Gift Exchange for Business in China

Do (Know)

• The best time to exchange gift is at the beginning of the event, because you want to establish a bond as soon as possible.
• Watch and wallet are very acceptable gifts. (Very popular)
• Other excellent choices of gifts are pen, coin collection, music, some chocolate, and even some whiskey.

Don't

• Do not give anything expensive such as diamond watches and luxury goods.
• Stay away from cash.
• Try not to buy gift to an individual but to the organization as a whole.

Am I bribing you?

This section is very small due to the fact that giving gift in the business is 90% the same with giving gift to "Family and Friend" (part 1, part 2). Technically, there is only one concern you need to worry about.

The most dangerous thing you can come across is your gift turns into a bribe. In China, bribery is the problem that even its own people cannot deny it. There has been said that the locals tend to give "Gifts" to government officials for some favor treatments in the future. These gifts include anything from diamond watches, expensive luxury goods, or even straight out cash.

Recently, there was a concern with official corruption in the domestic coal industry. Coal, making up about 70% of China energy; because of this reason, there are a lot of competitors fighting for their own market share. Many companies turn to bribery to speed up their process, such as getting license for business, inspection of safety, and cover up for accidents.

Caused by the lacks of safety, it lead to over 5000 people die in the year of 2006 due to collapsing mines. As result, 4500 officials get arrested for bribery. This is not my information, if you like to know more about this incident then you might want to read, "An American's Guide to Doing Business in China by Mike Saxon," which on page 73.

Bonding time...

For business people, the best time to exchange gift is at the beginning of the occasion because it show that you had establish a bond right at the start. When giving gifts, instead of try to go for expensive things, you should try to find some symbolic items and present them as gifts.

Some gifts that is good to give such as pen, coin collection, music, some chocolate, and even some whiskey. For business, watch (not clock) can be an acceptable gift, and wallet is very popular as well. However, do try to stay away from cash.

If I have some more information I will add on later, for now, this should keep you out of trouble. Thank you for your support and good night.

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