Chinese Word Games

The Head of the Chinese Ministry of Religious Affairs was speaking at a conference about law and religion at BYU last week and made a couple interesting comments that I think apply to anyone doing business in China.First, when ask directly how many people died in the 1989 Tiananmen incident he said: “Not a single person died.”Second, when asked why, if there is freedom of religion in China, are there underground Christians and Christian churches. He said: “There aren’t really any “underground Christians or churches.” Those types of people just don’t want to go out to a church because it’s too inconvenient. They would rather just have church in their own homes.”While the legal system isn’t well developed in China, lawyer-speak (apologies to my friends who are lawyers) is a time honored art in Chinese. These two statements are representative of what you will be told and how business/politics is conducted in China.So what do these two responses really mean?First, the official line on Tiananmen is that no one died. So there is no way that a government official is going to reverse 17 years of stated position on what was easily the biggest mistake of the last 25 years. Bottom line? In public announcements, documents and the speeches of government officials the Party Line is the reality and will NOT be second guessed.Second, the Chinese constitution states clearly that Chinese people have “freedom of religious belief” as opposed to freedom of religious practice. Since Chinese can believe anything they want, there is no reason (in the minds of Communist Party policy makers) for there to be any “underground” religions. The Chinese people have religious freedom so anyone that is not going to a “real” church must have reasons other than belief issues, or so the logic goes.What does this mean for you doing business in China? It means that just as in the US, you’ve got to be very clear and very specific about what you want and what you are expecting/getting in return. Ideas for clarifying details include:• If you don’t speak Chinese (very very well) and don’t have a good relationship with your factory you need to make the default contract in English and make sure that you get professional (and accurate) translation of the Chinese contract. Don’t ever let your supplier translate the contract for you.• What ever is official policy or the law for your situation/industry is what you need to default to. You WILL be told that you can get whatever you want, even if it’s not legal, but you don’t want to go there. Ever. If there are problems, and there will be, you need to make sure that you have (at least) the threat of legal force behind you.• Get your Chinese supplier to confirm back to you, in English, what they are going to be giving you. Get it in writing, get a sample of the product, get photos, get everything you can with dates and signatures, etc. Keep records of all conversations (electronic, verbal, everything) and make sure that all parties have copies of these. The Chinese know that collecting and recording information takes time. They know that you are (probably) on a trip with limited time. And they would rather do business at a bar or over dinner than at the factory. All of these things give them the advantage in (not) recording details. Make sure you do it—they will NOT.• Work with someone you trust—this is the best way to get specific, honest information. Working with someone that has a stake in your success (i.e. the successfull completion of your product) means that they are invested in seeing you get all the information that you need. Many people recently are saying that guanxi is over rated in China and that you don’t need it any more. I beg to differ. I don’t care where you do business, it is ALWAYS better to know and trust who you work with. Maybe you don’t need a government official in your back pocket any more, but you do need connections with people who you can trust and who have connections to people who can get things done. It’s just as true in the US as it is in China—“it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”