What to Pack for China Business Trip?
China is considered as a leading economic power, which is probably also due to the fact that most of the goods are exported from the land of smiles and Imported into Australia. So it is not surprising that more and more companies are ambitious to conquer the Chinese market. So it happens that many professionals are sent to Shanghai, Beijing and other cities to handle the upcoming business locally, or even to the Canton Fair (What is it?). It is not unusual for employees to reach their limits when it comes to understanding and respecting the peculiarities typical of the country. Often, this results in a veritable challenge, which inevitably must be accepted and not always make affected people a good figure.
Are you travelling to China for the first time, and are you unsure of what to pay attention to on a China trip? No problem! Here you will find the informative checklist and packing list for your trip to China.
The tips below are meant to help the business in China in accordance with the rules. Anyone who thinks that a successful business relationship would depend solely on the intellect, the self-confidence or the negotiating skills of the active businessman is wrong. If you want to prove yourself abroad, you should know which behaviour needs to be demonstrated. When it comes to the Far Eastern China, it is increasingly difficult to appropriate the individual customs, as these are massively different from those in Europe. In order not to embarrass yourself in China, it is important to follow the most important rules, which are listed below.
The detailed welcome ceremony and its pitfalls
Presumably, each of us has ever wondered whether it is customary for China to bow forward in a greeting, As a matter of fact. In China, people are leaning slightly forward when it comes to welcoming their counterparts appropriately. Sounds easy, but it is not necessarily, as an order must be maintained parallel to it. High-ranking
g people are greeted first. Men are considered senior and are thus welcomed in front of the women. Even during the greeting, the last name is mentioned. Here it is customary to hand over your own business card. This should not be forgotten and handed over with both hands. This allows the recipient unrestricted readability of the printed font. Who does not own business cards, should get them before the business trip to China necessarily which, as they are considered a figurehead and just belong. The appropriate greeting also includes punctual attendance. The academic district, which is tolerated in this country, is inappropriate in China and should be avoided as far as possible.
Dressed appropriately – the visual impression counts as well
Once the appropriate welcome ceremony is over, it is important to keep a respectful distance. If you get in touch and hug your opponent, for example, you might look awry. Matching clothing is also a good thing at a business meeting in China. As you know, the first impression leaves no second chance. For this reason, care should be taken to ensure an imaginary dress code.
What should you prepare before leaving?
- Passport, Visa and Identity Card: During your trip to China your passport and visa are very important, with every check-in you need to show passport and visa.
- China Travel Guides and Maps: If your trip to China includes several cities, then a China travel guide is helpful, or you can simply read the information in our website.
- Cash and credit cards: Take some cash with you if your credit card does not work. Even if the credit card works, having some cash with you is necessary in China.
- Reservation Confirmation for Hotels or Travel Agencies: It is convenient to have the address of your hotel or mobile phone number provided by the travel consultant. Do not forget to express your travel plan.
- Travel cancellation and travel health insurance: it is important to save the emergency number of your health insurance abroad.
- VPN client : If you still want to use Facebook, Google and Twitter in China, you should hire a VPN client to bypass the Chinese Internet censorship. more about the internet in China.
The following things should be in your suitcase
On international flights you can usually carry 30kg luggage, for the domestic flights in China is only 20kg!
- First-aid kit: The Chinese pharmacy staff can not speak English well, for safety we recommend you to buy a first-aid kit (medicines you need, bandages, painkillers and fever, medicines for diarrhea, colds, sore throat, cough and colds, medicines for allergies , Insect repellent ect.) Bring along.
- Cosmetics: In fact, most hotels in China offer shampoo, shower gel, toothbrush, toothpaste and soap, you just need to take lotions / creams and cosmetics yourself. Depending on the season, sunscreen is also important. (Attention: If you stay in hostels, eco-friendly or boutique hotels, you should take everything with you)
- Clothes: China is as big as the US, the climate varies greatly in the North and South, please note that you are wearing appropriate clothing for the right season (more about the weather in China). (Underwear, socks, rain jacket should always be brought along, coat, T-shirts, long / short pants, sweater, outdoor shirt, cap, sun hat, sports or hiking boots, sunglasses, etc. should be on your packing list, depending on the season. )
- Tampons: Chinese women usually use pantyliners, in China you can not easily buy tampons, so you should bring tampons from home! Very important!
- Travel Essentials: flashlight, earplugs, travel cutlery
What is forbidden?
Please do not bring any of the following items : knife, fork, firearm, ammunition, police weapon, radioactivity, flammable and explosive material, corrosive agent, poison, oxidizer, magnetized . Because they are banned in China on the train.
What to wear in China:
- Underwear + socks (ideally for seven days)
- T-shirts and tops
- Pants (long, shorts are rather uncommon)
- Sweater/Jumper (in winter it gets extremely cold in the north eg. in Harbin )
- Swimsuits, bikinis
- Cap
- Sports or hiking boots
- Comfortable shoes
- Slippers or flip-flops (in the country, the showers are not always completely clean)
- belt
- Pyjamas (best of all a nice one: In China, it is socially acceptable to take to the streets in pyjamas in the morning and it’s fun.)
Hygiene and pharmacy
- Travel towel: Hotel rooms with baths usually do not always have towels, dorms and rooms with shared bathrooms. I think most 3 or 4 stars hotels provide towels in China, but you are not sure if they are really clean.
- Hygiene products: toothpaste, toothbrush, dental floss; Razor and shaving cream, aftershave; Facial lotion (also recommended for people who do not use it because of air pollution), comb or brush, deodorant (hard to find) perfume, lip balm, shampoo and shower gel, nail clipper or scissors, toilet paper, tampons (hard to find).
- Make-up: makeup, eyeliner, makeup remover (sorry, I do not know that well …)
- Glasses or contact lenses: contact lens fluid (but easy to find in China)
- Medications: If you are not into TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), you should bring things like aspirin/panadol (Effective Pain Relief). Western brands are very hard to find in China, and pharmacy employees often lack the expertise to identify a generic drug – language difficulties in a sick state do not beautify the shopping experience.
- Detergent for clothes: If you want to wash yourself on the way, you wanted to think of detergent. Very popular with travellers are detergents from the tube . As a rule, I myself fill washing powder into an empty PET bottle from home. It’s cheaper, easier and above all, it cannot leak. Bring also a few meters of string, which you can use as a clothesline.
- Disinfectants for washing hands: even in expensive shopping malls, public toilets almost never have soap (sometimes also no water in the countryside). If you do not mind, good. I recommend all others to bring a liquid soap.
Travel accessories
- Flashlight: Power outages are extremely rare in China (I only experienced it in my six years because someone forgot to charge their prepaid power in time), but if you go to the country, the toilet may be in the backyard. Unfortunately, today’s LED flashlights are often broken before the battery is empty, so you better take several with you.
- Earplugs: I do not know if I was just unlucky, but it seems to me that Chinese are snoring more often and louder than members of any other nations. If this bothers you (for example, in the night train), you should definitely bring earplugs, especially since you will find them anywhere in China.
- Eye Mask: Very popular for sleeping on flights. I cannot turn a blind eye on the plane anyway. That’s why I never take such eye masks with me.
- Padlock: I always carry a small padlock while travelling. Mainly, I use it to include my stuff in the trunk in mass dormitories. But it can also do many other useful services like swimming in public pools so you do not have to rent your own castle. Because I’m afraid of losing the key one day, I bought a combination lock.
- World Plug: In mainland China, they have a variety of plug formations that fit most, yet the three-prong plugs may not fit into the three-pin sockets, so your best bet is to bring a plug convertor just to be on the safe side. China uses generally 220V, 50HZ, AC (Hong Kong is 200V; Taiwan is 110V).
Hong Kong has the British plug. If you are planning a trip to Hong Kong.
Books
- Travel Guide: There are very few travel guides covering all of China in one volume. In general, it makes sense to buy a band for the region in which you will be travelling. If you are planning a longer tour of China through several regions, the Lonely Planet China is certainly the best source of information.
- PhraseBook: I usually have a small dictionary in China with you. But if you do not speak Chinese at all, you are probably better served with other tools.
- Geography: The likelihood is that in China you will sit (and sometimes stand) for many hours on the train. The best time to spend is reading.
- Kindle: I’m thinking about buying a Kindle Reader to save weight on the books. A Kindle also reduces the (slight) chance of you being illegally taken off the border. Incidentally, almost all travel guides are illegal because they did not draw Taiwan as a Chinese province.
Electronics
- Smartphone: I’m a big fan of cell phones that you can put in two Sim cards: your ordinary card and a Chinese sim card. This solution has the advantage that you can conveniently surf the local map and still be reachable with the usual number in emergencies.
- Netbook: I have an old Asus netbook that I’m very happy with. Of course, you will not buy a new computer for your trip to China, so product recommendations here do not bring much. But you should consider before departure if you have access to blocked sites like Facebook or Twitter in China.
- Camera: I have a Canon EOS 450th This is quite difficult. In any case, it is often impossible to take good photos because of the poor air quality. Taking a good and heavy camera with you is therefore only partially worthwhile.
Yes, you can take photos with your phone, yet log days without a charge you will find you exhaust your phones battery before the end of the day. - External hard disk: If you travel without a laptop, you should bring an external hard disk or a USB stick to back up your pictures.
- Powerbank: Especially with my phone, the battery is goes very fast. That’s why I bought a Xiaomi power bank in China for about 10 dollars and am very satisfied with it.
