Selling to China - What They Will Buy and Why?

In 1793, the English envoy Lord McCartney arrived in China, seeking from the Chinese Emperor Qianlong an opening of trade. Replying to the request the Emperor wrote the King of England a message that read: "There is nothing we lack, as your principal envoy and others have themselves observed. We have never set much store on strange or indigenous objects, nor do we need any more of your country's manufactures."

Since its unification more than 2,000 years ago, China has viewed itself as the center of culture in the world; hence, the Chinese name for China is Zhongguo, or "Middle Kingdom." In the past, few foreign manufactured goods could compare to those that were Chinese-made. China has long seen itself as an export nation: grudgingly importing raw materials, but seldom goods manufactured from outside.

One of the reasons for this attitude is based on China's long agrarian tradition.

China was one of the first civilizations to develop farming and most Chinese then, as now, live in rural farming communities. These communities, often separated from outside

help by China's mountainousgeography, were vulnerable to numerous natural disasters. In order to survive, they learned to band together forming communal, rather than individualistic societies. Thus, what is good for the village always trumps what is good

for the individual and cooperation and obedience to the group is favored over independent thinkers and mavericks. This agrarian mindset prevails even among China's modern city dwellers.

Though ruthlessly exploited by the ruling class, farmers were the producers of China's wealth and held a higher status over merchants who were thought to live parasitically off the labors of others. The prejudice that commerce and business are somewhat shady

activities prevails, and not without good reason.

Another aspect of China's agrarian culture that greatly influences Chinese business attitude is geography. Surrounded by rough terrain that in the past only supported pastoral economies, the sophisticated Chinese agrarian and urban culture looked down on pastoralists, and since they constituted their only experience with foreigners, the Chinese came to assume all foreigners were culturally inferior.

During the West's industrial revolution, China admitted some Western products were

superior and markets for these opened up briefly, but in recent years China has quickly closed the technology gap, and may well be in the lead again. The old attitude of "There is nothing we lack" is again prevalent in international trade with the result that buying

Chinese products and services is relatively uncomplicated, while selling products or services to the Chinese can be as challenging as selling air conditioners to Eskimos.

To market to Chinese one should keep in mind the frugal and mercenary buying habits of country folk the world over. Your product must be either absolutely essential, infinitely practical, or intrinsically valuable.

Absolutely essential items include raw materials, commodities, and basic foodstuffs. Infinitely practical are those products such as farm and factory equipment, tools and parts, and medical equipment. Intrinsically valuable items are those that are guaranteed to never lose their value such as jewelry, precious metals, and finely crafted objets d'art.

Until the average Chinese have a disposable income comparable to western consumers, products or services that appeal to vanity, sloth, and self indulgence are not likely to be well received.

英国使节马戛尔尼来到中国，请求乾隆皇帝开放贸易。作为回应，乾隆给英国国王书信一封，说道，"天朝物产丰盈无所不有，原不借外夷货物以通有无。"

秦始皇统一中国之后的2000多年里，中国认为自己是世界文化的中心。中国的字面解释即为"中央的王国"。以前的外国货大部分不能和中国货媲美，中国也一直把自己看做出口国：可以勉强进口原材料，但是很少进口制成品。

这种态度的原因之一是中国长期的农耕传统。中国是最古老的农业文明之一，大部分中国人现在还是住在农村。很多山里的农村与世隔绝，自然灾害频发，对它们的影响很大。为了生存，农民组成了合作集体，没有组成个人主义的社会。因此，村子的利益大于个人，合作和忠于集体重于独立思考和标新立异。这种农耕思维在现代中国的城市居民中依然如此。

农民虽然受到统治阶级的残酷剥削，却创造了中国的财富，地位也高于商人，因为商人被看做依靠他人劳动的寄生虫，商业是见不得人的买卖。这种对商业的歧视十分盛行，其中不无道理。

中国农耕文化中，导致歧视商业的另外一个原因是地理因素。农村和城市的周围都是荒凉的土地，只能发展游牧经济。先进的农耕文化和市井文化瞧不起游牧者，而中国人以前接触的外国人都是游牧者，自然就以为外国人都是劣等民族了。

西方工业革命期间，中国承认某些外国货更好，暂时打开了市场，引入这些商品。但是最近几年，中国迅速缩短了与西方的技术差距，可能还会再次成为领军者。以前的"天朝物产丰盈无所不有"的态度又出现在国际贸易中，导致购买中国的产品和服务相对简单，而卖产品和服务给中国变得十分困难，就像把空调卖给爱斯基摩人一样。

要让中国人买东西，你应该牢记中国人勤俭持家，精打细算的习惯。你的产品必须是绝对重要，或是永远实用，或者本身的价值很高。

绝对重要的商品包括原材料、日用品和基本食物。永远实用的包括工农业设备、工具和零件，以及医疗设备。本身价值很高的商品包括那些永远不会贬值的，比如珠宝、贵金属和精美的艺术品。

只有一般的中国人的可支配收入达到西方消费者的水平，那些奢侈品或者奢华的服务才可能有市场。
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