It also enjoys substantial international support. It has been sponsored by the European Union which grants a 50 per cent subsidy to European exhibitors.

Space at Adsale's China shows is more expensive than in Hong Kong at US$350-US$400 per square metre compared with $200-$300 in Hong Kong.

The difference is due to higher up-front costs and logistics in Beijing, according to Adsale general manager Tong Kam-shing.

This year, all the major international vendors will attend the show. There are 209 exhibitors of whom about 70 per cent are foreigners.

There are national pavilions for China, Germany, Canada and Australia and a series of 31 seminars will be held.

Adsale's main revenue earner is the rental of show space. Organising a show of the size of EP China takes one and a half to two years' planning, Mr Tong said.

'We have to liaise with all the different parties, fix the time, book the venue, prepare the material and inform all the exhibitors concerned. These multinationals need to prepare in terms of budgeting as well as personnel.

'We also plan for technical details - freight, transport, publicity, promotion, that kind of thing,' Mr Tong said.

While valuable contacts were often made at the EP China show, they were not the main reason for joining.

'Multinationals can make their own appointments. Of course, major government officials will be there and China now has a much more decentralised structure,' he said.

'There are many different players in the China electric power scene and they are scattered all over the country. So, we bring them altogether under one roof.' Also attending will be a number of other officials involved in decisions relating to power projects, from organisations such as the State Planning Commission and State Energy Investment Corporation.

'It is a good opportunity to get together, particularly for small-to-medium-sized companies which might otherwise not have the opportunity,' Mr Tong said.

'We also have a textile machinery show. When we held it last year in Shanghai, we had to use four different exhibition centres to house it. So, these are bigger than EP China but EP is very important in the sense that it is the leading event in its field in China.' This year's EP China is being held in parallel with the International Conference on Power System Technology, jointly sponsored by the Institute of Electric and Electronic Engineers, the Power Engineering Society and the Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering (CSEE).

This show, which runs in Beijing from next Tuesday to Thursday, will cover issues relating to advanced electric power technology, including engineering and technical aspects of the Three Gorges project.