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The “Sweet & Sour” China experience

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Andrea Martins, our sales representative in Brazil, lived in China for 25 years. She makes Mike and I look like amateurs when it comes to the crazy China stories.

She has my favorite term for dealing with China – “Sweet & Sour”, like the famous pork dish. During our regular calls, she will say such-and-such a potential client has had a “sour” China experience and wants our help to get to “sweet”. More food-borne analogies, I know, but this time it’s not my doing! And she sounds wonderful saying it in a Brazilian accent, so there.

Recently, a potential client decided to visit us in China without letting us know in advance. They dropped in to see us towards the end of their trip, thoroughly dispirited with their journey thus far – didn’t like the food, bad hotels, creepy new Chinese “friends” approaching them on the street, etc. They were desperate for someone to treat them right and handle their requirements in China with professionalism.

I have no idea why people assume that China is going to be easy. What, did you think you could learn Chinese on the plane ride over? There are thousands upon thousands upon thousands of words printed daily on the challenges China poses, and yet we regularly see otherwise savvy clients naively blundering about as though nothing bad is going to happen. After the inevitable does happen, we are happy to help get things moving again, but it is so much simpler to do it right the first time.

And now, because Sweet & Sour Pork is one of the very few dishes that appears on “Chinese” restaurant menus in America in something close to its original form, here’s a link to a pretty good recipe. Enjoy!

In Chinatown, Sound of the Future Is Mandarin

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Fascinating article on the switch to Mandarin from Cantonese in American Chinatowns from the NYT. One of the accomplishments of the PRC has been universal Mandarin instruction, providing the country with a standard dialect for the first time in its history. American multiculturalists undervalue universal English – one of the reasons India lags behind China is the lack of a truly common tongue. Hindi is not even 50% of the population, and English a distant second. Though China has a multitude of dialects, the younger generation in China have all been taught Mandarin, providing a solid foundation for economic growth.

Now if only Mandarin were a straightforward, non-tonal, alphabetical language!

October is Global Sources Trade Show Month!

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With the China National Day holiday behind us, the trade show season starts and Mike Bellamy will be in Hong Kong hosting Global Sources’ China Sourcing Fair’s Buyer Education Conference as well as holding separate seminars on issues of Vendor Coordination and Intellectual Property Protection. You can find information on Mike’s seminars here and here.

PassageMaker and China Quality Focus will also exhibit at the following booth #’s on the following dates:

10/12 to 10/15 PassageMaker booth 5B34

10/20 to 10/23 PassageMaker booth 10L38

If you are in the area, please attend a conference and visit our booth. Also, we encourage all clients to take a half a day and pop across the border to visit to our facilities in China. Seeing our offices and Assembly Center will be much more rewarding than a quick visit at the show. Let us know if you need assistance making travel arrangements, and hope to see you in Hong Kong!

Why I don’t brew beer (anymore)

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20 years ago I wanted to be a brewmaster. The American microbrew movement was just taking off, and it was a good time to get in. I attended beer festivals, visited breweries, did research (in the days before the internet no less), etc. Ultimately I had two banker’s boxes full of information on techniques, equipment, business models, etc. Today this would occupy about 5% of the free flash drive you got for opening your checking account last year, but this was 1989, and paper was still state of the art. And I still have all this information, thank you very much.

I used this copious research to sell the idea of a brewpub to two entrepreneurs opening a new restaurant in a location I had long had my eye on. It was tremendously exciting being even obliquely involved with the start up and I enjoyed working there as an assistant brewer. As great learning experience all the way around, and should either of those entrepreneurs read this, thank you sincerely for the opportunity.

And what I ultimately learned from that experience was I did NOT want to be a brewer anymore. Beer from the store is just fine thanks.

Now, onto the tortured analogy section. Many of our clients are new to doing business in China. Many have done awesome amounts of research, days spent on sourcing websites like Global Sources, and they are totally jazzed about this new experience, much as I was 20 years ago. They want to travel, try new things, etc. Then they realize that the China trade is work, and the fun wears off quickly.

There are brewers who get up every day excited to go to work and make beer. I admire them and wish them well at their chosen craft. Thanks to them, I get to have a drink without all the scalding water, acids, caustic sodas, foul-smelling slime and general hard-work-nastiness that goes into making beer.

The PassageMaker Team and our friends at China Quality Focus are a collection of such dedicated “brewmasters”. I know I wake up every morning happy and enthusiastic about my chosen field. Our Sourcing Feasibility Study, Vendor Coordination and Assembly-Inspection-Packaging service offerings are all designed to help our clients have a successful experience in China. Most importantly, we want to take care of things on the ground in China so our clients can stay at home with their families, instead of spending $10k every other month traveling back and forth to visit vendors. When you do choose to come to China, we want you to come for a relaxing guanxi tour, not to fight fires. We’ll even help you with your travel arrangements and buy you a drink!

How to make a BLT

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Years ago I saw a cookbook in Taiwan, written in Chinese, that taught our intrepid Taiwanese housewives how to make such standard American fare as the BLT (that’s Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwiches for the non-Americans) and the PB&J (Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches). It had never occurred to me that anyone in Taiwan would (A) require instructions for such basic American fare or (B) want to cook it. I can’t really remember why I didn’t buy it – probably my student budget – but I regret that decision often.

Regular readers of this blog know I study food. Cuisine is the most basic cultural art form. Every culture, no matter how primitive, develops its own distinct cuisine. You learn a lot about someone by trying their food.

Asking an American how to make a BLT provokes a guffaw, but I’ve had exactly the same experience in reverse when I ask Chinese folks how to make the core dishes in their cuisine. BLT is every bit as literal as my favorite Chinese dish, 拍黄瓜, “banged up cucumbers”, which describes how you use the flat of the knife to lightly crush the cucumbers*.

Cultural assumptions greatly complicate international business. Foreign expectations of how things are in China are nearly always wrong. PassageMaker has studied the culture in China for more than an decade and our company exists to help our clients be successful in China.

We developed the Sourcing Feasibility Study to identify a wide range of capable vendors. Our Vendor Coordination services can be customized to support almost any task the client requires. Our Assembly Center was started to bring the critical Assembly-Inspection-Packaging functions in-house where they could be managed exactly to the client’s requirements, as documented in the Product Quality Manual.

While exploring foreign cultures – especially through cuisine – is one of the great adventures in life, it is a bad idea to try to learn the business culture of a foreign country on the fly. When your money is on the line, you need an experienced guide like PassageMaker.

* – Pai Huang Gua – “Banged Up Cucumbers”

4 small pickling cucumbers, washed and chilled – make sure to use fresh, crisp cucumbers

6 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/4 tsp pickling salt

3 tbsps black vinegar (available at Asian markets, substitute white vinegar if unavailable)

2 tbsps sesame oil (3 tbsps if no hot sesame oil)

1 tbsps hot sesame oil (optional – available at Asian markets)

1tsp hot sauce, preferably Chili Garlic sauce or Sambal Oelek (optional – available at Asian markets)

Wrap cucumbers in plastic wrap and using fist, cutting board, rolling pin, flat of a cleaver, etc., smack the the cucumbers until they split. Unwrap and coarsely chop into large chunks. Salt the cucumbers and garlic in a bowl, drizzle liquid ingredients one at a time in order over the cucumbers and gently mix with a spoon. Do NOT cover and shake or otherwise try to completely blend liquid ingredients. You do not want to create an emulsion, but rather a layered sauce. Serve immediately as a cold appetizer.

Texas Tavern Wisdom

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“WE DON’T CASH CHECKS OR PLAY WITH BUMBLE BEES”, so says the sign next to the cash register at the Roanoke, VA landmark Texas Tavern. It’s been open every day, 24/7 (except Christmas) since 1930. No credit, no checks, all cash. A true money-making machine. I’ll have two small cheeseburgers all the way, a bowl with and a sweet milk, thanks.*

Now, anyone who knows the Texas Tavern might infer that my analogy implies that dealing with PassageMaker will leave a foul taste in your mouth, give you gas and make you reach for the antacids. Not so, though if you choose to visit us in China and have a desire to stretch your culinary boundaries to say, Sichuan cuisine, I am not responsible for the results.

Whether hot dogs, Cheesy Westerns** and chili are to your liking or not, the Texas Tavern serves good honest fair quickly and efficiently, available all hours of the day and night, for affordable prices. The food is cooked directly in front of you, nothing fancy, and all transactions occur at the time of sale, in cash.

This is in fact a perfect analogy for The PassageMaker Model of Trust & Transparency in China. There are no smoke and mirrors and our success is dependent on our performance in full view of the client. Our three basic service offerings – Sourcing Feasibility Studies, Vendor Coordination and Assembly-Inspection-Packaging – were formulated to provide a simple honest solution to the typical problems people faced doing business in China.

“Now if it’s so darned honest, why demand all payments in advance? Don’t you trust me?”, you ask.

Whether I trust you or not is immaterial. We insist on cash-for-services for very simple two reasons:

Reason #1 is that China as a whole operates on cash. You want me to be open tomorrow? Then pay me cash today. Chinese vendors actually use your deposit to buy the raw material for your order. It is the credit trap that contributed mightily to the death spiral of the US automotive industry – when you have to finance your customers for 3-6 months, the system is broken and the relationships are poisoned. PassageMaker, like all China vendors, requires at least partial payment in advance. Having seen both systems up close and personal, cash in advance is far more direct and far more honest an approach.

So Reason #2 is to maintain the honesty. If we don’t allow the moral hazard of credit, everyone stays happy. Expectations are clearly defined and can be easily met. The debtor is not slave to the lender. And I’m not up at night angry because you owe me money.

PassageMaker can introduce you to banks, to venture capitalists, or to angel investors. But we’ve found that being the low cost source of China services does not mix with playing the deep pockets. It crosses the streams, if you will. Just like the Texas Tavern will not alter its menu or offer credit, we offer our simple and elegant service, take it or leave it. And if you want ketchup with that, please get out now.***

Translations for the uninitiated:

* Two small (biscuit sized patties) cheeseburgers with raw white onions, pickle relish and mustard, a bowl of chili (beans mostly) with (chopped raw onions) and a sweet milk (as opposed to the default buttermilk). Heaven for around $5 (and for around 30 minutes before you need the aforementioned antacid).

** Cheesy Western = large cheeseburger with fried egg, over easy on top, all the way of course. Health food is wildly overrated.

*** No ketchup is ever served at the Texas Tavern. May it always be thus.

I go to China all the time!

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I’ve heard this from a number of American businessmen over the years. Then when you start sharing “China stories” they are as shocked as the folks around the table who’ve never left the USA.

“What do you mean you’ve never eaten pig’s stomach noodle soup at a road side stand in the pouring rain? How in all those trips to China did you miss the duck’s blood? And you’ve never experienced the intestinal torture of trying to hold in last night’s Sichuan hotpot while stuck behind a smoke-belching Dong Feng truck in 100 F heat in bumper-to-bumper traffic for hours on end? Where in China did you go?”, I ask.

“Oh, I always stay at the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong and have all my meetings there”, they say.

Then, my friends, you have not been to China.

Look, the Peninsula Hotel is one of the finest in the world, and I don’t begrudge anyone the experience of staying there. You should. It’s awesome. But I am too blue-collar to spoil myself that way. I want to be in the Chinese neighborhoods where the yang rou chaun’r is served on the street at 3 AM and having a beer with the clerk at the all-night convenience store is the cure for jet lag.

Come to China, but if you are going to make the effort, come to China. Leave the hotel once in a while and experience the culture. All the foreign managers of PassageMaker have lived in China for years and they will make sure you get a taste of China with a proper guide. We enjoy entertaining our customers, and you’ll have a 5-star amount of fun while getting out into the exhilarating swirl that is modern urban China. We hope to see you soon.

Oh, I want to go to China with you!

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I get this all the time from the folks I meet. My response? “No, you don’t. You might want to go to China, but you don’t want to go with me.” Don’t get me wrong, I think China is great in many ways. It is no exaggeration that I love China, even when I hate it. I encourage everyone to go at least once in your life. But the people who say this to me want to visit the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Winter Palace, the Temple of Heaven, etc. So do I, since I’ve only crossed the first two off my list in 15 years of travel to the PRC.

“My China” is the industrial south, Guangdong Province, the ‘workshop of the world’. Miles and miles of factories, awful pollution, with precious little else. I grew up in a factory, so to me this is second nature, but it is not the typical haunt of tourists. In a sense this is a shame, as I think people need to see more of how things get made in order to appreciate the world they live in. Factories should be part of the tourist agenda for visitors to China. China’s transformation over the last 30 years is truly miraculous, and the factories of Dongguan are as much a monument as the Great Wall.

Mike Bellamy and I have been privileged to play a microscopic part in China’s development over the last 10 years with PassageMaker, and we are looking forward to the next decade and beyond.

The importance of food (and drink); or learning to love Pig Brain Soup

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Business books aplenty have been written on the importance of guanxi or relationships in China. And most of them are boring, so I won’t add to the pile.

From my personal experiences over the last 15 years in Asia, as a round-eye you build relationships by eating anything put in front of you and drinking too much. And bringing Purchase Orders.

Thankfully, I like nearly everything I’ve eaten in China. I’d traveled extensively in the USA, Mexico, Europe and Africa before I ever set foot in Asia, but my first night in Singapore in 1994 changed my whole life. And the food was what really hooked me. Prawn mee soup, jumbo prawns cooked in a banana leaf and Tiger beer at 2 AM in Newton Circus. I’d never seen any of this food before, didn’t know it existed, never seen a Chinese spoon, never used chopsticks, yet it was all like mother’s milk. I learned to use chopsticks in about 30 seconds, and to this day I eat noodle soup for lunch at least 3-4 days a week. Tiger is still my favorite beer.

From this experience, I’ve become a more adventurous eater (and drinker) than you’d expect for someone raised in Salem, VA. That adventurousness has served me well in China. When you visit a supplier, it is de rigour that you be hosted for a lunch or dinner banquet. Chinese street food is generally light and nutritious (oh, how I miss the vegetable dishes at the little restaurant around the corner from our office), but the banquet dishes are lavish, heavy and designed to show off and feel you out. Oh, and get you blind drunk in the middle of the day. The Chinese eat darned near anything, especially the Cantonese, so get ready for offal, strange ingredients and powerful flavors and scary textures.

If you hold up under this onslaught of unfamiliar cuisine and frankly toxic baijiu, you pass the test and provide your hosts with some entertainment. If you wind up in the hospital from food or alcohol poisoning, it is even more entertaining for them. But if you flat refuse to partake for anything other than religious reasons, you establish yourself as a wet blanket not to be taken seriously.

So what to do if you just cannot summon the courage to drink snake wine or eat pig brain soup? Option 1 – stay home and let the PassageMaker team deal with the vendors. Option 2 – come to China but let us arrange your trip and we’ll make sure you are not exposed to the scarier fringes of Chinese cuisine.

PassageMaker wants to make sure you enjoy your experience dealing with China, even if you never visit. And I frankly want to keep my record for days on an IV and days hungover after a banquet (4 and 5 respectively) intact.

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P.S. – It’s really delicious. One of my favorite dishes. I’m serious.