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	*Don’t Forget The Other* China…** When someone says “China” what images come to your mind? Do you envision the Great Wall of China? The Forbidden City? Peasant farmers? Shanghai’s Pearl Tower? Gleaming skyscrapers? Corruption and pirated goods? The Yangtze River? Enormous bridges spanning wide rivers? State-of-the-art highways piled one on the top of the other? The Three Gorges Dam? Chairman Mao? Tian An Men Square and the Great Hall of the People? Delegations of business men and women, offering and accepting gifts of friendship and honest commitment to building business relationships? Do you see red? Do you imagine dumplings and Peking Opera and thousand-year-old eggs? China is many things to many people, and it is perfectly paradoxical. If you only focus on one aspect, you deprive yourself of the whole richness the country has to offer. China is both a place and a concept; a vision and a disappointment; simple and complicated; a source of great personal and professional satisfaction, and an elusive goal; an eternal fascination and a source of endless frustration; a nation of hard workers and not-so-hard workers. How can such a dichotomous place hold such fascination, and yield positive results, for a diverse collection of interested people from all over the world, each approaching China for his or her own personal or professional objectives? China – as a place and as a concept – is vast. This is news to no one. While China’s physical, human and spiritual resources are not endless they are many, varied and sustainable – with help from every level of existence and every perspective of society. Emphasize your participation in your Chinese partner’s growth and prosperity, and you invite them to participate in yours. You may be a local school teacher or an international educator; an aviation technology expert; a cross-cultural trainer; involved in international trade of goods and commodities; a lover of Chinese cuisine; a provider of Chinese medicinal remedies; a builder of power plants; a financial services provider; a business management consultant…The important thing to remember is that China not only has what you want, China wants what you have. Whatever your soul is searching for your answer lies in China. Professional and business success are there for the strong-hearted and longevity-minded; emotional growth and spiritual nurturing are there for those willing to delve into China’s long and deep ideas of interconnectedness between the mind, body, spirit and earth; intellectual stimulation can be had by those willing to help China achieve the economic growth, progress and success that many other world societies have enjoyed for generations. Meaningful opportunities to contribute to the growth, development and prosperity of one person or many are also there for the asking. However, it is not enough to want! To succeed in and with China you must also know yourself first - your objectives, your strengths, your weaknesses, your cultural heritage - from a non-judgmental, non-defensive perspective; learn how your unique make-up might interact – positively or negatively – with your Chinese colleagues; look for opportunities to learn more about that interaction so you can manage it: ask questions and listen to the answers with culturally-sensitive ears; set personal, professional and organizational goals; recognize that it’s all the little details that make up that big picture; gather information endlessly and purposefully; ask seemingly meaningless and irrelevant questions; spend time learning about the people and places you find yourself connected to focus on immediate needs but future consequences; be patient treat nothing as coincidence; treat nothing as irrelevant; be brutal and absolute in your determination to succeed; be cautious and shrewd; learn to see China through “Chinese eyes.” JUST KEEP TALKING. Be prepared to see China as a source of information, energy, exotic food, discovery, frustration, disappointment, growth, strange music, and an opportunity to give as well as get, and you will “succeed” in ways that you never thought you would. There is more than one way to profit from an association with China. Don’t deprive yourself of enduring and changing richness that is the true China, and you will reap more benefit than you could have ever imagined. Virginia Cutchin Transition Success Consulting virginia@transitionsuccess.net DISCLAIMER – The contents of this article are intended to provide pertinent inform-ation for Beyond Virginia subscribers interested or already involved in international trade. While every effort is made to convey accurate and timely information, the contents of this article are not intended as specific advice to its readers. Our intent is solely to convey information.