That does not mean you are a hundred years old if you know of which I speak. It has not been that long that China has freely interacted with the west. Many countries have had a cultural exchange with China, while business was a closed door. Now China seeks business relationships with all countries of the world, and now this involves - YOU!
While the "Bamboo Curtain" has been lifted for many years, the open policy of Chinese trade is relatively new. Not that we have not been buying everything ’Made In China’ for a long time. But private companies in China can now do business with the rest of the world.
So now your company wants to send you to China, or puts you in charge of negotiations. You are the deal maker?
You really can learn Mandarin. You have some kind of mp3 player - you can take advantage of all those ’down times’ in your schedule and study an audio course.
You can learn some Chinese characters for that next trip to Shanghai or Beijing or Pudong. Or some of the thousands of amazing places in China.
The Orientals are not so easy to impress. After all, the English introduced them to opium.... a slight smear on international relations. Well, let’s forget that and move on and maybe they will too.
