Tài liệu How to Do Business in 12 Asian Countries 3 doc

China People’s Republic of China Local short form: Zhong Guo Local long form: Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo Abbreviation: PRC Cultural Note The People’s Republic of China is well on its way

All cultures have disadvantaged groups This section identifies some sectors that have unequal status These can be defined by eco-nomic status as well as by race or gender Only the most industrial-ized nations tend to have a large, stable middle class Many countries have a small, rich elite and a huge, poverty-stricken underclass Issues of male-female equality are also analyzed in this section

It is useful for a female business executive to know how women are regarded in a foreign country

Never forget that this model represents cultural patterns that may

or may not apply to each individual you contact and get to know Utilize this information as a guideline and remain open to the new experiences we all encounter abroad

“Vérité en-deça des Pyrénées, erreur au-delà.”

—Blaise Pascal, 1623–1662

“There are truths on this side of the Pyrenees

which are falsehoods on the other.”

—translation: Geert Hofstede

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China

People’s Republic of China

Local short form: Zhong Guo

Local long form: Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo

Abbreviation: PRC

Cultural Note

The People’s Republic of China is well on its way to becoming the superpower of the twenty-first century Aside from having the world’s largest population and the world’s largest army,

it is a nuclear and space power Now it is a global economic power as well In February of

2005, the government of China lent the government of Russia U.S $6 billion to help Moscow nationalize the oil company Yukos

1. TRUE or FALSE? The Chinese are not interested in most interna-tional sports

ANSWER: FALSE While many Chinese have limited experience playing sports, they are often avid fans (and sports gamblers) When Shanghai-born Yao Ming joined the Houston Rockets

in 2002, Chinese interest in basketball soared overnight And the Beijing Olympics has gener-ated massive interest in Olympic sports

2. Match the following Nobel Prize laureates with the appropriate prize:

a Tenzin Gyatso 1 Nobel in physics, 1957

b Chen Ning Yang 2 Nobel for literature, 2000

c Gao Xingjian 3 Nobel Peace Prize, 1989

ANSWERS: a 3; b 1; c 2 Tenzin Gyatso is better known as the fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet Tibet, of course, has been occupied by the PRC since 1950 Gao Xingjian was the first Chinese

to win the Nobel for literature There have been many Nobel Prizes awarded to Chinese in

 Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands: Asia

the sciences, although most of the recipients (like Chen Ning Yang) have done their most important scientific work in the West

3. There are many places in Asia where the People’s Republic of China finds itself in conflict with other countries Which of these

is not currently an international “hot spot?”

a Macao

b North Korea

c The Spratly Islands

d Taiwan

ANSWER: a Portugal ceded its colony of Macao to the PRC at the end of 1999, and Macao has been relatively peaceful since then A traditional site for gambling, Macao is the only place on the Chinese mainland where casinos are permitted

● Experienced travelers avow that patience is the most important skill needed to do business in China The Chinese are very good

at figuring out when a foreigner is under pressure from a tight deadline, and they turn that to their advantage in negotiations

● Although the economic boom is changing things, China is still a hierarchical society Age is respected When you send more than one representative to China, the oldest person should receive deference from the younger ones The elder representative should even enter and leave the conference room first

● While the Chinese have made great strides in using the Inter-net, they face serious obstacles For one thing, the thousands of ideographs in Chinese language are not easily adapted to use on

a computer keyboard Also, Internet use in China is hampered by the government, which censors Web sites and periodically shuts down Internet cafés

● If possible, avoid traveling to China during the lunar New Year Also called Spring Festival, this is China’s most important, nation-wide weeklong holiday Tradition demands that every Chinese return to his or her traditional home during the lunar New Year With so many migrants to the cities, this means that there are

millions of trips taken by car, bus, train, or airplane during the festival

Cultural Note

The lunar New Year puts enormous strains on China’s transportation infrastructure Many people wait for days just to secure standing room on a train or bus To alleviate this, the Chinese government is considering mandating staggered vacations, in the hope that travel will be eased if not everyone is off work at the same time This may ease travel during China’s other national holidays, but it is doubtful whether it will eliminate the Spring Festival tradition

of returning to one’s ancestral home

Demographics

China has 1.3 billion inhabitants (2006 estimate), making it the most populous country in the world One quarter of the earth’s population lives there Although there are many minority groups, over 91 percent of the population is ethnic (Han) Chinese China has implemented a rigorous birth control program that limits couples to only one child

History

The Chinese boast the world’s oldest continuous civilization, with more than 4,000 years of recorded history Beijing (old Peking) has been the capital of China for over 800 years and is the country’s political, economic, and cultural hub

China was ruled by strong dynasties for thousands of years The first recorded dynasty, the Hsia, existed around 2200 b.c., and the last dynasty, the Ch’ing, ended in 1911 Some of the most important cul-tural achievements in history were produced during this time, such as papermaking, the compass, gunpowder, and movable-type printing After the fall of the last dynasty, Sun Yat-sen founded the Republic

of China and was succeeded by Chiang Kai-shek in 1927

Mao Tse-tung’s Communist forces took control in 1949 and estab-lished the Communist government that still exists, although events—

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from the massacre in Tiananmen Square in June of 1989 on—have shown an increasingly popular demand for democratic reform China has been divided into twenty-two provinces, five autono-mous regions, and three municipalities

Type of government

The People’s Republic of China has a Communist government There is a single legislative house, the National People’s Congress; all members belong to the Communist Party The National People’s Congress elects the Standing Committee, which holds executive power and is made up of the premier and leading ministers The pre-mier is the head of the government; the president is the chief of state The position of secretary general of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party is also an office of great power; it is often held by the current president

The Communist regime is highly centralized and authoritarian, and controls many aspects of life in China

Current government data can be found at the Embassy of China

at www.china-embassy.org.

Cultural Note

The revolutionary government of the People’s Republic of China made changes to the Chinese language Many complex symbols in written Chinese were simplified And the direction of written Chinese was changed: instead of being written in vertical columns, it is now primarily written like most Western tongues, from left to right in horizontal rows

This reformed Chinese has not been universally accepted by the Chinese outside the PRC Some Taiwanese refuse to reform Chinese, preferring the pre-revolutionary forms When you

go to the PRC, make sure your translators use reformed Chinese

Language

The official national language is standard Chinese, based on the Mandarin dialect It is spoken by more than 70 percent of the popu-lation Many Chinese speak Cantonese, Shanghainese, and Kejia

dia-lects Ethnologue, at www.ethnologue.com, recognizes 202 languages

Each minority speaks its own dialect or language English is spoken

by many businesspeople

Although spoken Chinese has many dialects (some of which are

as different as English is from German) there is one common written language This is why many Chinese movies include Chinese sub-titles, so that Cantonese-speaking Chinese audiences can understand the Mandarin-speaking actors, or vice versa

The government of the PRC has begun investing in Chinese guage training for foreigners Contributions to support Chinese lan-guage programs are being made to major trade partners worldwide

Cultural Note

Of all its trading partners, China’s relationship with Japan is one of its most contradictory The government of the PRC is always ready to criticize Japan for any real or imagined offense, from Japan’s cozy relationship with Taiwan to Japan’s failure to be properly abashed for its military actions in China before and during the Second World War Yet, in 2004, China surpassed the USA as Japan’s largest trading partner Their trade continues, despite such real conflicts as both countries claiming the same offshore oil fields, or a Chinese submarine being detected in Japanese waters in November of 2004

The Chinese View

Despite the fact that the government encourages atheism, the Chinese Constitution guarantees religious freedom (within certain constraints) Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity are the three major formal religions practiced in China However, even larger numbers

of Chinese believe in traditional Chinese philosophies, notably Con-fucianism and Taoism

Confucianism, although not a religion with a divine deity, has great influence on Chinese society Confucius was a Chinese scholar and statesman who lived during feudal times over 2,000 years ago

He established a rigid ethical and moral system that governs all relationships

Confucius taught that the basic unit of society is the family In order

to preserve harmony in the home, certain reciprocal responsibilities

 Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands: Asia

must be preserved in relationships These relationships are between ruler and subjects, between husband and wife, between father and son, between elder brother and younger brother, and between friends Since all but the last are hierarchal, rank and age have historically been very important in all interactions All actions of the individual reflect upon the family, and filial devotion is of utmost importance The virtues of kindness, propriety, righteousness, intelligence, and faithfulness have also been deeply revered

Most foreign businesspeople in China’s major cities will find an environment comparable

to that of any city in the industrially developed world The greatest hazards are from traf-fic and environmental pollution

China’s less-developed areas present greater challenges The transportation infra-structure is overloaded, and some foreign goods (including medicines) may not be readily available

China is thought to be the source for many forms of influenza that eventually infect people all over the world It is theorized that this happens not just because of China’s unsurpassed population density, but because of Chinese farming techniques, which allow animals of different species to come into close contact This is believed to facilitate viral transfer between species, eventually resulting in a virus which infects humans Cer-tainly, anyone who has visited an outdoor Chinese market will see different species of live animals on sale The Chinese government recently prohibited such markets from selling civet cats, which were suspected to be the source of the SARS virus

China is a huge nation, subject to all manner of natural hazards Earthquakes have caused widespread deaths in the past, but China also suffers from typhoons and other dangerous storms, floods, and mudslides

Cultural Note

Rural areas in China may have limited accommodations, as well as dangers not usually associated with industrialized nations For example, schistosomiasis (snail fever) has recently been reported in lakes in Hunan province A debilitating disease—deadly if not treated—it

is caused by a waterborne parasite and can infect humans who come into contact with tainted water for as little as ten seconds Estimates of the number of people infected run as high as 900,000 Sadly, schistosomiasis was nearly eradicated in China in the 1950s The return of the disease reflects China’s neglect of the countryside in favor of its flourishing cities

● 3 CULTURAL ORIENTATION

Cognitive Styles: How the Chinese Organize

and Process Information

The Chinese are generally circumspect toward outside sources of information They usually process data through a subjective perspec-tive, derived from experience—unless they have been educated at a Western university Universalistic behavior that follows the Commu-nist Party line is still required under the CommuCommu-nist government The favoritism shown to members of the Communist Party is overtly particularistic

Negotiation Strategies: What the Chinese Accept as Evidence

In general, truth is subjective, and one’s feelings, along with a modified belief in the Communist Party line, are primary sources of the truth Facts are accepted by younger Chinese, particularly within the burgeoning entrepreneurial sector However, they still strongly consider the other two sources, and will not usually accept a proposal

if it is in conflict with their personal feelings for the prospect

Value Systems: The Basis for Behavior

China is still primarily a collectivistic culture dominated by the Communist Party The following three sections identify the Value Systems in the predominant culture—their methods of dividing right from wrong, good from evil, and so forth

Locus of Decision-Making

In a centrally controlled economy, responsibility rests with gov-ernment planners, but individuals are held responsible for their decisions within the system Local decisions are made by the head

of the collective, and members must behave accordingly Collectives are insular, closed entities in which individual goals are subordinated

to those of the collective In the zones of free enterprise, businesses are experimenting with freedom from party rule but not from the collectivist way of thinking