Over the past 30 years, China has moved from being a low-cost manufacturing base to one of the world’s most lucrative markets. As a result, China is emerging as an ever-increasingly “plum” for international companies seeking to unlock its consumer market. Business representatives who come to China with a passive or active indifference to the people and culture are, not surprisingly, rarely successful.
Market-driven globalization has been the main force in driving economic success with China and other nations during recent times. However, the rising influence of national governments in economic matters including foreign investments, access to natural resources and trade may well portend the end of “the triumph of global markets” based on unchallenged globalization.
In a new economic climate reflecting a resurgence of national interests, understanding the particular cultures of our economic partners becomes increasingly important.
“Culture” is not jut about art and manners. It is a reflection of the collective norms and assumptions which shape perceptions of value and desire: how business is conducted; the role of government; the importance of education; and tastes in fashion, food and entertainment.
China’s culture represents a 5-millennium-year-old tapestry of interwoven dynasties and changing philosophies, including Confucianism and Buddhism and more recently Marxism and capitalism. Now, change is a driving force in all aspects of Chinese culture, and those changes in fashion, food, entertainment and art are influencing the rest of the world.
It took Rolls Royce three years to develop China as its third-largest market. It is hardly a coincidence that the cars are selling, because they were designed to appeal to the tastes of today’s affluent Chinese. There are over 450 million cell phones in China. Twenty-five years ago if you had a wristwatch, you were middle class in China. The best-selling cookie in China is the Oreo. They are long, thin, four-layered and coated in chocolate. It took Kraft nine years to figure out that Chinese and Western tastes were different, but only two years to conquer the market once they did.
Asian art – traditional, modern and contemporary – has taken the center stage with record prices at the major auctions in New York, London and Hong Kong for the last six years.
At the same time, outside the modern facade of the major Chinese cities is a land of diverse geographic and cultural regions at various stages of economic and cultural development. To broaden trade in China, we need to understand and explore these differences and their untapped market opportunities.
The Greater Milwaukee Committee delegation visit to Beijing in March, to explore cultural exchange and trade between China and Wisconsin, demonstrated that taking an interest in China, its people and culture garnered a more promising reception than the typical “Great Wall,” “friendship” and “tea and fruit” visits consisting of formal business/government delegations.
The Milwaukee delegation met with the top echelon of government leaders who welcomed the opportunity to meet visitors from the USA who were interested in China’s culture as a bridge to mutual understanding. The delegation from Milwaukee made it clear that cultural/educational exchanges were part of a strategy to promote long-term trade interests. And this view was accepted by the Chinese hosts as a genuine and appropriate basis for future mutual projects.
The Milwaukee delegation was honored at successive separate state dinners hosted by the vice chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, the party secretary of the Ministry of Culture, the minister of culture and the vice-governor of Heilongjiang Province. There were also meetings with other officials and artists, together with visits to national cultural facilities, including the newly opened National Arts Center and the booming 798 Art Zone, which provided the delegation with insights into Chinese contemporary cultural developments. The delegation’s activities were covered on a daily basis by all major local and national newspapers and TV here in China.
The Milwaukee delegation’s strategy was to use cultural and educational exchanges to increase the stature and opportunities for Wisconsin’s educational institutions and business in China’s markets. Immediate projects under way include: an international student host project to link Chinese students with the families of Milwaukee’s business executives; a 2009 Chinese artist exhibition; a proposed production of Peter Buffett’s “Spirit in China;” and hosting a writer from the National Geographic Chinese “Trends Magazine” who will be visiting Milwaukee this month for an article in its urban tourist edition.
All of these projects are in part paving the way for a new initiative to advance Milwaukee’s educational and business assets on the international market, which will be announced in the near future.
Wisconsin businesses and the state must be creative in their approach to international trade. Following the conventional practices of others is a roadmap to mediocrity.
Every country in the world is now prospecting for opportunities in China. Success will require innovative understanding and approaches. The Greater Milwaukee Committee delegation has taken an important step on the way to fostering new opportunities for Wisconsin. I applaud their efforts and hope more new ideas will follow.
Members of the delegation included Julia Taylor, president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee; Dean Amhaus, president of The Spirit of Milwaukee; artist Peter Buffett and Jennifer Heil Buffett; Christian Bartley, president of the Milwaukee World Trade Center; Curtis Carter, professor at Marquette University and the Les Aspin Center for Government and the former Haggerty Museum founding director; and Jodi Tabak, chairman of the GMC China Committee and aide to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.
The delegation was invited by Gao Zhanxiang, chairman of the Chinese Cultural Promotion Association. I arranged the invitation, which was coordinated by the Beijing Baotong Fucheng International Cultural Development Co.
Editor’s note: This week’s edition of "Dispatches From China" was written in collaboration with Curtis L. Carter, professor at Marquette University and the Les Aspin Center for Government in Washington, D.C., founder and director of the Haggerty Museum, vice president of the International Association for Aesthetics, international director and curator of the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Beijing and a frequent international lecturer and author on the arts and culture.
