He said CIPRA planned many PR activities to work in conjunction with the committee and sought consultation and advice from elite international PR companies such as APCO Worldwide, Hill & Knowlton and Weber Shandwick.

"With the help of the experienced PR companies, the policy-making for China's bid for the Olympic Games was made more scientific and internationalized," said Zheng.

"In fact we can see the influence of PR companies on other big events, such as Shanghai's bid for the 2010 World Expo, the China-France Culture Year and the Year of Russia in China," said Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Qiao Zonghuai.

Today in China, many may know the term "public relations" but few really know what it means. While still a new concept and industry, public relations is gaining momentum and growing stronger.

"Today's PR is not just about 'smiling to your clients' any more," said Dai Yu, Deputy General Manager of the China Hotel in Guangzhou. Dai went to work for the hotel's PR department in the 1980s.

"When we want to recruit PR staff, we choose those who have sharp brains and ability, not those who are good-looking. PR is more than spending money and smoothing connections, it's more about marketing and making money," Dai said.

A question of connections

In the beginning, public relations in China mainly referred to "connections."

"In China, connections mean everything. You can use your connections to make things work for you. This is the hidden rule, which fashioned PR with Chinese characteristics," said Chen Tongkui, a journalist with the Shanghai-based Xinmin Weekly. He pointed out that real public relations should be aimed at fostering broad and efficient communication among industries, the government, the public and social organizations.

"After all, PR in its essence is for the organizations and units to establish favorable relations and share benefits with the public through various methods," he added.

It has long been held that if you have a quality product you do not need to worry about marketing because people will eventually find out about it. But this is not the case any more. Customers today won't bother to seek out a new product.

As a result, more and more sellers have come to an awareness that their products need to be promoted. Thus China has entered the era of advertising.

In 2001 China became a member of the World Trade Organization, which brought opportunity to the PR industry. "Those big multinationals that have already set foot in China began to step up promotion and those foreign companies that wanted to enter China also needed the PR companies to help them establish their brands in China," said Guo Huimin, Vice Secretary General of CIPRA.

Meanwhile, the large domestic PR companies are growing more mature, evolving from simple media promotion to strategic consultation, government PR, brand marketing, company image designing and crisis management. Companies are more aware of the benefit of integrating their advertising, marketing and PR activities.

Public relations in China has a roughly 20-year history, dating from 1984, when the first American PR firm, Hill & Knowlton, set up a representative office in China, and 1985, when the first domestic PR organization was established in Shanghai. But it is not until the last 10 years that China has seen the development of a true industry.

According to a China PR Blue Book released recently, the number of existing PR companies exceeded 2,000 in 2006, while the figure in 2003 was below 1,500. In addition, a large number of media and consulting companies also touch upon the PR business. The annual PR revenue has skyrocketed to 6 billion yuan in 2005 from 1.5 billion yuan in 2000.