Dan's China diary - day 5

In May 2006, silicon.com senior reporter Dan Ilett travelled to China, seeking to get behind some of today's most interesting tech and business stories. This is his warts-and-all diary, which appears daily this month. For in-depth coverage of this fact-finding trip inside China, including analysis and exclusive stories, click here.

Wednesday 10 May, Beijing

Lie in until 9:00 and try to sort out some interviews for later on in the trip. The first one I'm after is with a guy called David Wallerstein, who Madeforchina.com CEO Micah kindly recommended. Apparently he made a name for himself with a chat portal called QQ, which is massive in China. He's fobbed me off to his PR, Catherine Chen, who is completely obstructive and rude. I try every trick in the book to get Wallerstein, including "I write for the FT y'know", (I do) but it's not working. She's annoying and I haven't got time.

I'd heard that PR works very differently in China - indeed, it's not as warm and cuddly as the scene in the UK. Should have better prepared for that. Relationships and branding are something I've been told Chinese companies are still in the Middle Ages on.

Walk up to Microsoft's Research and Design Centre, which is up the road from my hotel. They have some pretty cool toys - digital pens and search tools - and a huge number of interns they suck into the place. As usual, the employees are very switched on people who talk about very little other than the world of Microsoft. They're nice people and they've some impressive work here.

It's obvious Microsoft is keen to make its mark here. I'm just not sure they've worked out how to do that yet. It must be difficult for them with everyone pirating their software. On the other hand, they are winning the battle to get their operating systems out there, so I'm sure they won't be moaning in the future.

I grab a cab and belt over to the other side of the city just in time to meet the guys at Accenture. They've organised a huge conference on Global Convergence here and to kick it off they're hosting a party at the Great Wall of China.

The PR team for Accenture are very welcoming and pretty funny. I fell asleep on the bus journey to the wall, waking to hear them talking about blow up dolls and men in velcro suits.

Turns out we're going to the same place I went to on Sunday - Badaling. Except this time when we arrive, there is no sea of black hair, just empty, well-lit paths along the wall and a massive banquet at the bottom of the hill. I'm impressed - not a bad venue for a bash.

I seize the chance to climb the wall again to the highest peak I can see - how often do you get the chance? It's a peaceful evening and there are a couple of army lads sitting at the peak. We nod to each other and smile.

The moon is shining brightly tonight. It's odd but for the first time, among all these foreign people, I truly feel a long way from home. I think of my life in London and how different it all seems - there is so much opportunity in this country. There may not be the stability there is in London, so you need a strong stomach, but back there you have nowhere near as many openings to make it big.

Get back down to the party and end up talking to some telecoms guys from Mumbai who tell me about the floods last year. Ninety-four centimetres of rain fell within 24 hours, they say. But they had their operations up and running within two days.

Meet one of the Accenture consultants on the bus. He is convinced the next 'Silicon Valley' will be here. Maybe. But they have some pretty big obstacles to overcome as well.