This chapter introduces practical matters related to everyday business interactions with Chinese people. There are many rich historical and cultural traditions that influence daily life in China. Anthropologists, missionaries, and merchants have for many years tried to “become one with the people” they are interacting with. They have studied language, culture, customs, and daily life in an attempt to assimilate and have succeeded in many places…but not in China.
The pioneering missionary Hudson Taylor spoke fluent Mandarin, adopted Chinese dress and even wore his hair in the Manchu queue, but was always considered an outsider. The statesman John Leighton Stuart was born and raised in Hangzhou and fluently spoke ...
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