No one can predict what will happen during the operation of a business, so crisis preparation is quite important. Chinese business professionals use many of the same techniques Westerners do...

Where I come from, the "business card" does pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. While lots of business professionals are likely to have them, they tend to be exchanged almost exclusively in “business” situations, that is, when one party has a service to offer the other and wants them to get in contact.

Online dictionaries define ‘Guanxi’ as the basic dynamic in personalized networks of influence. Somehow this Chinese pinyin Romanization is far more complicated than “networking” or “relationships”. Although many Westerners find themselves confused by Guanxi and the role it plays in Chinese business, it has been widely acknowledged that one can hardly get things easily done without understanding this unique feature of the nation who have lived here for over five thousand years.

Networking is becoming more sophisticated nowadays. After exchanging business cards, we can follow up by email or phone but the new trend is to do it online. Invite new contacts to join your favourite online business networking community like www.linkedin.com, www.spoke.com, or www.xing.com.

An interesting point of view on the mooncakes and, consequently, on the festival they represent, the Lunar festival, is about their business implications and their impact on the economy.

Chinese people are often reluctant to say no, but frustrating though this can be at first, there are reasons for it.