Recently, my family and I took a trip to Beijing as part of the InvestorPlace Kingdom of Jade and Pearl investment Cruise of China. While I’ve traveled to China often–five times in the past 18 months–it’s been two years since I’ve actually visited China’s capital city. I’ve purposely avoided it due to its air pollution, dirty streets and overcrowded airport.
So, boy, was I in for a surprise when our flight landed in Beijing.
The Chinese government has taken great strides to improve Beijing for the upcoming Olympic Games. And these efforts have paid off, as the city has drastically changed for the better over the past two years. Here’s a brief look at three things that I noticed had improved:
Air quality: The pollution in Beijing has dramatically diminished over the past two years. With factories relocating to other parts of the city, the air quality had markedly improved. I was very impressed that we saw a clear blue sky the majority of our time in the city.
Cleanliness: The people of Beijing take pride in their city and want to show it off to the rest of the world during the Beijing Olympics this summer. So there isn’t any trash littering the city’s sidewalks and roadways anymore. Actually, Beijing is suddenly the cleanest city in the world!
Airport efficiency: I travel a lot and have discovered that the state of a country or city’s airport sheds a great deal of light on what is happening in the region. With a brand-new terminal opening last month at the Beijing airport, I was quite impressed that we only waited about 15 minutes at baggage claim to receive our luggage. A stark difference to the hour-long waits that I’ve experienced at London’s Heathrow Airport. Plus, I was able to fill out an electronic customer satisfaction survey at immigration security, which tells me that airport management cares about what its visitors think.
While the August Olympics have served as a catalyst to accelerate the changes in Beijing…
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the city was already headed in that direction. And the improvements in Beijing are just an example of the kind of growth happening all over China today!
A Class Act
Now on my trips to China, I always make the effort to conduct some stock research and visit a couple of the companies that I’m recommending to my China Strategy subscribers. Sure, I have a boots-on-the-ground research team located in China that keeps me informed of the day-to-day activities in the country and how they’re affecting my recommendations. But I always like to check in and gain some firsthand insights to what is making the company tick.
As part of my Beijing trip, I visited the headquarters of a private educational service company. This company has been part of my China Strategy portfolio since 2006, and we’ve raked in a sweet 167% gain during that time. Since we’ve held on to the company for so long and because it’s in a low entry barrier and highly competitive industry, I wanted to do some firsthand stock research–assessing the company’s long-term advantage and determining if it can be sustained.
During my visit, I was able to see the business firsthand and sit in on a couple of its classes. And let me just say, I was impressed.
This company offers classes in a wide variety of areas, but its TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) classes are still the company’s most popular course. The TOEFL class that I sat in on had 40 students listening to an English language recording. After listening to the recording, the students answered a written quiz on what they had just heard. This process was comparable with what you’d experience in any English school.
Moving on, I visited another class with an active American teacher, who spoke fluent Mandarin, giving lectures. The 40 Chinese students enjoyed the class and were very attentive during the session. And I was quite impressed by the teacher’s interactive approach to and the overall learning environment created by this company.
Aside from the company’s impressive educational programs, what sets it apart from its competition is its founder. The company’s founder takes great efforts to promote his company, and says that learning English is the ticket to a better life. He is quite popular throughout China, and he uses his celebrity and fame to brand his company as the premier language teaching institution in China.
Because of these efforts, this company is by far the largest provider of private education in China. Over one million students attended classes there in the past 12 months, while its closest competitor had less than one-sixth of the number of students. This company’s interesting curriculum, talented teachers and strong brand name is hard to top!
To learn how you can profit from the exciting changes happening in China today, benefit from my firsthand stock research and to get the name of my favorite education services company in China, join China Strategy today!
