China Confutations
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Thomas Wolfe's 1935 short story, “Only the Dead know Brooklyn" opens with:
" Dere's no guy livin' dat knows Brooklyn t'roo an' t'roo, because it'd take a guy a lifetime just to find his way aroun' duh f_____ town. " It may be wise to paraphrase these words when jumping into the China fire: " There ain't nobody dat understands China. Nobody!"
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There are two beliefs concerning doing business in China.
The 1st (held mainly by newcomers): China is a land of limitless opportunities.
The 2nd (held mainly by old hands): If you want to make a small fortune in China . . .
. . . start with a large one.
Often the latter statement is closer to the truth. Some people make money, but many and perhaps most, don’t.
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A Mixed Bag of Considerations when attempting to Understand China:
How Big?
It is important point not to think of China as a single entity. In the statement: "China is a land of unlimited opportunities." Replace the word "China" with the phrase, "The World" and you will hopefully understand how meaningless the China statement is.
China, similar to the world, has many, many parts. It has many branches and levels of government and many, many local governments. For some matters, the Central government is very controlling, for other matters it is not. Transparency International (TI) rates China overall as little better than most African nations and lacking the integrity of Namibia, Mexico and Cuba.
TI also views bribery as a major concern in dealing with China. There are some ways to avoid some of it.
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Authoritarian Controls
Realize these have been highly authoritarian (government; business; and family) systems, in which failure to conform meant lifetime banishment. They are only just beginning to transform. If you choose, reexamine European history to better understand how the various peoples progressed to their current statehood.
Realize these are male dominant societies that are just beginning to give women rights. You can assess the unbridled male arrogance of the Middle Eastern cultures to see how male chauvinism affects all aspects of society and how Asia is somewhere in the middle of change.
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Maslow
Also, quickly review Maslow’s Pyramid and consider the desperation of people on the lower survival levels; then realize even though some people have moved on to the third & fourth level of Maslow’s pyramid they harbor an insecurity that they will return to the lower levels and consequently continue to act and react as if they remain on the lower levels.

China is a Land of Mistrust. (Much of Asia is the same.)
It takes Westerners a while to fully realize this. Chinese don’t trust Chinese. There are solid reasons for this. I sometimes give lectures at schools. Normally, these are one time gigs. We agree on the speech topic and agree on a price. After being stiffed a few times, I now demand payment in advance.
For a short time, I worked for a Chinese firm helping Chinese university graduates immigrate to Canada. My qualifications were that I had visited Vancouver a few times. The speech I gave was basically meaningless because the parents putting up the money ($4,000) could not understand English. The real reason I was there was for the students’ parents to see a Western face on stage. When they saw a Westerner, they then believed, this was an honest firm that would not steal their money outright.

Visa Issues
If you are a Westerner, it is relatively easy to get a China Visa within a few hours at any major Hong Kong travel agent.
For Chinese, it is often difficult to get an American Visa. Why? As Americans, in general, are naive about the serious problem of illegal immigration, it is discussed here.
Chinese, in general, view America as the most desirable country to live.
As mentioned above, bribery and corruption are major issues in China. Where do corrupt people hide their money? In safe havens! The USA is considered one of the safest havens in the world. People smuggling and document forgery are international problems that are particularly serious in China. A few years ago, a US Official in Hong Kong was sentenced to jail for selling forged Honduran passports.
In China, the Embassies and Consulates of the USA and other Western countries daily reject individuals sent by snakehead gangs who deal in people smuggling and sex slavery as well as children of corrupt officials/business people who want their offsprings to live in America with their ill-gotten gains. For insights: read about the Shanghai 32 at:
http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/visa/shanghai.html
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Conventional wisdom indicates some 85% of the Chinese who obtain nonpermanent visa do not leave the US when their visas expire.
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In major Chinese cities, street corner Graffiti provides telephone numbers for obtaining falsified documents. In Computer City shopping centers, among the counterfeit software and illegal copies of Hollywood movies, young men pass out business cards that offer illegal documents of any type: Diplomas; Marriage Certificates; Divorce Certificates, etc.
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As a side note, while working for the Canadian Immigration firm mentioned above, the most common question the hopeful immigrants asked: “After I arrive in Canada, how long do I have to wait before I can go to the USA?”