Business Rules in China

Did you know that A BUSINESS CARD is a very important part of doing business in China? Therefor there are many rules that come with it! Handle all business cards with two hands. For business people in China it is very important how you treat their business card. They understand it as a level of respect you have for them personally.

For further insight on the differences of doing business in China, we would advice to further your knowledge by reading some books about china and the business culture. Some books that are recommended are:

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Main Facts and Figures of China

  • Is the fourth largest country in the world
  • Shanghai and Beijing are two of the largest and most populous cities in the world
  • The Han Chinese is the largest majority group in China. Mandarin Chinese is the official language. However in total, 55 official minorities and 206 listed languages are mentioned
  • The Tienanmen Square (Beijing) is the world's largest public gathering place and the Three Gorges Dam is the biggest dam
  • The population of China according to a November 2009 estimate is 1,334,040,000. It is officially the most populated country in the world
  • The Chinese Government has adopted a "one child" policy in an effort to curb the high numbers. Unfortunately this also makes China one of the fastest aging country
  • China’s labor force of over 800 million is over double that of the United States and the European Union combined. In 2009, China is forecast to overtake the U.S. as the world’s largest manufacturer

Main Facts and Figures of Shanghai

  • Shanghai (Chinese: 上海) is the largest city in China, and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with over 20 million people.
  • The two Chinese characters in the name "Shanghai", (上, shàng; and 海, hǎi) literally mean "up, on, or above" and "sea"
  • The vernacular language is Shanghainese: a dialect of Wu Chinese, while the official language is Standard Mandarin (Putonghua)
  • Shanghai's status as the cultural and economic center of East Asia for the first half of the twentieth century, it is popularly seen as the birthplace of everything considered modern in China.
  • The historic center of the city, the Puxi area, is located on the western side of the Huangpu.
  • The new financial district, Pudong has developed on the eastern bank.
  • The city is a tourist destination renowned for its historical landmarks such as the Bund and City God Temple, its modern and ever-expanding Pudong skyline including the Oriental Pearl Tower.
  • Shanghai is the largest center of commerce and finance in mainland China, which demonstrates the reason the city will be the host of the Expo 2010 World's Fair between May and October 2010.

Your mandarin language kit

Shanghai's official language is Mandarin Chinese (putonghua). Learning spoken Mandarin is made a little easier through the use of pinyin, a system that uses the Roman alphabet to represent the sounds in standard Mandarin pronunciation.

At the beginning, the best is to learn at least "survival Chinese". means directions, names of food and numbers.

go to your language kit