A U.S.$5.4 billion deal for General Electric’s home appliance division is about to propel China’s largest appliance maker, Haier Group, into the long-dreamed-for high-end market in America.The sale, announced in mid-January but now awaiting regulatory approval and a green light from Haier’s directors, would end the Chinese company’s lengthy quest for a respectable U.S. market
The Xiao River rushes deep and clear out of the mountains of southern China into a narrow plain of paddies and villages. At first little more than an angry stream, it begins to meander and grow as the basin’s 63 other creeks and brooks flow into it. By the time it reenters the mountains 50 miles to the north, it is big and powerful enough to carry barges and ferries.Fifty