CRI听力:Chinese Businessmen Sign up for Etiquette Course

Chinese tourists have received a lot of flak lately for bad manners while vacationing abroad.

A dead dolphin and defaced Egyptian relic come to mind.

But the same complaints are not made about the Chinese who represent corporations and government overseas.

One reason may be because there has been a recent surge in business etiquette courses and schools in China.

Government groups like the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and China's Commerce Ministry are putting their representatives through etiquette courses before sending them abroad.

One of China's leading finishing schools is Beijing-based Institute Sarita.

Harvard business school graduate and Sarita founder Sara Jane Ho says the majority of her clients are female business owners and entrepreneurs.

"I have a client who owns her own business with her husband, they have offices all over the world. Her and her husband have to travel to these different countries. They also have to entertain foreigners Brazilians Indians Americans at their home in shanghai. My client needed to learn the customs culture and cuisine of these different countries."

A portion of Ho's 12-day hostessing course is dedicated to business etiquette--ranging from how to set up a business meeting to exchanging business cards.

Because many of Ho's middle-age clients have not studied abroad and do not speak English, cross-cultural business interactions can be baffling.

Something as simple as an initial greeting varies widely from culture to culture.

"What an American is looking for is a smile, eye contact, and a firm handshake. But if you go to India or the Middle East, and you're a woman introduced to a man, you should not necessarily put your hand out, because in those cultures they do not like inter-gender touching.

Emily Wu is a young entrepreneur, who is working on launching a cake-baking and delivery service in Beijing.

Wu however says she would not take part in an etiquette course.

"Maybe I wouldn't go to this kind of class, because I would rather just learn through experience and especially old people who have success in different business areas."

Ho says the Chinese recognize the link between solid relationship and a solid business deal.

"From the Chinese perspective, business is done through relationships. They really want to relate to and respect to their international clients and manufacturers ways. When you do something that according to etiquette is really glaringly offensive, that can absolutely break a business deal as well as a personal relationship."

Karen Stohr, a senior researcher at Georgetown told Bloomberg that China resembles a blossoming America in the 1920's.
An influx of migrants into urban areas altered the social fabric.

People began looking for ways to fit in, and one way was to adapt to the dominant etiquette system.

For CRI, I'm Jordan Lee.