Practical Tips on Doing Business in China

By James Chan, Ph.D.
President

Asia Marketing and Management
2014 Naudain Street
Philadelphia, PA 19146-1317

E-mail: asiamark@pipeline.com
URL: www.asiamarketingmanagement.com

About the author: James Chan, Ph.D., is president of Asia Marketing and Management (AMM), an international business consulting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Chan has 20 years of hands-on experience helping more than 100 Western publishers, professional associations, and manufacturers do business in China and other Asian countries. Dr. Chan also is the author of the book, Spare Room Tycoon: Succeeding Independently, The 70 Lessons of Sane Self Employment (www.SpareRoomTycoon.com.) To view AMM's profile online, go to: www.asiamarketingmanagement.com.

Americans traveling in China would find the following practical tips useful in making friends and influencing people there.

1. Respect their business cards.

The Chinese place a great deal of emphasis on the formality of exchanging business cards the moment they meet one another.

When the Chinese give us their cards, they often present them with both hands. To be courteous, we should take them with both hands. Never put the card away immediately in your wallet or briefcase. Rather, place the card on the table or hold it in your hand for some time.

The Chinese are very status-conscious. One reason for them to give you a card is to tell you who they are. Make an effort to look at the person's title. The Chinese consider exchanging business cards the same way we consider a handshake.

Make sure that you have plenty of business cards before you go to China. It is advisable to have your name translated into Chinese. Ask a Chinese-speaking friend or colleague to help you. Print your title in Chinese so that they know where you stand in your organization.

2. Smile. Don't look stern.

A smile is a common means of communication in China, especially among strangers. The Chinese see smile as a gesture of interest. Wearing a stern face when you meet someone will give the impression that you lack interest.

The Chinese love to smile. They often use smiles as a defense mechanism. When they don't know what to do with you, they smile. They smile when they're nervous or uncomfortable. They smile when they feel embarrassed. The Chinese giggle a lot too. In America, giggling is not a proper behavior. In China, it is practiced by people at all social levels.

In essence, a smile is not a sign of weakness. Don't look too serious. You may get off on the wrong foot if you look too serious.

3. Talk metric.

For technical professionals, it is important to be conversant in metric measurements, instead of expressing them only in English units. Convert your charts, tables, data and presentations in both English and metric units. Your audience will appreciate and understand you better this way.

4. Don't expect much eye contact.

We in America expect steady eye contact when we talk with people. This is a norm we consider basic and essential. But it is not the case among the Chinese.

For the Chinese, a lack of steady eye contact is not an indication of lack of attention or respect. On the contrary, because of the more authoritarian nature of the Chinese society, steady eye contact is viewed as inappropriate, especially when subordinates talk with their superiors.

Chinese students are not brought up to maintain constant eye contact with their teachers. Eye contact is sometimes viewed as a gesture of challenge or defiance. When people get angry, they tend to maintain steady eye contact. Otherwise, they keep talking looking elsewhere or nonchalant.

5. Make friends first, do business later.

Americans pride themselves to be straight-shooters. We like to cut to the chase and save each other's time. We don't have all day to beat around the bush. This is not the Chinese way at all.

The Chinese like small talk and pleasantries. They want to learn more about you. Initial meetings are rarely expected to produce results. One salesman took seven trips before he convinced a retailer to accept to carry his merchandise. A chief engineer of the Three Gorges Dam told the senior manager of an American company that he should make friends, and then do business later.

Chinese sales people routinely wine and dine prospects before they sit down to talk terms. Don't go right into what you want in an initial meeting. Allow small talk and pleasantries. Let people feel "connected" with you.

6. Speak slowly

Americans have an advantage because English is the international language of commerce. It is hard for us to understand that non-English speaking people struggle to learn English in order to do business with us. With this in mind, we should at least make it easy for them to understand us.

Some people like to speak fast. The result is that they lose their audience. It does not matter how superb your ideas are if you cannot convey them in ways the Chinese can understand.

The Chinese do not have the habit of asking people to repeat themselves. They think this would be impolite. If they don't understand you, they will just sit there looking like they do and letting your thoughts and ideas pass them by. It is critical that you speak slowly.

The same is true with translators. If you speak too fast, the translator will ignore translating those segments they didn't understand. Chinese translators seldom ask you to repeat yourself. They may be too shy to do so. Also, asking for clarification may indicate lack of expertise and people don't want to lose face in doing that.

7. Let people save "face", especially in public.

The behavior that irks the Chinese the most is the insistent manner in which we probe into their affairs. We can understand why we want all the answers, since we're traveled so far to go to China to find out the truth. We naturally want to know everything we possibly can.

But the Chinese are not used to revealing much about their company operations, especially in public seminars or meetings. Chinese employees are never taught, or even allowed, to exhibit individuality. Few people volunteer to divulge much information, particularly if the employees are not sure whether or not the boss will allow such information to be shared with Westerners.

If someone is vague about a particular issue, or unwilling or unable to give a straight answer, don't force the issue. Avoid forcing people to tell an unpleasant truth in public against their will. That will create instant animosity.

8. Arrange one-on-one meetings.

Chinese people tend not to express what they have in mind in public. On the contrary, when they are alone without their colleagues or other people around, they are just as direct, straight-forward, and free to speak their minds as we are.

Talk to people privately on a one-to-one basis; and you'll get a better picture of what is going on in your business. This is an essential skill in communicating with the Chinese.

Over the last 20 years, I have learned to do my sales pitch and make my presentations in front of large Chinese audiences and don't expect them to ask difficult questions or volunteer much information. I will, however, stay a little longer. Invariably, a few people will come up to me after a public presentation. They will want to schedule a private meeting with us. Those meetings are the most informative and fruitful of all.

9. Avoid being too casual.

Americans are really very casual people. We believe that we don't have a class-conscious society. We also believe that we don't place too much emphasis on social status. This may be the case in America but it is definitely not so in China.

We call people whom we don't know very well by their first names. CEOs and workers may address each other as if they were on equal footing. While this is acceptable among many people, it is not considered good manners in China.

Avoid calling your Chinese contacts by their first names. Always be formal in addressing people-that is the safe thing and the only right thing to do. Only childhood friends and spouses will call one another by their first names in China. So when you start calling someone you don't know very well by his/her first name, the hearer finds it uneasy, embarrassing and gauche.

10. Let them smoke.

You may dislike smoking or cannot stand it. But many Chinese smoke and consider smoking, usually among men, the right thing to do in a business environment. They will offer you a cigarette. Simply decline and thank them. But don't lecture on how smoking is bad for them. If you allow them to smoke, you'll make them listen to you longer.

I've learned to not meet people in my hotel room, so that I can still go to sleep without feeling that I'll turn into a ham hock. Try to meet people in a public, well-ventilated place so that they can smoke until their hearts are content.

11. Don't take their saying "yes" literally to mean affirmative

Chinese people have a habit of saying yes to show that they are paying attention to you or that they are following what you say. In such a context, the word "yes" does not mean that they agree with what you say or that they agree with your terms.

12. Watch your language

Many Chinese who speak and read English learn the language in an academic environment. Even their teachers may not have living and working experiences in America or in the West. As a result, they will not be aware of colloquialisms or figures of speech that we take for granted.

I've seen "Love Canal" translated as "sex virology." An article on negotiation skills contain the phrase "football field" when in fact the English original talks about "level playing field." To avoid these pitfalls, it is important for someone who has living and working experience in the United States to go over your translations.

13. Avoid white colors

White is the color of mourning in the Chinese tradition. People in packaging should avoid too much white background. Red is the preferred color. It suggests power, prosperity and authority.

Avoid giving a green-color hat to a Chinese man. Wearing a "green hat" in Chinese means that someone's wife is being unfaithful and it is a shameful thing for the man to admit it in public.

14. Never give a Chinese person a clock

The phrase "to give a clock" is to attend someone's funeral. Avoid giving people clocks as gifts.

15. Chinese superstitions and numbers

Many Chinese people are superstitious about numbers. The number 4 in Chinese rhymes with "death" or "failure." Many people try very hard to not have their house numbers or telephone numbers to contain the numeral 4. And the number 14 is worse. The Chinese for 14 rhymes with "sure to fail, sure to die."

The numbers 3 and 8 are good numbers. The number 3 in Chinese rhymes with "growth," which is therefore very welcome to business people. The number 8 rhymes with the Chinese word for "prosperity." The number 168 reads in Chinese to sound like "forever prosperous," a definite crowd pleaser. It is not an accident that the telephone number of the Hyatt Hotel in China is: 888-8888.