Business
How to prepare for the meeting
The practice that saves a negotiation: preparation, the interpreter’s role and etiquette.
Before the meeting
Send the agenda in advance and in writing. Improvising in the meeting reads as being unprepared, not as flexibility.
Find out exactly who will be there from the other side and which of them decides: the guest list says more about their intent than words do.
Prepare your materials in Chinese. Even when the other side speaks English, a document in their own language is read more carefully.
Worth knowing
Bring your own interpreter rather than the one the other side offers: they must have no interest in how the conversation ends.
The interpreter
Industry vocabulary matters more than fluency. An interpreter who does not know the field quietly smooths over the technical terms.
Speak in short sentences and pause — consecutive interpreting of a long monologue loses the detail.
At the table
A business card is offered and received with both hands, and the one you are given is placed in front of you rather than pocketed straight away.
A direct no is rare. “That’s difficult” and “we’ll think about it” usually are the refusal.
Careful
Verbal agreement in a meeting does not count as a decision. Put what was agreed in an email the same day — otherwise the next meeting starts from scratch.
Checked: 26 August 2026
Editor: The PANDA editorial team
What you can hand to PANDA
Sources
- PRC government portal for foreignersofficial source
- Ministry of Commerce of the PRCofficial source
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