Walk into Hanfeng Evergreen Inc.'s fertilizer factory in Shanghai and you could easily conclude this is the quintessential Chinese company.

Hanfeng earns all its revenue in China. All but six of its 110 employees live in China, including 40 who reside on the third floor of the factory -- a common living arrangement in this country.

Its founder, chairman and chief executive officer, 52-year-old Xinduo Yu, is a former Chinese bureaucrat who does not speak English.

Yet Mr. Yu is adamant about the patrimony of his landscaping and fertilizer firm. "We are a Canadian company," he says firmly, speaking through an interpreter in his sparse Shanghai boardroom. In fact, Hanfeng is a model for the future, a new kind of trans-Pacific company that presents two faces to the world: Its operational leadership and revenue are Chinese, but its Toronto Stock Exchange listing, corporate headquarters and most of its directors are as Canadian as maple syrup.

Hanfeng is also an antidote to the overwhelming evidence that too many Canadian companies have missed the boat in China. It proves there are some interesting and original models that might point the way for approaching China.

Yet the sad reality is that many Canadian firms have stayed out, or moved too slowly, because they were overwhelmed by China's size, its foreignness, or the risks of intellectual piracy. The typical small to medium-sized firm worries that overcoming these challenges would prove too much of a distraction.

Contrast this timidity with the relative boldness of some old China hands, Power Corp. of Canada, Nortel Networks Corp., and SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., which moved into this market 20 to 30 years ago. They are now reaping the benefits of being part of the Chinese fabric.

Yet size does not tell the whole story. The slow movers also include some of Canada's signature firms, including major banks, some giant auto parts manufacturers, and McCain Foods Ltd., whose French fries constitute Canada's most recognized consumer brand.

These companies are making their bets now on China, but long after their global rivals established big imprints.