, and just launched its original Chinese musical productions The Feast of the Princess and Finding Destiny.

Tian Yuan, general manager of UAE, is excited by the possibilities presented by the new FTZ.

Despite the fact that UAE was registered in the Waigaoqiao FTZ, they encountered difficulties with foreign investment.

"Investment from our shareholder in the ROK, CJ E&M, can only go to the 'registered capital'," Tian says. "We hope our foreign partners will be able to invest in specific projects, and be able to retrieve the profit out of China.

"We have some nice visions for the new free trade zone, but so far all of it is just good will."

With more opportunities open to foreign companies, domestic businesses are worried about potential competition. But Molly Cheng, an individual performance agent based in Shanghai, says the arrival of foreign entertainment agencies will not pose much of a challenge to local agents.