Second of a Two-Part Series

Remember the talk of alternate investments that clogged theairwaves in the first part of the year? (You might remember; it wasbefore talk of credit crunches took its place.) So popular is theforeign push into China that target plays in cities such as HongKong and Beijing are disappearing apace, and second-tier cities arerising in incoming investors' sights. It was, in fact, a recurringtheme at MipimAsia, where we learned that the dynamic is being goosedalong by the national government. This insight came from Roy Lee,general manager for DTZ in the Chengdu region. Lee took some timeout for GlobeSt.com during the conference to explain how thedynamic is playing out and what it will mean going forward. Itshould be said--and this figures heavily in the topic at hand--thatLee spent 30 years in the US. He was raised in Los Angeles andworked in San Francisco before moving to China for a four-year stayfrom 1991 to 1995. He's now in his second stint there, a stay thatstarted in 2001.

GlobeSt.com: Why the focus on second-tiercities?