Does anyone have any experience in doing business in Hong Kong

Respect is always appreciated so yes, if you can that won't hurt.

You can bring a gift from wherever you're coming from, this is appreciated in China.

Be careful about the whole "we never say no" thing, Chinese will often go out of their way to avoid saying no, best assume that everything which isnt a yes is a no.

Decision process can be slow, try and hide your frustration, look for consensus when you can.

Small talk is expected, regarding the lenth, Idk what to tell you, follow the lead of your hosts.

read and try to really understand what the concept of Mianzi ("face") means. expect that everything the Chinese do is revolving in some way around Mianzi.

read and try to internalize the 36 stratagems. every school child in China reads them and it influences their negotiating culture massively. expect that they actively try to fuck you over every step you take. being sly is highly valued in China.

also, this - partly due to their cultural value of harmony and due to Mianzi:
>>1413865
>Chinese will often go out of their way to avoid saying no, best assume that everything which isnt a yes is a no.

you *need* a local translator who is trustworthy and has experience negoiating. otherwise you'll lose a lot of important information and undertones.

>>1413865
>>1413906
Really valuable information guys, appreciate it. I was wondering about the translator before, but I'll have to convince my partner to go for it

>Doing business in Hong Kong and Shenzen

Do you already know Chinese very well? Do you have guangxi (face)? Do you speak the language? Do people over there owe you favors?

If the answer to all of these is not yes... expect to have a "fun" time.

Interesting thread

I have nothing to contribute except my approval

>>1414185

We aren't selling them anything, simply coordinating and building a relationship with the factories we already do business with.

But no, Ive only read about guanxi and don't speak the language, we work with chinese factories because they are cheap and fairly reliable

>>1414199

Be prepared to make a lot of social calls. Be prepared to drink. In Chinese drinking culture you drink with everyone who wants to drink with you. "No" is an insult. When you clink glasses it is a sign of respect to clink yours lower down on their glass. Again, build up your tolerance before you go. In a bar, you have the obligation to jump into a fight on the side of everyone that you drank with if they get into a fight. Drinking gets fucking political. As a non-Chinese in China expect everyone to want to drink with you, and some places will feed you drinks for free because it's considered hip to have a Westerner drinking at your place.

Also, Chinese women are going to be all over you. You don't even know.

>>1414206
Fantastic. Great info, we'll do our best to hold our own. Im sure they have a lot bad experiences with westerners not understanding or respecting these things.

Is it expected that we invite them out or pay for dinner/drinks?

>>1414638
are you trying to fucking insult them? host pays, no exceptions. don't even question that shit, they take that personally.

I have been buying from China for more than 10 years, been there at least 60 times and most of the replies are meme BS.
If you are dealing with a Chinese supplier chasing export deals, then they will do the work for your business.
Yes, the social aspect and also the face concept are important, but more so is making sure that you're dealing with a manufacturer and not an agent and that it is a company that has exported before.
Quality control is a key part of the business and you may wish to contract someone to inspect product prior to shipping.