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Prior to privatisation in China, business only existed in the form of State Owned Enterprise (SOE). These were (and still are) run by people with strong political backgrounds and relationships, usually connected by family ties to someone in the government. This sort of closed organisational structure gave no opportunity for its employees to be involved in any decision-making processes. Often, principle-based leadership was substantial to motivate staff to be productive, although the extent of government financial support available meant that SOEs frequently didn't need much in the way of business knowledge or understanding of the market. Success was based rather on good relationship building - which effectively meant getting government financial support. With the boom of joint Chinese venture in the late 80s and early 90s, foreign investors started sending their own managers to interact with the SOE business culture. They were given great packages as incentives to compensate for hard local living conditions. In the 13 years I have been living in China, I have heard stories, too numerous to mention, of foreign managers attending hundreds of banquets and getting drunk with government officials, while the translators took over the communication channels. Most of the time they would have no idea of what was going on, other than that they were expected to drink vast quantities of alcohol, which somehow or other bridged the gap between the two cultures. How to impress Chinese counterparts by speaking a few Chinese phrases The Chinese language consists of phrases that are called 'chengyu', the nearest interpretation of which, would be - proverbs. They usually have four characters and have a whole story behind them to support the meaning that you want to express. There are dictionaries with a selection of the most frequently used chengyu, an essential part of your library. Make sure you use a chengyu at the appropriate time and you will grab everybody's attention and gain substantial respect.
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