Advertising is an art more to be practiced than theorized. For my extra-curricular practice, I worked part-time for the WuHan Silver-Horse Advertising Corporation, an advertising agency which enjoys very prestigious reputation in and around WuHan. After being subjected to the most rigorous screening test, I was recruited as one of the five undergraduate students from my university and worked on several projects under the direct leadership of the chief supervisor of the Planning Department. On account of my distinctive notion and original creativity, my design for an advertisement for an automobile maintenance center was adopted, a fact which adequately evinces my professional qualities and tremendous potential. Later, with strong recommendations from my teacher, I worked at a medium-size advertising company in Beijing, responsible for the advertising agent business in the magazine Global Weekly. With the company's support, I participated in a number of designing contests ranging from the 10th Golden Calf Advertising Contest sponsored by the Taiwan's China Times, the 2nd Academy Advertising Competition sponsored by China Advertising Association to the Annual CAC Public Welfare Advertising Competition sponsored by the publishing house of International Advertising Magazine. My participation in those events not only brought me important awards but also enabled me to derive much professional knowledge from the exchange and cooperation with other staff, apart from enhancing my hands-on ability and practical problem-solving skills.

I took part consecutively in two authoritative Competitions for Young Advertisers, which aroused my attention to the discrepancies in the advertising level and the advertising consciousness between Taiwan and mainland China as well as the disparity in the advertising management. In order to call the serious attention of China's advertising industry to those problems, I published a full-length academic paper entitled On the Eve of WTO Accession: A Perspective on the Present Conditions of Advertising Management on Mainland China on the website of China Advertising Communication and Research (this website is launched by XiaMen University, the first university in China to have established an Advertising Department and which enjoys a very high academic prestige).

Historically speaking, China's advertising industry can only be described as underdeveloped compared with that of the advanced Western countrie

s. Although China's advertising industry is achieving remarkable development around the turn of the century, challenges and obstacles are equally serious. For instance, the relationship between the client, the media and the advertising company has not been properly established. The advertising agent system and the relevant legal regulations of advertising are not fully developed. The awareness of self-discipline is weak within this profession and a sound system of social supervision over unlawful advertising practices is lacking.

With China's immediate accession into WTO, China's overall advertising industry will face severe challenges presented by major international advertising agencies. On the other hand, China promises a bright and alluring prospect in advertising industry as China has the largest advertising market among the developing countries. The profit of the advertising industry maintains an annual growth rate of 39.73. Such a growth momentum is sufficient to indicate the tremendous dimension and the exciting prospect of China's future advertising industry. This situation necessarily calls for the emergence of a large number of highly qualified advertising professionals, especially those who can incorporate both their intimate knowledge of China's domestic advertising market and international advertising background.joozone.com