Connecting with China: Business Success through Mutual Benefit and Respect

Chapter Two

CHINA: RELATIONSHIPS AS BUSINESS MODEL

Look at the means which a man employs, observe his pleasures. A man simply cannot conceal himself

- Confucius

 

As you may have already begun to discern, in order to understand the Chinese and to trust them wholeheartedly, it is important to look behind formal and inscrutable masks and see the primary place emotion, relationships and character hold in their world. This is also the beginning of our capacity to build relationships for success and mutual benefit.

 

This is a culture passionate about family and steeped in relationships as a way of life. The collective ‘we’ implies an emotional commitment to shared experiences and a deeply cherished and permanent undertaking to provide financially for parents, which powers everything the Chinese seek to achieve.

 

Where individualism is valued in our culture, the ability to think, feel and succeed collectively is valued in China. The most cherished word in the Chinese lexicon is ‘we’, the most cherished word in our Western lexicon is ‘I’. This is both the challenge and the opportunity.

 

Relationships are powerhouses of action in China. They are at once a state of being and a permanent, active disposition towards service and assistance, in favour of trusted family, friends, colleagues and business partners. They are the lifeblood of all aspects of achievement and success. They get things done, wrap commitments and agreements around all forms of business, life and cooperation and promise ...