Chinese Business Negotiation Styles
Etiquette first
“Courtesy before the use of force” is an ancient Chinese saying that also demonstrates the Chinese negotiation styles. Before negotiations, Chinese people emphasize establishing friendship with clients because many people believe that the relationship will last even if the business may not succeed; this has been a widely accepted belief since ancient times in China. If you come to China for business negotiations, your Chinese counterparts will give you an extremely warm welcome. Before the negotiation and at later stages of the negotiation, your Chinese clients may arrange attentive services for you, including sightseeing, shopping and nice dinners. If Chinese people go to other countries for business negotiations, they will bring carefully selected gifts to express their willingness to make friends.
Chinese people pay particular attention to establishing long-term and friendly business relationships. To them, the negotiation process is also a process of establishing personal relationships. The purpose of negotiations is to establish and develop longterm partnerships. The signing of contracts represents the beginning of long-term reciprocal cooperation. Being the host, they are not eager to start the negotiation, but rather have enough patience to get to know and understand their counterparts. They try to communicate and achieve mutual understanding through social activities such as dinners, sightseeing and shopping so as to create good environment for negotiations and to establish long-term and strong relationships.
Harmony is everything
Chinese people believe that harmony brings wealth and thus prefer to negotiate business dealings in an amicable and friendly environment. Therefore, they are rarely haughty toward others in negotiations. They usually speak humbly and reservedly even though they are experts in certain areas. Although they may behave humble in front of their counterparts, it doesn’t mean that they are laymen or lack confidence. They do not express their opinions or decisions directly, but do so in a roundabout way.
Chinese people take their public “faces” very seriously because their “faces” represent dignity and prestige. They rarely shun others directly because they feel that such behavior may cause others to lose face. When negotiating with Chinese people, you should respect their feelings as well as their way of dealing with people. By doing so, things will become much easier than you first expected.
Chinese people are very attentive and generous when hosting their guests. They often express this through gifts or hosting the guests with the utmost respect and sincerity. Almost every person visiting China feels such passion. Chinese people like to exchange personal greetings and pay attention to courtesy because they want you to feel happy. That is what is meant by “harmony is everything.”
An edited excerpt from When in China: A Guide to Chinese Business Culture published by Sinolingua Co. Ltd.