Culture & Arts Literature Spotlight Rainer Thomm's China: Mission Impossible

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Rainer Thomm's "China: Mission Impossible"
For anyone contemplating visiting or doing business in China, this book is a must-read.

Rainer Thomm's China: Mission Impossible is about being in China and dealing with China on its terms, but this is not a simplistic "how-to" tome about where to sit at a banquet or saying "hello" and "thank you" to your Chinese hosts or business associates. It is about understanding what's going on around you in China.

"Listening," as Thomm advises requires no special knowledge of the Chinese language or business schooling, yet it is an essential business skill for anyone who wants to be successful in China.

"Regrettably, Westerners like to talk," he said. "Chinese are comfortable with silence and get a lot of free information that way. They pause; the Westerner becomes uncomfortable and starts chatting. We pour information at their feet and don't even remember doing it.

"Not listening will do you more harm than any number of Chinese business executives plotting to gain an advantage."

This is just one of the many cultural insights Thomm, a business consultant and author who has lived in China since 1988, has to offer.

Some are not so obvious or accessible. Thomm's discussion of the significance of the use of zero in the Chinese numbering system, or the lack of it until about 450 years ago, shows a keen insight into the philosophical mind of a classical society. It was one in which a non-entity was comprehensible, as in the Tao, but was unexpressed in its numbering system. While the significance of this allusion may be lost on the layman, adopting the use of zero was a significant development in the history of Chinese thought. By alluding to this point, Thomm reminds us of the depths of the history from which this society has evolved.

And it is evolving rapidly under the country's opening and reform policies that began in 1978, which are picking up steam daily.

As he points out, it was not long ago that Westerners flew to Hong Kong to visit a doctor or to make such mundane purchases as that of disposable diapers or special foods.

All that and much more is now available in a New China replete with Mercedes, Lexus, BMW and other luxury cars -- not all of which are driven by officials -- luxury furniture, fine domestic and imported wines and spirits, great beer, good food, fine clothing and improved lifestyles.

He considers the emergence of the new business class in China and details some of the differences between dealing with state agencies and state-owned enterprises and newly emerged corporate entities and their leaders.

Thomm, a German who writes in English and who is steeped in the disciplines of law and business, has been criticized by some for not elaborating on corruption in Chinese business society, a major problem for anyone doing business in the country. But the author, when he feels the observation a sincere one, politely reminds the Westerner that neither is Western business nor political society immune from such corruption.

His comments on cross-cultural hypocrisy strike at the heart of one of Thomm's major points about business and life in China.

"China is not so mysterious after all. Business is business and what is good for business back home is, by and large, also good for business here."

However, there are serious exceptions to this, which he details in his book, such as in marketing.

He notes that advertising schemes that work in other countries may well fail in China. He advises businesses to pay particular attention to this point when building web sites, engaging in direct mail or other advertising campaigns and in naming products.

Thomm gives a lot of advice in the book about the proper frame of mind needed to deal with things Chinese. What do you do during the first business meeting or telephone call with a counterpart? What should be in a memoranda of understanding, a contract and the like? What kind of lawyer will you need? Are they available?

What do you do if you are at a banquet and your Chinese hosts want you to drink with them, but you really don't want to?

He reminds the reader that most business deals in China do not fail because of things that happen China. In China, a Western businessman is likely to encounter friendly people who sincerely want to do business. Otherwise, they would not be meeting with you. The fact of the matter is that business deals often fail in a place people sometimes think the least about, the corporate headquarters back home.

Thomm lays these kinds of failures at the feet of poor perception, a lack of understanding about what kind of commitment is needed to succeed in China, and in the kind of support corporate representatives in China need from their headquarters group back home.

As one reader of China: Mission Impossible who has lived in China for several years, said, "It's one of those books that you read and you realize all the mistakes you made during the past week."

On the lighter side, Thomm gives practical advice on how to blend business and pleasure to get the most out of any trip to China.

China: Mission Impossible is available by mail order from CBW Books for 480 yuan (US$58).