John from France said:"In Beijing I learned one important matter for doing business in China: inviting somebody to dinner, as well as being invited to dinner. " Many activities are done at the dinner table while eating - to exchange information, to do things, to share life, and so on. You may ask: Isnot the Internet very convenient? Is not there phone very common in China? Why not talk about business in your office? However, in China, businessmen are willing to "sit down and talk slowly" and prefer "face-to-face interaction". You may spend 2 to 3 hours in discussing or chatting, while eating,  something more and more deeply.

As a matter of fact, the focus of eating together is to strengthen relationship or to establish Guanxi. Thus, the conversion on the table provides something beyond the written agreement or contract. Your business will make the progress in accordance with the degree of your relationship and feeling of comfort and ease. If you want to success in business in China and with Chinese, you have to figure out how to eat and how to establish and strengthen your Guanxi network.

In the Western business world,  after intense negotiations to detect mutual bottom line, buyers and sellers may reach a consensus on the appropriate price to complete the transaction. Throughout the process, the two sides may have clean and clear business relationship without any other connection to each other. However, if you want to engage in this set in China, your business will die not knowing the real reason. Before your business is yet initiated, what you should do is to eat a meal and the best is to drink wine. With the communication established or the feelings are set up, you can slowly enter the commercial relations of cooperation. By this way, you form a Guanxi network, which may restrict individual freedom but also provides the members with many tangible and intangible resources. Personal privacy is not respected in the Chinese society. It is impossible for anyone to go beyond the network. But in case something happens, the network can also provide protection to the related member.