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Serving
Students at
Santa Ana
College and
Santiago
Canyon College
CHINA
Business Tips
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Meetings
Before
traveling to China establish appropriate business contacts. The U.S.
Department of Commerce/East Asia and Pacific Office can assist in arranging
appointments with local Chinese business and government officials and can
identify importers, buyers, agents, distributors, and joint venture partners.
The best
times to schedule business trips are April to June and September to October.
Do not plan business trips during the Chinese New Year, since many businesses
close for a week before and after the festival. The date of the New
Year varies from late January to mid February according to the lunar calendar.
Be very
specific on times and dates for appointments, and contracts. Written
Chinese does not have verb tenses. Therefore, one sentence can be
translated into the past, present, and future tense. Time frames
can only be determined by the context of the sentence, or by time indicators
like tomorrow and now.
Despite
the immense size of the country, it has only one time zone.
Business
Hours
Business
and government hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
However, a five day workweek is evident in some large cities.
Shopping
hours are 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. daily. Most stores in Shanghai stay
open until 10:00 p.m.
Between
noon and 2:00 p.m. everyone takes a break. Everything stops, including
manually operated elevators and switchboards.
Banquets
generally start between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m. and end by 9:00 pm. Guests
arrive on time or a little early; the hosts often arrive about thirty minutes
early.
Business
Lunches / Dinner
Evening
banquets are to be expected but business lunches have become more popular;
it is customary to return the favor. It is important to reciprocate
at the same price per person as your Chinese host spent at your banquet,
but not more. It is customary for the host to begin to eat
or drink before the guests do. Business is not generally discussed
during a meal.
Negotiating
It is
common for the Chinese to supply an interpreter. However, it is best
to bring your own interpreter as well to help you understand nuances in
the discussion. Avoid slang or jargon, especially figures of speech
from sports, use short, simple sentences, and pause to determine if the
listener understood the message.
Presentations
are generally made to many different groups at different levels.
Bring copies of your proposal to make available for distribution; copiers
are not always available. Make copies in black ink on white
paper; colors have important significance for the Chinese. The Chinese
do not stop negotiating, may negotiate well beyond deadlines to gain
an advantage, and even continue to negotiate after the contract is signed.
The Chinese will investigate your ability to deliver, be honest with timelines.
Expect
to make several trips to China before negotiations are final. The
Chinese businessperson may consult the stars for an appropriate time
to close a transaction. Be patient, expect delays, show little emotion,
and do not talk about deadlines. A strong relationship must be established
before business is conducted.
Bring
business cards with a translation printed (in Mandarin Chinese) on the
reverse side. Gold ink is the most prestigious color for the Chinese
side. Do not store a person's card in a back pocket.
It is
customary when entering a business meeting for the highest ranking person
of the group to enter first. The Chinese expect the business conversation
to be conducted by the senior officials of each side; lower ranking individuals
do not interrupt. At the conclusion of a meeting, leave before the
Chinese.
The Chinese
appreciate visitors who demonstrate an interest in their culture end history.
Research all aspects of China before arriving.
Relocating
management-level employees to Shanghai is expensive ($200,00 to $300,000
a year). Employees and his or her family need to be prepared for
the cultural differences.
Metric
weights and measures are used in addition to some old Chinese measures.
Economy
GDP/PPP
(1999 est.): $4.8 trillion; per capita $3,800.
Growth:
7%. Inflation: –1.3%.
Unemployment:
Urban
unemployment roughly 10%; substantial unemployment and underemployment
in rural areas.
Arable
land: 10%.
Agriculture:
Rice,
wheat, potatoes, sorghum, peanuts, tea, millet, barley, cotton, oilseed;
pork; fish.
Natural
Resources:
Coal,
iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese,
molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, hydropower
potential (world's largest).
Labor:
700 million (1998 est.)
Agriculture,
50%; industry, 24%; services, 26% (1998).
Industries:
Iron
and steel, coal, machine building, armaments, textiles and apparel,
petroleum, cement, chemical fertilizers, footwear, toys, food processing,
automobiles, consumer electronics, telecommunications.
Exports:
$194.9 billion (f.o.b., 1999)
Machinery
and equipment; textiles and clothing, footwear, toys and sporting goods;
mineral fuels, chemicals.
Imports:
$165.8
billion (c.i.f., 1999)
Machinery
and equipment, plastics, chemicals, iron and steel, mineral fuels.
Major
Trading Partners:
U.S.,
Hong Kong, Japan, Germany, South Korea, Netherlands, U.K., Singapore,
Taiwan, Russia.
Links
to More Information
Business & Travel
Etiquette China
Business Women
Dress
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