China: a nation in change – Expert for China, Sisi Gu shares her latest impressions with us
Our expert forChina, Sisi Gu just spent 6 weeks in her home country.
The last time she visited her hometown Zhenjiang was three years ago. Within these three years Sisi and China changed a lot.
This news-story summarizes some impressions and insights of Sisi – a Chinese woman living in the Western world (Heidelberg, Germany).
Censorship:
During Sisi’s sojurn in China she had only limited access to google.
Either google was not working at all, or with restrictions.
When searching for a ‘critical’ topic, such as 天安门事件Tian'an men shi jian (Tian’anmen protests/massacre 1989 – ‘June Fourth Incident’) one could see the search results, but the links to the specific pages didn’t work. Sisi read an interesting article (in German) about this situation in the Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung(April 22 , 2010) Im Reich der empfindlichen Wörter(‚In the land of delicate words‘)
Networking:
The business networking opportunities in China are excellent. In case you belong to a high social class, you very quickly get access to c-level people from all different industries. One gets invited to a business dinners expeditiously.
The networking opportunities are very productive, but at the same hand can be very exhausting.At business dinners, you need to be aware of your body-language and you need to be able to master the „indirect communication“.No one will directly put their cards on the table and say, what they want – reading between the lines is crucial.
The person who is talking needs to choose his words carefully, and the person who is listening, needs to listen to what is “meant” to say, not what is really said.
To quote Sisi on this: “If you talk without thinking, you will never reach your goal”.
The question: do these business dinners lead to success can’t be answered in the beginning of the relationship. After a long period of time, many business dinners and gift-exchanges later, when both parties involved believe in the potential win for them, then one can finally enter into a truly productive relationship.
In a nutshell: „In order to be a good networker in China, one needs endurance and good eyes“.
In Germany (and other Western countries) networking is defined differently than in China.
Networking from a Chinese perspective is seen as “GuanXi“.
This term is much more complex and multi-layerd than the networking term in Western culture. In China, there is no clear cut distinction between business and personal relationship
“Whenever I would like to thank my close German friends for their help with a dinner-invitation or a gift, they say: It was a pleasure helping you, you don’t need to thank me!”
They will not be disappointed, when I am not able to give my help back immediately. In China, we are talking about the “give-and-take”-principle – both on a business as well as on a personal level. When you “give” in China, you do expect to “take” something back. If the other person does not give something back, the relationship will collapse.
So many times Sisi heard: “Once I had good Chinese friends. They always offered me beautiful presents for my birthday. All of a sudden we lost contact. This is a real pity!“
One could say, that the Chinese are „calculating“in comparison to the Germans (Westerners) However, from a Chinese perspective, being „calculating“ – especially in the business world – is not a negative attribute. If you want to grow your revenue – the main goal of business – you need to be „calculating“!
Family:
„You remain a child forever“ – no matter how old you are or for how long you have lived away from home. This experience has been very intensive and challenging for Sisi. Nine years ago, Sisi was sent to Germany with the words of her father: „Go to Germany to learn to think“. As soon as she sets her foot in her house, her parents are back into the parent-mode. Meals have been cooked for her, her room washed and cleaned. Of course this comes in very handy and practical – but it comes at a price. You basically give away your independence. The parents expect you to do what they think is best for you. You better keep your own opinion to yourself, in order to avoid conflict. Many parents are very involved in their child’s life. They take over the entire planning, from birth to the selection of the kindergarten of the grandchild …
Parents willingly finance their child, buying an apartment, funding their studies abroad, it is their way to show their love towards the child. If either the parents or the child is happy, is written on a different page … .
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