CHINA MEANS BUSINESS DISCIPLINE

Traveling to China for the first time as a Bangladeshi can be a nerve-racking task. Though the title says “Business Discipline” but really this post applies to any Non-Chinese person of any gender who is interested to explore China for a business venture. I know, traveling to China for the first time in 2010, was a thought-provoking proposition for me because I traveled all alone by myself. However, I researched well before going to mainland China for a business trip. After my successful maiden business trip, I visited China a couple of times where I encountered weird and funny experiences. I’ll share those bizarre experiences and valuable travel tips with my respected readers in this blog and in my next blog.

CHINA MEANS BUSINESS, YOUR ITINERARY

China is a huge country and you have to plan your trip accordingly. If you are traveling from Asia, you have the advantage to reach anywhere in China within the same day with transits, so do speak. In my case, my maiden tour to China was participating in Canton Fair as a visitor and meeting a couple of potential suppliers and visiting few local tourist places. Subsequently, I booked my trip to China for a week and communicated with my counterpart about my itinerary. Henceforth, my maiden tour was so meaningful business-wise and worth visiting China.

DON’T OVER BURDEN YOUR ITINERARY

If you’re planning to visit a number of suppliers while in China, plan according to your own pace. Your supplier’s factory is likely to be 2-3 hours away by car or by train from a major city center. This means you’ll stay in a major city, like Guangzhou or Shenzhen, but you will lose 4-6 hours in travel time to see their factory. In other words, it’s very difficult to see more than one supplier in one day (especially after you take into account the long meals they’ll want to treat you), so do not make a plan to visit 10-12 potential suppliers. Rather, aim to visit 3-5 potential suppliers. If you plan to meet with a ton of suppliers, trade shows are useful because everyone is gathered at one central point. So, I visited 3 factories (one in Dongguan and two in Shenzhen) and met several suppliers in Canton Fair.

There are two international flight routes fly to China from Bangladesh. One is Guangzhou and another one is Kunming. Make one of these regions your base for visiting suppliers. If you don’t plan your trip to China well in advance, you’ll probably burn out and will have a nervous breakdown.

CHINA MEANS BUSINESS, YOUR VISA

You need a visa to travel to China. If you are a first-time traveler, a 3-month single entry visa is issued with prerequisites. After your first successful visit to China, then they’ll issue 6 months visa with double entry probation for Bangladeshi. If you are a frequent business traveler then the Chinese government will issue 2 years multiple entry visas. And I availed them all. The visa form will ask you several intimidating questions like the name of your inviter, whether you plan to travel to Tibet, the purpose of your visit, etc.

INFORMATION ON INVITER

One has to submit Invitation Letter to get a Chinese Visa in Bangladesh. It should be duly issued by the local Chinese Government. In my case, the invitation Letter came from a reliable source who has been supplying raw material from China to Bangladesh. The invitation trail is so authentic that I never questioned it in the Chinese Embassy of Dhaka.

YOUR ITINERARY

It can be vague. Something like “Guangzhou, Dongguan, Shenzhen, Wenzhou, and Shanghai” would be good enough. Don’t worry if your itinerary is not fixed. The visa authorities are basically looking to see that you do not mention Tibet or Xinjiang. These places are restricted to foreigners. It requires special permission.

PURPOSE OF TRIP

If you plan to visit a couple of trade shows while you’re in China or visit a supplier (technically business activities), again, you’re good to simply put “Tourism”.

CHINA MEANS BUSINESS, COSTS IDEA

To get your invitation letter from China, there is a cost involved. Due to good business relation, Chinese supplier does this for their counterpart as a goodwill gesture. In my case, it was complementary till it reaches me by DHL.

VISA FEES

Thereafter, to apply for a Chinese visa along with the Chinese Invitation Letter in the Chinese Embassy, Bangladesh. The embassy has standard fees for Bangladeshis and it updates from time to time. When I applied for a Chinese Visa, it took around US$40 in 2010. After visiting China a couple of times, my visa status has been upgraded to multiple entries that cost around US$100 in 2016.     

HOTEL

The hotel I stayed in Guangzhou City, was a reasonable Chinese Hotel, Guo Xian, for about $40/night. I stayed at this hotel couple of times because the location wise it was convenient.

FOOD

Food is normally very cheap. Fruits supplies are abundant and easily available in every corner of the street. US$6-8 per meal is a good estimate.

TRANSPORT

Transportation, especially in terms of the subway, long-distance bus, and train travel, is very cheap. The high-speed train from Guangzhou to Shenzhen is around US$18 (First Class Seat). The subway, on average, is $0.50.

KEEP IT IN MIND

If you’re visiting a supplier they will almost certainly pay for all your meals and your transportation to your next destination. They will probably offer to pay for your hotel as well depending on the relationship with you. In my case, the prior offer was materialized on a couple of occasions on my first trip. Overall, if I’m traveling alone for one week and staying in 3 cities on average, I had a budget below approximately $100 per day maximum for everything, including hotel but excluding airfare from Bangladesh. It is recommended to mention for any business travelers, Beijing and Shanghai are in higher bracket side of expenses like any European City, but if you stay in a Chinese Hotel with modern amenities type where I stayed, this number can be well below US$100.

BOOKING YOUR HOTEL AND ACCOMMODATION

I booked hotels through my supplier in China. Suppliers would do this voluntarily for you. All Bangladeshis book hotels by following this strategy. In the case of Westerners, they can browse c-trip.com to book their hotel. They list almost all of the major hotels in all Chinese cities, including both Western and Chinese hotel chains. They take a small commission (~20RMB) and also charge a 3% service charge to use credit cards. I found this browser somewhere in a blog, could be helpful for a few. Thanks to that unknown blogger.

BOOKING DOMESTIC INTERNAL TRAVEL

Again, I book all of my air tickets through my travel agency in Bangladesh. However, domestic flights in China are relatively cheap, and no more than $200US for a flight. All I take local support from the supplier that I visit. I take only local transport, hotel pick-up, and drop. I’ve already mastered this trait because I’ve been to several countries to apply the same strategy. 

China has an excellent rail system and it is quickly becoming amongst the best in the world. Train travel is too broad of a topic to cover completely here, but seat61.com is an excellent resource for China train travel. Briefly, though, there are high-speed bullet trains connecting many of the most popular routes such as Shanghai-Beijing, Shanghai-Hangzhou, Beijing-Xian, etc. High-speed bullet trains are almost always more convenient and comfortable than flying.

IDEA ABOUT VISITING SUPPLIER AND BE TRANSPARENT TO THEM

If you have established a good business relationship with your supplier, they will be happy to pick you up from the airport or train station. After your business deal, they will drop you off upon departure. This is a huge convenience and makes traveling in China more enjoyable. A piece of advice for the future entrepreneur visiting China, even if you’re relatively a small customer, always be transparent with your supplier about the budget of your business dealing and all, the supplier is bound to have your faith in them.

CHINA MEANS BUSINESS, THE GREAT FIREWALL

You’re probably aware that internet censorship in China is like protecting the Great Wall of China. When I visited China last in 2013, I couldn’t browse Google, YouTube, or Facebook. Here are some popular websites blocked as of March 2015:

• Nearly anything Google (including Gmail, Youtube, etc)
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Dropbox
• Any adult websites

If you’re tech-savvy person, you should buy a VPN proxy service like Panda Pow. This software installs on your computer and allows you to surf any website in China. It’s a lifesaver.

CHINA MEANS BUSINESS, LANGUAGE TROUBLES

China can be a very difficult country to travel to because of language issues. The vast majority of Chinese people are least bothered to learn the English language. However, wherever I traveled so far in China, all companies have Export Department. These people are bound to learn English for their export business purpose. New generations are more interested enough to learn English from their school these days.

IMPORTANT TIP:

The best tip is to have a few set phrases translated into Chinese and stored in your phone that you can point to, eg. “I want to go to the toilet”. Better if you have google translate screenshots of your desired Chinese relevant phrases, which would be a great help. Also, try to learn sign language. If you follow the tip, it will help you a lot when you are in dire situations.

CHINA MEANS BUSINESS, BRING GIFTS AND CARDS

It is a custom to bring a gift to business associates, especially those of similar or higher rank to you. Always carry extra gifts and give them based on the rank of associates, you are meeting. It will be highly praised by your counterpart. I carried one Bangladeshi handicraft for my supplier and she was very happy to receive that. Value and respect are important for them rather than monetary value. Take plenty of business cards. Hand each one out with both hands. They are important symbols to most Asian business people.

CONCLUSION

If you follow my business travel blog, I believe, it will help you a lot in planning a business trip or tourism purpose in the future. I thank all the people who supported me during my visit, sponsoring my invitation letter, resource givers I shared in my blog. Many of them, I don’t know but thanking everyone and giving due credits is a big deal when you are a blogger.