On Monday, Miguel and I were introduced to the CEO of our company for the first time. His name is Patrick and he founded the company. He is really energetic and very fast paced, he told us that maybe one of us could join him the next day to meet a potential client in an industrial town around an hour away from Shanghai, near Hangzhou. He said that we would have to arrive half an hour earlier than usual so that we would be ready to leave on time. We were both really excited about it, but also conscious that only one of us might be going!
On Tuesday morning, Miguel and I set off to work in (more formal than usual) work attire and went about getting our three tubes and then a cab. Typically, when you are in a rush, we missed tube after tube and had to wait around the metro for the next one. When we finally arrived at Tiantong road (our third station) where we had to hail a cab. Usually this does not take very long, as the tube station comes out onto a busy junction. However, today when we got into our taxi and said ‘Huangpu Lu, Jiǔ jiǔ hau” the man shook his head, so we showed him the written form, but still a blank response. This happens sometimes, so we got out and hailed another cab, slowly starting to panic that we were going to be late. We showed the next taxi driver the card straight away, to avoid any confusion. To this, she started getting a magnifying glass out, turning the card around, putting it under the light. When she finally realized where we wanted to go, she said she wouldn’t turn around and so couldn’t take us. Panic levels increasing even further, we leapt out of the cab and hailed yet another! Thankfully, this one understood us and took us straight to work. Despite the speed at which this cab drove, we were still five minutes late.
When we went into the office, luckily Patrick and our other colleagues had not left yet; we both quickly sat down at our desks and tried to not look late! They said to pack up and follow them quickly. Turning around, Miguel was nowhere to be seen, I presumed he would perhaps already be with Patrick, so I hurried off and followed everyone into the lift, but Miguel was not there. Patrick said that we were in too much of a rush to wait, so I text Miguel as we dashed for the car, but it was too late, we had already set off down the bund before I got news that poor Miguel had just nipped to the bathroom for two seconds and half the office had vanished.
Moral of the story: You snooze - you lose! (Sorry Miguel!)
On the journey to the potential client I got to have a good chat with my CEO. We were talking about some key differences between the Western and Eastern (stereotype) business-person. I was saying how impressed I was about the very equal mentality between men and women in the workplace in contrast to the west where some industries may be considered very patriarchal, I mentioned to Patrick something my friend Bruce had said about Chinese women, which was that ‘Chinese women had an upper hand (not just in business, but in general in Shanghai) due to the one child policy. This means that there are less women than men, making women a more wanted commodity, with more control.’ Whilst my CEO found this amusing, he disagreed and said that Chinese men are just Gentlemen and respect women’s rights… He also told me that the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong was in a way one of the first feminists who envisioned a China in which liberated women would hold up “half the sky.”
In the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China in 1954, it states that “Women in the People's Republic of China enjoy equal rights with men in all spheres of life, political, economic, cultural and social, and family life. The state protects the rights and interests of women, applies the principle of equal pay for equal work for men and women alike and trains and selects cadres from among women.”
From what I have seen in Shanghai, I think that this has definitely been successful as I have seen no inequality at all. It is as if people here have a different outlook. My CEO was telling me that Chairman Mao’s policy had a massive and long-lasting influence on all aspects of Chinese women, including literacy rates, career paths, family role, and most of all, participation in government and political affairs. Whilst I am sure this is still not 100% the case in more rural areas of China, I think this is definitely something that the West could take note of!
I found a really interesting article about women’s liberation in China at http://nccur.lib.nccu.edu.tw/bitstream/140.119/41451/2/NCCURhandle41451.pdf
I also mentioned a few people that I had met at the Rodman and Renshaw conference who I knew my CEO was either aware of or acquaintances of. This appears to be a standard Chinese thing to do (what appears to me as kind of name dropping) but seems to establish common ground.
We discussed many things on the way to and from the visit, including philosophy, religion, politics and many other things. A few things I found interesting from a (very international) Chinese perspective were the ‘Chinese inland mentality’ versus ‘island mentalities’ such as the UK and Japan. My CEO was telling me that this is why China did not want to trade with anyone until so recently, because they have everything they could already need. He said that globalization may be changing this – for China, but he believes that the US may be suffering internationally because they are reverting to an ‘inland mentality’. He was saying that it is understandable for ‘island nations’ such as the UK and Japan to want to expand in order to gain power because they need resources that are not available to them on their island. He said that he thinks that the UK is at a happy medium currently economically as they are so established with a knowledge-based economy.
When we arrived at the potential clients HQ around 10.30am. The building reminded me of a large and monumental country estate with an English baroque design. Outside there was roman figures, but also large Chinese vases. After driving through what appeared to me as quite a poor, industrial town, it was very a shock to see such an extravagant European influenced building!
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When we went inside, I was even more surprised to see French baroque furniture that would have looked apt in Louis XIV’s boudoir, however apparently it was the CEO’s favorite! The company we went to visit one of China’s leading environmentally friendly fabric manufacturers, (according to their presentation). They recycle leather scraps in order to produce hi-tech eco friendly leather products.
One acquainted with a few of the staff, we all listened to a presentation (which was mainly in Chinese but with a few English parts thrown in for me!). After the presentation, we were invited to sit down for some green tea. This is where I made my first faux pas. I just sat down. One of my colleagues immediately told me to stand up! It is Chinese etiquette for the host to seat their guests – in order of importance! I was literally sat miles away from everyone, after my boss had explained I was an intern from the UK. Even more mortifying, the seat I had sat in was that of the other company’s CEO. Cringe. Then came my second faux pas. As we were all already sat down, when I accepted the business card of the fellow company’s CEO, I did so with both hands, studied it for a few seconds, which is the correct manor, however I noticed one of my colleagues wince at me from across the table. I should have stood up to accept his business card; not standing up is a sign of disrespect.
After this, we all went for lunch together at the CEO’s wife’s restaurant around the corner. When leaving the building, my CEO Patrick, went with the senior execs from the other company in their car and I stuck with my colleauges. When being told where to sit – even in the car, I did feel a little uncouth, because it reminded me of being younger and squabbling with my brother…”I want to sit in the front…Its not fair! I obviously didn’t mention this!
When we first arrived at the restaurant, I thought we had entered an aquarium; there were big tanks everywhere with literally, the same beautiful creatures I had seen at the aquarium the week before. I don’t think I could ever get used to choosing your meal in this fashion. Luckily we were ushered up the stairs and into a private dining room, by beautiful young girls in traditional dress. After being poured some hot water and being given some ‘nut milk’ to drink, a selection of foods were presented on the glass rotation wheel on the table. My CEO told me that he also did not eat meat, so I could just follow his lead, which was ideal – until I spotted him eating chicken. The whole meal continued in Chinese, with the exception of asking me if I would like a fork. I blushed and declined. A while later, I asked one of my work mates what the conversation was about. He replied with ‘business’ so I left it at that.
The aim for the host company was to either gain investment or to be assisted with being listed on the stock exchange. After the meal we were taken to a collection of factories, I was amazed when we passed some large buildings that looked like a boarding school, that my CEO told me ‘Yeah, that’s where all the workers live’. So the workers in these giant factories, work, eat, live and sleep in the factory grounds as part of their remuneration package. This is surely cheap labor at its extreme.
“You work all the hours God sends and we will feed and house you”. I have just finished reading Mr. China by Tim Clissold and I felt that I could relate to the book very well when I was walking through the factories, there were hundreds of foreign eyes staring through the massive machines and mechanisms at ‘the investors’. I found this quite a difficult and unusual sensation. For most Westerners, including myself, this reality is just genuinely a million miles away from that at home – such a different life.
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After the factories, we went back to the HQ to say goodbye (再見Zàijiàn) and then set back off to the factory. In the car, my CEO said he would ‘read’ me and he later emailed me to say what he had read. I was overjoyed to receive:
“I am glad that you came along with us today. I hope that you do not mind my fast pace and spontaneous working style. Please forgive my reading you. I really like your great personality and admire your adventure trip to my country. I think that you will be very successful at whatever you set your eyes on, and having fun at the same time.”
Awesome!
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