Do You Dare Start a Business in China?

Do You Dare Start a Business in China?
Aug 26, 2009 By Fred Dintenfass , eChinacities.com

Special Topic: Finding and Keeping Jobs in China

Starting a business is never an easy endeavor: in addition to coming up with a good idea, researching the market and gathering investment capital, there are miles of bureaucratic tape to cut through regarding licenses and taxes. Most of this is difficult enough to do in your native language in your home country, but doing it in another country is exponentially harder. Yet the attraction of China’s 1.3 billion customers keeps businesspeople coming to China to try their luck at riding the red dragon. Despite the recent problems Rio Tinto and other international companies have faced, many foreigners are still trying their luck at starting their own business in China. We asked you:

Would you ever start a business in China? Why or why not?

Perspectives seeks to promote dialogue and cross-cultural understanding by featuring Chinese and foreign responses to a single question. Email us to be added to our weekly question mailing list or to suggest questions of your own and feel free to add your perspective in the comments section below.

I started a business in China and would do it again. China has a lot of opportunities, however, if a foreigner wants to do business in China it is essential to either have enough capital to do it on one's own, or, if one must find a Chinese partner, to find someone who is absolutely trustworthy. Many foreigners, myself included, have gotten the raw end of Chinese business deals. There are a lot of people out there who would see us simply as walking banks and who would not hesitate to rip us off given the opportunity. Because of cultural and language differences, finding a trustworthy partner is a lot more difficult than it would be back in one's own country.
J / US

Yeah. You can make some money here, but only if your spouse is Chinese. Otherwise, too much of your income will go to the pockets of corrupt officials. Corruption is a cultural business norm in China.
R / US

I would really love to do business in China, but if only the government changed the policy of giving visas so that you didn’t have to go back to your country each time your visa expired. There are many things in China we don’t have here in Africa so I act like a bridge to my country, Cameroon. China is the only country I know now, when it concerns business, that needs a lot of Africans and what they produce is most needed in Africa. Everyone knows that many people are coming to China for business purposes so it makes no sense that visa extensions cannot be applied.
Newsletter / Cameroon

Yes, I would if I get that good chance. My cross culture business could be selling the best African art and African food. We have good stone carvings and woodcraft but we don’t have a permanent place to sell and show Africa’s rich culture of songs, dance and playing African instruments like drums and mbira music. Zimbabwe, my country, and other African countries are ready for that.
Newsletter / Zimbabwe

 

Yes, I have started my own business in Beijing. I opened a Chinese school last year. I employ many professional Chinese teachers to teach foreigners. Now it goes very well. 
Newsletter / China

Not yet, but I would like to, there are opportunities in many fields. It's only necessary to make the enough money to start, because opening the business needs the most money. After that it's only to work hard combined with imagination.
Newsletter

No!!!! because the red tape is a nightmare, the rules change all the time and you can’t trust anyone, its difficult enough just to work with them through their factories. Also, they are here today and gone the next.
Newsletter

I'm going to start a business in China because I can see of its much population needs some issues that are not quantity and quality resolved.
Newsletter

Yes, I am in china and I am trying to do that now. This area of China, Guangdong, is the center of the world manufacturing so all the money in the world flows through here. There is more opportunity here to do whatever you want than anywhere else in the world today. I feel like I have arrived in the land of milk and honey just like the first settlers of America felt when they founded the 13 colonies.
Newsletter

Special Topic: Finding and Keeping Jobs in China
 

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1 Comments

All comments are subject to moderation by eChinacities.com staff. Because we wish to encourage healthy and productive dialogue we ask that all comments remain polite, free of profanity or name calling, and relevant to the original post and subsequent discussion. Comments will not be deleted because of the viewpoints they express, only if the mode of expression itself is inappropriate.

seekingk

i`m thinking to star a business in china about mobile commerce n e-commerce, in all over the world there is corruption. i will not stop....

Feb 28, 2012 12:20 Report Abuse