China, with its resurgence onto the world stage since 2000, is very exciting. The Chinese are hungry for what is done best in the West and they want China to flourish and develop with the best information that the West has to offer. My experience of living there and working there, is that they are wonderful people who all of us Westerners can learn a great deal from.
Exhibiting in China comes with a necessity to learn what is known as the “Chinese way”. This is the way that has been taught to me by a very good friend of mine who is a Chinese businessman.
Many Westerners make the mistake of misunderstanding the Chinese and their way of relating and doing business. It is very common to see Westerners in China literally shouting and screaming at the Chinese, simply because of their own frustration. This is really unfortunate as the Chinese in those instances are being put in a loss of face situation.
When Westerners spend the time to learn how to understand the Chinese and their customs and their deep concerns about face, all business transactions and relationships tend to prosper.
Let me just tell you a little story of an experience that I have had.
I was very fortunate to have been introduced to one of the top art galleries in Beijing in the 798 Contemporary Art Gallery region, by the above-mentioned good friend of mine, who is a very successful Chinese businessman. One of his best friends owned this gallery and having seen examples of my work through my website expressed interest in meeting me.
So knowing how important this opportunity was, I took a risk and booked a flight to Beijing to meet this gallery director and see his gallery. I took it all on my own risk, paying for my own flights and accommodation, taking care not to expect anything in return, except for the knowledge that this gallery director was very keen on my work and was looking towards offering me a major exhibition.
So we met and had a very good connection and as a result my wife and I were not only taken to dinner a number of times as their guest, but were also invited back to their home, which is to be seen as one of the highest compliments in the way of the Chinese. We discussed the possibility of working together and agreed on dates for the exhibition. At a later meeting we determined which works will be shown in the exhibition and went over the usual gallery artist agreements.
Many months later when it came to my sending the artwork to China for the exhibition, there was some confusion about the delivery address and the method of delivery. I wish to say something here about the need for adequate translation. It is so necessary to ensure that you have good translators to make sure that there are no misunderstandings of this sort.
