Respect is Important

Before we left Albany, on the flight to China, and prior to most meetings in China, our international expert, Mr. Jinshui Zhang, spent some time preparing us for our meetings with our Chinese hosts and the business and economic development experts we would encounter. His instruction had one central theme: respect and courtesy. Some of what we learned was common sense, and echoed lessons from childhood. Other things were new.

One of the first things we discussed was something I learned from my parents. There are many ways in which we show respect for people - especially the people that make time to meet with us. One is the way in which we dress. Jinshui told us that we should expect to wear formal business attire: suits and ties or dresses with good shoes for every occasion except when we were on our own time. For all intents and purposes, we would be "dressed up" for all meals, meetings, and most tours. In the picture at the right, you can see that we are appropriately dressed for a meeting with the Chairman of TEDA - the Tianjian Economic-Technological Development Area.

I had learned the Chinese way of exchanging business cards as a result of meeting the many delegations that had visited our office in Albany. Jinshui reminded all of us to present our business cards using both hands, rather than casually passing them to people or flinging them across the table. He made sure our business cards were printed on both sides, one side in English, the other in Chinese, so the people we met could readily understand our title (our place in our organization), and other pertinent information. When exchanging the cards, we were told to be sure the Chinese side of the card was facing the person receiving it. When receiving a business card, we were instructed to examine the card carefully for a few moments and then place it carefully into a card case or on the table, if we were seated at one. Jinshui said that we should never stuff a business card into our pocket, especially a back pocket, without reading it. That would be considered extremely rude.

We learned there was a protocol for entering a room -our group should enter the meeting room in hierarchical order. Our Chinese hosts would assume that the first of us to enter the room would be the head of our delegation. Jinshui told us that if we had occasion to walk with our hosts on a tour or from one meeting room to another, the head of our delegation should walk next to the number one host. We would show our respect of their practices by acting according to their protocol.

In meetings, we were advised to be attentive, courteous and follow the protocol dictating the the flow of the meeting. When it was our turn to provide information or answer questions, we should speak in short, simple sentences free of jargon and slang. We should pause frequently to let the interpreter - ours or theirs - keep up with our remarks and to enable everyone to understand what you say. Much of this is simple courtesy, but I appreciated the reminder.

To prepare for the trip, I had read about Chinese culture and learned a few words of conversational Chinese. I knew that respecting traditional customs and practices would be important. The background reading helped a lot in understanding the context of our meeings and conversations. My upbringing had trained me to be prepared and patient with people from all parts of the community. This served me well in our travels around China.