Have you worked with China yet? Then the Chinese come to you. They know that there is no escape from them - you cannot run away from the planet.
Zhongguo is the most developing country in the world. In all areas: manufacturing, IT, biotechnology. Last year, China showed the world's largest gross product, which amounted to 18% of world GDP.
China has long and firmly become the main economic partner of our country. Russia sells resources to China: oil, gas, timber, metals, food. China sells high-tech products to Russia: machine tools, electronic devices, computers and household appliances, real Swiss watches for $50, spinners and other AliExpress. Last year, trade with China exceeded $108 billion, up a quarter in a year.
Russian developers and IT business leaders often get a slight shock from business communication with Chinese comrades - the Chinese are so easy and at ease to throw partners. But this is not surprising if you understand what China really is, and what exactly the Chinese are hiding from the outside world.
Ancient Chinese engraving. Uncle Liao on a walk invents the iPhone 12 with a TV receiver, five SIM cards, ten cameras, a thermometer, a shocker and a vacuum cleaner.
At the Day of Techdir Denis Ilyinykh , Technical Director of GT-Shop, told how he personally encountered the classic Chinese way of doing business.
Dmitry Simonov, the creator of the CTORECORDS techdir channel, once mentioned in a conversation that Denis Ilyinykh - “very good tech lead because he has a habit of winning". And so Denis did not retreat - and responded to the insidious Chinese cunning with Russian unpredictable ingenuity.
I pass the floor to Denis.
Story #1. Chinese and IT
Recently a client came to me and said:Denis, listen, the Chinese are developing very well in renting power banks. Let's make". I told him:This, of course, is interesting. What do you have?»
For this business, it was necessary to create a device capable of accepting contactless payments, issuing a power bank and keeping track of where it was returned. What difficulties immediately arose? It turned out that the customer had already bought the device in China. And the Chinese manager promised him that everything would be great. But the manager refused to provide API documentation, device documentation. The device had a "single-payer" with the Android operating system - and we needed to fasten contactless payments with recurrent debiting.
How this business works: The client ends up with a dead phone far from home and even without a charging cord. At the power bank rental terminal, you can rent a portable charger with a cable. The client registers in the service and binds the card. The cost of an hour of renting a power bank is, for example, 50 rubles. If a person has not returned during this time, 100 rubles per day will be debited from the card. It is possible not to return the "bank" - it is enough to keep it at home for 30 days. During this time, 3000 rubles will be written off - and the device will be completely owned by the client. You can return the device to any terminal of the rental network.
We came, we looked and we said:Oh, what are we to do with this?» A month of communication with the Chinese led us to a discouraging result. The Chinese said:You pay us money - we will make an application for you. But you will work through our Chinese cloud. And we won't give you documentation».
We tell them:Let us come to you and discuss". To which the Chinese unexpectedly told us: “Why do you want to visit us? Are you threatening us?"We were surprised:"Why do you think we threaten you?The Chinese replied:Well, you promised to come". Then they thought and told us:And you order a batch of 100 devices - then we will give the documentation».
Naturally, we never received the documentation. I had to do some debugging. As a result, we studied what kind of “single-payer” is there, how the system works inside. We found out that the cells that contain "power banks" are just a regular device with a com port. It was possible to sniff the com port, get the protocol and use this protocol to work.
But everything turned out to be much easier. The Chinese did not bother - maybe at the build stage they rolled the regular version, rolled the debug version and left the debug console open. Accordingly, we connected through Android Studio, took the debug version, connected to it and fully assembled all the APIs that we needed. After that, we wrote an application, raised a cloud service, and added recurrent payments.
Now let's go to China, but to another manufacturer. Let's show them all this and ask:Do the same for us, but under a different sauce, under our guidance and control.».
NB: In terms of gouging, the Chinese are far ahead of us. They surprisingly combine control over everything and everyone, high bureaucracy and general disorder. If you want the Chinese to do something for you on time and technically accurately, you need to constantly stand behind them and control. They simply do not understand any other approach.
And before working with the Chinese, arm yourself with a good lawyer and immediately remove the protruding parts of the body - otherwise they will bite off your finger on the neck.
Intermedia
To work successfully with China, you need to know China. But what do we know about Zhongguo?
The only country in the world with a continuous history of 4000 years? The Chinese wall that can be seen from space? Canyon Khasma Bo Rea Lee with a length of 560 kilometers in the north? Chinese economic miracle with surviving socialism? An effective fight against corruption up to the highest measure of social protection?
No no and one more time no. All this is mostly decoration intended for white, swarthy, black (underline as appropriate) barbarians. And the Chasma Boreale canyon is generally located on Mars.
In 2017, I interviewed Vladimir Trukhan, a reserve colonel of the RF Armed Forces, who, on duty, explored Zhongguo, where foreigners are practically not allowed. Then I saw China from an unexpected angle.
In 2007, Vladimir took part in the Peace Mission-2007 exercise in Chebarkul, where the formations of the People's Army of China took part, and in 2009 he went to the Heishui military base in Jilin Province near the city of Baichen, where the Peace Mission-2009 exercise was held. ".
He had interesting impressions and memories. Vladimir is not a Sinologist, but that is precisely why I remember his stories - lively, bright, without academic dryness.
And then Vladimir Trukhan himself will tell.
Story #2. China and our perception
We perceive China a little incorrectly, especially in the style that popular publicists write about Zhongguo. We have a perception of China as a single country without problems, which, under the leadership of the Communist Party, is on a harmonious path towards capitalism. But it's not like that at all.
Rural China and urban China are very different. They even smell different. I am incredibly proud and even brag to the students that I walked two hundred meters through the Chinese village without a gas mask. More, however, could not, but two hundred meters was enough for me.
The Chinese village community is completely self-governing, closed - and no one is allowed to leave the Chinese village at all.
They have a gold belt on the Pacific coast. We were in mainland China - Jilin is far from the richest province, and Baichen is far from the richest city. "Peace Mission - 2005", as far as I remember, they played in Shanghai. And they just made excuses in 2009 that they had nothing to show. We answered them:Nothing, nothing, we will tolerate your semi-deserts. We are interested in this". Not ceremonial skyscrapers, not ceremonial China, but what is happening in the Chinese outback itself. It's like taking it to the Samara region from us.
NB: When you cooperate with the Chinese, you must remember that they are motivated to succeed and toothy immeasurably more than you. Chinese society itself checks from childhood whether you will survive or not. Such conditioned reflexes are hammered into the head for life. Imagine your business partner is an orphanage from the Russian outback, who was a bandit in the 90s, and then a little ennobled. But he knows what survival is not from books, but from personal experience. How do you think he will behave in negotiations and in business?
Story #3. Chinese and population
In China, in principle, there is no mobility of the population. And in China there is no unified social support. Recently I listened to our sinologists who absolutely clearly say: “When you compare China's GDP, you compare that they have no social burden».
A representative of the Main Political Directorate of the PLA told me: “Vladimir, the Chinese government considers it necessary to take care of the two hundred million most progressive citizens. Let everyone else survive on their own.". I ask the question:How much population do you have?". He leaves the question. I speak: "Are you taking me for a spy?". He is genuinely offended by me. Then the naval attache comes up and says: “Listen, don't terrorize them with this question. They don't know how many". I was surprised:You mean they don't know how many there are?". He says to me:And in a village, six people can live on one birth certificate».
I thought they were hiding. A normal topic - we are making a joint assessment of the situation. Including there is an assessment of the demographic characteristics. They are not engaged in the village community - they just closed it and that's it. How the Chinese will survive in the villages, how people live there every day, the Chinese government does not care.
NB: You should not be surprised how Chinese labor migrants behave in Russia or Belarus. They really show the evolutionary instincts of sharks. And they are ready to hang themselves for every ruble, at any moment they are ready to deceive. If a Chinese migrant ends up outside China, this means that his village gave a considerable kickback to the official who corrected the permit for labor migration. And therefore the Chinese are obliged to return everything to their village. And at the same time he could well have a wife with a bunch of children there. And the Chinese will do everything to ensure that they do not return to China and earn as many rubles, dollars and yuan as possible per unit of time.
Story #4. Chinese people and corruption
They have a completely different civilization. Touch the same corruption. The person who conducted the study of corruption on the task of certain of our structures in China, he just interacted with me. Here he clearly told me that the admission of a pilot to the academy costs 20 dollars. The social security of Chinese military personnel is a big Chinese secret in general. They don't reveal. The army there is a state within a state. There, in every city, it’s not like military hospitals, there are military gas stations in every city.
Articles constantly appear in our press about how China is successfully fighting corruption. Someone was shot there, then someone was hanged there. It is easy to fight corruption when everyone is corrupt. Just take the first one that comes across - and here he is a ready-made corrupt official. Again, we turn to the history of China from the point of view of the Chinese themselves, who write absolutely clearly how their class of bureaucracy is done. They think long term. They have a whole family, or even a clan, can bring up one official in order for one person to feel good. And then he has to recoup the invested funds.
Ancient Chinese painting. A Chinese official mourns in nature that this month, voluntary donations from the county were brought to him 2% less than last.
Now there has been information that before the Congress of the Communist Party of China, two of the three top military leaders of China were arrested for corruption (Note: The interview was in December 2017). It's just that they have a slightly different approach. They keep these corrupt officials on the hook until a certain moment, as long as they are profitable and effective.
That's why I say it again, almost everyone is a corrupt official, this is the society. It is arranged in such a way that the official has to carry offerings.
NB: In order to do business with the Chinese, and especially with government officials, one must immediately bet on Chinese corruption. Moreover, it’s not possible to just throw money in - you need to do it taking into account all the traditions. And without a good bribe-lubrication, the gears of any business or project will turn slowly and with a rattle. Because the Chinese simply do not understand how it is possible without bribes, even if the project is absolutely beneficial to them. You approach them so honest in a white cloak - and the Chinese will look at you sadly and think, what a strange white barbarian, could give offerings and together we would earn several million, but instead he took pity and everyone was left with nothing.
Story #5. Chinese and barbarians
China is not our ally, but a fellow traveler. As we were gaijins for them, so we remained gaijins. Yes, it's more of a Japanese term, but I don't remember how the Chinese call us names. As they were the Middle Empire, and all around the barbarians, so they are. As they are offended by us for the Opium Wars, so they have this historical resentment. The representative of Glavpur said well under a glass of intoxicant: “We always remember that there were Opium Wars and what you did to China. You are a little smaller than the Anglo-Saxons, but still goats too". They remember that Russia wrested part of their territory from them for help in the lost Second Opium War, as well as our participation in the suppression of the Boxer uprising, which in some cases is considered in the same bottle as the Opium Wars.
Ancient Chinese painting. Chinese folk heroes write a letter to the leader of the evil American barbarians in the ancient Chinese official style "Nako si, vyku si."
NB: No matter how large and profitable the project is, the Chinese will still try to cheat one way or another. Smiles, bows and compliments should not be misleading. We are "naive, good-natured barbarians" for them. It's still better than the Americans "stupid, evil barbarians" or the British "cunning, vile barbarians." But still barbarians - and therefore the question of trust is simply not worth it. What is not clearly stated in the contract with deadlines and penalties does not exist for the Chinese.
Story #6. Chinese people and the future
China has a different civilizational project. They think in completely different categories - two hundred or three hundred years. They do not have the task of immediately improving the welfare of citizens. They do not even have such a task in principle.
They do not have the task of social protection - not even in the foreseeable future. They do not even have the task of providing jobs, because they will release exactly as many people from the village as they need.
We are driving along Baichen - a huge five-story domina. I ask the Chinese translator: "What it is?" He answers: "Orphanage". After: "I made a reservation. Kindergarten". I ask again:I understand correctly, this is a kindergarten?"Responds with a pause:"Yes, kindergarten. Children before school". I tell him:My wife is a kindergarten teacher". Such admiration lit up in the eyes of this starley. It turns out that I am a “shang xiao” from GlavPUr in their version, and in ours, a colonel from the Central Office of the Ministry of Defense is bullshit, he will smoke. But the wife is a kindergarten teacher ... He told me with such reverence: “What are you, this is such an honor. It was the Motherland that entrusted the upbringing of children».
They take children very seriously – here we need to learn from them, learn and learn again. They stop doing adults.
So, a teenager who shows more or less outstanding results, they pull out of their usual habitat, throw them in another city, another province and leave one to flounder for two years. Now, if he did not reduce the results, if he showed his viability and ability to break through further, they will deal with him. If he fails, he is returned back to where he lived - and this is forever. They don't give them a second chance at all. In China, hard culling. If a person flies out of the army, he flies out of life. That is, there is an absolutely ruthless society.
There are no pensions in China. In China, the approach is that children should support their parents. If you want - keep, if you want - dig in. In Zhongguo, all these questions are very tough. And those who are now telling us about the Chinese economic miracle, let them go there and try it.
NB: The Chinese live in the distant future. We have already forgotten how to think so. Such an approach was in the USSR - but in the end the bourgeoisie won. The Chinese, for all his cunning, resourcefulness and toothiness, feel an inseparable connection with generations - past and future. Therefore, for him in any field of activity - science, art, business - it is important that it benefits the civilizational project of the Middle Empire. It's built into them at a deep level. That does not prevent them from defamation on the go, yes.
Story #7. Chinese and production
They have a lot of contradictions. They even have a lot of national contradictions. I have a piece of paper 5 yuan. There "5 yuan" is written in four languages. It's like in the Soviet Union the ruble was in fifteen languages.
But only Hans serve in the army. Only the Han Chinese can achieve any success. In the civil service and so on. And they have, in my opinion, under 50 nationalities and nationalities. We just think that they are cunning when they say that "we need 200 years to do something ourselves". And they really need these two hundred years.
You can say about Chinese goods that they sell themselves everything good, but they drive us any snowstorm, as much as you like. But I was in Baichen City Central Department Store. Compared to it, the Cherkizovsky market of the 90s is an elite boutique. You won't even see it without tears. I couldn't even find my daughter's dress there. Either the seams are crooked, or the threads stick out. And they are okay. On the other hand, they said that they went through the crisis of 2008 well. "We simply began to sell all these goods inside China, which we used to produce abroad". And with such a dreamy smile, this “da xiao” from the GlavPUr of Beijing says: “We didn't know China made such quality products.". They have, like in the Soviet Union, we export the best.
Once again I say - there is a life of its own, and one should not think that everyone is prospering right away. Even an elementary simple plot - they do not have sanitary standards for factories. They put a barn in their place, brought in the machines - that's the plant. And with us, try to apply for permission - they torture you.
Why cheap Chinese labor? Because the firm makes an application, and it is given permission to recruit in the countryside. They hire workers in the village and pay them the minimum wage. Just to get out of the Chinese countryside, people go for it. Sleep anywhere, eat whatever.
NB: If you decide to order a batch of devices from a Chinese factory, it is imperative that you visit the production site yourself. And make sure that this is a factory, and not a shed with machine tools on which frightened peasants work. It is logical to assume that there will be no quality control there in principle.
Story #8. Chinese and Russia
We really don't know much about China. We have little desire to study China. And the Chinese are very offended by this.
Colleagues from GlavPUR told me: “Here we know Russian culture. And you are Chinese - no". The lieutenant general, the head of the political department of the Shenyang military district, spoke Russian in general amazingly. They have a large number of officers who know Russian. They are really interested in many aspects of our culture and our civilization.
But our indifference offends them. They say: "Guys, why are you looking at the West all the time? Here we have the richest culture". Moreover, they go forward - they are ready to show and tell.
We are in Chebarkul for the Peace Mission-2007 exercises, it is not at all clear what pop singers were brought by mouth. And the Chinese are the best artists. The Chinese brought to Chebarkul that Shao-Lin, which tours the world. They are striving for cultural exchange - in this regard, we are not improving a little. And this offends them. Humanly.
NB: China is not to be taken lightly. Especially if you're dealing with him. It is enough to learn the language with Great Britain, the USA and Germany in order to more or less successfully do business with them. But for China, even the language will not be enough. This is a completely different civilizational project. Aliens among us. Except without the acidic blood and xenomorph charm of James Cameron. To work with them, you need to understand them. To understand, you need to know China. Real China.
Source: habr.com