As every business meeting in China starts with a thorough exchange of business cards, it is important to bring a suitcase-full of cards. It is also important to ensure that your card has a Chinese translation on the back with a clear description of your job title. Your hosts will scrutinize the card closely to make sure you are as important as they have been told you are and to ensure they are not wasting their time. You also get to choose a Chinese name to use on your cards: if you adopt the name of a famous writer or an important government figure, it will win a few laughs and break the ice.
If you are visiting business partners or clients, you will almost certainly be invited out to lunch and dinner. Dining together, allows them to get a feeling of how serious you are. Before getting down to the hard business of negotiating, they want to have a sense that you are not just there for a quick killing.
Speaking Chinese or showing an interest in Chinese history helps to build up trust, because it shows an element of commitment to, and respect for, the country. Your Chinese partners want to feel that you treat them as equals, not as bumpkins from a backward country.
It might take several visits to build up a rapport, but it is time well spent. Joint ventures in China are littered with frustrated multinational executives who thought they had a legal contract with their Chinese partner, only to find that the contract did not count for much when they fell out. Keeping key relationships lubricated is an essential part of doing business in China, the Financial Times reports.