“You Don’t Understand China”

From time to time I’ll give out ‘doing business in China’ advice in this blog. I do not have the credentials of scores of other writers who make a living doing this. I have never blown a multi-million dollar deal, I have not had my business stolen from me by a joint venture partner, and I have never gone bankrupt. But I am still young, I might yet achieve the same elite status others who give business advice in China have.

There are four words that every foreigner doing business in China who hears them should sit up, pay attention and get ready to take action. These words are “You don’t understand China.”

Other foreigners who say these words are more likely than not just posturing and are full of bullshit. They probably want to sell you their consulting services. I won’t waste my time with them. In this case, I am specifically referring to when a Chinese person says them to a foreigner.

I equate this statement by the Chinese to be similar in meaning and intent as the protection offered by the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution. Defendants evoke the Fifth Amendment “on the ground that the answers that would be given could be used as evidence against the witness to convict him or her of a criminal offense.” This is not just a legal term; in pop culture “pleading the fifth” means “I don’t want to answer that cause it could get me into trouble.” Thank you John Gotti.

There are several reasons why a foreigner might be told “you don’t understand China,” in my experience sometimes what the speaker really means is:

• “In fact, you really don’t know that much about China.”
• “I can’t be bothered to come up with a coherent argument or explanation, so let’s just attribute this problem to your ignorance.”
• “I know more than you, let’s keep it that way.”
• “I’ve done something wrong, but it’s ok because I going to try to cover up my actions with my country’s culture, inadequate legal system or pervasive corruption.”
• “This is China, I’m Chinese, let’s just do what I want to do.”

You see why you should pay attention when you hear this? And for those of you who have not been to China or have not been here long, take my word for it, this gets said a lot. In fact, all you have to do is pick up a newspaper and read some headlines. When The PRC is criticized by the West for human rights, currency manipulation, or almost anything else, invariably the argument that comes back in a statement from the Foreign Ministry is often some form of “you don’t understand China” argument.

This argument is convenient because it is based on the logic that China is unique and complicated, and most Westerns don’t appreciate this enough. All of this is absolutely true. No wonder the Chinese love to say it.

What I take issue with is that the Chinese like to hide behind it; it’s too often used as a crutch to dismiss valid concerns by outsiders. When you do business here, if you let anyone say this to you and get away with it, you probably deserve to lose your shirt.

I have a solution. It’s not the all-mighty green kryptonite that will solve all your China business problems, but it’s a good tactic to use against any colleague, business partner, government official or anyone else who says this to you. You should respond with a simple “explain it to me”.

If after saying this you are told ‘no’ or confronted with a multi-layered attempt at obfuscation, then you know what you are dealing with. That person has no interest in helping you, which also probably means you don’t share a common objective. You will need to deal with that misalignment as best you can. If it’s important enough to you, it’s time to invest in finding someone who can answer your questions. This is where the high-priced consultants, or maybe different business partners, come in.

On the other hand, if your genuine interest in hearing an explanation about what you supposedly don’t understand is met by a real attempt to enlighten you, then you have found someone who cares enough about their relationship with you to foster it with knowledge. Dear readers, such colleagues, business partners and friends are worth their weight in gold. Find them and reward them.