Catalogue for China

Two Southland businesses are creating a catalogue of corporate America for distribution to Chinese government and industry planners. The project carries the endorsement of former Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr., who will serve as an editorial adviser.

According to its promoters, the 500-page volume will make available to potential Chinese buyers for the first time a comprehensive listing of American suppliers of everything from farm tools to pharmaceuticals.

“The directory is for the use of people in China who want to make contact with an American business that might have something they need or to which they want to sell something,” said Charles K. Snodgrass, a Beverly Hills international financial adviser who launched the project earlier this year.

“It will also identify American companies with which the Chinese might be interested in forming joint ventures.” The hard-cover volume will contain 200 pages of editorial material--articles about American industries and listings of U.S. companies--and an estimated 300 pages of advertisements from American firms. A full-page, full-color ad costs $10,000.

The book will be translated into Chinese and prepared for printing by Asia System Media Inc. of Alhambra. The manuscript then will be sent to China for printing by the Shanghai Publishers Assn. It will be distributed through the 3,000 branches of the Xinhua (New China) Bookstore.

Its expected users include government officials, economic planners and managers of factories, farms and refineries.

Snodgrass said he hopes to have the book ready for publication in January, 1986. Haig, who runs a Washington consulting service for multinational corporations, was recruited for the project by Snodgrass, a personal friend.

“The guide is an important step in the further enhancement of U.S.-China commercial relations,” Haig said in a press release. “It represents the new, expanding and more mature era of business cooperation between our two countries and connotes enhanced Chinese interest in American technology, goods and services.”