First visit to Shanghai

In 1987, Hata Norio served as the managing director of Shinmei Electric Hong Kong. The head office of Shinmei was considering investing in mainland China. That summer, he accompanied the president to survey Shanghai and signed a letter of intent concerning a Sino-foreign joint venture with Shanghai No. 16 Radio Factory, with plans to establish a factory in the Minhang Development Zone. In June 1988, the Shanghai Shinmei Electric Company was set up and became Shanghai’s first Sino-foreign joint venture company in the field of electronic components.

It was not an easy thing at that time to set up a company in Shanghai. According to Hata Norio, the manufacturing, employment, organization of means of production and building a qualified working environment all required the approval of each level of government. In the stages of proposing the feasibility report and project approval alone, governmental departments stamped their approval over 100 times. In addition, the water supply, electricity, communication and pollution discharge had to be recorded according to the government’s regulations.