Are you prepared to work in China?  If you read up on guides on how to do business and how to carry yourself while on the job in this country, you’ll get practical advice like bringing lots of business cards, wearing something conservative, speaking in brief sentences and maybe bringing a personal interpreter if you haven’t learned the language yet.  It would be nice if you can sustain this after a prolonged period.  It takes a deep understanding of Chinese culture and values to maintain the relationship between businesses or between employer and employee. 

Too often we encounter Americans saying that the Chinese are indirect, inefficient, too personal and sometimes even dishonest.  The Chinese see the American work culture are too aggressive, provocative and cold.  The differences in practices have deep roots formed from their histories, and it is important to remember that you will be working and doing business in China and not the other way around.  If you have decided to work in China, you would be doing the adapting, although the Chinese would also be considerate with some foreign practices.  They are after all trying their best to learn about Western culture, starting with learning the English language. 

A major cultural foundation of the Chinese is formed from agrarianism.  Success is dependent on communism, harmony and cooperation.  The value of loyalty and recognition of familial hierarchy ensures the group’s survival.  Obedience is a very important trait that the urban Chinese bring with them from their provinces, incorporating the agrarianism essence into the corporate system. 

The second biggest influence in the Chinese work culture is Confucianism.  The texts emphasize that benevolent leadership can bring about harmony and prosperity, both as a society and as individual corporate families.  Confucius also valued education and family relationships.  Here, relationships are very hierarchal, and there is a great division between the rulers and the ruled even amongst family.  Those who were ruled should be obedient and loyal to their rulers, who in turn offered benevolent guidance and authority. 

Another philosopher whose teachings are still revered in today’s China is Lao Tzu.  He was the inspiration for Taoism and taught about the yin and yang relationship.  The two opposing forces exist in harmony and reside within everything: health, trade, economy, and so forth.  It is said that the key to everything is finding “the Way” or Tao.  The way is the most harmonious path between the two forces of yin and yang, the compromise where two forces are amenable with each other.  This is a very prominent value that manifests itself in Chinese negotiations.  What the west sees as inefficient bargaining is the Chinese way of finding the means to get to the goal.  Haggling is the way to settle differences and for negotiators to have equal positions on the matter. 

There are other cultural factors that affect work and business in China, but the three mentioned above have the widest impact.  Working and doing business with the Chinese meant building long-lasting relationships.  It is better that we are all informed beforehand about what to expect and what is expected of us.