The following notes are from a presentation on Doing Business in China by Mikel G. Edwards. These notes like much of the material in the Managers' Forum is provided to stimulate thinking and should not be taken as absolute in every case. Doing business in China on a day to day basis requires the nurturing of quality relationships with your business counterparts. This will remain far more important that a set of static rules. If you find the following of interest please let us know by clicking on the "Contact Us!" here or at the end of this file.Notes from the conference on
Greater China Economy: 21st Century Challenges and Opportunities
Radisson Hotel - Downtown St. Louis, Missouri
Golden Rules for China
1. Everything is possible.
2. Nothing is easy.
3. Western business logic does not apply.
4. It is a fun project if there is no deadline.
5. You must persist - things will come your way eventually.
6. Patience is the essence of success.
7. You don't know China means they disagree.
8. New regulation means they found a new way to avoid doing something.
9. Internal regulation means they are mad at you.
10. Basically no problem means there is a big problem.
11. When you are optimistic, remember rule #2.
12. When discouraged, remember rule #1.
ASKING QUESTIONS IN CHINA
Americans are naturally inquisitive. We like to ask direct questions. We like to get to the point quickly. Our questions usually demand specific answers.
Chinese, on the other hand, do not appreciate this line of questioning. They prefer to speak in generalities. They will rarely provide details to your questions until they get to know you quite well.
Consequently, there is a seven-rule strategy to asking questions in a Chinese manner. This is often frustrating for Americans, but failure to do so will result in your questions going unanswered.
Rule One: Wait until the Chinese speaker has completed his or her presentation to ask questions. It is considered rude to interrupt during the presentation itself.
Rule Two: Before your meeting or interview, pick your topics of conversation carefully. Identify the major issues the meeting is to address. Make sure your questions are within the scope of your host's duties.
Without such advance preparation, you may waste your time asking questions that fall outside the sphere of competence of your Chinese hosts. It makes little sense, for example, to ask a provincial governor for his views on U.S.-China relations, or an official of the Foreign Ministry for an explanation of China's new agricultural policy.
In short, the more preparation you have put into your meetings, the better answers you will be able to receive. Spontaneity may have its virtues, but failure to prepare in advance is costly on a visit to China. Don't try to wing it.
Rule Three: For commercial discussions, it is best to have an agenda of specific questions that permit a focus on each item in any transaction or project. Pursue this single line of questioning for a respectable period of time, responding to each answer with a carefully selected follow-up question. This will enable you to move beyond the necessarily general reply to your first question, and allow you to gain a deeper and fuller understanding of how the Chinese view the issue at hand. It may seem preferable at first to ask about as many different subjects as time permits. But such a "scatter shot" approach will give you a superficial understanding of many topics, and a deep understanding of none. The key is to focus on a limited number of topics in any given meeting or interview.
Rule Four: Don't forget that, in most situations in China, you will be speaking through an interpreter. This may be true even when your Chinese interlocutor speaks some English. The use of even a highly qualified interpreter introduces some artificiality and awkwardness into your conversations with your Chinese hosts, and thus can prevent you from taking the greatest advantage of your opportunities to ask questions in China.
The process of consecutive translation (it is very unlikely that you will encounter simultaneous translation on your trip to China) reduces the amount of time available for substantive discussion by about half. Each question must be translated into Chinese; each answer must be translated back into English. Thus, what appears at first glance to be an hour-long meeting will actually become a thirty-minute session once the time allotted to translation is discounted. This makes it all the more important to carefully consider which subjects you want to explore and what questions you want to ask.
Don't overestimate the interpreter. Speak slowly and enunciate as clearly as you can. Speak in complete sentences, rather than in phrases and clauses, and use simple syntax, rather than more complicated constructions. Avoid culture-bound slang. Avoid asking convoluted questions (like, "What would you have done if this year's harvest had not been so abundant?") because they are extremely difficult even for the most seasoned interpreters to translate into Chinese.
Make sure that the interpreter has finished translating the answer to your question before asking another one. It is just as impolite to interrupt the interpreter as it would be to interrupt the person who actually answered the question. It is also rude, by the way, to talk when the interpreter is translating your question into Chinese, or when your Chinese host is answering your question in Chinese.
When asking a question, don't look at the interpreter, but at the person to whom you are directing the question. The conversation is not, after all, between you and the interpreter, but between you and your Chinese host.
Understand that the process of interpretation may be responsible for some of the misunderstandings and frustrations that often develop during a visit to China. What may appear to be incomplete answers to your questions may be the result of poor translation, or a difficulty in understanding the intent of your queries, rather than a deliberate attempt to conceal the truth.
Rule Five: Chinese are more comfortable in discussing generalities than specifics, the normal and customary rather than the unusual or the deviant, and instances of unity and harmony rather than cases of conflict or disagreement. But it is precisely these latter subjects that Americans like to ask questions about. As a result, questions that seem very natural for Americans--"What, specifically, is the tax rate on this commodity?" or "What do you do if someone refuses to pay his utility bill?"--often strike Chinese as being somewhat embarrassing or presumptuous. This is not to say that Americans should avoid asking these kinds of questions. But you should understand that these cultural predispositions may pose a significant obstacle to obtaining completely satisfying answers to your questions.
Because of these considerations, Americans are often skeptical about what they hear in China. In many ways, this is a healthy phenomenon. But the skepticism that often develops during a visit to China should be tempered by awareness that differences in cultural norms and political systems may be responsible for answers that strike Americans as being less than completely forthcoming. Thus, it is usually better not to express your skepticism openly, except in the extremely rare situations that you suspect a patent attempt to be misleading or untruthful.
Typically, Americans follow a line of questioning as follows: who, what, why, where, when, and how. This proceeds from the specific to the general.
Because Chinese prefer keeping discussions in generalities, they will move to the specifics only after they get to know you better. Consequently, a line of questions that puts Chinese at ease and gradually results in answers to your satisfaction is as following: what, when, where, how, why, and who.
Rule Six: Requests for explanations and clarifications are best done privately, rather than in front of your Chinese hosts. This prevents your host from being publicly embarrassed if he does not know the answer, which is often the case.
Rule Seven: Americans typically assume that Chinese are quite knowledgeable about what is possible in their country. The reverse is often true. Chinese will provide an answer, if an incorrect one, rather than suffer the loss of face that comes with the lack of information.
Consequently, it is best to repeat a question with as many different Chinese as possible, again doing so privately as specified in Rule Six.
