Earlier this year, I had the great opportunity to personally plan and travel with a senior delegation from China that included both public officials and private sector delegates. This was a high level group paid for and hosted by my client.
We visited locations in Africa and India, taking in a few sites during a predominantly technical and business focused trip. The schedule was demanding and accommodation ranged from basic to extreme luxury. Throughout the trip, I had been the liaison for the Chinese delegates and looked after their needs, communicating as necessary with the the local staff and Western representatives of my client, the host.
Though well travelled and senior in their positions, the Chinese delegates did conform to some general rules about Chinese travel:
- They did not wish to have much free time, preferring to busy themselves with business visits, meetings, shopping or sightseeing.
- They do a lot of shopping – stopping to shop at every opportunity and spending cash (dollars and credit cards) on items of jewellery, clothing and souvenirs. I was quite impressed by their ability to shop and to haggle with Indian and African shop keepers.
- It took about 3 days for the group to start asking for Chinese dishes instead of local food. While this depends on where they travel (Indian food tends to be overly spiced for their tastes), it is generally true that on long trips, some comfort food is greatly appreciated. It was actually as easy as teaching the hotel chef to prepare ‘zhou’ (rice congee) into which they added vegetables, meat and pickled vegetables that they carried with them all the way from China.
- The tour leader of the group had come prepared with sauces, pickles and Chinese dry snacks which she passed around when she saw that the delegates were less than fully satisfied with their meal.
- Italian Pasta is ok, as long as its spaghetti (which resembles Chinese noodles).
The most important thing to remember about looking after high-level Chinese delegates is to be attentive, listen to what lies between the lines of what they say. They may not complain or ask for things directly from a foreigner but it is possible to figure out what they want.
