Wang Yi Gao, the export manager for China Industrial Truck Association (CITA) used to head Linde (China) Forklift Truck Corp Ltd's Beijing branch. He says the Chinese used to ask him if he was crazy when he tried selling Linde forklifts.

Wang, 61, a qualified engineer, started his materials handling career with a government-run quality testing centre for machinery. Eight years later, he transferred to Beijing Materials Handling Research Institute, designing and testing forklifts as senior engineer.

It was his first job that led him to Linde, the European forklift pioneer in China. Wang's former supervisor, Xin Yu Xong, had left the testing centre to become Linde China's general manager. Xin, who was instrumental in the Linde-Xiamen Forklift joint venture, asked Wang to head Linde's office in Beijing in 1993.

As general manager of Linde's Beijing branch, Wang had to convince the Chinese that Linde forklifts were a good buy.

"Customers would say to us 'are you crazy?' when we told them the price.

"We felt it was very hard to sell Linde at that time."

At the time, Linde was selling a two-ton counterbalanced forklift for CNY320,000 (USD42,279.70) - four to six times the price of Chinese-made equivalents.

This large price gap inadvertently opened the door for Korean and Japanese mid-priced brands to enter the market.

According to Wang, Linde's presence in China has had other long-term benefits for the industry. As the first European forklift manufacturer to establish operations in China in December 1993, Linde had a hand in training a lot of Chinese forklift industry workers.

"People would [jokingly] call Linde the training university for the industry," Wang laughs.

He says several key management personnel at Linde competitors were trained at "Linde University".

When Wang's three-year agreement with Linde expired, he returned to work for a government authority for a year before being offered a job as an assistant sales manager in TCM. Today, as CITA's export manager, he keeps abreast of the Chinese and overseas markets for opportunities to present to the association's 165 members.

He says he had the most interesting time in his career as the first general manager of Linde's Beijing branch.

Wang is currently in Australia with his wife Gui Lan, visiting his daughter Lily, a stewardess for Australian carrier Qantas Airways, and investigating the Australian forklift market.

To get in touch with Wang, email www.forkliftaction.com