Julia Luu
MAR 4956
June 16, 2011
Personal Experience of the China Retail Study Tour
This retail study tour in China was my first time in China and I absolutely loved it. It was a great opportunity to learn about how retail business is practiced in China and also a great opportunity to experience a totally different culture. Although my parents are Chinese and I have grown up in a Chinese household, it still did not fully prepare me for such a trip. First of all, the language barrier was a huge issue. I speak Cantonese, not Mandarin so for the majority of the trip I was pretty much clueless as to what people were saying around me. However, one of the members of our group was able to speak Mandarin was kind enough to translate most of the time. Besides the language barrier, the Chinese culture is so different from American culture. There is so much formality and “saving face.” Another part of their culture that I was not accustomed to was the fact that the Chinese people did not form lines. For someone who was born and raised in America, this was a foreign concept to me as much as forming lines was a foreign idea to the Chinese. It literally was a free for all. And the part I liked the least? The toilet situation. I spent the first three days only using normal toilets for which I was eternally grateful, but the fourth day was the day I learned how the Chinese used bathrooms. It was not fun. After that moment, I tried to plan my days around toilets, which in retrospect was not very smart because it required a lot of dehydration. (Tip: Most places have one toilet, usually for the handicapped. We usually had a line about 10 girls waiting for that one toilet. The Chinese thought we were odd.)
I learned a lot through company visits. I don’t think many people how realize it is to start a successful business in China. There is so much bureaucracy and red tape that it will make anyone’s head hurt. Also, it is extremelybeneficial to have government officials, necessary, even. However, sometimes that means doing things that would be considered unethical in America. So it is really up to a company to decide how to run things in China if they are considering it a venue for expansion—to practice business ethically but risking more red tape and time, or to do things the Chinese way and speed up the process while gaining government favor. Meeting with the government in Yingkou (the only place we met with government officials while in China) taught me how important having face was. The entire trip was about having face and it was a giant show.
One of the greatest things I learned in China was how to bargain. Beware that when they realize you are American, you will be cheated. Some of the other students would pretend they were from Canada. I tried to speak Mandarin, and when I couldn’t keep up, I would tell them I’m Cantonese. They would then assume that I was from Guangzhou region. I think this helped, but since not everyone can say that, here are some other tips to successful bargaining. First of all, break up into groups of two. It doesn’t help if there’s a large group of Americans. And being in small teams means you and your partner can help each other out when bargaining. When you find something you like, try to look for flaws or pretend that you wanted a different color. When the seller offers you a price, don’t give them a price immediately. Tell them to lower the price or that you can’t afford it. When they refuse to lower anymore, have your partner pull you away or tell you that you don’t need it or it’s ugly. Always walk away at some point. The seller will go after you with a lower price much closer to your own. And when you buy things in bulk, you can get a better price. (In Shanghai, I bought 10 Polos for 30 RMB each. Initial asking price was 280 RMB.)
China was a very fun and eye-opening trip. I was fortunate to be from the U.S. because with the exchange rate, everything was super affordable (except in Hong Kong). A meal would cost from $4 - $8 USD. One meal was only $1.50 USD. And tip is included in the meal price already so there are no additional expenses when eating out. And nightlife in China was very fun as well. Although be warned: be very careful and observant of your surroundings. There were several near incidents on the trip that could have been readily avoided if caution was exercised. With that being said, nightlife in China is very fun and affordable, even with the disadvantage of being a foreigner and having costs of bottles miraculously increase. Always travel with someone else and when in need of a taxi, try to get one from a hotel concierge so they are legit. Also, be careful of KTV (karaoke places) in hotels!!! Usually, the floor that KTVs are located on are actually rented out and not a part of the hotel. In our case, the KTV we went to in our hotel was also offering “special services” and ended up charging us a higher amount than what was stated beforehand.
In the end, this trip to China is definitely one of the best experiences of my life. I met so many great people on the trip, networked with executives and government officials and saw one of the 7 wonders of the world! It was amazing and I would love to go back again.