THE WOLF HAS COME: ARE CHINA'S INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INDUSTRIES PREPARED FOR THE WTO? Yahong Lit I. INTRODUCTION After fifteen years of negotiations, China was finally admit- ted into the WTO.' The wolf has come, refers to the impending challenges brought by the entry into the WTO. Some Chinese worried, Will we be able to 'dance with the wolf' or be eaten alive by it instead? ' 2 The sentiment was particularly strong among China's intellectual property ( IP ) industries because these industries are still relatively young and vulnerable to face fierce international competition, where, after the entry into WTO, intellectual property has become a major element of the competition and in which IP protection level has been elevated t Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Law, the University of Hong Kong. The author is grateful to Professors John Barton and Jonathan Greenberg for their valu- able comments during the writing of this article. . The author also acknowledges research assistance of Mr. Wan Shiu-man and the financial support of the University of Hong Kong. The completion and publication of this article will not be possible without the unconditional love and support of my husband, Xinyuan, my daughter, Grace, and my in-laws, Mr. and Mrs. Guan. 1. China signed the Protocol of WTO Accession on November 11, 2001 in Doha, and became a full member of the WTO on December 11, 2001. China (or former Republic of China) was a signatory to the original GATT (General Agree- ment on Tariffs and Trade) treaties, but withdrew its membership after the Chinese Communist Party took the power from the Nationalist government in 1949. In 1986 China submitted an application to resume its membership, but was admitted only 15 years later. 2. The fear of the wolf comes from Chinese folklore, probably based on one of Aesop's Fables, in which a young boy was eaten alive by a wolf when he called out the wolf had come, but no villagers showed up because they stopped believing him after he played several tricks on them with false alarms. An article by Bao Jinhu pointed out that, after entering into the WTO, Chinese enterprises should have a global strategy so that they can dance with the wolf and not to be eaten by the wolf, and eventually share with the wolf in global profits. See Pao Jinhu, Playing 'Legal Cards' after the Entry of the WTO, CHINA Bus. & FIN. TIMES, June 25, 2001.