Damian Holmes

Recently I posted on my professional blog – China Landscape Architect - Making Connections with other designers in China and thought it would also be a good post about making networking connections in China on this blog.

Making networking connections are done in two ways in China either in person or online but most connections that are fruitful are the ones in person through a friend or business connection.

In Person/Offline

The best way to network with people in China is through business connections or friends. ‘Guanxi’ is a term you will often hear in relationship to networking in China and it is true unless you have good connections business will be harder to conduct in China. These connections are fair stronger between people as they are often old schoolmates or business connections or a friend of a connection and rely heavily on the concept of ‘face’. If you have any opportunity to broaden your connections through Guanxi with other friends or business associates I would take them as they often lead to other connections and so on and you never know where it may lead. China may have 1.3 billion people but you will be amazed at the number of people who know each other or someone – the six degrees of separation often feels like 2 or 3 degrees in China.

There are many networking events in China either as conferences or weekly events. My advice is to go to networking events that are paid for and run by a Chamber of Commerce or Department of Trade/Commerce. Also any event run by an established group or organiser that has a good speaker and/or theme. These events are useful and often lead to long  business or personal relationships.

My advice is to steer clear of most free networking events as they are renowned to be full of “financial consultants” or sales people or English Teachers trying to change to another job – I have nothing against these people and respect that they have a product or service they need to sell but I really don’t want to be called the next day or week to setup a meeting or have my details sold to a list(usually this is done by people attending not the organisers).

Online/Internet

Online networking is relatively new and the majority of internet users in China are under 35 – thus you online connections will often be middle class Mainland Chinese and be 20-40 years old. My advice is to Join LinkedIN and include lots of detail in your profile and join the numerous business groups that are focused on China. Also get a translation of your profile into simplified Chinese and you can include that in your profile under “Create your profile in another language”.  You can connect with me on LinkedIN by using the email address damian@damianholmes.com

The other way to connect is through Ushi.cn which is a LinkedIN type site that many Chinese are joining – you may need an invitation to join – just email me at damian@damianholmes.com and request an invitation in the subject line.

For Online connections, there is also social media sites including microblogging, blogging, news and more in China but most are in Chinese so it may become a little cumbersome unless you have a good grasp of Simplified Chinese characters.

If your a designer got to  Making Connections with other designers in China post from Chinalandscapearchitect.com

9. First in

Try to get your presentation on the first day or prior to lunch on any day – often people will organise lunches(long lunches) and business meetings after lunch at the conference to make the best of networking opportunities. Also many people will attend an event on the first day to be seen and then leave to attend to business.

10. Be a Polite Visitor

When you are giving a presentation in China unless you have been invited as an expert to give observations on what you think about China and its development it is best to keep observations to a minimum as you may come across as naive or reeking of colonialism.

11. Different Culture – Different Norms

The culture at conferences in China can be different from what you are use to and therefore what is acceptable at a conference differs also. Attendees will have their phones ringtones on and take calls during your presentation, they will also make conversation with other people and take photos of your presentation. These are just the norms in conferences in China. Be ready for it to happen and do not let it startle or distract you. If you are worried about IP in China with a new idea or concept then remove anything that you would be sensitive about.

12. Questions/Question Time

Most conferences in China do not have question time due to people preferring to ask questions in private, also asking a question of the audience  during a presentation will often go unanswered, so its best to leave it until afterwards after the presentation or during the meals.

13. Have hundreds of business cards

In China, handing out business cards is like second nature so get extras printed before you arrive in China or have more printed while you are here.

15. Off handed comments

A quick reminder to keep any off the cuff or joking comments/observations to yourself. Some people relax their manners after a couple of days in China as they are surrounded by non-English speaking people. Always remember just because you think they can’t understand what you are talking about doesn’t mean they can’t.

16. Have Fun

Presenting and meeting you people is fun. Enjoy the new experience and always try to take something away with you.

Some tips on presenting at conferences in China, this is mainly aimed at presenting at large conferences with over 100 attendees.

1. Know Your Audience

In most countries presenting at conference is usually to peers in the industry or segment of the market and most will have the same cultural background ie they have lived and worked in this city or country for years. In China it is very different you can get different conferences and the audience. They could be mostly foreigners or mostly Chinese or a mix but usually I find that one group is in the majority. When coming from overseas ask the organisers and who the audience will be as a guide you can look at the number of foreign presenters if they are more then the Chinese presenters then the audience will be mostly foreigners and vice-versa. If the audience is mostly foreigners you can follow the same presentation guidelines that you would follow in your home country. However if the audience is mostly Chinese then the following pointers will help you.

2. Get your content translated

Always get your slides translated into Simplified Chinese for Mainland China. It just makes common sense, you would not be interested in 20 slides of Chinese in your home country so why would people be interested in your English/German/Korean slides in China. Make sure when you have the translation done that you get the English included (usually in smaller font) as this is easier for you to follow and second, the company appears to be more international.

3. Statistics

Many Chinese like to hear about statistics whether its about industries, countries, cities, companies. Make sure to include a couple of statistics about your topic or company in your presentation.

4. Broaden the content – Reduce your home country examples

Unless the presentation is based on your city or country or regions market then your presentation would be improved if you broaden the content with some examples from China, Asia and other parts of the world other than your home country. Constantly, presenting examples solely from your home city or country can be dull and only shows that your ideas can be implemented where you live but you need to prove that they can transfer to other countries and cultures.  Adding world example to your presentation will make you come across as more widely knowledgeable about the presentation topic and your industry.

5.  Loose the jargon and your local terms

When presenting to largely Chinese audience who most likely will not speak English your presentation will be translated by one or two translators depending on the length of your presentation. My advice would be to go through your presentation and remove the acronyms, jargon and phrases as the will not be well translated and loose meaning.

As a rule if you didn’t use the word in the last 10-20 years remove it. This applies to phrases such as value-added, facilitation, thinking outside the box, leverage, skill-sets, proactive, synergy,  mission critical, low hanging fruit, touch base, and any term that your industry has formulated in the last 5 years. Also loose analogies or references to your home countries sports.

6. Tricky terms – get the message across

In some cases, you may be presenting a product, topic or technology that is newly conceived or being introduced to China. To make sure that you get the right message across; check the terms and/or concept with the translators prior to presenting and get them to retell you what they think you mean when you’ve finished explaining it to them. This will avoid the message being lost or misunderstood.

7. Duplicate topic information

Check via the website or through the organisers on who is presenting and what they are presenting and do some research on what they have presented in the past or what their company is about. Often I have been to conferences which are about one topic and have 20-40% of the presenters are repeating the same content.

8. Be ready to cut content

Two reasons for this – one you may have similar content to other presenters usually its the introduction or background information on your the conference theme rather than flick through it at the speed of light and say “will skip this because other presenters have covered this” just delete the slide/s during a break. Another reason you may need to cut content is due to a key note speakergoing  over time and the organisers then cut following presenters time.

Agricultural Bank of China  Shares were floated on the Shanghai & Hong Kong stock exchange but where underwhelming in their performance with on 1-1.5% positive movement based on USA and China market doubts about the future. http://bit.ly/9Az3GI

Economic data for June come out this week with 11.1% growth in the China Economy for the first half year-on-year http://bit.ly/daZDm5 . China’s CPI rose 2.9% http://bit.ly/dALbED China’s retail sales up 18.2% in H1 http://bit.ly/bSC99U

Premier Wen refutes allegation Chinese investment environment worsening - http://bit.ly/bJNxfs

Sixth cross-Strait economic forum concludes, 22 joint proposals adopted - http://bit.ly/aw7KdA

Hong Kong Passes Minimum Wage Bill – WSJ - http://bit.ly/buAM7n

China will start quoting the price of the yuan against the Malaysian ringgit on its domestic foreign exchange market http://bit.ly/cXdWR5

China’s bamboo industry booms for greener economy – Xinhua - http://bit.ly/9VdHSj

Daimler in truck deal with Foton - http://bit.ly/aaqKxr

Seeing China’s next challenge up close – Howard Gold @MarketWatch - http://bit.ly/bzliiQ

Burberry buys Chinese trading partner - http://is.gd/duot2

Shanghai, New York, Mumbai – Hans Rosling compares the 3 cities statistically from 1981-2006 http://youtu.be/RoRJyndPlX0

Fewer buyers cause fall in car plate price http://bit.ly/c9K439 – 18% fewer bidders – guess its due to less demand as expo demand is met

Shanghai closed down 0.25% at 2,415.15, Shenzhen closed down 0.21% at 9465.80

The Agricultural Bank of China dual listed on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges to create the worlds largest IPO. (SRC: Market Watch)

China’s third largest steel maker, Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation (WISCO), completed a joint venture on Wednesday with Australian Centrex Metals Ltd corporation (CXM) to develop iron ore mines on south Australia’s Eyre Peninsula. (SRC: Gov.cn)

IMF is still bullish on China as it lifted China’s GDP growth forecast for 2010 to 10.5 percent from earlier projection of 10 percent, the IMF said in a latest world economic outlook released on Thursday. (SRC: Peoples Daily)

China’s biggest minivan producer SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co Ltd will unveil its passenger car strategy with a new brand on July 18 in Shanghai.(SRC: China.org.cn) I am guessing that you will see a new passenger van, small segment car and high end luxury car – basically the highest volume selling segments.

Foxconn is looking at other parts of China after it has started hiring at its new plant in Chengdu. A senior executive of Foxconn on Wednesday said the firm has plans to shift some production lines out of Shenzhen to tap more business opportunities on the mainland and save on production costs. (China.org.cn)

Geely to build an R&D centre for Volvo in Shanghai. Geely, the current owner of Volvo has announced that it will setup a research and development facility in Shanghai, China. The company said that the centre will be located at the Shanghai International Automobile City (SIAC) which is situated about 25 kilometers from downtown Shanghai. (SRC: icars.sg)

Shanghai may wait longer for Disney magic – The planned Disneyland Park in Shanghai will break ground as early as November, one year after the project was approved by the central government in 2009, sources close to the project said on Wednesday.  (SRC: Peoples Daily)

No new measures to cool the residential market will be used in Q3 according to Xinhua

Observation: Shanghai sales are reportingly down 60% in recent months. All I can say is that real estate agents are on street corners with whiteboards showing apartment prices for renting and buying. Also they are handing out brochures for several new developments. Interesting to see how eager they get when the market is down in the boom times you rarely see them on street corners.

Shanghai closed up 0.49% at 2,421.12, Shenzhen closed up 1.31% at 9485.43

China’s forex reserves not ‘atomic weapon’
According to China.org.cn China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) Wednesday rejected concerns that it would use China’s foreign exchange investments as an “atomic weapon” against investment targets. (SRC: China.org.cn)

Western China getting a boost and tax breaks
The Central government is investing $USD100billion in 23 infrastructure projects in Western regions of China. The 682.2 billion yuan will be used to build railways, roads, airports, coal mines, nuclear power stations and power grids according to China.org.cn
The western regions will also see a corporate tax rates cut from 25% to 15% Premier Wen Jiabao said at a work meeting in Beijing yesterday reported in the Shanghai Daily.  This is inline with the Central Government’s move to invest more is the underdeveloped regions of China that have not benefited from the large investment and growth of cities and industries along China’s east coast.

ICBC launch services in Canada
Last week I reported that ICBC was looking at the entering the commerical real estate loans market, this week ICBC has begin retail and corporate banking operations under the banner The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Canada) in Canada(SRC: Gov.cn). Chinese Banks are set to be a power-house the next few decades and this is just the beginning as they partner with foreign banks and home and spread their wings across the world.

Shenzhen giving upto 120,000RMB subsidies for Electric Cars
The Shenzhen government is set to offer upto 60,000RMB in subsidies for pure electric cars and when combines with the Central Governments subsidy of between 50,000 to 60,000. This would allow a Shenzhen resident to purchase the new BYD* F3DM for 90,000. Shenzhen is aiming to have 25,000 private electric vehicles by 2012 (SRC: Capital Vue) BYD

State Grid is warns of blackouts
Currently China is going through its summer heatwave with scorching temperatures across China placing a strain of the Power Grid. Power shortages will occur in central, eastern and northern parts of the country during peak summer hours, as uncertainties still exist in demand and supply, the State Grid Corp of China said. The operator is responsible for power supply in 26 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. (SRC: Gov.cn)

10 Nuclear plants to most advanced technologies
The technology, called AP1000 from US-based nuclear power company Westinghouse, is a third-generation nuclear system. Compared with other reactors already in use in China, those using the third-generation technology are considered to be safer and able to operate longer. (SRC: Chinadaily.com)

China pumps billions into Canada’s oil sands
AFP is reporting that Sinopec and PetroChina have been investing billions of dollars in the Alberta Oil sands rather than purchasing companies outright which has caused tensions between China, Canada and the USA. (SRC: AFP)

Underground CO2 storage partnership with CSIRO
CSIRO is partnering with China United Coalbed Methane Corporation Limited (CUCBM) on a A$10 million joint demonstration project that will store 2000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) underground in the Shanxi Province and extract methane for use as an energy source. (SRC: CSIRO)

A large number of Real Estate groups have recorded large sales for H1 and I be reporting on that in full tomorrow. Contact me via email damian@damianholmes.com

Shanghai closed up 1.92% at 2,409.42   Shenzhen closed at 9363.02 up 2.02%

Inflation pressure waning fast in China – Despite the expected year-on-year rise in China’s consumer prices in June, inflationary pressures will continue to ease as the price index drops month-on-month, analysts said. (SRC: China Economic Network)

China to Remain Top Asian M&A Market – China is likely to remain Asia’s biggest market for mergers and acquisitions as companies in the world’s third-largest economy expand and seek takeovers to tap new markets, said Todd Marin, head of investment banking for Asia excluding Japan at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (SRC: Businessweek)

China‘s Property ‘Collapse’ Will Hit Banks: Rogoff - CNBC Asia
China’s property market is beginning a collapse that will hit the banking system, Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard University told Bloomberg Television. (SRC: CNBC Asia)

The Reserve Bank of Australia kept its rate at 4.5%. In its statement pointed out that “There are indications that growth in China is now starting to moderate to a more sustainable rate.” (SRC: RBA)

China buys more Japanese government bonds as China has increased its holding of Japanese government bills so far this year making net purchases of 540 billion Japanese yen (US$6.2 billion) during the January-April span. (SRC: People’s Daily)

Auto sales in China are up 30% year-on-year in the first half of 2010 with 7.18 million units. (SRC: China Knowledge)

Jiangling Motors to spend $USD147Mil  to expand capacity. The new plant will build 200,000 vans with maximum capacity of 300,000 vans. The company has a joint venture with Ford to produce Transit vans (SRC: Gasgoo)

PetroChina speeds up retail network expansion in China as it has planned to build and acquire more gas and oil service stations nationwide, sources reported. (SRC: China Knowledge)

Nigeria and China have signed an agreement to build the West African nation’s biggest oil refinery at a cost of $8 billion (SRC: Bloomberg)

MMX of Brazilian group EBX sends first shipment of iron ore to China (SRC: Steel Guru)

China to build new-energy demonstration city in Xinjiang – People’s Daily

China’s central government has approved proposals to establish a national-level new-energy demonstration city in Turpan in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, and the first low-carbon demonstration township in the Jujiapu Financial District of Tianjin, according to Zhang Baoguo, head of the National Energy Administration (NEA).  (SRC: People’s Daily)

Australian firm Hall Chadwick has found chinese partner in the Australian arm of ShineWing Certified Public Accountants, established in Victoria two years ago, to create ShineWing Chadwick Hall. (SRC: Sydney Morning Herald)
InterContinental Hotels Group to double Greater China presence in next five years – (SRC: IHG)

Shanghai closed down 0.80% at 2,363.95, Shenzhen also closed down 0.62% at 9171.03, Hang Sheng in Hong Kong closed at 19,842.20 down 0.32%

Agricultural Bank of China is set to release is share price guidance tomorrow at 2.68 yuan with a P/E ratio of 14.43 according to NBD.com.cn

NO BIG SLOWDOWN
A State Economist with the State Council Development Research Center has told a national newspaper that China’s GDP will be on track to reach 9.5% for 2010 and dismissed the ideas that there could be ‘double-dip’ in economic growth for China. (SRC: CNBCAsia)

HOUSING PRICES - According to MarketWatch Minister of Land and Resources Xu Shaoshi was cited on Sunday as stating that “In about a quarter’s time, the property market will probably reach a full correction and prices will fall, but it’s hard to predict the extent of the price falls,” He was also cited as stating that the government would continue push tightening measures in the second half of the year. (SRC: MarketWatch)

REVENUES SURGE FOR DEVELOPERS
According to China Knowledge most developer revenues for the first-half of 2010 have risen by 30% with some developers including Greenland Group, Evergrande Real Estate and Country Garden Holdings Co Ltd have almost doubled their revenues.

MAINLAND PLANS $200MIL IN PURCHASES FROM TAIWAN
Guanxi Autonomous Region is set to purchase $USD200 million of farm produce and machinery. Taiwan produce will not be seen to affect Guanxi farmers as Taiwan harvest times are earlier(SRC: Gov.cn).  Also recently 19 farmers from Guanxi went to Taiwan to learn about the latest technologies and farm management techniques (China Economic Net).

COCA-COLA is set to launch Glaceau Vitaminwater in the Chinese market at 15 yuan per bottle set to rival Red bull and to meet the demand for low-calorie non-carbonated drinks. (SRC: China.org.cn)  Damian Notes: A 600ml bottle of Coca-Cola costs between 2.5-3.0 yuan in Shanghai – the new drink will be the highest price for a drink in a convenience stores.

AIRBUS is expected to raise its purchasing from $200mil to $450mil from its joint venture with Harbin Hafei Airbus Composite Manufacturing Center (SRC: China.org.cn)

Premier Wen Jiabao warned about China’s macro economic policy facing difficulties with the severity of the international financial crisis. “China’s current economy remains good, but the domestic and international environment is extremely complicated,” Wen said while addressing a symposium held Saturday in Changsha, capital of central China’s Hunan Province. (China.org.cn)

The population of China is set to hit 1.4billion by 2015 according to Gov.cn with over 200 million people being over 60and the urban population will hit 700million by 2015.

GM sold more cars in China than in the USA for the first time ever. GM sold 1.21 million vehicles in the first half of the year in China whereas it only sold 1.08 million cars in the USA for the same period according to Businessweek. GM also seeks to offer an IPO of $3billion in August.

Bank of China(HKG:3988) (SSE:601988) is seeking to raise $60billion yuan(8.8 bil USD) in share rights issue with no more than 27.922 billion rights shares in total — comprising no more than 19.56 billion A rights shares and no more than 8.362 billion H rights shares — will be issued, said the statement. (Xinhua). Seems like its going to be a busy time for Chinese Banks.

A Strike at Tianjin Mitsumi Electric Co.Ltd has ended after an agreement was reached between workers and employers. (Xinhua)

Shanghai Stock Exchange(chart) closed today up 0.38% but down 6.656% since the open on Monday.

The Chinese Government announced that it wished to see more Mergers and reorganisation of the State Owned Enterprises(SOE) as some industries are too fragmented and relatively weak in their ability to be innovative & competitive. The move is to also increase the quality and quantity of development whilst strengthening the capabilities to counter risks from international markets. (Gov.cn)

Shares of Bank of China (HKG:3988)  were suspended on the Hong Kong stock exchange with Market Watch reporting that Taiwanese newspapers are reporting possible agreements between BOC and 4 Taiwanese banks. BOC Shanghai (SSE:601988) listed shares continued trading.

China Economic Review reports that there is a push from  Beijing to have 1,027 banks open in China’s rural areas by 2011, an effort to provide wider access to financial services in the countryside…. there are 118 rural banks set up since 2006.

GM sales have risen by 66% for the first half of 2010 according to (SRC: Global Times)

Chalco has pulled the plug on its $3 billion accord with Australia’s Queensland state to develop a bauxite project at Aurukun. After the announcement the shares fell on the Shanghai Exchange(SHA:601600) by 1.68% and 3.32% on the Hong Kong Exchange (HKG:2600). (Best SRC: Businessweek)

China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced Thursday that the country will cease levying tariffs on 60 percent of imports from 26 least developed African nations, including Ethiopia and Liberia. This policy went into effect July 1. (Gov.cn)

China Resources Land(HKG:1109) to build Mixc City in Shanghai. The company is set to build a 550,000m2 (5,920,150 square feet) shopping complex in the Minhang district after the success of a similar sized shopping complex CRL built in Shenzhen at a cost of HKD$4billion. (SRC:China Knowledge)

China’s Xinhua starts 24-hour English TV news called CNC which began transmitting on July 1 to most of Asia and will have arrangements with cable channels in the U.S., UK and other western countries by October (SRC: MarketWatch)

The Chinese Government have also announced a push for planning to ramp up growth in Xinjiang, Kashgar has a good chance of catching up, officials and analysts said. Authorities aim to restore southwest Xinjiang, near the borders of Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan, where Kashgar is located, as a transport and trading hub. Kashgar is seen as the Shenzhen of the West and is set to become have an Economic Development Zone of eight(8) square kilometres (3.08 square miles). The government also wish to increase the population from its current 350,000 to 1 million people. (Gov.cn)

Hope you have a good weekend and you can contact me – damian@damianholmes.com or @damianholmes on twitter