How hard is doing business in china?

[EmilB]

If you have some extra money you can outsource the entire licensing process to a company registrator, so it's not so difficult.

I also wouldn't be concerned about getting copied because they can only copy physical aspects of the business but not abstract things such as level of service / attitude

[frankwall]

I think the bigger Chinese cities are certainly affluent and good places to try out new business ideas. The level of wealth has gone up so much in China that good restaurants are probably more in demand today than at any time before. Even looking at statistics about cities in China, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai are near the top of the world billionaires list. Where there's money, there's great demand for restaurants.