Guanxi Master

How the Chinese Ideal of Virtue Transmits to an Ethereal View of Business

On a delightful fall day a few years ago, while with my family on a Sunday jaunt in the rural Songjiang area of Shanghai, we pulled over to look at a roadside stall selling beautiful flowers in narrow pots, hanging from a rack. I was intrigued by the elaborate rig for these simple-looking, grassy plants, and was even more captivated by the smell of their little green flowers. I was hooked. I bought two pots and brought them home, and it was the start of my two-year, love-hate relationship with Chinese orchids.

Doing some preliminary research, I found that the cymbidium (our Latin name for the Chinese orchid) was one of the “Four Sacred Flowers” of Chinese tradition. One of the original features of the “Crystal Palace” of the first World Expo in 1851, it was notoriously hard to grow in hothouses in Victorian England, but its flowers are regarded as one of the most rewarding of the orchid species. Its delightful fragrance fills a room for weeks at a time.

And then, by chance, I stumbled upon an even more interesting fact. After seeing the orchids in my office, a painter friend immediately commented that I was “becoming a Chinese scholar”. “There is no flower that represents the scholar and his life better than the orchid”, he said with a wistful smile on his ancient face. “Why?” I asked innocently. “For that, you must look to Confucius!” he replied, in a mysterious way, and then changed the subject. This peaked my interest, and I started looking into it more. Read the rest of this entry »

Playing the Game – Understanding How It’s Done

This is the second of a two-part series exploring the Chinese use of Western philosophy as a basis for negotiation with the outside world. The first article detailed how Chinese utilize postmodernism to undermine the West’s position. The second part discusses practical applications for negotiation.

With an awesome reputation for getting a deal, the Chinese are globally acknowledged masters of negotiation. As our first article explained, much of their talent lies in identifying the other party’s values and priorities, and then using those same priorities to control the agenda. At a philosophic and political level, this means China effectively takes the language and values of Western postmodernism, and uses them to its advantage. At an individual level, a Chinese negotiator will identify something that the foreigner wants, and then use it, as it were, “against him.” Read the rest of this entry »

A little-known jewel of Chinese wisdom that is opening doors to great opportunity

China has a historical tradition of great old sages. However, they generally weren’t characterized by the flowing silk robes and serene walled gardens that the Western mind imagines. Instead, art and history always depict them as wearing tattered rags and living in mountain caves, cold and poor. Lao Zi, Ji Gong, Zhuang Zi, and the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove are all models for this stereotype. They were men who “Saw the Tao,” and realized that because entropy was inherent in all things, poverty was the only “sustainable” lifestyle that could be proposed. In this philosophy, therefore, the building of palaces and the ruling of nations was pointless – unless one realized that they are pointless, at which point they become great fun! Read the rest of this entry »

If the best way to understand a culture is to understand its food, then dining with chopsticks is certainly instructive when doing business in China

The immortal chopstick. Used as a symbol of the Orient, evidence of chic cosmopolitanism, or even as convenient hair accessories, chopsticks can be cool or cliché, depending upon your perspective. However, they are much more then mere eating utensils, because chopsticks are integral to an entire style of cuisine and system of dining. The concepts behind East Asian culinary philosophy reflect those within the culture itself, and by learning these principles in chopstick usage, the shrewd observer can become skilled in cross-cultural dealings with China. Read the rest of this entry »

Forcing the Chinese to live up to Western expectations, when the West can’t decide what it wants

Thanks to China Esquire and Silicon Hutong for showing we’re not the only ones who’ve been thinking this. While many have no hesitation in criticizing Chinese business ethics, few are willing to admit that the West is not much better. Whatever pretensions to moral superiority Westerners may have had in the past are becoming more and more ridiculous in light of today’s corporate and social cultures.

Quoting Fareed Zakaria, our bloggers highlight the trend in recent corporate history:

I agree. The fact that America and Europe have long-ceased to operate out of morality and personal conscience is Read the rest of this entry »