CANTON FAIR CHINESEPOD SURVIVAL GUIDE
matt_c
April 07, 2009, 06:40 AM posted in General DiscussionWelcome to the ChinesePod Canton Fair survival guide, created in order to help out big/small business operators coming to China for the fair to source new suppliers.
The Guangzhou Trade Fair aka Canton Fair (广交会 guǎngjiāohuì) is coming up in mid April. The Canton Fair is the largest trade fair in China and runs over 3x4 day phases from April 15th to May 6th.
The Pack includes:
1. The Canton Fair Survival Lesson set
2. Key Trade Phrases and Vocabulary (from Business Man Peter lesson set)
3. Tips for your foray into China
4. Links to Guangzhou Wiki pages, Canton Fair Site, Metro, Maps
5. Comments/discussion where users can exchange info and links to help each other their sourcing trips.
Click on the above link to access this Survival Lesson Set (Newbie level - free content). Below is a list of the lessons in this set.
Newbie - Finding a Taxi
Newbie - Taxi Destination
Newbie - Stopping the Taxi
Hotel
Newbie - Key Card
Newbie - Finding a Cheap Hostel
Ordering Food
Newbie - Being Seated in a Restaurant
Newbie - Ordering Noodles
Buying Stuff
Newbie - Intro 6: I want to buy this one
Newbie - Too expensive!
Time
Newbie - Months
Newbie - Days of the week
Newbie - What's tomorrow?
Newbie - Working Hours
Simple Questions
Newbie - Asking for a Phone Number
Newbie - Where's the bathroom?
Newbie - Do you have...?
Newbie – How is the weather?
BASIC GREETINGS
Newbie - Intro 1: Good morning
Newbie - Intro 2: What's your name?
Newbie - Intro 3: Where are you from?
2. KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
From our Intermediate lesson series: 'Business Man Peter'.
Vocab:
销售 / 銷售 / sales / xiāoshòu /
合作 / 合作 / to cooperate / hézuò /
联系 / 聯繫 / to get in touch with / liánxì /
商量 / 商量 / to discuss / shāngliang /
下单 / 下單 / to place an order / xiàdān /
发货 / 發貨 / dispatch goods for delivery / fāhuò /
成本 / 成本 / cost / chéngběn /
样品 / 樣品 / sample / yàngpǐn /
展览馆 / 展覽館 / exhibition hall / zhǎnlǎn guǎn /
交易会 / 交易會 / trade show / jiāoyìhuì /
报价单 / 報價單 / quotation form / bàojià dān /
定货量 / 定貨量 / order quantity / dìnghuò liàng /
到岸价格 / 到岸價格 / CIF (cost insurance freight) price / dào àn jiàgé /
离岸价 / líānjià 报价 / FOB (free on board) price / also known as 船上交货价 / 船上交貨價 /chuánshàng jiāohuò jià
報價 / quote / bàojià /
空运 / 空運 to transport by air / kōngyùn /
费用 / 費用 / cost / fèiyòng /
行程 / 行程 /itinerary / xíngchéng /
往返 / 往返 roundtrip; return / wǎngfǎn /
预付款 / 預付款 / advance payment / yùfùkuǎn /
信用证 / 信用證 / letter of credit / xìnyòngzhèng /
货款 / 貨款 / payment for goods / huòkuǎn /
运输 / 運輸 / shipping / yùnshū /
标签 / 標簽/ label / biāoqiān /
PHRASES:
你们有具体的产品介绍手册和报价单吗？
Nǐmen yǒu jùtǐ de chǎnpǐn jièshào shǒucè hé bàojià dān ma？
Do you have a detailed brouchure and price list?
喂，是销售部李经理吗？我想了解一下货物的具体情况。
Wèi，shì xiāoshòu bù lǐ jīnglǐ ma？wǒ xiǎng liǎojiě yīxià huòwù de jùtǐ qíngkuàng.
Hello? Is this the Sales Manager? I would like to learn the specific details of these products.
我想问一下你们最低定货量是多少？
Wǒ xiǎng wèn yīxià nǐmen zuìdī dìnghuò liàng shì duōshao？
Could you please tell me what the minimum order quantity is?
现在我们公司需要一些样品。你们可以免费提供吗？还是需要我们付钱？
Xiànzài wǒmen gōngsī xūyào yīxiē yàngpǐn. Nǐmen kěyǐ miǎnfèi tígōng ma？háishi xūyào wǒmen fùqián？
Now our company requires some samples to examine. Are able to provide these for free, or must we pay for them ourselves?
有钱大家赚，现在不是讲究双赢吗？Peter, 今天一定要给我个面子，一起吃顿饭。
Yǒuqián dàjiā zhuàn，xiànzài bùshi jiǎngjiu shuāngyíng ma？Peter, jīntiān yīdìng yào gěi wǒ ge miànzi， yīqǐ chī dùn fàn.
Let's get rich together, nowadays everyone wants a win-win outcome. Peter, today you absolutely must give me some face and allow me to take you to dinner.
来来来，Peter, 祝我们这次合作成功，以后有更多的合作！
Lái lai lái，Peter, zhù wǒmen zhècì hézuò chénggōng， yǐhòu yǒu gèngduō de hézuò！
Come, come, come. Peter, here's to our successful partnership! Let's work together more in the future!
谢谢李经理，让我们为成功干杯！
Xièxie lǐ jīnglǐ， ràng wǒmen wèi chénggōng gānbēi！
Thank you (Manager) Li, let us toast to success!
你们有多少员工？
Nǐmen yǒu duōshao yuángōng？
How many workers do you have?
3. TIPS (please add your helpful tips in the discussion/comments section)
- Don't forget to use both your hands when giving and recieving business cards!!! (thanks @xuchen)
- Chinese people can be quite vague about details and say things that will make you feel better rather than the truth. For example, if the car ride is one hour. The driver might so 'we'll be there very fast'. They are not maliciously lying to you. It is more a reflection of our non confrontational culture.
- There tends to be a merge of business and personal relationship in China. People want to do business with the people they know and like. So there is more effort spent building it.
- Alcohol is a key part of Chinese culture. You might be eagerly urged by your counterparts to drink. It would be good to drink a bit but if you really can't drink, simply tell them that you are concerned about health. In recent years, there is a movement towards healthier lifestyle in China. A good trick is to say you really enjoy Chinese tea and your Chinese friends might order different types of tea for you to sample.
- Stay away from illegitimate taxis. Ask the driver to run the meter if he doesn't do so.
- Buy a local SIM card from China Mobile. They are available from many street vendors or the airport.
- Canton is a bustling city, and like any bustling city around the world, there is crime. Watch your belongings, don't put your wallet in your back pocket, be alert, be safe. Be alert when taking money out of Automatic teller machines.
4. LINKS (please add your helpful links in the discussion/comments section)
For genreal information on Guangzhou:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangzhou
http://wikitravel.org/en/Guangzhou
Map of Guangzhou (Chinese)
Map of Guangzhou (English - need better resource please link to a better one if you can)
The Canton Fair Website:
http://www.cantonfair.org.cn/en/index.asp
Map of outside of complex:
http://promoter.cantonfair.org.cn/map/map.aspx?Version=en
Info on Guangzhou Metro (cheapest way to get to the fair)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangzhou_Metro
Take Line 2 (Blue line headng towards Pazhou).
Get off at Xin Gang Dong 新港东 (Xīn Gǎng Dōng) station.
Change from Line 1 to Line 2 at Gongyuanqian
Change from Line 3 to Line 2 at Kecun
Change from Line 4 to Line 2 at Wanshengwei (this Line 2 is heading towards Sanyuanli)
Hotel/Flight Bookings:
CTRIP (Choose English/Chinese)
Elong (Toggle En/简体中文 top left of screen)
5. DISCUSSION
The discussion/comments section is the perfect place to leave you useful stories, tips, info, links etc. I'll be monitoring, and will add useful contributions to the Post itself.
Thank you.
Matt Coleman
ChinesePod Product Manager.
http://www.cantonfair.org.cn/en/index.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canton_Fair
digo
April 08, 2009, 10:07 AMHi Matt, just made today my SUBSCRIPTION for 1 year ...and j will Visit Canton Fair (as in the last 4 years) ... hope this time to survive in a better way .. thanks to your guide.
matt_c
April 09, 2009, 04:48 AM@digo Welcome to ChinesePod mate! :-) I hope that it does indeed help, feel free to msg me if you have any questions at all. Enjoy :)
spanishlearners
April 13, 2009, 08:11 PMAt the beginning I was terrified of chinese, man it looks complicated, after I read your survival guide, felt like an adventure I am missing, looks like I will be visiting the trade fair next year, it looks very challenging to be speaking a bit than no words at all. Better start it up, thanks matt_c, mark your discussion where it all started here, where my interest in chinese flared up (I know no chinese at all let's see how far i can get in 1 year).
pretzellogic
June 14, 2009, 06:01 AMmatt_c,
Not sure if you're still monitoring this part of the site, but this is a pretty handy framework for a newbie overall. cpod should create this "survival guide" for the vacationer traveling to china for the first time, but instead, create it with more sightseeing, hotel and airport dialogues.
BTW, the sets you've outlined point out how dominant newbie lessons are within cpod. I would have liked to have seen more intermediate level dialogues around topics like travel in airports, buses, taxis, hotels, and especially asking for directions.
pretzellogic
June 14, 2009, 06:25 AMand while it occurs to me, I think there's one more "survival guide" needed for those cpod subscribers that are actually going to go to China: the long term visitor. Long term visitor is the person(s) staying in China for 6 months or more, who actually needs to set up a household, and may have kids. We need dialogue at all levels for renting an apartment, paying electricity/water, buying things to furnish the apartment and so on. Maybe even hiring an ayi. Certainly, you and John sound like you have some experience with what it's like to be a long term visitor, so writing the dialogues might be pretty easy.
matt_c
June 15, 2009, 02:39 AM@pretzlogic
I understand what you are saying, there was a method to my madness. This set was deliberately Newbie so that non-subscribers could also access the content. As for creating specific sets targeted at certain groups/interersts/activities, I agree with what you are suggesting. Have you checked out the Wizard sets we have on the lesson sets page? They cover various topics by level.
Thanks,
Matt
matt_c
April 05, 2009, 01:46 PMHope this is of some help. Please let me know if there's anything that needs adding, links etc :-)