Doing Business With Chinese People

This course introduces participants to the main aspects of Chinese culture, with a particular focus on business culture and business etiquette. It begins with an overview of culture in general, and challenges participants to try and spot some of their own cultural preconceptions and blind spots in order to look at intercultural communication from another angle. It then moves on to a discussion of the salient features of Chinese culture, focusing on the concepts of hierarchy, mianzi ("face") and guanxi (network relationships), particularly as they relate to business in China. Finally, it presents a series of scenarios and asks participants to determine the optimal course of action in a number of commonly-occurring situations involving working with Chinese business partners.