pauldla
11-01-2009, 10:29 AM
#1: Introduction
If you’re interested in sourcing from China, here are a few words of advice I’d like to offer. I don’t claim to be an authority on the matter, and I’m not laying down the law (well, not usually: you’ll know when I am!). But I thought readers might benefit from some opinion.
The most important thing is not to try doing it on your own. You’re going to need some kind of agent or partner on the ground here in China, who knows the language and culture. This also needs to be someone you can trust. One thing which you become very aware of not long after you hit the tarmac here is that China is a really, really foreign country, and you tend to be most forcefully reminded of this when you think you’re on firm ground. You need somebody in your corner.
The first problem you’re going to have is of communicating what you want to happen. The Chinese can be very good at greeting your requirements with a hearty ‘No problem!’ and then doing something else completely. One little linguistic nicety I learned though bitter experience is that many Chinese confuse ‘I see’ with ‘I know’. That can cause all sorts of havoc, tension and bad feeling. In addition, sometimes the most innocuous of requests can be inexplicably stonewalled or denied. There can be a multitude of reasons for any of these, ranging from communications breakdown to cultural misunderstanding, but from your point of view you want to keep them to a minimum. How do you do this?
Well, it helps to have an idea of the culture you’re dealing with. Even if you’re not spending much time in China proper (in fact, definitely if you’re not visiting China often) you should try to get advice from others who have dealt here. If you know somebody personally, that’s great, but you can also make contact with many on the web: it can be useful to look at sites like alibaba to get an idea of the kind of problems people are having doing business in China, and how they are resolving them.
Your friendly neighborhood forum guy (e.g. yours truly, in a shameless plug) is also happy to deal with any questions you may have.
Sites like alibaba can be really useful, so long as you treat them carefully. From my own experience, they’ve been much more use as a cautionary example than as a source of suppliers. You’ll find many offering their services as ‘your-man-in-Shanghai’ types, followed by a gmail address and an apartment address. Some of these contacts can be useful, some can be complete time-wasters, and stay well-clear of the ones who will accept Western Union. Don’t be pressurized into anything, take your time sounding people out, and remember, if it seems too good to be true, it usually is. Caveat emptor certainly holds true for modern-day China. This is not to put you off the idea of sourcing from China – after all, many do so successfully, as you can see by reading the ‘Made in China’ labels around you - but just to remind you: be careful. There do be sharks in these here waters.
So much for our introduction. TBC.
If you’re interested in sourcing from China, here are a few words of advice I’d like to offer. I don’t claim to be an authority on the matter, and I’m not laying down the law (well, not usually: you’ll know when I am!). But I thought readers might benefit from some opinion.
The most important thing is not to try doing it on your own. You’re going to need some kind of agent or partner on the ground here in China, who knows the language and culture. This also needs to be someone you can trust. One thing which you become very aware of not long after you hit the tarmac here is that China is a really, really foreign country, and you tend to be most forcefully reminded of this when you think you’re on firm ground. You need somebody in your corner.
The first problem you’re going to have is of communicating what you want to happen. The Chinese can be very good at greeting your requirements with a hearty ‘No problem!’ and then doing something else completely. One little linguistic nicety I learned though bitter experience is that many Chinese confuse ‘I see’ with ‘I know’. That can cause all sorts of havoc, tension and bad feeling. In addition, sometimes the most innocuous of requests can be inexplicably stonewalled or denied. There can be a multitude of reasons for any of these, ranging from communications breakdown to cultural misunderstanding, but from your point of view you want to keep them to a minimum. How do you do this?
Well, it helps to have an idea of the culture you’re dealing with. Even if you’re not spending much time in China proper (in fact, definitely if you’re not visiting China often) you should try to get advice from others who have dealt here. If you know somebody personally, that’s great, but you can also make contact with many on the web: it can be useful to look at sites like alibaba to get an idea of the kind of problems people are having doing business in China, and how they are resolving them.
Your friendly neighborhood forum guy (e.g. yours truly, in a shameless plug) is also happy to deal with any questions you may have.
Sites like alibaba can be really useful, so long as you treat them carefully. From my own experience, they’ve been much more use as a cautionary example than as a source of suppliers. You’ll find many offering their services as ‘your-man-in-Shanghai’ types, followed by a gmail address and an apartment address. Some of these contacts can be useful, some can be complete time-wasters, and stay well-clear of the ones who will accept Western Union. Don’t be pressurized into anything, take your time sounding people out, and remember, if it seems too good to be true, it usually is. Caveat emptor certainly holds true for modern-day China. This is not to put you off the idea of sourcing from China – after all, many do so successfully, as you can see by reading the ‘Made in China’ labels around you - but just to remind you: be careful. There do be sharks in these here waters.
So much for our introduction. TBC.