Despite being Chinese by race, Singaporean Chinese still have a hard time understanding and adapting to the culture differences of the China Chinese.
An example is the roundabout relationship-authority-money interplay. For someone used to a culture that is direct and systematic, the Chinese way can be a rude shock.
What is this roundabout relationship-authority-money interplay you may ask. It is hard to define, but let’s do an example.
Say you want some permit done so that you could do something. (BTW, if you think Singapore has too may permit, you have not seen anything yet.) So you ask around and maybe surf the Internet for the procedure. So you went ahead to get it done. So far so good.
At the whichever authority that approve your permit, you find that you need to have this information and that information. Maybe you don’t fit certain criteria. The officer points you to other officers and they direct you to even more officers. Hence starts the roundabout.
Eventually you realise that it is getting nowhere and you seek help. Then you discover that who knows who knows someone that have some relationship with the autority. If you are lucky enough, you find this someone and the person get your permit done in a blink of the eyes.
Sure you certainly pay more, in cash or in kind, but aren’t you glad it is done.
If you are doing business in China, expect to deal with that daily. It helps to have plenty fo cash. If you are bootstrapping like me, my advice is to find a good local partner.
In my case, I am very fortunate to have a local partner to help me cushion the differences. He dealt with all these day to day annoyances that could drive one crazy.
As I type this, he just dealt with another. Thank God.
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