A Quick Cultural View of Doing Business in Asia
Confucius, Cultural Inertia and Cognitive Dissonance in China
by
Gary F. Keller and Creig R. Kronstedt, PhD.
Gary Keller, (home) 11420 W. Godsell Avenue, Hales Corners, WI 53130, 414-529-3699, e-mail: [email protected].
(Please contact Gary Keller for all matters concerning the article)
Creig Kronstedt, (university) Cardinal Stritch University, 6801 N. Yates Road, Milwaukee, WI 53217, home phone number: 414- 510-1942, e-mail: [email protected].
A Quick Cultural View of Doing Business in Asia
Confucius, Cultural Inertia and Cognitive Dissonance in China
by
Gary F. Keller and Creig R. Kronstedt, PhD.
Gary Keller, Assistant Professor, College of Business, Cardinal Stritch University, 6801 N. Yates Road, Milwaukee, WI 53217
Creig Kronstedt, Assistant Professor, College of Business, Cardinal Stritch University, 6801 N. Yates Road, Milwaukee, WI 53217
Abstract of Paper:
The focus of this presentation is to provide an overview of some key components of “Chinese culture.” For the purpose of this discussion the definition of a “Chinese culture” pertains to “people who live in Confucian-heritage societies, e.g. the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans” (Ng 2001). All of the nuances of a civilization as durable, rich, profound and ancient as China’s cannot be fully articulated in a single paper. However, an overview can stimulate inquiry that may promote a better cultural understanding between Americans and their Chinese business counterparts.
Keywords
A Quick Cultural View of Doing Business in Asia
Confucius, Cultural Inertia and Cognitive Dissonance in China
Gary F. Keller and Creig R. Kronstedt, PhD.
China has the potential of becoming the world’s largest consumer market in history. When one also considers a modernizing India that has the world’s second largest population, clearly the 21st century must be considered bright for Asia. Presently the Peoples Republic of China (mainland China) and many other Asian countries are in their economic “take off” period. This phase is characterized by the creation of domestic industries producing chiefly for exports while the nation simultaneously builds its industrial infrastructure and a consumption oriented middle class.
The focus of this article is to provide the reader with an overview of some key components of “Chinese culture.” For the purpose of this article the definition of a “Chinese culture” pertains to “people who live in Confucian-heritage societies, e.g. the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans”(Ng Aik Kwang (2001) Why Asians are Less Creative Than Westerners, Singapore: Prentice Hall). In a tract of this brevity, the reader must accept that he/she is getting a “bird’s eye view” of an Asian culture. All of the nuances of a civilization as durable, rich, profound and ancient as China’s cannot be fully articulated in several pages. The author’s (Keller) intent is to provide the reader with deeper insights that may promote a better cultural understanding between Americans and their Chinese business counterparts.
Confucius
Attempting to explain Confucian philosophy succinctly is the equivalent of summarizing the Christian bible in sound bites. He lived from 551-479 BC. “The
Analects, a composite work, is commonly considered the main and most reliable
source of Confucius’ teachings”( Craig, Edward ed. (1998) Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, London and New York: Routledge). Some of the Confucian traditions include: an orthodoxy-conscious tradition, a culture-conscious tradition, a morally conscious tradition, a socially-conscious tradition and a this-worldly conscious tradition (Shu-hsien, Liu (1998) Understanding Confucian Philosophy Classical and Sung-Ming, West Port, Connecticut and London: Greenwood Press). The Analects are fundamentally a discourse on ethics and a system to manage society.
The body of Confucius’s work (actually compiled by his disciples) envisaged humankind as essentially a social creature bound to others by jen or humanity. Jen is expressed in five relationships: sovereign to subject, parent to child, elder to younger brother, husband and wife and friend to friend. The relations between members of society are made to work by a rigid adherence to li which is a synthesis of etiquette and ritual. Habitually Westerners have come to superficially know Confucian ethics via expressions such as “trouble arises not from poverty but from lack of fairness” or “Do not do onto others what you don’t want done onto you” (Silke Krieger Rolf Trauzettel, ed. (1991) Confucianism and the Modernization of China, Mainz, Germany: Hase & Kohler Verlag).
In Confucian society everyone has a role to play and the key relationships are built around the family. Confucian principles have endured more than two thousand years of tumultuous changes in China, spanning dynasty transitions to virtual European colonial rule to the Japanese occupation, the chaos of civil wars, Mao’s Cultural Revolution and China’s present evolution towards capitalism. One Chinese student of mine put it best when he characterized Confucianism as “an invisible burden that all Chinese people carry with them.”
The basic differences then between a Western, liberal outlook and an Eastern, i.e. “Chinese” attitude is best summed up as the clash between individualism (Western) and collectivism (Eastern) i.e. what is in the best interest for the group (Ng, 2002). Furthermore, one must consider that Chinese cultures value family connections and protecting relationships (saving face). Developing “family – like” relationships takes time and patience, not merely a contractual deal based solely on money. If one is to do business in a Chinese culture, it is critical to understand and respect Confucian values.
Connections – Guanxi –
A Case
In Chinese (Confucian based) societies it is said that connections – guanxi – is more important than what you know. While Americans often state that “it not what you know but who you know,” the Chinese definition of this oft stated axiom is far more profound and sets up an exquisite comparison between American and Chinese definitions. There is a common belief among Asians that to be successful in Confucian societies, guanxi, or proper connections are more frequently crucial than product, price, place, etc. Basically there are three spheres in Chinese society; at the center is the family, the extended family and non-family members who provide special services to the family. The more distant the sphere, the weaker the connection and fewer responsibilities one has to assume to maintain the reputation (“face”) of an associate (Selmer, Jan ed. (1998) International Management in China Cross-Cultural Issues, London and New York: Routledge). One study ranked the following items in terms of importance to long-term business success in China.
1. Choosing the right business location
2. Selecting the right entry strategy
3. Offering competitive prices
4. Having complementary of goals
5. Being familiar with Chinese negotiation styles
6. Providing flexibility in business operations
7. Creating guanxi with Chinese business associates
8. Making a long-term commitment to the China market
9. Exerting management control
10. Offering product differentiation/quality
11. Possessing an understanding of China’s policy (Selmer, Jan ed. 1998).
Appreciating guanxi takes time. Guanxi is not something that is created after a visit or two or by signing a contract. There are several principles that explain guanxi’s power and application, cultivation, utilization and maintenance.
·
Guanxi is transferable. This means if one has
guanxi with person X and X is a friend of Y then X can recommend Z to Y.
·
Guanxi is reciprocal.
If person X does not follow a rule of reciprocity by refusing to return favor
for favor person X will lose face with person Y.
·
Guanxi is intangible. It is sustained over time
by an unwritten promise.
·
Guanxi is business not emotional. If the
relationship is not achieving results, guanxi can be severed.
·
Guanxi is contextual. It is situational. In some
cases favors are the right thing to do in other cases they may be construed to
be a bribe.
·
Guanxi is long-term oriented. It’s like a long
term investment.
· Guanxi is personal. There is no group connection (Luo, Yadong (2000) Guanxi and Business, Singapore: World Scientific).
Cultural Conflict
American cultural icons are transcendent throughout the “Wal-world.” Our franchised fast-food restaurants, motion pictures, music, fashion styles and other commercial icons (Wal-mart, Home Depot, etc.) are situated world-wide. Furthermore the places (malls), conveyances (Boeing 747 passenger aircraft) and terminology (the net, Big Mac, Fed Ex, NBA, etc.) also provide the American traveler with sights, sounds and tastes that sub consciously communicate that other people are just like us. That belief is the source of most cross-cultural conflict because if we truly believe others are like us we can expect them to react to situations like us (Sorti, Craig (2001) The Art of Crossing Cultures, 2nd ed.) London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing/Intercultural Press, Inc.). In short, the urge to succumb to ethnocentricities based on mere images of American life is difficult to resist.
Clearly anyone who has traveled to Asia cannot help but believe that he/she has not completely left home. Whether one eats at McDonalds, Burger King or Pizza Hut, drinks coffee at Starbucks, watches NBA and CNN telecasts in their hotel room or merely observes a universal “dress style” (blue jeans, athletic shoes and a T-shirt) it is hard to see much diversity. As a consequence, the business person begins to get lulled into a mindset of “they dress like us, they like our food, they speak some of the same jargon as us…therefore they must think like us.” More often than not, this complacency can lead to embarrassing and potentially devastating conflicts. As mentioned above, body language, colloquial expressions, customs, business terminology and other assumptions can mean the opposite of what we are trying to achieve.
Two studies revealed how different basic American values are from essential Chinese values. Francis Hsu, an anthropologist who lived much of his life in China and America outlined nine American values: self interest, privacy, all forms of government are suspect, success in life depends on acceptance among his/her peers, religion is good, men and women are equal, all humans are equal, progress is good and being an American is synonymous with being progressive (Seelye, H.N. (1993) Teaching Culture: Strategies for Intercultural Communication, 3rd ed., Lincolnwood, IL: National). Michael Bond, a professor in the Department of Psychology at Chinese University of Hong Kong conducted a survey to determine Chinese values. His list numbers forty. The top nine were filial piety – obedience to parents, working hard, tolerance, harmony, humbleness, loyalty to superiors, observation of rites, reciprocation of greetings & favors, kindness. Number forty was wealth (Neulip, James (2000) Intercultural Communication a Contextual Approach, Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin). Obviously the spirit of Confucius is evident in the Chinese “top nine” values. Additionally, the disparity between the highly individualistic American and the collectivist Chinese again is apparent. The main takeaway from this discussion is to be mindful that mere appearances of commonality mask more profound cultural and value oriented differences. By understanding cultural subtleties one can show respect and clarity of purpose when dealing with others.
Negotiating With
Stereotypes
Several studies have found that when West meets East at the bargaining table the Westerners’ preconceived notion of polite, conflict avoiding, submissive Chinese is demolished (Ahmed, P.K. and Li, X. (1996) Chinese Culture and its Implications for Sino-Western Joint Venture Management, Strategic Change 5 (5)).
Frequently, the negotiations become embroiled in acrimony and distrust due to both sides viewing one another as stereotypes. Westerners are perceived by their Chinese counterparts as having an arrogant attitude. Westerners on the other hand go to China to obtain low cost items and services and may bring an attitude of superiority to the bargaining table. When one adds into the mixture decades of political enmity and economic disparity between the PRC and America, it is no wonder that the seeds of mistrust are “baked into” negotiating sessions.
It is also critical to note the regional differences and experiences of Chinese based countries and the various regions of China. For instance countries with a long tradition of contact and interaction with Western countries’ education, law and business practices such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Korea are more experienced in dealing with Westerners. However, in China, which is just emerging from decades of isolation and distrust of the West, regional differences may block and obscure “normal business” interactions.
Before conducting business transactions, it is recommended that the following be considered.
1. Local attachments and distinctive characteristics still remain powerful in China (recall guanxi).
2. Negotiators need to understand how each side perceives the other.
3. By knowing how Western stereotypes are viewed by the Chinese (remember what is the difference between an American, Irish or French national in the eyes of a Chinese person?) you may be able to help resolve barriers.
4. Familiarity with Chinese autostereotypes and heterosterotypes can give Westerners an insight into the negotiating environment they will enter. In other words Westerners should comprehend the regional differences that the Chinese hold between the different regions of China (Hong Kong, Guangdong, Beijing, and Shanghai) and of Asia (Singapore, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, etc.).
5. Do your negotiating homework ahead of time.
6. Reading a briefing about Chinese negotiating styles on the airplane as one heads towards China should be considered a work in progress rather than a closed case (Selmer, Jan ed. (1998) International Management in China Cross-Cultural Issues, London and New York: Routledge).
Listed below are several recommendations to use when negotiating with Chinese.
· Showing excessive emotion of any kind is frowned on in the Chinese context.
· Learn to see adversity in a positive light. Don’t leave bad feelings behind.
· Cultivate continuing support from the corporate office. Chinese value relationships of all kinds.
· Use nonbusiness opportunities to enhance intercultural ties.
· Be sensitive to timing, and be prepared to compromise.
·
Think beyond the short term. Avoid the car buyer
mentality (Ming-Jer Chen, 2001).
Crops Grow in Seasons Not Minutes
Mentioned previously was the notion of differences in how Westerners and
Chinese based countries view time and the notion of harmony. Again Confucian principles and other folk traditions combine to integrate special and abstract dimensions. The popular Chinese “feng shui” architectural practices being increasingly popularized in America is an expression of how the Chinese seek to create a harmonious relationship between the physical and spiritual dimensions of existence. Basically a feng shui practitioner desires to balance contradictory elements (such as fire and water, light and darkness, etc.). The outcome of a balance will allow positive energy (chi) to flow into one’s life. Creating and maintaining equilibrium for one’s family, community, business and life takes time and patience.
In the Chinese language (Mandarin) it is said that there are no tenses to express past and future. The three components of time (past, present and future) run simultaneously and can only be distinguished by context. This aspect again reflects the subtle elements of both Confucian philosophy and guanxi. It takes time to develop friendships that can be counted on. It takes time and patience to know who you are dealing with because it could be decades. It also is important to be able to determine who should be trusted with guanxi because it may be years before a business associate is called upon to render assistance for favors granted years before. Westerners need to keep this concept in mind when beginning to deal with Chinese business transactions.
In America, we teach our sales teams to “sell the product’s features” first and then overcome any objections the buyer may have. A telephone call, an e-mail message and a business lunch or meeting may all that would be required to “do the deal” in the States. Speed in closing deals, especially in an era of “selling via the web” where little if any human interaction is desired by the seller or in some cases wanted by the buyer seems to be an emerging Western sales and marketing trend. However, attempting to fly into a Chinese market, put together a deal bound by price and a contract and leave within a matter of days is a forecast for disaster. “It is not an exaggeration to say that while in the United States the flow of events must follow the schedule, in the Chinese context, the schedule must follow the flow of events” (Ming-Jer Chen, 2001).
Listed below are several broad considerations engaging in business in China.
1. Study some Chinese history, culture and the continuously changing market, rules and customs.
2. Contact the U.S. Department of Commerce, China Desk for further information.
3. Consider contacting the nearest Chinese embassy or consulate for information about doing business in China.
4. Attend or participate in trade shows in China.
5. Visit China with a local trade delegation or on your own (Sunjyot Dunung (1995) Doing Business in Asia: the complete guide, New York: Lexington Books).
Summary
The author of this article focused on two key themes. The first is to carefully consider the underlying components of international business relationships, culture and contemplation. It is vital that an American not confuse a culture of commerce as the contemporary version of Esperanto. Clearly there are many forms of capitalism and infinite methods of “making a buck.” However, as one executive lamented to this author: “We’re an American company thinking we’re a global company.” The executive meant that the firm merely exported goods, services and a business mind-set that viewed world markets much the same as if the enterprise was shipping products to North Dakota, California or New Hampshire. Investigating the real and differentiated needs of each country the business wanted to compete in would take time. Frequently boards of directors, stock holders, analysts or parent companies focus only on expanding market share…NOW, regardless of thoroughly investigating the market they seek to penetrate by utilizing “boots on the ground.” This author was stunned at the looks on the faces of two individuals who visited Asia for two weeks to investigate market potential. Both persons were amazed at the poverty and potential of India and China and concluded totally new products had to be made for each market.
Sanjyot Dunung provides an excellent perspective of how to do business in Asia. The book referred to above consistently delineates the major differences in customs, culture and business rules of the road of twenty Asian countries. The author cautions the reader about the cultural variations within huge, ancient countries such as China and India as well as between Asian countries. As a consequence, a business person must look, listen and learn before, during and after business trips. Clearly, the Japanese and Chinese have mastered how to penetrate global markets. The next time the reader puts on a pair of shoes, turns on their television or radio or perhaps drives their car, look at the country of origin. We have much to learn.
Cultural Inertia and Cognitive Dissonance in China
Over the past several years I (Kronstedt) have traveled and lived in southern and northern China. My trips have taken me to Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong. I have also lived in Shenyang for several months. Given my limited exposure in China over the past several years, my observations should be taken with a large grain of salt. However, I would argue that the same may be said of all those who attempt to capture the essence of a country whose history spans two thousand years, a land mass that could easily hold the entire United States, a diverse population of 1.5 billion speaking one hundred fifty dialects and an economy on track to overtake the United States by 2050.
It is important to recognize that China has been a “country” for ten times longer than the United States and has a rich and diverse history dating back before the Emperor Ch’in (Qin Shi Huangdi), the first emperor of China during the Qin (Ch'in) Dynasty (221 B.C - 206 B.C). He united seven warring states into one massive country (no small accomplishment). The emperor connected and extended four old fortification walls along the northern border of China that originated about 700 B.C. (over 2500 years ago). Armies were stationed along the 5,000 km wall as a first line of defense against the invading nomadic Hsiung Nu tribes (Mongolians) north of China. Signal fires from the Wall provided early warning of an attack. The Great Wall kept China shielded from much of modern Western influence until the Europeans and Japanese forced humiliating concessions on a weak and deteriorating Chinese dynasty in the early-mid nineteenth century. For several thousand years the cultural, religious, social, and psychological environment remained relatively stable. The sheer mass of the country, cultural traditions, advanced science and Mandarin bureaucracies created an inertia that insured order but prevented the “Middle Kingdom” from responding very quickly to changing circumstances.
These characteristics have also given China a sort of split personality which accounts for my observations of cognitive dissonance. This condition results when one is pulled in two different directions simultaneously. One force seeks to hold the Chinese true to their two thousand year old cultural roots. The opposite energy attracts the Chinese to move into the twenty-first century of western dress, values, individuality, and materialistic capitalism. The cultural values of China are again under attack by “twenty-first century capitalist barbarians” from the West.
The Chinese experiment with communism from 1949 to the late 1980’s certainly has had a major impact on China’s culture. Mao’s revolution was an effort to wrest China from centuries of cultural traditions and dramatically transform the country into a modern civilization. The collectivism of the communist philosophy, however, was not so far out of line with the connectedness of family espoused by Confucianism. Nevertheless, communism’s primary focus was a connectedness to a centralized government with structure and order imposed from the top rather than coming from the spiritual and cultural values of the people and their ancestors. The events that transpired in Tiananmen Square in 1989 revealed to the world that the experiment was running into serious trouble.
Communism still influences China to a great degree, but it has lost its relevance for the twenty, thirty, and forty-something generations. It seems to be the failed dream of a geriatric population, in the same way that the Red Scares of my father’s generations have been mostly relegated to the vehemence of old men in bars. When a thirty-something Chinese woman was asked about the influence of the ‘communists’, she didn’t understand. Finally she said, “Oh, you mean government people! Nobody pays any attention to them.” While the statement may sound a bit unusual, it does express an attitude of the general population. The government is seen by many Chinese as a disconnected impediment to their desire to move more quickly into the modern world. Almost everyone wears western dress and the young particularly strive to have a western “look”. One would be hard pressed to tell a Chinese department store from its American counterpart. Only the occasional Chinese older man wears the “Mao” jacket and cap from an earlier era. A local establishment in Shenyang is “David Camp”, a not so subtle reference to Camp David. The entertainment center is complete with a pool hall, bowling alley, and “Western” bar where waiters wear cowboy hats and boots.
China is once more under an attack both from within and without. Its entry into the WTO, (World Trade Organization) rapidly growing industrial base and daily contact (and trade surpluses) with the West have thrust China into awkward political, economic, psychological and sociological situations. Many foreign corporations have invaded China. McDonald’s and KFC’s are ubiquitous. All the major American hotel chains are there located throughout the PRC (Peoples Republic of China). Cell phone and electronic manufacturers are seemingly everywhere. BMW which already has Chinese factories making parts for its luxury automobiles, decided to let China manufacture its smaller BMW325 sport sedan for sale in China.
To attract tourists, many of China’s religious shrines have been refurbished by government or private organizations. In Beijing, one can tour Mao’s tour…for an entry fee and purchase a certificate that authenticates the visit. In Anshan in northern China (where a two hundred sixty ton piece of jade believed to be the largest piece of jade in the world, was found over forty years ago), a joint Hong Kong/Chinese venture started in 1994 carved the jade into an eight meter high Jade Buddha and housed it in a new temple built in the old style. This new piece rivals the white Jade Buddha of Shanghai. In Shenzhen (southern China) one can view miniatures of the Eiffel Tower, Niagara Falls, the pyramids, Washington D.C. and other world famous tourist sites in one theme park ”the Window on the World”. China will host the 2008 Olympics and is working very hard to familiarize its citizens with the rest of the world and attract the world to China.
While medical costs are far more reasonable in China than the West, the expense of surgeries or longer term care must be paid by family and friends “upfront”, rather than the central government. Only recently has medical insurance been offered in China and, in fact, it is one of the hottest stock offerings in China today.
“Saving face” is a very strong psychological drive in China and this paradigm could be one of the major barriers to change. I have encountered many Chinese people from the heads of major construction projects to waiters in restaurants who have difficulty admitting that they are wrong or that there might be a better way to do something, or that they don’t know something. (To be fair, I have met many Americans with similar problems, but it appears to be more deeply engrained in the Chinese psyche.) It is frustrating to find a hotel clerk who says, “May I help you?”(using perfect English) only to find that that the expression is almost the only English she knows and that she probably can’t help you at all.
It is even more exasperating to ask a desk clerk to arrange a cash advance on your credit card and be told that it can’t be done even though the clerk next to her did that precise cash advance for me the day before. Some manufacturing managers exhibit a similar attitude if someone suggests that there is a faster or easier way to do a manufacturing process. It is sometimes difficult to get managers to change to techniques which are better or more efficient and which would speed up production or lower the cost of production. Suggesting that managers are not already doing their jobs as well as humanly possible results in a loss of “face”. Therefore it is safer to maintain the present way of doing something is the only reasonable way to “save face”.
Another technique used by some Chinese is to ignore a request that they can’t or don’t want to comply with. If you didn’t hear it, it doesn’t exist. A Chinese friend, who manages a night club in Shenyang, is convinced that waiters believe that their primary function is to wait, not to serve the guests. This is perhaps the result of adding a gratuity to everyone’s bill rather than have waiters work for ‘tips’. Everyone gets the same amount regardless of how well they take care of or fail to take care of their guests. The old communistic concept of taking, “from each according to his ability,” and giving “to each according to his need”, is a hard concept to change because it is historically revered and not just by communists. The group oriented Chinese feel an obligation to take care of family. However surprisingly, utilitarian concerns are no longer a major function of government and apparently never was (so I am told) even when Chinese Communism was at its peak. Working with Chinese people at all levels can require patience and tact (something we Americans often have in short supply).
The major problem with saving face is it generally requires that we ignore reality. If one is doing something that is obviously wrong, it is obvious to everyone. The recent SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) crisis in China is a case in point. Hiding the enormity of the outbreak in China, only made the situation worse and was in the long run more embarrassing than if China had admitted the problem from the beginning. Hopefully, China has learned from that blunder, but there is still evidence that it has much to learn.
Another example of face saving is seen when viewing television news on Chinese television. Film-footage is lifted frequently from other networks whose logos are badly covered with ‘large pixel’ masks. It is almost as though Chinese networks want to cover world news, but don’t want to admit that someone in the world is covering news better than they are.
English subtitles are used commonly on television and on large billboards, brochures and handouts. The translations are invariably done badly. I am told this is so because these products are frequently produced and ‘proofed’ by friends of the family who have a student or acquaintance who speaks English. Cost may also be part of the reason for the poor translations, but I expect that there is a resistance to using westerners who are more “expert” at translating than native English speakers. Much as many Chinese emulate Westerners and Americans, I sense that some Chinese resent admitting that non-Chinese are somehow more advanced or more knowledgeable than they are in any aspect of culture or knowledge.
However, in fairness to the Chinese, we must realize that sometimes that doing something more efficiently means taking jobs away from many people. Downsizing is not a good option for China which already has too many unemployed citizens. If there are one billion people to employ it may make more sense to use ten thousand people with shovels to build a road or construct a building instead of using modern equipment which uses up large amounts of energy and eliminates jobs. Part of the problem that China faces is to spread the wealth to its people and provide them with the means to earn a decent living, not to mention turning them into consumers of the goods being produced.
The concept of personal space is different for most Chinese people than it is for Westerners. Americans tend to define their personal space as the distance of a handshake between two people. Chinese people do not observe this personal bubble. My own experiences suggest that in public personal space is a few inches at most. People think nothing of brushing up against one another on the sidewalk and crowd together to exit a building. A westerner might suspect that the building was on fire. In the street it is the same. People (or cars) going in roughly the same direction almost nudge one another to get an advantage. People or bicycles crossing streets seldom wait for cars but rather stand their ground and almost dare the cars to hit them. All seem to have the same rights of way. That is why it seems whoever is in front has right of way by default (and it seems to be observed rather universally). Cars have few qualms about crossing or turning in front of oncoming traffic. Vehicles frequently use the oncoming lanes of traffic when they are not occupied by oncoming cars and on big city streets (with large sidewalks) taxis often drive up on the sidewalk to let passengers disembark.
The manner in which the Chinese handle vehicular traffic gives another micro insight of the unique problems China faces as it moves forward in the twenty-first century. I have observed that there are not traffic rules as there are traffic suggestions. There are frequently, six lanes for traffic on big city streets, (three coming and three going) but I have rarely seen less than eight or nine lanes of cars. The one unwritten rule seems to be that if you can get the fender of your car in front of a car in another lane you win the right of way. You must warn others of your intentions, however, by honking your car horn. The primary way of dealing with any vehicle or person in front of your car seems to be to honk at them. Honking indicates, “I am coming, look out!” I usually ride in taxis and I have never taken a trip where the driver honked his horn less than fifteen or twenty times. I believe that the one essential working part of any Chinese car must be its horn. While one might expect a collective mentality and more group cooperation in China, I find that most people operate under the, “Every man (woman) for himself (herself)”, policy. Whether in traffic or entering a department store, people just keep moving in whatever direction they need to go. This is not so much impoliteness as much as the way people have been doing things for a long time.
When I watch traffic jams or masses of Chinese people all trying to move in the same general direction, I see the situation as a microcosm of China’s historical transformation. It is a massive country, with more than one billion diverse people all moving in generally the same direction. They are moving into the future; into a new world of wealth and prosperity but simultaneously struggling together and occasionally against one another to define what the Chinese future view of the world is. Like the rest of us, they are not quite sure where they are heading. Some are holding back, others are hesitant and are unsure that they are moving to a better place. The past is familiar and comfortable and for some Chinese it must be recovered before they move too far into the future.
Once again, there is a reality which typifies this situation. The Three Gorges Dam Project http://www.chinaonline.com/refer/ministry_profiles/threegorgesdam.asp is one of those moves into the future which seems necessary and essential for all in China. However but the project involved the relocation of 1.13 million people and destroying some irreplaceable historical artifacts and structures. Sun Yat-sen first proposed building a dam on the Yangtze River in 1919 for power generation purposes, but the idea was shelved due to unfavorable political and economic conditions. Major floods resurrected the idea and the government adopted it in 1954 for flood control. As in other parts of the world, the destruction of antiquities to make room for the construction of a new and better future is bothersome at the very least. The project is thought to have cost more than any other single construction project in history; with unofficial estimates as high as US$75 billion or more. Supporters reported, however, that the plan is within its US$25 billion budget and insisted early on that the project would pay for itself through electricity generation. To some, this seems unlikely given that there is no current market for the electricity produced by Gezhouba dam, which is supposed to partially finance the project, as a result of a glut of electricity from the closure of many state-owned enterprises (SOEs). They cannot compete with the more efficient factories set up by private individuals or foreign companies.) Many outdated SOEs are kept open, however, because closing them would throw the workers out of a job and add to the already massive unemployment.
A primary reason for China’s failure to let its currency float and seek its own level relative to the U.S. dollar and other currencies is that the policy makes Chinese products very cheap and popular in the U.S. Consequently China has had economic growth rates around nineteen percent for several years and even in 2003 with the SARS outbreak China’s GNP growth remained at eight percent. It should be noted that Western businesses are unlikely to move enterprises to China unless there is adequate electricity to run the factories.
China is already very quickly developing a middle class. In the short time, a little over a year, that I have been visiting Shenyang, I have seen, the number of private vehicles grow exponentially Where once the streets were filled with bicycles, pedestrians, and taxis, there is now a noticeable increase in the number of private vehicles. In particular, one finds Mercedes, BMWs, and Buicks, but the presence of Nissans, Volkswagens, Hondas, and Subarus suggests that more middle class people are beginning to have the means to own their own cars. That does perhaps account for the traffic fatalities (over 600,000 a year) though one must take the larger population into account.
Better understanding of a previous China could perhaps give definition to what China is all about. Because for China, as for all of us, we are perhaps defined as much by where we have been as by where we are going.
REFERENCES
Ng Aik Kwang (2001). Why Asians are Less Creative Than Westerners, Singapore: Prentice Hall.
Craig, Edward ed. (1998) Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, London and New York: Routledge.
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About the Authors
Gary F. Keller is an Assistant Professor in the College of Business at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Keller is also a management consultant with international business assignments. Keller also teaches in the International program of Ottawa University in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore since 1996. Keller was recognized for his teaching excellence by the Association of Collegiate and Business Programs (ACBSP) in 2002.
Creig R. Kronstedt is a tenured
Assistant Professor in the College of
Business and Management at Cardinal Stritch University. He holds a doctorate
in human behavioral psychology. He also teaches statistics and international
economics in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.