Seeing China for what it really is...
How many times have someone told you that they know how to do business in China and tried to sell some consulting type service in the process?
I suggest you ask them where in China they mean… There is a vast difference in doing business in different regions in China, between 1st tier, 2nd tier and 3rd tier cities and even within the larger cities there are differences. Different districts have very different requirements, and interpretation of the regulations as passed down from the central and provincial governments, so doing business in China have no meaning beyond a catch phrase thrown around by people who do not know better.
In the same way no one in their right mind proclaim they know how to do business in Romania after having done a business deal in Ireland, people that have done business in Beijing should not be proclaiming that they are experts on how to do business in Guangzhou.
What is even more frightening is when a Singaporean or Hong Kong Chinese tells a European or American (or any other foreigner for that matter) that they can do business in China simply based on the fact that their great-great-great grandfather came from China. Actually it is not so frightening that they say these things, they simply do not know any better, but what frightens me is that people actually listen to it – and believes it…
There is an old saying in China: “The heaven is high above and the emperor is far away.”
In essence, the farther away from Beijing and the central government you find yourself, the less restricted are your business dealings going to be in terms of legal requirements and central government oversight.
In Beijing the “rule of thumb” is that if it is not stated in the law that it is legal, then by definition it is illegal – it is a black and white scenario. In Shanghai (or in some cases the Yangze River Delta as a whole, at least Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces in addition to Shanghai) it is quite the opposite – the law is a guideline that should be favorably interpreted, making for many a grey area. If it is not stated that it is illegal, then by default it must be legal. In the Pearl River Delta (and I guess in most other backwater places in China, from the very north to the southern province of Hainan, and as far west as you can go), the story is quite different: “What law? This is not how we do it here… Now give me what I ask for and then you can go…”
Next time someone tells you they know how to do business in China, enquire about their history in China. Where have they lived for an extended period of time? What have they been doing while they lived there? Have they got practical experience from your type of business in China? How many people have they employed? Etc., etc., etc… Someone that have spent their entire time in China being an English teacher in Shunyi, or a student at a university in Puxi, HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO DO EVEN THE MOST RUDIMENTARY BUSINESS IN THEIR RESPECTIVE DISTRICTS OF BEIJING AND SHANGHAI, AND MOST DEFINITELY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT WHEN THEY TALK ABOUT DOING BUSINESS IN CHINA.