On 13 March, 2019, three experts of Chinese business: Ms. Cathy Peng, Ms. Cassie Xia and Mr. Simon Choi visited the China Studies class of Peking University HSBC Business School (PHBS). The agenda for the day was to learn more about how to do business in China, a subject that is very important for international students here studying business in Shenzhen. Professor Huang welcomed the guest speakers and framed the subject of the day. His introduction was followed by speeches from all three guests, with a panel discussion and Q&A session afterwards.
 

             Ms. Peng gives speech
 

The first speaker for the class to hear from was Ms. Peng, CEO of ROCS Global. Ms. Peng is also an educator and business leader for Asian, American and European companies. In addition to having lead trainings and seminars at leading institutions around the world, she has conducted business in over 40 countries. In her lecture, Ms. Peng focused on how to succeed in Chinese business culture. She discussed the differences between business in China and the rest of the world and emphasized that to succeed in China, foreigners must understand and adopt Chinese culture, local mindsets, and new social skills.
 

 Ms. Xia shares experiences of work with foreigners
 

Ms. Xia is CEO and founder of Hsia International Business Consultancy (HIBC). HIBC specializes in offices and co-working spaces tailored to foreign companies. In addition to real-estate, she specializes in company registration, IT solutions, IP rights and HR placement. During her presentation, Ms. Xia discussed her own personal experiences working with foreigners and helping them adopt Chinese ways of doing business.
 

Business in China from a lawyer's perspective given by Mr. Choi
 

The last speech of the day was held by Mr. Choi, founder of Acme Ardent. Mr. Choi specializes in international trade, investment, finance, merger & acquisition and cyber law. He gave an interesting presentation on business in China from a lawyer’s perspective, which is an uncommon but very important point of view for the business students of PHBS.

After the three presentations, it was time for the highly anticipated panel discussion. The guest lecturers were faced with interesting questions related to their area of expertise. The panel discussion gave students a unique opportunity to learn even more from the panelists. Finally, the panel discussion was followed by a Q&A session where students could freely ask questions.

The international students of PHBS would like to thank Ms. Peng, Ms. Xia and Mr. Choi for taking the time out of their busy schedule to teach the China Studies class about doing business in China.

By Tarmo Laakso  (Finland)