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Through the
Wall
A
cross-cultural guide to doing business in
China
By
David M
Lenard (Jun
'06) |
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Dining
One of the great pleasures of
visiting or living in China is Chinese food, one
of the world's great cuisines.
The variety
of dishes in China is absolutely staggering;
within the four major regional cuisines of
Cantonese, Sichuanese, Shanghainese and north
China cuisine, there are countless local and
regional variations, and even dishes that are not
really Han Chinese at all, such
as paomo from Shaanxi province, a
mutton soup that originates in Muslim Central
Asia.
First-time
visitors, however, should be warned that the food will
be drastically different from what they expect;
for example, Chinese food in North America bears almost no resemblance
to that in China - in the US, "Chinese" food
is in essence Cantonese food filtered through such
Chinese-American creations as "fortune cookies"
(which are unknown in China) and adapted to American tastes,
for example by having more fried items. This
is equally true in other countries; Chinese food
in South Korea, for example, is also distinct from
that in China.
When
selecting dishes, be aware that Chinese have
priorities other than flavor - many foods (in fact
most) are considered to have various health
benefits. Also, there is a tendency to serve
foreigners expensive, rare dishes (to gain face
for the host) rather than tasty ones - so if you
don't want the shark's fin soup, fried scorpions,
etc, but would rather have simpler dishes, say so
emphatically.
Ordering
dishes tends to take a long time and to be
conducted with a great deal of energetic
discussion - this reflects the great importance
attached to food in the Chinese culture, as does
the use of a phrase meaning "Have you eaten yet?"
as an ordinary greeting. When eating in groups
(which the gregarious Chinese prefer), the normal
practice is to order multiple dishes and then
share them. Sometimes, rice will be served after
other dishes rather than alongside them; if you
want rice with the other dishes, make sure to
specify this.
Table rituals have their own
distinctive characteristics. Chopsticks are de
rigeur and will often
be the only eating utensils provided, so 
some
facility with them is recommended (developing this
skill is not only practical but also a relatively
easy way to impress your Chinese hosts). For
visitors who cannot use the sticks, ordering soup
will result in a spoon being presented that can
suffice instead. Sometimes, your host might put
morsels of food on your plate with his or her own
chopsticks rather than a serving spoon; this is a
normal practice, part of being a good host. If you
don't want food served in this way, just leave it
on your plate.
In southern China, before
using one's chopsticks, it is customary to wash
them with hot tea - this has a sterilizing effect,
which is quite important since they not
infrequently will have been washed with
non-potable water.
One chopstick-related taboo is
worth noting here: sticking the chopsticks upright
in a bowl of rice is not likely to go over well,
as this is the way ceremonial rice bowls are
presented at funerals.
Regarding
condiments, do not drench everything with soy
sauce - not all dishes are supposed to taste like
soy, and it overwhelms the flavor of more subtle
sauces. Also, salt and pepper are not usually
available at the table; if you want them, be
prepared either to carry small shakers around with
you, or ask for them at every single meal.
Another item often not
available is ice - China is a hot-beverage culture
and tea is the default beverage selection, the way
ice water is at North
American restaurants.
Chinese tea is
a vast subject in itself; it is analogous to wine
in Europe in that it comes in countless varieties,
which have many rituals and beliefs associated
with their production and consumption. Many
Chinese teas have a flavor that is quite remote
from the taste Westerners associate with the word
"tea" (which, incidentally, is a Chinese loan
word, of the Fujian dialect). It is generally not
bagged; rather, the leaves are mixed freely with
hot water - consuming them is not harmful, but
they are usually left at the bottom of the cup.
Also, sweetening Chinese tea is not normally done,
though there are exotic specialty teas that
include rock sugar in the mix.
Another note on
drinks: in Guangdong, it is polite to knock
lightly on the table with your index and middle
finger when served a drink.
Alcoholic
beverages are certainly well known in China, which
has become the world's largest beer market, and
the country manufactures plenty of potent spirits.
As in other Asian countries, business banquets can
feature heavy drinking, especially if the most
senior person present is a big drinker. This can
actually be a good way to cement business
relationships by becoming "one of the boys", but
if you prefer to limit your alcohol consumption,
use a medical excuse - otherwise, you may find
yourself expected to repeat a night of heavy
drinking on a regular basis.
At the end of the meal, avoid
"cleaning your plate" - if you do, your Chinese
host may feel obligated to order more dishes -
this is because eating everything in front of you
can be construed as an unspoken, insulting message
to your host that he did not order enough
food.
A great way to
lose face in China is to fail to reciprocate
dining invitations - your Chinese counterparts
will inevitably wine and dine you, and you should
do the same for them now and again. Splitting
the bill is almost unknown; typically, you will
be invited out by Chinese counterparts first, but
you are expected to return the favor at some
later date. Doing so is a very effective way to
promote goodwill and maintain your guanxi.
Health
The level
of public health in China is quite good given
the country's level of economic development, although
the health-care system is going through a difficult
and incomplete transition from a pure
government-subsidized system to a partially
privatized model with limited public health
insurance. Nevertheless, there are significant
health issues to be aware of, the most obvious
being poor air and water quality and the presence
of certain infectious diseases.
The air quality in China is
truly heinous - among the worst of any nation in
recorded history - and the water isn't much
better. These problems reflect rapid
industrialization, population pressure, a lack of
public environmental consciousness (although this
is changing rapidly), and a dependence on burning
low-quality coal for energy.
Obviously,
one has to breathe the air, but it is wise to pay
heed to the occasional warnings issued when the
air is particularly dire (on the State
Environmental Protection Administration scale,
Level I is the best and Level V is the worst;
anything over Level II is not good), and stay
indoors. Riding a motorcycle in a Chinese city is
an excellent way to scoop up both germs and toxic
dust - wear a good-quality dust mask, as
Chinese motorcyclists (and even many pedestrians)
do.
The often unsafe
water is a major reason for China
being, as mentioned already, a hot-beverage
culture. Most offices, hotels and public buildings
will have a boiled-water decanter for general
use; water can be dispensed into thermos containers
as needed for making tea, cooking, brushing
teeth, etc. Bottled water is widely available
and generally of adequate quality - though one should
be wary of no-name brands in remote areas.
To guard against infectious
diseases, it is advisable to get immunizations up
to date before going to China; long-term residents
will be required to get a health checkup on
arrival, which may include some immunizations, but
this may not include all the shots available in
the West. The hepatitis A vaccine (Havrix) is
particularly recommended, since hepatitis A is
endemic in China, as in much of Asia.
Tuberculosis is also fairly common in cities
(along with many other respiratory diseases due to
the low air quality), and sexually transmitted diseases are
once again becoming common (after being almost
wiped out post-1949). Recently, there has
been a lot of publicity about bird flu and
severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS); neither is, at present,
likely to threaten the average business traveler,
but check the latest health news before departure,
and it is probably best to avoid wild-animal and
poultry markets.
Travelers' insurance is a
good idea, particularly with an evacuation option
(evacuation to the United States, for
example, without insurance can cost as much
as US$50,000). In the event evacuation is
needed, Hong Kong is much cheaper to get to than
American or Europe and offers very
high-quality care. Shanghai and Beijing now offer
quite good high-end, foreign-invested hospitals -
for all but the most demanding procedures these
should be adequate.
SOS International Ltd offers emergency
services in China; see www.intsos.com, or call
(10)6462-9100 from anywhere in mainland China. For
a listing of mostly public hospitals, by province,
click here.
Housing
A wide variety of housing
options now exist. As in most Asian countries,
serviced apartment complexes and "foreign
compounds" (gated communities with Western-style
houses) are the option of choice for those with
the budget for it (or those whose housing costs
are paid by their employers).
Renting apartments
on the local market is possible, although
long-term hotel stays are much easier to arrange.
Many universities in China have apartments for
foreigners; these are a low-cost option for
medium-term stays.
The property market in
coastal cities such as Shanghai has been booming
for many years; inevitably, this has pushed up
housing prices or, to look at it another way, pushed
down the amount of floor space that can be obtained
for a given amount of money. In the less
developed inland regions, costs are lower, but so are the
quality of construction and degree of familiarity
with foreigners' needs.
Introductions
Having a supply of name cards
is very highly recommended; these should have a
company logo and be professionally printed on
good-quality paper stock. Many business cards in
China have a Chinese version of the information on
the reverse side; this is an excellent idea, since
the English competency of the recipient may be
limited. Cards like this can be made in Hong Kong
or elsewhere (or even at certain hotels in China).
At any official
introduction, be prepared to hand out your card;
give it to the recipient with both hands. When
receiving a proffered card, accept it with both
hands, and study it carefully - act impressed.
In mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan,
handshakes are now the standard greeting. These
tend to be accompanied by a slight bow, but bowing
is not really a concern in modern China, in contrast
to, say, Japan or Korea.
When two
delegations are meeting, participants should be
introduced by descending order of seniority.
International firms should be aware that female
staff may not be accorded the respect thought
proper in the West; although China's policies
toward women are officially very progressive
(comparing quite favorably with some other East
Asian states), and many female cadres exist, as in
most of the world, there is a long history of
sexism beneath the surface.
Regarding names and forms of
address: the surname (family name) is normally
given first, followed by two syllables (sometimes
one) denoting the given name of the individual.
For example, with "Deng Xiaoping", Deng is the
family name, and his given name is Xiaoping - in
Chinese script, these three syllables would be
rendered with three characters.
When
addressing a Chinese person, the safest, most
polite form is title + surname, for example Doctor
Wang. Using Mr, Mrs or Miss is usually
appropriate, however. While there is a very
elaborate system of Chinese titles, Westerners
would not normally be expected to use these, and
there can be pitfalls in doing so. For example,
Taitai is the Mandarin counterpart of
Mrs, although it follows the husband's name rather
than preceding it, eg, "Li Taitai" would be the
way to address Mr Li's wife formally. But this
formulation is not universally used; many
professional Chinese women (perhaps most) retain
their maiden names at work.
One rule that is
generally valid: when in doubt, err in the
direction of greater formality, as this is
unlikely to cause offense.
Language
In spoken form, there is no
such language as "Chinese"; there are hundreds of
Chinese languages and dialects, ie, tongues
belonging to the Sinitic branch of the
Sino-Tibetan language family. Some dialects
are limited to small regions of a province or even
single towns.
The most
important languages/dialects
are Mandarin (often called
Putonghua, which is basically the
Beijing dialect), Cantonese (Yuehwa, the
language of the southern province
of Guangdong, used in Hong Kong, in Macau and
by many overseas Chinese communities),
Shanghainese (Shanghaihua), and Fujianese
(Minnanhua
). Though all
the Sinitic languages are related, the
differences between them are very considerable.
For example, Mandarin is as different from
Cantonese as French is different from German.
As well, several non-Sinitic
tongues are used by significant minorities within China.
Two of the most important of these
are Tibetan (a member of the Tibeto-Burman branch
of Sino-Tibetan) and Uighur, which is a
Turkic language.
In terms of diversity and linguistic
relationships, the analogy of Han Chinese
dialects to European languages is fairly close,
but there is one key difference: unlike European
languages, where the same statement would appear
drastically different if written in different
tongues, the same statement in, say, Cantonese
and Mandarin would appear very similar when
written in Chinese characters, with just small
differences. In reality, this understates the
degree of similarity. Partly because of government
policy (both mainland China and Taiwan promote
Mandarin as the official language), and partly
because there has never been much of a tradition
of writing down Chinese languages other than
Mandarin (Cantonese is an arguable exception),
over time, the written language has come to be
synonymous with Mandarin alone.
Clearly, Mandarin is the one
that rules them all, and it is certainly the only
Chinese language that most foreigners will
ever need to use. So what kind of language is it?
The most important thing to
know about spoken Putonghua
is that it, like other
Chinese dialects, is tonal - ie, the pitch inflection
placed on a word alters its meaning. To use
the classic example, the single syllable "ma" can
mean "mother", "horse", "numb", "hemp" or "to scold"
depending on how it is inflected. Since no Indo-European
language uses tone in this way (many important
Asian languages, such as Japanese and
Korean, don't either), tonality is the most
difficult aspect of using Mandarin for most
foreigners. Fortunately, Mandarin only has four
tones (not including the neutral tone), making the
challenge of mastering tones far more manageable
than for some other dialects that have more.
Furthermore, anyone contemplating learning
Mandarin should realize that they confront
basically two separate problems:
speaking/listening on the one hand, and
reading/writing on the other. Although with many
European languages the latter is easier than the
former, with Chinese the opposite is resoundingly
true: speaking and listening, while no small
challenge, is a hundred times easier than cracking
the monumental barrier of memorizing the
5,000-10,000 pictographic characters that an
educated Chinese person would be expected to know.
For most people, the reality is that learning
characters is simply not worth the effort.
Instead, it is better to
concentrate on building communication skills and
vocabulary using the romanized, "pinyin" form of
Chinese, which is a breeze to learn - most pinyin
letters are sounded as in English, with certain
exceptions, eg "q" is sounded like the "ch" in
"cherry", not the "q" in "quiz".
Strictly speaking,
pinyin should always contain tone marks to
denote tones, although the pinyin words in this article
(such as ruanwo ), for
technical reasons, do not have these in place.
Acquaintance with pinyin is highly recommended for
anyone who expects to spend more than a few months
in China; mastering the system gives considerable
benefits in relation to the effort expended,
although it should be understood that the use of
pinyin is by no means universal - much of the
written information in the country is only
conveyed in the pictographic characters. (For a
comprehensive article on pinyin and other
romanization systems, click here.)
Mercifully for the student, Chinese
grammar is fairly straightforward - Mandarin is a
subject-verb-object language, like English, and
many of the subtleties that bedevil students of
European languages - confusing verb tenses, multiple
verb endings, noun articles, and so on -
are totally absent from Chinese.
One of the most
noticeable differences between mainland China and other
Asian countries is that Chinese people seem to
assume that foreigners can speak Mandarin - in
most places an inability to speak the local
language is assumed. This is probably because,
until the 1980s at least, it was an empirical fact
that most expatriates working in the country
could speak Chinese.
Lodgings
China is now quite well
plugged in to the international travel system (at
least for higher-quality accommodation and
transportation options) so it is fairly
straightforward now to get a travel agent to make
arrangements for you. Internet bookings are also
possible, and can even be made via this site; for
a selection of high-quality hotels in mainland
China, refer to the Asia Times Online hotel
listings.
In general, the hotel
system tends to be "star heavy", with a very large
number of four- and five-star hotels but fewer
discount options, although discount hotels (such
as the Super-8 chain) are beginning to appear. It
is possible to make an advanced booking by simply
calling the hotel, but this procedure works best
for high-quality international hotels; it may not
be possible to book a less expensive place without
speaking Mandarin, and some cheaper places do not
take advance bookings routinely in any case.
Many touts operate outside bus and train
stations waving hotel brochures at new arrivals -
one usually ends up paying more and getting less
in such cases, but it is reasonable to stay at
such a hotel the first night in a city and use the
next day to find a better place.
Prices run the gamut from $5-$500 and up; also,
be aware that room rates along the coast are
generally much higher than in the interior. The
practice of charging special prices for foreigners
still exists; while it is possible to try to
bargain this down, or persuade the receptionist to
waive "service charges", etc, this is not routine
and quite often "the price is the price". Some
(mostly very cheap) hotels are not allowed to take
foreigners - this could be perceived as a ripoff,
but to some extent it is intended to protect
foreign guests against subpar accommodation; most
business travelers would not want to stay in these
places anyway.
When checking in, guests
invariably have to fill in a little form with
their name, date of birth, home address, passport
number, and so on. Not infrequently, this form is
in Chinese only - some cheap hotels will not take
foreigners simply because they don't know how to
explain to a foreigner how to fill in this form.
Generally, you have to pay in advance and leave a
room deposit as well - do yourself a favor and
don't lose the deposit card; it is never a problem
getting your deposit back provided you have this.
Another peculiarity of Chinese hotels is that
reception will often not give you a key - instead
they give you a slip that you take to the "floor
attendant" in charge of your floor, who will then
open the room for you. Sometimes, you have to give
the floor attendant yet another deposit if you
want to keep the key. (In many modern, recently
opened hotels, this Sovietesque procedure has been
streamlined.)
As far
as the hotel rooms themselves go, the vast
majority are curiously faithful to the US-style
Holiday Inn model with the bathroom next to the
door, a bed or two perpendicular to it, a color
TV, and a table and chairs. Their "Chinese
characteristics" include a bottle of hot water
that can be used to make tea (usually
complimentary tea bags are already in the room,
though their quality tends to reflect the quality
of the hotel), and a pair of his-and-hers plastic
slippers for walking to the bathroom.
Chinese
hoteliers
are also very taken with the notion of
monogrammed toiletry kits, so even at the cheapest
places you can expect to find soap, shampoo, a
toothbrush, a shower cap etc emblazoned with
the hotel's logo - all of them invariably made
in China, which seems to have assumed total control
of the global toiletry kit industry.
Money matters
There are
four currencies in use in the Greater China region
- one each for mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau,
and Taiwan - not counting the US dollar, Japanese
yen, etc (held by the central government,
various businesses and private individuals in
substantial amounts) or such currencies as the Russian ruble and
Vietnamese dong, used by many traders in border
areas.
The
currency in mainland China is the yuan (CNY or
RMB), formally called the renminbi or colloquially the kuai. Currently about
eight yuan equal US$1, although the yuan has been
slowly 
strengthening against the dollar since
mid-2005. The yuan divides into 10 mao or jiao and
100 fen, though fen are so small as to be in
effect worthless.
China is now on its
fifth series of banknotes since the Chinese Civil
War; the current series was introduced in 1999 and
received a major update in 2005, mainly for
security purposes. The current bills come in
denominations of 100, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2, and 1
yuan; there are also 5 jiao (0.5 yuan) and 1 jiao
(0.1 yuan) notes. One yuan, 5 jiao, and 1 jiao
coins also
circulate.
The newest series of notes
uniformly features a portrait of Mao Zedong on the
obverse face; in the previous series, which still
circulates and is still legal tender,
larger-valued notes featured Mao but
smaller-valued ones featured portrayals of
different ethnic groups in China (Mongols,
Uighurs, etc). An interesting feature of the notes
is that their denomination is written in the
ethnic-minority scripts of Mongol, Tibetan, Uighur
and Zhuang, in addition to Chinese characters and
pinyin.
Because of its lack of free convertability,
the yuan is basically usable only in mainland
China; do not expect to be able to use it in Hong
Kong or Macau, although of course individuals may
be found there who are willing to accept yuan.
Technically the yuan cannot even be exchanged in
Hong Kong, although in actuality, it is easy to do
so - the penalty for the illegality of this
practice being a slightly lower-than-nominal rate.
Hong Kong uses the Hong Kong
dollar (HKD or HK$), which has about the same value
as the yuan, but unlike it, remains pegged to
the US dollar (its value has been set at 7.80 to the
US dollar since October 1983) and is
considered hard currency - ie, readily obtainable
and exchangeable outside the country. The HKD is divided
into 100 cents; currently HK$1,000, $500, $100, $50, $20 and
$10 banknotes circulate, along with $10, $5,
$2, $1, 50 cent, 20 cent, and 10 cent coins.
Hong Kong dollars are always accepted in Macau
and sometimes in Guangdong province,
especially in the Shenzhen special economic zone.
The Macau currency is called the
pataca (MOP, M$ or ptca); patacas come in the
same denominations as the Hong Kong dollar, and
have about the same value. However, the pataca cannot be
used anywhere but Macau, and is extremely
difficult to exchange outside the territory - even
in Hong Kong. Remarkably, Hong Kong dollars are so
heavily circulated in Macau that the pataca
constitutes only a minor fraction of the former
Portuguese enclave's money supply - less than 30%
in 1998.
As for Taiwan, it uses the New
Taiwan dollar (TWD or NT$), valued at about 32.50
to the US dollar as of April 2006, which is
totally and emphatically separate from the
mainland yuan - neither currency can be used on
the opposite side of the Taiwan Strait. TWD notes
are available in NT$2,000, $1,000, $500, $200 and $100
denominations. Coins seem to be more popular in
Taiwan; NT$50, $20, $10, $5, $1 and
$0.50 coins are minted, although the $20 and
$0.50 coins are uncommon.
Traveler's checks are probably
the best way to carry routine traveling funds
around in China; these can be changed at larger
hotels or branches of the Bank of China - stick
with well-known brands such as American
Express or Thomas Cook. Automated teller
machines are spreading rapidly in China, and
quite frequently an ATM card from an overseas bank
can be used to obtain cash.
In Hong Kong,
generally speaking, all money matters are easier and
faster; ATMs are widespread (they even detect whether a card
was issued in a foreign bank and display
instructions in English) and traveler's checks can
be cashed, or currency exchanged, at any number of
exchange booths in the tourist areas.
As for credit cards, though their use is
spreading rapidly, do not depend on using them outside
of major urban areas in China, and often not
even there - most merchants simply are unfamiliar
with plastic and lack the required equipment.
Also, fees associated with credit-card purchases and/or
cash advances are unpredictable.
Tipping is not really a custom
in mainland China; in fact, in the case of tour
guides, there is even a law stipulating that if
guides ask for tips, the travel agency must
compensate travelers at twice the amount paid.
Having said that, as in other Asian countries,
staff used to dealing with Westerners inevitably
receive tips and begin to expect them. Certainly,
tips for particularly excellent service are not
inappropriate and will be appreciated.
The situation in Taiwan is a bit
different: the standard tip is NT$50 per piece of
luggage at airports. Also, a 10% service charge,
in lieu of tipping, is automatically added to
hotel room rates, hotel meals, and at most
restaurants. Tipping in all other cases is
optional.
Telecommunications
China's telecommunications
infrastructure is vast and of a quality that often
compares favorably to more developed countries,
because the equipment was installed more recently.
For domestic
calls, the exact procedure varies depending on whether
one is calling a cellular phone from a cellular phone,
a cell phone from a landline, etc.
However, generally numbers within China are 11 digits (three for
the area code, eight for the local number - note that
local numbers in China are eight digits, compared with
seven in the US and most other countries).
Pay
phones are plentiful and generally take pre-paid phone cards - Chinese
phone cards tend to be the thick plastic
type with a chip implanted, which is a good thing
as these are more reliable than the magnetic-stripe cards used
in South Korea and elsewhere. Many newsstands and
small businesses on the streets have local
telephones from which domestic calls can be
made for a few yuan. International calls must normally be
made with a phone card, as most
landlines are not configured to connect international calls -
there is too much risk the charges
will not be paid. Prepaid SIM (subscriber identity module) cards for
GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) cell phones can also be
bought easily.
When receiving
calls at a hotel, try to advise the caller in
advance of your hotel room number - many hotel
staff will have trouble recognizing Western names.
Useful telephone numbers
International Direct Dial (IDD) country codes:
China 86, Hong Kong 852, Macau 853, Taiwan 886
City area code listing (China): click here
Emergency numbers (China): Police 110,
ambulance 120, fire 119, traffic accident 122
Emergency numbers (Hong Kong): All emergencies
999 (voice), 992 (SMS text message)
Emergency numbers (Taiwan): Police 110, fire
119
Services (China): Directory assistance 114,
International directory assistance and operator
115 (English operators available), time 12117,
weather 12121
Transport
Taxis: Only take metered
taxis, insist the driver turn on the meter (it is
actually illegal to leave it off), and carry a map
with you on which your destination is marked -
drivers frequently do not have them and will
happily carry you around aimlessly for hours,
meter running the whole time. In Beijing, taxi
drivers have been taking English lessons in
preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics, but
do not count on this; the best thing is to have a
good map with an explanation of your destination
in Chinese made up for you (this can be sent to
you by fax, or made up by your hotel concierge).
On the plus side, taxi rates are fairly modest in
mainland China.
Car rental: Renting a car
and driving it yourself is neither realistic nor
advisable for most visitors, if rental cars are
even available. Cars with drivers are available,
but this can be a very expensive option. Not
infrequently, a business traveler's Chinese
contact might provide a car with driver, but there
have been problems with business people finding
themselves stuck with an excessive bill for a car
with driver that they never asked for. Be leery of
accepting any "service" from your contact without
being absolutely clear in advance over who is
paying for it. This is not necessarily malicious
behavior; rather, it reflects a tendency of
Chinese to assume that foreign businessmen are
fabulously rich.
Buses: Good-quality,
modern express buses - often locally manufactured
- are now widespread, and the quality of roads is
improving very rapidly as well with massive,
ongoing highway construction, so the bus system is
now quite a reasonable way to travel. The trick is
finding the right bus. A significant obstacle in
this respect is the lack of Roman-letter signage
in stations and on buses (some have them, many
don't), which makes using the system difficult for
foreigners who cannot read Chinese characters. If
one is prepared to identify characters by shape on
a signboard, it is possible to circumvent this
problem, but this procedure is not for the
fainthearted, or those on a tight schedule. A good
workaround is to have a Chinese person write your
intended destination on a card.
Subways :
Most of mainland China's biggest
cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Wuhan,
Guangzhou, Nanjing and Shenzhen, have subway systems
in operation (Tianjin's was temporarily suspended for
construction as of early 2006) and expanding at a
ferocious rate; Hong Kong also has an excellent
system, while Taiwan has subways in Taipei and
Kaohsiung. For an article on transportation in
China that includes a listing of subway systems,
click here.
If the system in a given city serves your
destination, it is an excellent option, since the
subways are both very cheap and easy for
foreigners to use, even easier than taxis (since
you cannot get stuck in traffic and there is no
difficulty trying to explain to the driver where
you are going).
Surface trains : After
enormous investments in rolling stock over the past
20 years, the quality of Chinese trains has
vastly improved, though they are still not
terribly clean. On-time performance is quite
good (passenger trains have priority on the
Chinese rail system), although it suffers during
peak holiday periods. For long journeys such
as Guangzhou-Beijing, getting a soft berth sleeper
compartment (ruanwo) is an excellent idea,
and a good way to make Chinese friends. The food
served on trains is interesting and of decent
quality (at least to the Western palate), and
vendors with little carts troll the aisles selling
soap, snacks and other sundries.
China has hugely ambitious
plans to upgrade its rail system. A
Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail link is in the
advanced planning phases, as is a
magnetic-levitation line between Shanghai and
Hangzhou, to augment the Shanghai airport maglev
link that already exists. When the high-speed rail
systems are in place, they will, as in Japan and
Europe, become the best option for many intercity
journeys, because passengers can avoid the delays
associated with using airports.
Air travel: For most
business travelers making long journeys within the
country, flying is now the recommended method. The
quality of China's domestic airlines is stunningly
improved compared with the 1980s, when the
country used a single-carrier system a la
Aeroflot, but is not yet
on a par with top Asian carriers such as
Singapore Airlines or Cathay Pacific. (For Asia
Times Online's comprehensive listing of airlines
in Greater China, click here). In all
cases, reconfirmation of bookings is highly
recommended (normally about three days before
departure), especially for international flights
leaving the country, which are routinely
overbooked. When leaving China, make sure to have
at least $20 per person on hand to pay the airport
tax - for domestic flights the charge is
less.
Special note on Golden Week: In 1999, the Chinese government
expanded two official holidays, Labor Day
on May 1 and National Day on October 1, into
week-long national holidays, partly as a quality-of-life
measure and partly to boost the domestic tourism
and hotel industries. Together with the
existing Chinese New Year holiday, which occurs
some time in the January-March period (the exact date
varies because it is determined by the lunar, not
solar, calendar), these week-long holidays became
known as "Golden Week" holidays. If traveling
in China, it is necessary to be aware of the
"Golden Weeks", because at those times travel becomes
extremely difficult, with massive overcrowding.
Reservations for hotels and transport
can be required literally several months
in advance during these periods. If at all possible,
it is best to avoid travel during "Golden
Week", particularly its Chinese New Year incarnation,
during which many urban dwellers go to
visit their ancestral home towns.
Visa information
A
valid passport and visa are required for travel to
mainland China. Tourist visas are not difficult to
get for most people but will require a few days'
processing time at the local Chinese embassy or
consulate (note that there are quite a large
number of Chinese consulates in the US; click here for the
Asia Times Online listing of embassies
and consulates for China and Taiwan).
Alternatively, most travel agents can handle visa
formalities.
The procedure for business
visas is slightly different; these normally
require an invitation from a government-recognized
Chinese organization - frequently this would be
one's business partner. Multiple-entry business
visas can be obtained; make sure to get one of
these if you expect that your business will
require multiple trips to China.
As in most countries, working in China on a
tourist visa is illegal; if you intend to work in
China, you will need a work visa, which is
normally valid for 12 months. Work visas are the
most complicated type of visa to get and not only
require an invitation from your Chinese employer,
but other formalities, including copies of educational
credentials and a health checkup after one has
entered the country.
For Hong Kong, entry formalities are more
relaxed; holders of passports from the United
States, the United Kingdom and several other countries are
permitted to enter Hong Kong without a visa (click here for an
up-to-date list). UK citizens are normally granted
stays of up to six months; Australians, Canadians,
New Zealanders and Americans get up to three
months.
Macau's visa regulations tend to
parallel Hong Kong's, with some noteworthy exceptions;
for example, US passport holders are only
allowed 30-day visa-free stays in Macau, compared with 90
days in Hong Kong. For a listing of countries
allowed visa-free access to Macau click here.
Taiwan has a
different set of requirements and regulations from
mainland China; click here for Taiwan
visa information.
Miscellaneous topics
Appointments: In the
past, many offices in China, especially government
offices, shut down for a few hours in the early
afternoon for lunch and a kind of "siesta hour" -
traces of this practice can still be found, so be
leery of making appointments in the early
afternoon.
Crime: The level of crime
in China is relatively low by international
standards, much better than in the typical
developing country, and the rate of violent crime
is proportionately even lower. However, do not
become complacent: the crime rate is not zero.
Robberies have occurred even in multi-star hotels.
Prostitution is one classic setup for being
victimized in this setting: the girl lets
accomplices into the hotel room, who then relieve
the unwary foreign businessman of his wallet. The
usual precautions one would follow anywhere in the
world - lock your door, don't walk alone at night
in dark areas, keep valuables in the hotel safe -
certainly apply in China. In addition, persons of
Chinese descent, regardless of what passport they
hold, tend to be particularly vulnerable to
robbery and blackmail attempts.
Dress: In general, dress
formally - in business settings and to a certain
extent even outside of them. Informal dress codes
(a la
Silicon Valley) do not tend to go over well
in Asia, and China is no exception to this
rule. Western-style business dress is expected for
both men and women, Mao jackets having pretty much
passed into history. Male Chinese business people and
officials basically follow the Dress for
Success code,
with one odd exception: they often wear
light-colored socks, which do not match the
trousers color - Westerners should feel no
obligation to emulate this. Female expatriates
should dress significantly more conservatively
than they would at home.
Gifts: While gifts are
welcome, avoid giving cash - this might be
interpreted as bribery, with unpredictable
consequences. For helpful officials, a colleague
who has helped out on a previous trip, etc,
good-quality cigarettes or imported alcohol would
be welcome - duty-free-shop-type goods, in other
words. Other appropriate gifts might be a pen set
with your corporate logo, or for a Chinese
counterpart with a child at home, a T-shirt from
one's home state or country. When receiving gifts,
be aware that it is considered impolite to unwrap
them in front of the giver.
Smoking: Be prepared for
constant smoking by older Chinese  men,
and bear in mind that it will be considered
unthinkably rude to ask them to stop - though
fortunately, there is no obligation to smoke
yourself. The prevalence of smoking in China today
roughly parallels the practice in the US in
the 1940s - pretty much all men do it, and almost
no women do (notwithstanding the "cigarette girl"
ads popular in pre-revolutionary days). With
increasing awareness of the health effects of air
pollution and smoking, and government efforts to
cut smoking among high government officials (the
habit's current popularity has a lot to do with
the fact that both Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping
were heavy smokers), attitudes are slowly
changing, but there's a long, hard slog
ahead.
Superstitions: Besides the various
beliefs associated with feng shui (see Part 1),
there are some other superstitions worth
mentioning. Many beliefs surround numbers: for
example, the number eight is considered
lucky, mostly because the Mandarin word for
"eight" sounds like the word for "lucky". The
number four is unlucky, for similar reasons: it
sounds like the word for "death". This can have a
significant business impact: not only do many
hotels lack a fourth floor (just as many Western
ones lack a 13th), but product decisions by major
companies have been changed because of such
beliefs. For example, Palm Computer Corp's
successor to its "Palm III" was the "Palm V",
because of concerns that a "Palm IV" would not
sell well in China. As the Chinese market grows in
importance, cases like this are sure to become
more common. Finally, male facial hair is
considered bad luck. This might seem odd given the
prevalence of bearded characters in classical
Chinese literature, but it is true nonetheless;
thus clean-shaven company representatives may have
better luck in China.
Time: All clocks in the country are set
to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) plus eight hours.
Noon in Beijing is 11pm in New York and 8pm in Los
Angeles (leaving aside the complication of
daylight saving time, which China does not
observe).
Further Reading
China Country Commercial Guide
2004 (Gettman and Decker, US Embassy
Beijing - free download)
Chinese Business Etiquette: A Guide
to Protocol, Manners, and Culture in the People's
Republic of China (Scott D Seligman)
Chinese Business Etiquette and
Culture (Kevin B Bucknall)
Culture Shock: China
(Kevin Sinclair with Iris Wong Po-Yee)
Doing Business With China
(Global Market Briefings Series, Reuvid and Yong,
eds)
Harvard Business Review on Doing
Business in China (Harvard Business
School Press)
Part 1: General
themes
Part 2: Business-specific
issues
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