Day 19 - China Business & Mr Foo See Meng Posted by SuperJuniorF , Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 10:01 PM, in

Today was like any other normal day in school except that today, Ngee Ann's Deputy Principal, Mr Moo See Meng came to visit us! So the day started with IS class where our teacher taught us about doing business in China! Curious about what I have learnt? Read on!

The first thing that was taught today was why people expand their business to China. Basically China is quickly transforming into a mass consumer market and romours is that it is even going to overtake USA! The next reason is also because China is growing, it is a good time to enter China's market whether the business is a service or product related industry.

The second thing is the disadvantages of doing business in China. As everyone knows, English is the business language. However in China, may people do not know how to speak English. So to do business in China, speakig in simple English will help avoid many communication issues. In China also, quality to the Chinese means that the product looks the same. However to others, quality means everything is the same from the raw materials used, the manufacturing and quality of the product. This is another problem in China as it is hard to detect genuine items.

The third thing that I learned is the kind of companies that can be set up in China. The three kinds of companies are Representative Office, Joint Venture Partner and Establishing a Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise. To know more about these types of companies, please used the internationally known search engine, Google! ^_^

The forth thing I was told is the trade and business opportunities in China! There are a multitude of trade and investment opportunities for exporters in the China market. Some major sectors currently experiencing rapid growth are processed food and beverages, transport, IT and telecommunications, minerals and energ, environment protection, building construction products and services. However the three major growth industries are exporting of education, processed food and wine products.

I was also taught how to import from China and export to China, the Chinese business culture and also tips of doing business in China but I am not going say the process here because it is top secret! To know the processes, you can talk to me! ^_^

So as the lecture was going on, it was interrupted by Ngee Ann's Deputy Principal Mr Foo See Meng!

It was really pleasure to be able to meet Mr Foo See Meng. I think that out of the whole population in Ngee Ann Polytechnic, less than 10% will ever get to meet the Deputy Principal and be able to take a photo with him! ^_^ When he was in the class room, he stated how lucky we were to be chosen to participate in this OIP trip. I believed him because after going through about half the programme, I find it worth while. He was also concern about our well being, asking if we were able to adapt to te environment, whether the dormitories and food was all right. He also mentioned the phrase "C and G" which means Cheap and Good! I strongly agree! However jokes aside, he told us that the important parts of the trip is not only to learn about the chinese culture and also experience it, but also going to the places of interest. Although he has been to Wuhan a few times, he said that he was not as lucky as us as he has never been to the places that we are going to in the next few weeks. He also stated that going to Wuhan without going to the places of interest is a wasted opportunity. So I consider myself very lucky being able to go on this trip! ^_^

After class, we headed back to our dormitory to rest before having dinner on Si Hao! In China, getting good news leads to treating friends or family members. So since we are in China, Tan Si Hao who got a GPA of 4 for last semester had to treat my classmates, the local China students whom we are close to and me to dinner! Congratulations Si Hao on getting GPA 4 and thanks for the delicious dinner! ^_^

Reflection

Today's IS lesson was a really fruitful. It made realize that doing business in China is not as easy as doing business in the Western countries or even in my own country, Singapore. There are many Chinese business ethics that needs to be followed if one were to successfully do a business in China. In USA, the culture is open. There are not many strict cultural rules to be followed. However in China, some of the strict cultural rules in business is that Chinese lower their eyes slighly as a sign of respect and the Chinese maintan their faces in everything they do. This is not the case for the western people as the western people are open and they express their feelings openly and not hide them.

Being able to see Mr Foo See Meng right in front of my eyes gave me inspiration to succeed here in Wuhan. Afer what he said, he made me realize that in Singapore, many people are not as lucky as us to get this rare opportunity to go on this trip. May be some of my friends are organising camps or even going for camps, but I am here going to the Yellow Crane Tower, Three Gorges, Wudang Mountains and many more places. Honestly, I do not regret coming to Wuhan. At least I also get to see the Deputy Principal in Wuhan and got to take a photo with him! I am glad that after his visit, I felt more encouraged and motivated to do well not only in Wuhan, but also when I go back to Singapore. ^_^