Although the Yuan case is extreme in that hits on business associates are not a common occurrence, business corruption is rampant in China -- costing foreign multinationals millions of dollars a year in losses. Yuan's execution was meant to send a message to business leaders throughout the country that no person is above the law, but whether it will end such common practices as theft, extortion and kickbacks is highly doubtful.

Born into poverty in rural Liaoning province, Yuan began his empire in 1992 with the creation of the Jianhao Group, an investment firm that netted almost a quarter million dollars in its first six months of operation. In 1994, Yuan began acquiring various companies, and by 1996 his assets exceeded $362 million.

Yuan claimed that his friend and business associate Liu Han engaged in under-the-table dealings with a stockbroker in Sichuan province in 1996, costing the Jianhao Group more than $10 million. As a result, Yuan and his brother Yuan Baoqi paid then-police officer Wang Xing $19,300 to kill Liu. Wang then proceeded to subcontract the job to Li Haiyang, who in February 1997 followed Liu into a Sichuan hotel and fired two shots at him, missing both times. Li was later arrested and jailed for life.

Shortly after the failed hit, Wang began blackmailing Yuan, threatening to expose the murder plot if he was not paid hush money. The Yuan brothers then paid their cousins Yuan Baofu and Yuan Baosen some $37,000 to kill Wang. In November 2001 the two cousins ambushed Wang and stabbed him repeatedly but failed to kill him. Wang, unfazed by the attempt on his life, continued to blackmail Yuan. In October 2003 the cousins followed Wang to his house and killed him with a hunting rifle.

The government, which learned of Yuan Baojing's involvement during the investigation into the Wang homicide, convicted Yuan on charges of "intentional murder" in January 2005 and set October for his lethal injection. Yuan, however, essentially bought a stay of execution at the eleventh hour when his wife offered to "donate" some $622 million to the state. The decision was overturned March 17 and Yuan was promptly executed.

Conspiracy to commit murder is not high on the list of crimes against businesspeople in China, but multinationals often confront other manifestations of the dark side of Chinese business. Despite their efforts to combat internal corruption by hiring potential whistle-blowers such as foreign Chinese-speaking workers or "undercover" native Chinese workers, the multinationals have had only moderate success.

The rewards for operating businesses in China can be great -- but so too are the risks.