Source: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Importing-From-China/392754510824676

Top 5 issues to consider when doing business with China

1. Cultural Difference

You should already know that China has a totally different culture than your country, including Business Culture. Some approaches that worked in your country might not work well here. The first thing I would suggest is to hire a Cultural Consultant, so that you will know what is considered proper and improper behavior.

2. Know the Laws and Regulations

You should know what Chinese Contract Law says before you negotiate a contract, what Chinese Company Law provide before you set up a JV, and what Chinese Labor Laws state before you recruit staff. Hire a professional legal consultant.

3. Bilateral Political Relationship

You should be aware of the potential political risk, especially for investors from major western countries. Whether they admit it or not, many countries don’t like China or have had issues with China for a long time.
A recent example, the French President challenged the sovereignty of China by publicly meeting Tibetan separatist, Dalai Lama, which has greatly affected China-France economic relationship in the last year. French retailer company Carrefour has been boycotted by Chinese people due to that. So look at the political relationship between your country and China and evaluate what factors (religion, social system, territory dispute) might cause potential conflict between the two countries.
In the future, I think many countries will try to strengthen their good relations with China, because of the ever-growing Chinese Market. But for now, a potential investor cannot ignore the risks that political matters may affect their ventures.

4. Love China, Love Chinese, Love the culture

If you love China and love Chinese, you will be happy to be part of the society. You will learn local things, and be able to identify opportunities and problems. You will isolate yourself from the society if you don’t like China, Chinese, or Chinese Culture.

5. Find a good assistant

A good assistant can be your eyes and ears. It is very important for business and life. A good assistant will serve as a “How-to” Guide, will show you how to travel and where to relocate, as well as ways to recruit locally.

Source: http://www.chinawhy.net/blog/Article.asp?id=53

China sourcing ultimate guide - Part 1


China sourcing makes the headline in every main media. One fact can indicate how hot it is. Chinawhy have recently launched a ppc campaign on Adwords to promote China product sourcing service, we didn't make to first page when raising the bidding price to 1USD/click. In this article, we will try to cover all the issues and challenges you are facing when sourcing from China, including: find suppliers, screen and verify suppliers, price negotiation, contract negotiation, production coordination(follow-on), quality inspection, shipping arrangement, etc.

1. Find China suppliers

a.Chinese Trade fair
The best place to find reliable China suppliers is to attend Canton Fair, which is the biggest trade fair in China. In 2008, more than 10,000 Chinese companies have attended Canton fair(spring session). The Canton fair organization committee set a very high threshold for exhibition companies, let us take textile industry for example, only companies with more than 3 million USD export turnover in last year are qualified to attend Canton fair(For companies from eastern part of China, the limit for western China company is 1 million USD).

So the suppliers you met in Canton fair are mostly big and authentic suppliers that selected and recommended by local government. So the big buyers can always find ideal suppliers from Canton fair. But if you are smaller buyers, I would suggest you choose smaller while rapid-developing companies instead of big suppliers. The big buyers like Wal-mart, Target etc are on their top priority, smaller buyers' interest will be sacrificed first if they don't have enough production capacity to fulfill all the orders at peak season. However, your orders are always taken care well by the smaller suppliers. The other reason I recommend smaller but quality suppliers from Canton fair is that they are fast responding to your questions and concerns, that is very important especially when your order is really complicated.

Other than Canton fair, the East China fair is a large scale trade fair in China that is only next to Canton fair. Also if you are geographically connected with China, for example, if you are buyer from Russia, you might be interested to attend Harbin fair which is close to Russia.

b.B2B website
I have worked in several trade companies, when I received an inquiry from foreign buyers, the first thing I do is go to alibaba.com to compile a list of suppliers and then compare price and narrow down the list. That fact shows how useful it is to use B2B website to find a good supplier.

There are many B2B website out there, like Alibaba, made-in-China, globalsources, tradekey etc. Globalsources set the highest threshold by charging for expensive membership fee, so the supplier quality are relatively higher than the other platform. Alibaba, made-in-china and tradekey are also good resources to find suppliers, especially Alibaba. Most company in Alibaba are real companies(except for counterfeited brand products sellers). But one thing I need to stress is that gold supplier and trustpass members in Alibaba don't necessarily mean they are real, Alibaba said they have verified those companies, but don't promise those companies are real. Check our article on "alibaba gold supplier scam", and then you will figure out why.

c.Search engine
Use search engine Google or Baidu to search China suppliers. Vary the the search term to put up a list of suppliers showing up in the search results. Besides, many suppliers launch pay per click advertising on Google and Baidu, the AD appears on the side of organic search results. PPC advertising is pretty new in China, companies pioneered to use this advertising method definitely worth you to have a look at.

d. Industry association
It is always a good method to search the industry association websites or buy industrial publication from those industry associations to search for reliable suppliers and buyers. We have written an article on Chinese industry association list, where you can find the industry association website related to your business. One thing I might add is that they are mostly very bureaucratic, do a DIY search on their website to find the information and resources useful, don't expect they will answer your email.

Source: http://www.chinawhy.net/blog/Article.asp?id=53
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