Business
in China
This
new section of our website is designed to give you a bit of insight
into what doing business in China really entails. Many students are
often very eager to learn “business Chinese,” but the
truth is that most business Chinese courses only provide students
with vocabulary terms that enable them to read business periodicals
or economic newspapers. The first thing to remember is, if your Chinese
is not already at a level where you can speak and read relatively
fluently, then a course like this is not going to be of much use to
you. Most of these terms are quite specific and require at least a
basic mastery of the language before they should be addressed. Second,
unlike languages such as Japanese where there is a great abundance
of special terms of address in business environments, this is not
the case in Chinese. Relatively speaking there is not a great use
of honorific terms or forms in the Chinese language when discussing
business.
The
most important thing when doing business in China is by far the proper
understanding of and attention to protocol, etiquette, and culture
as it is manifested in business situations. Having an extensive
vocabulary and perfectly fluent Chinese is great, but if you neglect
protocol and fail to understand certain culturally specific “trends”
and practices then you will quickly find yourself getting nowhere,
whereas a counterpart with much poorer Chinese but a greater attention
to these special details will win almost every time.
That
said, this section of our site has two main points of focus. One,
to help you get started understanding the basics and protocol when
interacting with Chinese people in the business environment or with
the intention of making contacts; two, to provide you with an up-to-date
knowledge of some of the things that are currently happening in the
business world in Beijing and other areas of China. Just click on
one of the links below to get started.
China
Business Tips—Protocol, Etiquette, and Relationships
The
China Business Scene—Current
China Business Information
Chinese Language 
