There are three different business incorporation vehicles which can be utilized to do business in China. These are:
1. The utilization of a representative office
2. Seeking a Chinese joint venture partner
3. Establishing a Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise (WFOE)

Representative Office (RO):
A representative office is just a subsidiary of a foreign company in China. If your are looking for a company, which needs a local presence to manage services or coordinate outsourcing business activities or research developing Chinese market, then a representative office is useful and inexpensive vehicles for establishing a presence in China. Main purposes of a representative office are conducting market research, monitoring purchasing activities, marketing and sales administration for sales conducted between China and your parent company etc. Representative offices cannot write bill for service or sales to their clients in China. However, you can act like a liaison in matter of ordering, shipping, collecting money and so on.

Joint Venture:
Joint venture is business where a foreign firm goes into businesses with local Chinese partners. Joint venture is usually established to exploit the market knowledge, preferential market treatment, and manufacturing capability of the Chinese side along with the technology, manufacturing know-how and marketing experience of the foreign partner.

Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise (WFOE):
These are 100% foreign owned companies, originally developed for the specific purpose of encouraging foreign investment in manufacturing for export in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in China, and they were prohibited from selling to the Chinese domestic market. Since a recent change in regulations, from 1 December 2004, WFOE's can now trade within China, and can sell wholly foreign manufactured goods in China. The capital requirements for such companies have also been dramatically reduced.