Luo Pan Compass used in Feng Shui beliefs

First I want to show a brief technical description of Feng Shui as written in Wikipedia in an effort to set the stage for the story. Feng shui (traditional Chinese: ??; pinyin: f?ng shu?) is an ancient Chinese system of aesthetics believed to utilize the laws of both Heaven (astronomy) and Earth (geography) to help one improve life by receiving positive “qi” (chi). The original designation for the discipline is Kan Yu literally: Tao of heaven and earth. The term feng shui literally translates as “wind-water” in English. Traditional feng shui practice always requires an extremely accurate Chinese compass, or luo pan, in order to determine the directions in finding any auspicious sector in a desired location or exact directions in which various objects, rooms, materials etc. are to be placed.

Map of China before 1921

I have not been able to verify or validate the geo-political truth about this story, but in a very funny way I am not surprised at all by the possibility of truth after some of my experiences of life and business in China.
According to this story up until 1921 China’s geographic map resembled a tree leaf similar to that of a Maple. The story goes on to tell that this is the reason why Japan whose geographic map resembles a silk worm kept attacking China and vying for control of it’s large land span. The story according to the Feng Shui belief takes root in the significance of shapes, position and the implication between geographic location and “astral plains”. The story depicts a green leaf regardless of it’s size as very vulnerable to a silk worm who must eat as part of it’s natural position in nature.

China - a green leaf and Japan a silkworm

The story tells that this is the reason why China was willing to let go of part of Mongolia in 1921. Again, I emphasize that this is a “funny” story and not a historical fact; but nonetheless it must be a lesson for us westerners in how Chinese think about many things. The story says that upon letting go of “outer” Mongolia, China’s geographic shape came to resemble that of a chicken… and yes you guess it! The Chicken can eat the Silk Worm, therefore the Silkworm became “neutralized”.

China - after 1921 separation of "outer" Mongolia

The story does not stop there, it goes on to say that the reason that China has never been willing to acknowledge Taiwan as an independent country is because the Chicken then would only have one leg and it would cause it to be unstable. The other leg being Hainan, the chinese Hawaii south west of Hong Kong. Interestingly, this story/theory can actually be easily translated to current socio-political implications between China and Taiwan. The Taiwanese with their American technology have become the leading edge of China’s technological development.

China - the chicken and Japan the silkworm

As a final topic, the story also addresses China’s unwillingness to let go of Tibet after many decades of it trying to succeed as an independent country, in-spite of the prevailing Chinese popular opinion that Tibet is nothing more than a wasteland full of poor people. Apparently Tibet is very important to China, according to the story if Tibet left China, then the Chicken would not have… a rear end, thus rendering the chicken unable to function.

China - Why Tibet can not be allowed to succeed

Again, the first time I heard this story I only smiled, but as I increase my understanding of Chinese culture is become evident to me that it is not important if the story is true or not. What is important about this story is the inside that it provides into Chinese culture and the justification for decisions and influences that affect daily life and business in China.

Confident and ready for the New China

They are learning English, they are able to surf the internet, they are confident, they are curios and they are very proud to be Chinese! There are many subtleties of the Chinese culture that are now becoming more clear for me, as I get deeper into the Chinese culture of today and as I become more accepted. Of course many things are improving because I can speak a few basic sentences in Mandarin and understand quite a few, in return people also open up a lot more to me.

I suppose that it is no surprise to find that the older generation still gawks at me as if I came from another planet, but young (I mean children) people readily will approach me to try out their best “hello” in English. Many of the older generation Chinese still believe blindly that Europe, the USA or Australia are the promised land. I mean this in the sense that they believe these countries are the panacea to poverty, sickness and lack of opportunity for the poor. The “Hollywood” view of the world.
The generation in the middle for the most part feels that being in China right now is a good option, however given the opportunity would love to visit these lands were the streets are paved in gold, everyone has a mansion and three cars and there is no poverty. However, they rarely talk about wanting to live outside of China, in many instances because they are terrified of having to learn English. As an interesting point that many of us westerners are not aware of, the vast majority of Chinese younger than 60 years of age are fully bilingual and in many cases trilingual. For country, business and education sake they all have to learn Mandarin when they enter elementary school, but for family and tradition sake they have to learn the parents “country language” or in some cases two, one for mother and one for father. In essence this family language is the birth language and is what is spoken at home with the family.

They are ready to try their English on any foreigner.

Young Chinese women in their teens have been targeted by exporting businesses to be their customer service, sales, translators and negotiations representatives. Occasionally you find a young man in this type of job, but generalizing the young women are more fluent and also less afraid to engage in conversations in English beyond the required. Most notable of the young Chinese (late teens early twenties) is that they very often sing while doing their jobs, no matter how mundane their job is. When asked why they sing, they reply because they are happy, I actually doubted this, so I asked a few older people why someone making $200 USD in one month, no car, family 20 hours away, sharing a bedroom with 4 or 5 other people, would want to sing? I was told two reasons, one they have a job and two they have a future.

Children 7 to 12 years old, I have call them the “new” Chinese because they are noticeably very different. They exude confidence and often will engage a foreigner in conversation at the supermarket or anywhere. This young Chinese boys and girls are growing up with internet access, some foreign television and an extreme influx of influence from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. You could say that they are getting a flavor of the western world “second hand”. I actually though that Chinese children would be like most children in other countries and that they would express their wishful desire to live in the USA, England or other foreign countries, but I found quite the opposite, they speak respectfully of foreign countries, but have an exuberant and very firm love for China and no desire to leave it.

They are very proud to be Chinese

I have been able to speak to a few children and although it is not a scientific poll, this children believe that they have a bright future in China, they love their culture (old and new), they are proud of their country and will openly state how lucky they feel to be Chinese. It is true that the central government in Beijing does a phenomenal job at marketing their “open-transparent” government, maybe only rivaled by new president Obama’s approach to politics. On a daily basis people are informed via all media of every project that has been approved, meetings on this and that and almost what Mr Hu Jintao ate for lunch that day. The Chinese army has its own TV channel and has a regular schedule of entertainment with singers, choirs, opera and documentaries, all produced and presented and performed by the military.

The interest in old Chinese culture is actually on the rise, many Chinese are still discovering many cultural facts that had disappeared decades ago, so the final face of China maybe something no one can predict, even the Chinese government. But, China is changing and is happening very fast and this is well before this “new” Chinese generation reaches the point of effecting change. It will be very interesting to see the effects of the new “open China” once this generation that was born in it reaches adulthood.

Retired Chinese play checkers.

I have now been traveling in and out of Asia for the last four years, of these four I have spent 13 months, actually residing and doing business in China. I have to admit that coming here I thought that I would have a very open mind, after all, I once was an immigrant in the USA and have traveled and done business in many countries… but, much to my surprise found my self falling into many “generalizations” and prejudices.

At a basic level Chinese people are no different than people in Des Moines, Iowa; they all want good health, family, a good school for their children and a prosperous future. They all long to be fruitful at their job and be able to enjoy their hours of relaxation. It is how their cultural roots make them go about achieving this that is very different from the west. Almost on a daily basis I am reminded that I am not in Kansas anymore!

Last year I was looking to invest some money in a Concrete Mixing business in China through my Taiwanese partner, after doing my careful research into this business (American style) I though it would be a great business opportunity, concrete in China? Is like selling air human beings.

I wanted to meet the principals in the company, so we traveled to Humen, north of Shenzhen for the meeting. In traditional Chinese business style (not Western/or Chinese corporate style) we started by sitting around a “coffee” table, very ornate and outfitted with a tea set, heating elements and a washing basin, all built into one. One of the men proceeded to wash all the utensils in hot water, then pulled a pasty black disk and tore a chunk, which he crammed into a tea pot and then poured hot water in it. Fascinated by the ritual I was  not paying attention to what my translator was saying to me.

After we all were served the “black” tea, I was informed by my translator that this was an informal meeting, that the general manager of the new operation had not been hired yet. With my fast American business mind set I replied asking, why was this fact significant to me? She then informed me that my objective of discussing the business plan, sales projections and start up date could not be achieved in the meeting. By now the “tea” ceremony and the back and forth smiles were beginning to fade as my face probably was beginning to show my restlessness and need to address the objective for the meeting. …well, when will the GM be hired for the operation? I asked.

It was the answer I got that had me somewhere between laughter and dismay. As a side note I have grown used to the fact that quite often when I ask a question as simple as can you produce this product in black? I will then witness a sometimes very dynamic 20 minute discussion (almost argument) to have the translator look back at me and say “yes”. Which is the reason that I am bound and determined to learn Mandarin, enough to at least follow the conversation, but that is another post.

Back to my dismay, disbelieve and need to burst into laughter. My translator informed me that the GM for the new company could no be hired until five weeks later, because it was “ghost” month, and it would be extremely bad luck for the business to begin operations in this month. I finally gained control over my reactions and asked to make sure I understood. Did you say “ghost”? She reaffirmed, yes! I ask to be excused then went to the bathroom to give my self a few minutes to digest this fact. It would be the first time in my business career that “ghost” got in the way of business.

The significance of this fact is that many people in China believe that this month which begins on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month is not a good month to launch a new business, get married, move your home or business or go swimming. To an American Business man this may seem very nonsensical at first glance, until you realize that you are not in Kansas anymore, this is part of Chinese culture. Of course this is changing and has already at large Chinese corporations additionally not all Chinese subscribe to the believe.

However for us westerners this is a reality that exists and may get in the way of a business deal. It is important to note, that even large corporations in China depend on many small industries to supply components just like the US and it is more likely that these small industries will embrace their cultural believes for many years to come if not forever.

In a future post I will cover my perspective on managing supply chains in China which is  a fairly new topic, and even at the large corporation level personal relationships quite often take precedent over business rules. Every day I am reminded that we are so very differently the same, I have now developed many friends and business associates with whom I can joke about these differences.

Cultural Revolution

Well, after reading many blogs about many things, some great and some well, not so great… I decided that I would launch my own. My goal is to be one of the “good-ones”. So, I will begin with a straight forward introduction to the purpose and reason for the blog.

If you are interested in reading about me and my background you can click on the “About” tab. In a very brief summary, I am an American-Business man and as such I will follow a few simple business rules in this blog, hence my urge to state a “purpose” and a “reason” to launch the blog.

The PURPOSE is to help “newbies” on the subject of doing business and navigating through life in China. I will endeavor to bring as clean and neutral of a perspective as I can, with the clear “caveat” that it is “my personal perspective”. The REASON is because I feel that there is room for an additional blog that looks at China from my perspective. I was born in south America, but relocated to the USA when I was 17 years old, finished my schooling and began my career in Printing and Communications. I made my way through various roles in Sales and Marketing until I became Vice president of Digital Technologies at the largest Printing and Media Communications company in the World.

I entered the global market, well before the word “globalization” was even fashionable, although I am only half a century old, I had a cup of coffee at Starbucks when it was a “one-store” company in Seattle and I attended meetings at Microsoft for production of the DOS software. These references are part of the foundation that gives birth to my perspectives looking at China’s growth and current swing from being heavily dependent on the US and other countries for it’s economy to an internal “self-sufficient” economy.

My first post is titled “so Differently the same”, because I want to explore the perspective that we “Americans” are so different from the Chinese and vice versa. I highlight Americans, because that is what I am, but the cultural shock of arriving in main land China (even only a few miles from the border or Hong Kong) is applicable to most western countries including Europe and Australia. Yes, I know once you are in China basically there is China and the “outside” countries, which are broadly categorized as west. I will try to be blunt in my approach to subjects as my intent is to present perspectives on life, business and views of China and from China, however I will also try  clarify statements when they represent a view that may be prejudiced or a generalization.

Lastly, I want to also set the stage for my readers with three different expectations that I have of my blog. One, I clearly understand that I will most likely incite not only positive responses or comments, but on occasion probably some negatives opinions, it is OK, I have done business now for over 25 years and in 11 countries, I have thick skin. Two, If anyone asks me to say my which is my, I always respond “is tied” (LOL), then I clarify is tied with number two. OK, so my native language is Spanish, however today I speak, read and write English better than I do Spanish so they are tied, suffice to say that I am a business man who can write not a writer by trade. Third, this is a commercial blog, there will be advertisements from companies or products or services that have relevance to the blog. I will try to keep these as noninvasive as possible.

I look forward to your feedback, questions and certainly if you need one-on-one help I can be reached through my contact page. Also if you would like to advertise on my blog it is best done through Google Adworks/Adsense. I will eventually launch a page for leads or mart like advertising.

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