How to make the most of your Chinese (work) relationships - Key Takeaways from my time in China

With China's maturing economy and increased presence on the global stage, chances are high, your work requires you to more or less frequently interact with the Middle Kingdom. With almost 5000 years of history, China's culture has long been ingrained in its people and is oftentimes misunderstood by Westerners - leaving us wondering where we got 'lost in translation'. This can lead to challenges and burden work relationships. The following takeaways from my past 2 years in China, which - by the way - were not all that easy, will make it easier for you to understand and accept some of the most crucial cultural aspects and take your work relationship with Chinese contacts to the next level. Are you ready?

Not your typical business relations

There is no doubt that Guanxi (关系) is one of the most important and organic concepts in Chinese society - and rarely something people openly talk about. Guanxi can be translated as 'relationship', however its meaning goes far beyond. Deeply rooted in Confucianism, it is an enormously strong network of mutual support and trust which will decide the degree of career advancement, business success and quality of partner collaboration one will have. As people build Guanxi, they are tied in with each other to create a sense of belonging and harmony. I remember that the wife of a friend would get angry at her husband for his lack of building proper Guanxi at work and would often lecture him at the dinner table on how to improve his Guanxi building skills.

Foreigners working in or with China should be aware of this concept and consider to invest time to build Guanxi themselves. Here are 3 considerations on how to approach this:

• Pay attention to favours and gifts and return respectively. Whereas exchanging smaller or larger gifts in a business context is not typically done in the Western world, it is an inherent part of Chinese lifestyle.
• Stick to your promises. Over-promising does not go well with Chinese, neither in business nor private life.
• Business contacts are considered as extended family. In a business context, giving an impression of caring for one another is especially expected of managers leading a Chinese team. Creating an environment of comfort and harmony is key, such as frequent team building activities or joint meals.

Concept of ‘face’

Another important concept closely tied to Guanxi is Mianzi (面子) or 'face', which can be loosely translated as 'reputation'. In every social situation, people either gain or lose face, which again will impact on their Guanxi, social standing and (business) success. Westerners in China not aware of this concept may accidentally cause someone to lose face and thus, besmirch their reputation with possible long-term consequences.

Here are 3 ways on how to play by the rules in China:

• Do no criticize anyone’s actions or work in public.
• Adjust your communication: Western communication styles are usually more direct and could appear as confrontational or even rude, possibly leading people to lose face.
• Give face: Share public appreciation and rewards, the more the better.

The omnipresent back door

The very local phrase 上有政策下有对策 (‘A policy from the top is met by a countermove from the bottom’) describes a scenario most foreigners I met have experienced in more than one way during (work) life in China. I remember, when China finally joined the ICH - International Council for Harmonization of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceutical for Human Use - as full regulatory member in 2018, it published a large number of regulatory documents in an effort to catch up with the regulatory standards of the West. Expecting these policies to describe details on how to handle pharmaceutically relevant processes, these long-awaited documents contained broad concepts only with limited clear instructions.

As I learned later, this was common in China where companies may even be encouraged to start following regulations when in draft status or where government documents are sometimes never officially finalized. While other countries may find this unacceptable and require a stricter framework of rules, China’s approach offers a larger degree of flexibility on how to interpret and deal with all matters of life. In a sense, 上有政策下有对策 means ‘everything is debatable'.

In business, the same can be observed when aligning on timelines and tasks. Chinese will seldom commit to getting a job done by day X. Instead, will ‘try their best’ and in order to avoid making false promises follow a more modest approach; and without committing to timelines and Western counterpart’s surprise, likely get the job done ahead of the deadline.

What rules life in China? Wechat

With more than 1 Billion active monthly users, Wechat is an extraordinary example for building a one-stop-shop platform, embodying the convenience of Chinese lifestyle. Created from the Chinese word ‘Weixin’ (micro-message), it has developed into much more than a communication and social media tool, handling online shopping, cab hailing, hotel bookings, bank transactions, tax affairs, just to name a few. Most importantly though, Wechat has transformed China in the virtually cashless society it is today. Many places in Mainland China nowadays do not accept cash payments anymore.

In China, people are online from the moment they wake up to when they go to bed. This also becomes relevant in business. Meetings in China are oftentimes more an opportunity to exchange informal chat than to make actual decisions. Several times I experienced a lengthy meeting with no observable outcome, however, followed by a few back and forth messages shared on Wechat which brought immediate alignment and tangible next steps. Every team in China is closely connected via China’s super-app with conversations around food, health and work taking place continuously, within and outside of work hours. Foreigners working in China, should be aware that many things happen in the background, within the informality of Wechat, and should try to get an account themselves.

With China’s censorship in place, one may question the completeness of available (news) content, however interactions on Wechat could not be more real. Certain decisions made during a simple chat, may be the most important for one’s career.

The ‘Long March’ to learning Chinese

The main reason why Mandarin, as spoken in most parts of China Mainland, is considered one of the most difficult languages to learn is due to its usage of four different tones per each syllabus. For instance ‘ma’ has many different meanings including horse (马), mother(妈), hemp (麻) and scold (骂), depending on the type of tone used. And there is the tone-less ma (吗) which indicates a question. Also, Chinese language is built around subtle elements and does not have specific words for ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Therefore, building Guanxi and truly understanding Chinese culture, is hardly possibly without a decent level of Chinese language skills.

The good news is, Chinese can be mastered. Having a language teacher and regular classes is a great first step. With these additional tips, I was able to handle of matters of daily life, hold meetings and give presentations in Chinese:

• Make the effort and speak, speak, speak. As a beginner, I can only encourage you to speak whenever you can, whatever you can. Once you overcome the uncomfortableness of speaking like a first grader, your level will constantly improve. From my experience, the more words one knows, the easier it is to cover up wrongly pronounced tones as people can conclude a meaning by its context.
• Talk like a local. Once I was able to go beyond ordering food in a restaurant - actually being able to use local phrases, it was so much easier to rally people behind and build strong work relationships.
• Measure progress along the way. International standardized Chinese language exams ‘HSK’ (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi) are a good way to set goals and see where you stand. With HSK 4, for instance, you will be basically fluent in Chinese and recognize about 1200 Chinese characters.

Common misconceptions and mistakes to avoid

1.    Chinese names are reversed. The Chinese will state their last name first, followed by the given name. For example, Wang Xiaofei in Chinese would be Ms. Xiaofei Wang in the West.

2.    Shaking hands and other types of body contact are not common in the work place, especially not between men and women.

3.    Numbers matter in China. As the pronunciation of 4 (si) is similar to death (si), Chinese tend to avoid everything related to this number, for instance meetings of 4 or 44 participants. Offices on floors starting with '4 are considered bad luck for business. How property owners try to overcome these challenges, is by re-numbering floors. On the other hand, Chinese are fond of numbers 6 and 8 as they sound similar to ‘fu’ with is the general term for good luck and fortune. Offices are most expensive on floors numbered with 6 or 8 and a Chinese citizen driving a car with 6 or 8 number plate, most likely spent a fortune on it.

4.    During business meals with colleagues, it is common for hosts and guests of honor, such as foreign visitors, to give short speeches before everyone starts eating. While not giving a speech may be considered rude, one will be able to gain trust more easily if saying a few positive statements, acknowledging the team’s contribution, at the start of a business meal.

5.    Hierarchy matters when you toast. To show modesty, Chinese people hold their glass slightly lower than the glass of the person they’re clinking glasses with. If you are the highest person in the organization or a visitor, you are excluded from this rule.

Appreciate & include diversity

While China can be a challenging (business) experience for foreigners, it can also be an opportunity to appreciate diversity in terms of behaviour, mind-set and values. If we are able to recognize and accept some of the cultural differences and include those as common business practices, we will be able to build very trustful, strong relationships with China, supporting business for now and for the future. 

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