In every book or magazine you read on doing business in China, the same conclusion is almost always made: people will “yes” you at every turn. I thought that perhaps my charm, persuasiveness, and acute awareness that the yes was perpetually coming was going to get me out of this jam. Not so, as I've discovered just what those “China experts” were always saying is right on. I've been in this country for about 3.5 years, and I’ve seen it all in terms of the armies of yes-tailors, yes-ayis (cleaning ladies), yes-bar managers (who happened to be British, this one involves a Sox-Yankees game and I'll save it for another entry), yes-landlords, and even yes-hotel owners (which actually was a no-hotel manager, as in, “no, there aren
t any cockroaches in this room”). But I never expected someone who actually was in the position to get a signed agreement from me, one that would guarantee them a long and lucrative contract (cue customers) to yes me. Well, think again naïve son, it has happened more than once, and with greater frequency. I have come up with two conclusions as to why the Chinese like to yes a little too much:

1. Maybe the word “deadline” doesn't translate into Chinese the way we think of the word. Deadline when broken down in English actually has a pretty rough sound to it. “You cross this line, and you're dead.” In Chinese, it is qixian (期限), which translates into “time limit.” That sounds a little bit more pleasant than a line which crossed cannot be rescinded. I'm going to start a new movement and translate deadline into something better than “time limit.” That word, will be in my next entry when I can devote a little more time to finding out what words will strike fear into the hearts of suppliers who utter those three letters far too much. I mean, its pretty simple, if you can't do something and you know it, then tell me! I won't be mad, I may be a little disappointed, but there is nothing MORE disappointing then expecting something to be done, and then not receiving the finished product or an excuse why that wasn't done!

2. Its all about the environment. The yes doesn't just come in the form of ill-delivered work products, it comes in the take-back variety as well. I remember when I was 6 on the playground, the trick of siding with someone or agreeing with them and then rescinding worked pretty well. I would say “Yes, I like you and we'll share milk during recess,” but when recess came, I pretended like it never happened, and the elementary-world was shocked at my uncanny ability to outsmart the opposite sex. It seems as if some Chinese suppliers haven't yet graduated from elementary school either, and those rules still apply and are the law of the land. I heard a “Yes, my factory can do that, no problem” two weeks ago from a guy who I thought was legit and I was extremely happy to learn of that approval. Then, a few days later when I brought up the point for confirmation, I was confronted with the bitter reality of “No, what made you think my factory would do that for you?”

So the problem is two-fold, some if not all Chinese suppliers either still go to elementary school, or the word deadline isn't quite as harsh as we foreigners would hope it is in Chinese. Either way, I've got to get better at detecting a yes when I see it.