Today, human resources are what most vex Dalian and Beijing outsourcing businesses. IBM's global service center in Dalian is an example-- originally planned to employ 20,000 people, a lack of human resources has left the center employing a scant 2,000. In 2005, the Dalian Software Park and IBM jointly hosted a large-scale training seminar where more than 200 undergraduates were snatched up. And farther inland, the scarcity of human resources is even more marked. 

Experts tell us that although the Ministry and other agencies are determined to push the policy, in order to properly solve this, long-term training programs must be drafted. And it's not just Dalian's problem. "Dalian is one of ten outsourcing industry zones specified by the Ministry of Commerce," points out Liu Jiren, board chair at Neusoft, a software outsourcing company. 

To this end, Li says that the Ministry will line up funding for training and mandate that local governments do the same. 

Recently, the Ministry worked on drafting an outsourcing personnel training plan for 2007, dubbed "from the thousands to the tens". As part of the preferential policy, confirmed outsourcing companies can deduct from income taxes any training expenses that don't exceed more than 2.5 percent of an employee's salary. 

According to the process, over the next five years, China will establish ten internationally competitive outsourcing base cities, and push 100 well-known multinational companies to move operations to China. 

According to sources, the Ministry of Commerce has already launched a pilot project in the Suzhou Industrial Zone. But the expansion of outsourcing policy is still facing obstacles— according to senior managers at some outsourcing businesses in the Suzhou Industrial Park, outsourcing companies have yet to take shape because, with their narrow field of vision, they must still rely on government guidance.