The reader might think the book has nearly completely described life as LaoWei in Chinabytellingofobservationsmadeduringtheprivateandweekendtime，but it is not so. 80 % of the time in China are dictated by job requirements. For LaoWei， a normal working day begins in China between 6 and 8 o’clock in the morning and often ends after midnight. There is no intention， though， to set up a kind of diary of LaoWei’s life and work in China， but merely to retell some observations of and considerations about China. For this， the business life is less suitable， and for the reader rather a bore， although for LaoWei as a chemist enormously exciting. But of course， many interesting things about China can be learnt from working life， too.
Almost every day there are one or more meetings with customers or business partners， rarely， perhaps once or twice a month there is a “day at the office”， taking place either in the home in ShenZhen or in the office of the company. Even more rare， there is a day off， and if that is so， then only on Chinese public holidays， and even then I am not really off but working in advance and catching up.
For much is left lying unattended， due to lots of driving or travelling by car， bus， train or aircraft to customers in GuangDong， ShangHai and JiangSu， or BeiJing， TianJin， ChongQing and elsewhere， and despite the constant use of the laptops， which is all the time – even in the car， bus， train， plane – on LaoWei’s thighs to work on e-mails， read or generate reports， lectures and presentations， scientific articles and patent applications.
This is then processed on weekends and occasional holidays. There has not been any time for tourist travel within China for the past more than five years. On a few occasions I’ve used a morning or afternoon to see something other than airports， train stations， hotels， conference rooms and production facilities： beautiful gardens in SuZhou (苏州)， two old water towns near SuZhou and KunShan (昆山) (towns that provide only narrow lanes， no roads for cars， but channels)， once， of course， the Great Wall， some temples in different cities， the Forbidden City and TianTan (天坛) Temple (“The Temple of Heaven”， a very impressive wooden structure) in BeiJing， the Technology Museum in ShangHai， zoos in GuangZhou (广州) and ShangHai (once to see a live panda)， the new park on the Yangtze River in NanTong， very appealing is as well the “Bai Yun Shan”， (白云山) the Mountain of the White Cloud in GuangZhou， with a large free-flight aviary full of birds. Again， these were at best half-days in the context of a multi-day business trip.
I am not travelling as a tourist within China， not even on the weekend. Weekend football games on Saturdays and Sundays are my very important balance for body and mind， allowing at the same time to casually be part of the life of ordinary people in China and make some observations， some of which are reflected in this book. I prefer to spend the weekends that way.
But in the professional life， you cannot avoid to make some observations， too， which on the one hand are new or different from those in Western countries (where you do not make uniform observations， either， but ever may meet a surprise)， on the other hand， unlike those to be found in various books about China， most commonly in guides for managers and entrepreneurs in China.
There are， coarsely said， three ways to do business in China with Chinese companies， listed here by – according to experts and consultants – increasing degree of difficulty：
Most simple case (relatively simple case， of course， this way of doing business is not easy， either， but always full of unforeseen complications)： To buy products in China and export them to Germany， for example， or to have the producer or its agents export them to Germany and sell them at home.
More difficult： To produce either by a joint venture or a special， 100% owned subsidiary in China， exporting mainly to the (western) foreign countries and to a lesser extent (increased difficulty) also in China.
Most difficult case： To produce abroad， in our case in Germany， and import and sell to China.
I was often asked， especially by well-meaning “experts”， why I had chosen just the most complicated way to find. I confess I have not chosen at all， it has just happened， I had no choice.
Since I left the University as a chemist， at the age of 25 years， I am researching on a new chemical technology that (I) developed into a novel nanotechnology – along with many employees during three decades. I filed several dozen patents and published numerous scientific articles describing the principles and applications of this new technology. In parallel， the medium-sized company where I led and drove forward the research and development (it was my second job after leaving the university) produced raw materials for the plastics industry. When I was 33， I took over as manager and soon after bought a quarter of the shares.
In the mid-90s I spun off the former research division as a subsidiary， sold the business and all the assets of the plastic raw material producing parent company and focused at a new location on the perfection of the new nanotechnology. This we wanted to sell， especially in the electronics industry.
The suitable special markets were at that time still for about 60 % in Europe and the U.S.， and along with Korea， Japan and Taiwan， this made about 90 % of our target markets. That changed abruptly in 2001， our customers or potential customers migrated massively to China， there entirely new companies emerged， the market was turned upside down as if struck by typhoons.
If we were determined to weather this typhoon without having learnt how to swim properly， we had to intervene in China. In Korea and to some extent in Japan， we were able to perform remarkable breakthroughs， but the action was more and more in China.
That’s how it started.
Today I have to tell that the decision to go to China and to focus there has been right， as well as the decision to move for two-thirds of my time to China and take matters there in hand while monitoring research and development mostly from a distance， and once every four or five weeks in person.