This is the internship that never ends. I’m polishing company profiles on the Top 500 Enterprises in 2008 for China.org. A few observations:

• The largest companies are state-owned. Of the 200 or so company profiles I’ve gone through, about 3 (rough estimate) were labeled private. Another 190 (again, rough estimate) were “large-scale” or “mega-sized.”
• Some companies, like Chinalco (#31) and Haier (#34), built their companies around one main product (in these cases, aluminum and household appliances). Other companies, like China Oil and Food Corporation (COFCO #26) and Legend Holdings (#28), diversified a bit, but its products and services are still mostly related. (Legend is in IT, real estate and investments, and owns Lenovo.). Still, a lot of these huge conglomerate, state-owned giants cover a hodgepodge of industries. China Resources (#37), for example, has its “core businesses cover retail, power, breweries, real estate, medicine, textiles, chemical products and gas compressors, among other things.” Another one, Shandong Weiqiao Pioneering Group Co., Ltd. (#70), is involved in spinning, weaving, dyeing-finishing, apparel, home textiles, thermoelectricity and aluminum. I get the first five but have no idea how thermoelectricity and aluminum fit in. Guangsha Holding Venture Capital Co., Ltd. (#111) started as a construction and real estate company, but has since expanded into media, energy, finance, tourism, education and medical care.
• The diversity of industries these mega-conglomerates covers mean that they are umbrella organizations for hundreds of subsidiaries, joint-ventures, holding companies and other business types whose differences I cannot readily distinguish.
• Among the many state-owned businesses, a frequently seen statistic is how much “profit and tax” a company earned and produced for the state.