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Expat's Eye
Print Edition> Expat's Eye
UPDATED: November 5, 2012 NO. 45 NOVEMBER 8, 2012
Business and Culture
By Reinhard H.G. Fischer
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TALK WITH CONFUCIUS: The author visits a commemoration site for Confucius

I traveled around Asia for business as CEO and business director together with my buyers between 1980 and 1993, in particular the annual trade fairs in China's mainland and Taiwan. In subsequent years I have returned to visit the same countries and the region privately in order to maintain acquaintances and to deepen my knowledge of Chinese culture.

Through business contacts with representatives of Chinese companies and during conversations over dinner in restaurants, we began to understand and appreciate the culinary culture as well as the etiquette. My questions were met with detailed and interesting information about the characteristics of Chinese culture dating back thousands of years. Those discussions gave me a treasure trove of information that I could use in later years, when I was free of business constraints.

At the end of a trade fair and on free days, our Chinese business partners often invited us to visit important cultural sites, such as the Lama Temple and Fayuan Temple in Beijing. At the latter temple, we met with an English speaking monk named Master Xing Pu, Vice Director of a Buddhist Academy, who shared with us his extensive knowledge of the teachings and ethical standards of Buddhism. He also gave us valuable recommendations on further places of spiritual significance in China, from the north down to southern cities like Hong Kong and Macao. Chinese TV documentaries and news channels on CCTV, China's National TV station, allowed me to learn even more about the country from my home in Germany.

Having a travel guide is highly advisable when traveling alone. The state and city tourist offices are great resources for locating a guide. My Chinese friend John, an English speaking sinologist, took me to a different province each time I visited, showing me the lesser known areas of China. An expert travel companion can help navigate flight plans, train connections, and taxi journeys, and can also provide interesting conversations in situ as well as translating conversations with other strangers.

Of course, it is necessary to do some prior research regarding the teachings of Buddhism, Confucianism or Taoism in order to acquire historical context.

To this end, we also visited the birthplace of Confucius at Qufu in east China's Shandong Province. John pointed out to me that Confucius' thought is still very present in the Chinese economy, and the book Confucianism in Management, for instance, was also published in German. He gave me literature recommendations such as I Ching, also known as Book of Changes, Tao Te Ching, a classic Taoist work, and Shi Jing, or The Book of Songs, China's oldest poetry collection that is said to be compiled by Confucius.

Our last travel destinations were to Xi'an in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Ningbo and Quanzhou in the east, and Xiamen in the southeast, where I was introduced to a Buddhist meditation at the Southern Putuo Temple and witnessed a tea ceremony unique to Fujian Province.

Throughout my travels I was able to personally observe China's rising prosperity and its social and economic changes since the opening up under its former leader Deng Xiaoping.

My own experience of China differs from what the German media reports, which too often ignores the country's rich history and the detailed socio-economic realities of this rising giant.

The author is a German businessman

Email us at: zanjifang@bjreview.com



 
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