Developing Your Own Guan Xi

Many people who arrive in China don’t have a good sense of whom they should have guan xi with. In that case, reaching out to other foreigners who have some experience in where you want to be, or are doing what you want to do, is a good start. They can hopefully give you some idea of whom to create guan xi with.

After identifying your guan xi targets, you often need to build bridges to reach them. Along the way, you have to remember two of the cardinal rules of guan xi:

✓	Follow through on your promises.
✓	Reciprocate.

The following sections help guide you through this process.

Starting from square one: Reaching out

The key to developing guan xi is to be proactive. In general, your goal should be to interact with as many people as possible. Don’t be afraid of being an obvious networker — in China, most people are networking pretty much all the time. In fact, at many networking events, you encounter Chinese who are “serial networkers,” people who pass you their business cards without saying hello or introducing themselves first. Although you don’t want to come off as a serial networker, you should exercise good social etiquette (see Chapter 16) and be upfront that you’re in China for a particular purpose.

In your initial contacts, you want to

✓	Get introductions to people who are involved in your area (industry or geography) of interest
✓	Get the big picture of whom you should be trying to meet and what resources are available to help you

Growing older, growing guan xi All other things being equal, the older or more experienced you are, the faster your guan xi will develop. This concept is consistent with the underlying idea of reciprocity. The more accomplishments under your belt, the more likely you’re able to offer the Chinese something of value. Also, as members of a Confucian society, the Chinese are generally more reverent of age than Westerners are. You can see this respect for age in the Chinese leadership, who tend to be fairly aged by Western standards.

The following sections explain how you can reach out — both East and West.

Making contact first with other Westerners

If you’re a Westerner who speaks no Chinese, who’s in China for the first time, and who has no pre-existing contacts, how do you find people to develop guan xi with? Often, the best way is to meet and reach out to people in the Western business community.

In Beijing and Shanghai, the Western business community is quite diverse, from small-business owners to Fortune 500 executives, recent college graduates to people with over ten years of experience in China. Their industries run the gamut from import/export to financial services. In other cities and towns, the Western community is usually more limited — often mostly people involved in manufacturing or import/export.

In most cases, Westerners in China are very approachable. They tend to feel a sense of being “in it together” with other Westerners, so they’re often willing to speak with newly arrived Westerners. One way to approach cold-calling (or e-mailing) other Westerners is to contact people with whom you have something in common: for example, alumni of your school, people in a business similar to your own, or people from the same state or province.

Developing Chinese connections

In addition to talking to Westerners in China, you can begin with Chinese people who are close to the Western business community. They speak English and can often provide a bridge to important Chinese contacts.

You may be able to develop guan xi with some government officials right off the bat. If you’re interested in doing business in a less developed part of China or in a special economic zone (SEZ), you may find that government officials — especially those who deal with foreign investment — may be more interested in meeting with you. Many of these officials are motivated by bringing investments and jobs to their areas of responsibility. If your project is big enough (or if they’re desperate enough), they may want to meet you more than you want to meet them! For more on dealing with government officials, see Chapter 8.

Gathering in mixed company

Many Western countries have chambers of commerce in larger Chinese cities. The chambers of commerce frequently hold networking and socializing events that draw both foreign businesspeople and Chinese who speak English well. The chambers and other organizations also hold industry-specific events. (See Chapter 4 for other places and strategies to start networking.) These events may draw people who are more established and are therefore able to provide you with more assistance.

In the larger cities, networking and socializing events occur every day of the week (usually several per day, actually). You can get information about these events by finding Web sites serving expatriates in those cities or by contacting your home country’s nearest chamber of commerce in China.

If a newbie Westerner arrives in a part of China that’s off the beaten path, fewer formal networking events and organizations are available. However, the Western business communities will probably be more welcoming. And that Westerner may stand out more, which can make developing Chinese contacts easier.

Beware of people who make claims about how their guan xi enables them to do impressive things. Both Chinese and Westerners are prone to exaggerating their connections, usually just to seem more important but sometimes because they want something from you. When dealing with the Chinese especially, telling who really has the guan xi and who doesn’t can be difficult; however, as a general rule, the more impressive the claim, the less likely it is to be true. Try to avoid committing too much on your end until you figure out whether somebody can really deliver.

Building bridges to your target contacts

As you speak with people and begin to crystallize your thinking about whom you want to develop guan xi with (see Chapter 4), visualize yourself as being on one side of a river and your targets on the other. The people who constitute your network become planks in a bridge over the river. With each person you meet, you hope that he or she can introduce you to someone who can bring you closer to the other side. When you’re finished building your bridge, the planks near where you started are likely to be mostly Western, while the planks near your targets are likely to be Chinese.

Strengthening ties through food, drink, and social calls

Building the bridge is all about forming and growing a web of contacts. When you meet interesting people, follow up with them by having lunch or drinks, or by stopping in at their offices.

After your initial follow-up, think about arranging group meals with your contacts. Meals are effective relationship-building tools — particularly with Chinese. Chinese-style meals take place around circular tables that have turntables (lazy Susans) on them. This setup allows everyone to share food, which makes the meals friendlier and more interactive. (See Chapter 16 for more information on social dining.) In fact, the Chinese generally prefer to socialize and drink in restaurants rather than in bars. Here are several reasons to arrange group meals:

✓	They solidify relationships with your contacts.
✓	They may provide your contacts with valuable connections.
✓	Your contacts may bring additional people for you to meet.
✓	You may receive invitations to attend others’ group meals, which are fantastic networking opportunities.

Traditionally, sharing alcohol has also been an important facet of developing trust in China. Northern Chinese tend to be the heaviest social drinkers. In major cities, sharing drinks is less a staple of doing business than it used to be; however, many local government officials still like to imbibe heavily from time to time.

A number of Chinese people feel more comfortable with people after they’ve shared some drinks. Alcohol can also help to minimize language barriers because when people drink and lose inhibitions, they tend to make greater efforts to communicate directly with each other across languages. These efforts are often just attempts at rudimentary English (or Chinese) phrases, such as “Chinese food very good.” Such interactions, particularly if one has been imbibing, may be humorous and endearing. Also, the Chinese know that people are more honest when drinking.

If a person refuses to drink much when his or her host is heavily imbibing, the host may lose face. However, as a Westerner, you can get away without drinking much (or drinking at all) more easily than the Chinese can — in other words, your reticence won’t be that offensive. If you want to moderate (or eliminate) your intake, it’s best to politely tell your host beforehand. Perhaps have a “designated drinker” for your side if you don’t want to drink much.

Even if the people you meet while drinking and dining and through other avenues don’t seem to be directly involved in your target business, they probably know people who know people; therefore, be open-minded about meeting a variety of people — not just people within your industry.

Dealing with language issues

When a newbie Westerner finally gets to the Chinese part of the bridge, he or she has to deal with the language issue. Certainly, all Westerners in China should know a few basic Chinese phrases, such as hello, thank you, and goodbye (see the Cheat Sheet at the front of the book). Beyond that, however, you need to use interpreters (see Chapter 2).

Following through on your promises

When seeking to develop relationships, you must remember the two bases of guan xi: trust and implied reciprocity. You can’t earn trust overnight, of course. Hopefully, you receive introductions from people who can vouch for you; if not, the problem isn’t impossible — developing trust will just take more time.

Keep in mind that China isn’t the place that the West frequently portrays it to be — cheats are the exception rather than the rule. Besides receiving an endorsement, you have other ways to earn trust as well:

✓	Diligently maintain relationships and have periodic contact with your targets because familiarity by itself creates some level of trust.
✓	Keep small promises, such as the promise to call by a certain time. Breaking a promise is a big taboo in Chinese culture.
✓	Provide examples of how you’ve done business in an honest way in the past.
✓	Tell somebody information about yourself or your business that’s somewhat sensitive (but not unflattering!). You shouldn’t lie or exaggerate (or technically, get caught doing so). Damaging your credibility is a problem anywhere, but the news of your misstep may travel more quickly in China, given the reliance on unofficial channels (like guan xi) to gather information on prospective business contacts.

Putting your best foot forward

If you represent a large multinational corporation, everyone already assumes that you can do your part — local officials will covet your company’s potential investment and jobs. For the newbie lone Westerner, implying that you can reciprocate favors is a bit more complicated.

Implying that you can reciprocate favors is a lot like interviewing for a job — you want to build your capabilities up as much as possible without creating a potential credibility crisis. Your goal is for the Chinese side to believe that you (or your company) are committed to your proposal and that you have the resources to make it work.

Some Westerners have good access to capital and a strong sense of how to execute their businesses that shows through to people who are considering doing them a favor. For Westerners who are less well equipped, the key is to downplay your weaknesses. Be yourself, but make sure you appear as strong as possible.

For example, if you don’t have much money but you know something about investing, you may want to talk some about investing (without overdoing it, of course). Many Chinese would assume that a Westerner who’s knowledgeable about investing actually has money to invest. That way, you appear to be in a strong position to repay the favor at some time in the future. Of course, keep working on addressing any weaknesses — continue looking for potential investors and develop your technical know-how.

Chinese hold some favorable stereotypes of Westerners — in particular, they think Westerners have superior access to capital and strong, sophisticated technical know-how. Therefore, consider playing into the stereotypes. For one, looking “Western” helps. That means dressing well — Chinese business fashion is a bit plain, so try to exhibit some business-appropriate flair (think GQ) if you’re comfortable. Also, Chinese are very brand conscious with high-end items; however, they tend to know only the most obvious names in a given category, such as Rolex and Louis Vuitton. Displaying expensive wrist hardware and clothing accessories is by no means a necessity, but it can help.