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It is not Impossible, But Difficult I am an American Chinese doing business in China. Over the years I heard many people in the USA complained about the business ethic in China. They always had sensational stories on how foreigners got cheated by the Chinese. The problem is these people take a small sample and blow it up to represent the whole. I think the Chinese businessmen who deliberately tried to cheat you only represents a very small portion. The challenge is more on the cultural side and lack of common understanding on what to expect. Being a Chinese myself I thought I understand the culture. I was wrong to begin with. Like we read over the over again on the web, the rules and regulations here are for reference only, not for straight enforcement. Just think about driving in most any part of China. Like Jian Shuo said, if you followed the rules, you became a nuisance to other auto drivers. The communication with your counterparts in China is also very different. It's a tiresome process for most people living in the west. The businessmen in China may hear what you said but not necessary listen to what you had said. It is therefore required lots of efforts on your part to get the message through; sometimes you have to repeat the same messages form different angles. The legal system in China is certainly not helping. There is no way or almost impossible to go through the Chinese court system to manage disputes. The legal concept here is very different than in other countries. That affects many aspects of business dealing such as contracts, lease, legal binding agreements, etc. I guess at the end of the day it is like this: do you look for reasons to do business in China; or the other way around. You can go either way with sufficient reasons or evidences to justify your decision. If you should decide to come, the challenge will be to build infrastructure to support your business operations. How to minimize your risk will be the key. |