Frequently Asked Questions About Doing Business in China |
Chinese Business Culture
| Q: | How do I address a Chinese individual at business occasions? |
| A: | When doing business in China, you should always address the person by title and last name at all business occasions. For example, Director Li, or Chairman Wang. This part of the Chinese business culture is similar to the Western business etiquette. If you do not know the person's title, replacing the title with Mr. or Ms. will work just fine. For example, Mr. Li or Ms. Wang.
It is not Chinese custom to address a Chinese person by the first name, especially at business occasions. |
| Q: | What are the major Chinese holidays in China? |
| A: | Celebrating Chinese New Year is a major event annually in the Chinese culture. In addition, there are two other Chinese holiday seasons, Labor Day and National Day. These two additional Chinese holidays are specific only to China. Therefore, China has three major holidays around the year - Chinese New Year in January or February, Labor Day on May First, and National Day on October First. The non-working days around the above Chinese holidays in China last between 5 to 8 days. This is because the Chinese businesses typically combine the previous two weekend days and the following two weekend days with the official 2-4 holidays. So, making sure to work your schedule around the major Chinese holidays will help to save you unnecessary troubles when doing business in China. Finding the date of Chinese New Year is easy with the help of Internet. You may search by the key words Chinese Calendar or Lunar Calendar. The websites of U.S. Embassy in China and Chinese Embassy in the U.S.A. normally publish their business days with related holiday schedules. The sites can be found at http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn and http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/. |
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