Many expatriates to China are selected by their professional expertise (IQ). Few considerations are given regarding the person’s emotional adaptability to China’s particular business culture (EQ).
I still remember vividly the first meeting between a freshly arrived expatriate and his Chinese partners. The expatriate took the occasion as an opportunity to assume his power and to impress. At one point, he picked up a touchy topic and blamed that it was not acceptable that the issue had dragged on till now. Solemnly, he declared: “I suggest setting up immediately a joint working group to get the issue solved by next month.”
The Chinese stayed impassive. Then, their boss excused himself to make a call and left. Then another Chinese excused himself, and then another one. They never came back to the meeting room…