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The year of 2007 is drawing to an end that marks a beginning of the New Year，a year without knowing very well in a mood of uncertainty for what will happen tothe global textile trade.

China has stepped up its pace to issue the names of the companies who havebeen found compliant with the new threshold laid out by Chinese industrial andtrade organizations in hope to slim the export size， a normal situation that both EUand China would like to see during the quota-free 2008.

A series of workshops are held now in many cities in a well-balancedgeographical pattern， like Guangzhou in the south， Chongqing in the west，Shenyang in the north and Shanghai in the east， to give the qualifiers an on- handtraining for the detailed procedure with respect to contract documents， customsdeclaration and clearance， export license， the validity of the license， importlicense， data exchange etc. for the export to EU in 2008 for the eight categoriesnot yet fully set free， but under bilateral supervision.

In review of textile economic performance this year， the industry has beenmuch affected by macro control and other policy factors， especially the increasedbank rate of lending and the basic rate of bank reserves， rising value of RMB，export rebate reduction， real bank deposit for imported materials in processingindustry， environmental pressure， wage surges， corporate social compliances，energy-saving implementation， intensified labor law enforcement， trade surplusand what not...

To challenge all these negatives， the only way out of this bog is to takea new route leading to a vital dryland， an innovation realm for scientific andtechnological inputs and brand value increments. The new policy to encourageinvestment to be guided from east to west of China is also illustrated in a scienceand innovation-oriented direction. \"Poor West\" will not take in poor equipment orobsolete production facilities. \"Chongqing， A Tale of Two Cities\" tells a true story ofmodernizing China's west. \"Breakthrough: Right for All\" tells a determined will withwhich China will reshape its value chain in integrated innovation. \"Past Really isPrologue\" tells who is a true innovator， a hero， and \"Made-in-Italy\" is a very goodlogo for SME's to stay innovative and competitive.

\"When West Meets East\" is an on-situ report showing a price spat between EUflax (linen) supplier and Chinese buyer.

In spite of west - east fight， our editors would like to take this last issue ofthe year to express our western style greetings to all our Christian believers for aMerry Christmas， and to our non Christian believers for a Happy New Year!