China's Sany Takes 'Made in Germany' Plunge

A decade ago, a Chinese company's investment in Germany rarely amounted to more than a bilingual sales staff or an import-export office tucked away in one of the country's big cities.

Even today, most of the 400 Chinese companies with branch offices in Hamburg do little more than trade and market products made in China, according to a Hamburg Business Development Corp. (HBDC) report. And they employ few Germans.