China - 30 years later

This year, 2016 is my 30th anniversary in China (written in July 2016). I am constantly struck by how much has changed, and yet even more by how much has stayed the same. When I tell clients to localize, it's not just from a "respect the culture" view. China is a barge, and the monumental changes we have seen these last 30 years in the economy and in peoples lives are like a reed of grass flowing up against the hull of that barge. So foreign companies need to localize because of what is not changing, and fundamentally what it means to be China and Chinese is not changing. 

As much as I like being nice, you need to adjust because it will work better for you. Because it helps you manage better, negotiate better, and succeed in business. Today, tomorrow, and ten years from now. Challenge your assumption that "China is becoming more professional / industrial / wealthy" when what you really mean (and hope) is that "China is becoming more like us, and I won't have to try so hard to figure it out." There isn't one way, and the American way doesn't fit in many other business environments. Even as countries grow and industrialize, that doesn't mean they will become more like the American's view of what a developed country does.  We have our way, and China has it's way, and Europe has it's own way. So while China will continue to evolve to become more professional / industrial / wealthy it will still be Chinese. And it won't be easier for you to figure it out in the future, than it is now. 

What got me thinking about all this? 

A business man I traveled with last week told me how much China has changed in the five years he has been coming (not realizing that I wasn't exactly new to the game). Everyone has their lens. Its interesting to me how for so many people the China they saw when they first came is the "true" China, and as time has past that has been "lost" and now it's totally different. My personal frame of reference is 30 years, and even that is the blink of an eye. My China is not lost, it's as real and true and evident today as it was 30 years ago. There are minor changes, surface changes, but fundamentally it's the same place and the same people and the same culture. And it's not just foreigners that fall into the trap of seeing only the changes, many local Chinese tell me "it's the new China." We all have short memories, or more truthfully we define something by our own experience with it, and our experience defines how we think everyone else experiences it as well. 

Another expat I met with last week told me how you "used to" find Chinese companies that paid to have a foreign guest at a dinner or grand opening, but that wasn't happening any more. He was speaking about his own experience ten years ago. I told him an American student in Shanghai just had that same opportunity a few months ago, being paid to attend a local city investment pitch to show how international their economy was. Almost 30 years ago a colleague asked me to come down to customs in Shanghai to play the "angry customer" so he could get a shipment out of the docks. I am sure some form of this will be going on ten years from now. Playing on peoples evolving views of what it means to be Chinese and what is expected of foreigners. Whether 30 years ago or today, there are still expectations of Chinese and Foreigner behavior that people use to their advantage. 

I lived in China both before, during and after the student protests that ended in Tiananmen Square. People then said this was new, China's "first" protests, but China's history is filled with grass roots protests against whatever government (city or state or national) people felt wasn't representing their interests. Going back hundreds of years. And today there are still protests, there were protests about local taxes ten years ago, and protests about the environment ten days ago. Its not "new," just because it makes the "news." 

When I first moved to China in 1986 there was a residual "anti-Russia" sentiment, as the country separated from their long time partner. I felt some animosity towards me as a foreigner, but a lot more curiosity and human kindness. In the 1990's as the country moved down the privatization path there was a keen interest in how other countries had developed their industrial base and how individuals had become successful in business and life. There was also a mistrust that foreign companies didn't have the best interests of the Chinese at heart. By the first decade of the 21st century executives were becoming more focused on how Chinese entrepreneurs had succeeded. In the second decade of the 21st century, as the "first" second generation of wealth is moving into the workforce they are even more interested in home grown success models. 

So the tension between foreigners as both friend and foe isn't new, its just changing.  Again last week a Chinese business owner told me that many businesses didn't think foreign employees bring all that much expertise to China. In their lens, before foreigners were respected and now they aren't. On a flight from Zhengzhou to Shanghai I heard some people behind me wondering out loud what all the foreigners (maybe 5 of us on the plane scattered around) could possibly be doing in China of any value. Its not new tension, its just felt in different ways than before. China's relationship with foreign countries and their citizens has been tense for hundreds of years, at once welcoming, curious, resentful and fearful. 

I guess if there is a point in all this, and if you have read this far I would expect you are hoping I have a point to make, it's that China is not radically different than it was 30 years ago. There are a lot of people with higher standards of living, very wealthy people who travel much more now than they did before. But that doesn't mean that you can expect Chinese to "be professional (i.e.; American)" in their business or communication style because of it. There are as many misunderstandings between customer and supplier today as there were 30 years ago. Of all the people I interacted with the last month, the one with the most cross border experience (having started doing business with China in 1981) asked me if in my experience I had figured out some things that were still baffling him.  He is still learning, still finding aspects of business that don't match his US expectations. Why? Because he is open to it, not trying to make China conform to the US experience. 

So... to the point I was trying to make. Ahem. China is evolving, and yes what is true today will be somewhat different next year. But China, as a nation (not a government) and a people and a culture is a barge that glides through time on a fairly steady course. We notice the change, but they are but a small representation of the country as a whole, which hasn't fundamentally changed. Which means that as Americans (or Europeans or whomever) you need to keep reminding yourself that you are going to have to try a little harder, every day. This year, and next year, and the year after that. Your Chinese employees after three years of working for you aren't "becoming better business people" (which means acting more American). They have figured out how to adjust to your craziness. Nothing more, they just figured out how to adjust to your craziness. 

One last story. I went to the Song Dynasty show in Kaifeng last week. It was amazing for its sheer size and complexity. There were 700 performers on what looked to be 3 acres of land with a lake in the middle. Hundreds of people dancing in sync on one side of the view while dozens road horses on a bridge and another hundred stepped in sync in front of the audience - all at the same time. The lighting of the show was phenomenal. I was struck by how this sophisticated production was so different from 20 years ago (the technology and stage craft) - but also reminded how China has been able to put on performances of high quality and skill with hundreds of people for thousands of years. So it's both modern and ancient. While walking to the stage area I passed the wealthy (apple watches and Prada bags and Italian shoes) and the poor (a sweet family asked if I would pose in a photo with them). It was modern, it was expensive and it was old fashioned wholesome at the same time. China both rich and poor, sophisticated and peasant.....is still China.