Tips for Working in China

So I was going through my regular repertoire of websites that I visit every morning when I came across Penelope Trunk's post Tips for Working in China. Seeing as I'm living in China (well actually in Hong Kong, but it's part of China, well kinda but not really - for those unfamilar with this topic, I will go into this subject matter at a later date), I was obviously quite intrigued to see what she would say. Here are my comments on Trunk's posting (and on some things she didn't post about):

1. Expect weird names - duhh! This isn't America, so the most common names are not John, Rebecca, David, Robert, Michael, etc... Most business people in HK and China choose English names (not American names, you uncultured folk!), and yes some of them are interesting. I have a friend named Destiny, my real estate agent's name is Fantasy, and I currently do business with people named Smile and Rainbow.

2. Put respect above everything else - yes, 99 times out of 100 if you are offered something by someone you are doing business with (or thinking of doing business with), it's always a good idea to say "yes". This applies to food (breakfast, lunch, or dinner dates), massages (be they foot, body, or "other"), karaoke, baijiu (aka white wine, aka Chinese wine), or anything else. Lucky for the Chinese people I do business with that I will do/eat/sing/go just about anywhere/anything.

3. Get a good translator - I'm lucky that all of my colleagues (I'm the only gweilo in my office) speak fluent Cantonese, Mandarin, and English, so as long as I'm with one of them, life is good. And I have a fair few friends in HK (outside of work) who speak Cantonese, Mandarin, and English as well, which is always convenient in a taxi or other place where people might not speak or understand English. I like to think that if I was dropped in the middle of China that my Mandarin speaking skills would be good enough to get by on, but I'm just not sure.

4. Distinguish between differences in culture and differences in values - One of our vendors has possibly the nicest car I've ever seen - it's a white BMW that has in-seat TV's with a DVD player and all the other necessary gadgets. If I remember correctly, I think she said that the car cost her around US$100,000. However, her teeth are in horrible shape - dirty, crooked, and overall not well-cared for (many of you know that I am particularly observant of people's teeth since I've had my own teeth-related issues). And the thing is, it's not like she can't afford dental care (which most Chinese people cannot), it's just that Chinese society values items that can be shown off to people (to impress overseas customers, like me), and not some of the basics like having nice, clean, straight teeth.

5. Stay healthy - I agree this is probably a good idea, but it seems like every time I go to China I do unhealthy things - I drink more (I will blame my vendors for encouraging me), I smoke more (I hardly every smoke period, but enjoy a couple of smokes after drinking a bit), I stay out later (letting the vendors entertain me to the fullest), and I sleep less (due to the often busy schedule). I have a gym in my apartment building in HK that I haven't seen for a while - it's probably time I go there soon.

Overall I like Trunk's postings and would recommend them to anybody interested in that sort of thing.