Business Trip to China
Discussion
I have been invited by the company that I am about to start work for to visit there factory and dealer meeting in China in May.
I have travelled with my old company a lot although mainly in Europe.
The destination is Changsha in Huan Province and the flights look long 22hrs plus.
I would prefer to fly from Manchester if possible as Heathrow just adds more time to the journey.
All costs are covered by my employer as you would expect.
Advise on routes and air lines would be appreciated also what level of seating should I expect as reasonable . I am due to start the new role in a few weeks, so some details I don't have.
Also any advise on China in general would be welcome.
Thx
I have travelled with my old company a lot although mainly in Europe.
The destination is Changsha in Huan Province and the flights look long 22hrs plus.
I would prefer to fly from Manchester if possible as Heathrow just adds more time to the journey.
All costs are covered by my employer as you would expect.
Advise on routes and air lines would be appreciated also what level of seating should I expect as reasonable . I am due to start the new role in a few weeks, so some details I don't have.
Also any advise on China in general would be welcome.
Thx
From experience, If you are taking check in bags I would travel the most direct flying route, even if that means heading down to LHR. I'm midlands based and the only nightmare business travel experience has arisen because I wanted to start close to home.
Your employer may cover the cost of a car to the airport so it's way less stressful.
Edit...looking at Skyscanner the MAN option is two stops (some with a change of airport in Beijing!) and 27 hours of travel. LHR option is one change in China and 22 hours. Bit of a no brainer for me...
Your employer may cover the cost of a car to the airport so it's way less stressful.
Edit...looking at Skyscanner the MAN option is two stops (some with a change of airport in Beijing!) and 27 hours of travel. LHR option is one change in China and 22 hours. Bit of a no brainer for me...
Edited by wrencho on Thursday 9th March 11:47
From MAN you'll probably have to connect in the Middle East unless you go on KLM via Amsterdam. I've connected in Abu Dhabi in the past to fly to Beijing - not great as it's a bit of a dog leg route taking about 18 hours or so (although I was in business so I didn't mind too much).
Ensure you allow plenty of time for your visa. Admittedly when I went it was back in 2011 so things will have changed, but it took a few weeks to get a letter of invitation sorted for a business visa and I only received my passport back the morning I was travelling.
Be prepared for a culture shock at times. I was visiting a software company's office - people would happily spit at their desks, smoke in the toilets etc. Equally I was treated very well by them - I remember going for meals in a restaurant where I was presented with a fish flailing around in a bucket. Also be open to what you eat - I had such delicacies as donkey. I remember taxi drivers offering me cigarettes as we were driving along also, when I refused they would start smoking anyway... . Remember this was Beijing, albeit in 2011.
Overall I enjoyed my time out there (I was there for a month).
Edit - avoid discussions on politics and things such as Tiananmen Square or anything that might be critical to the Chinese Government. Probably a good idea to avoid the topic of Covid also...
Also if paranoid consider taking burner electronic devices. I didn't bother but I know some companies insist you do. Ensure all software is up to date. Consider getting a VPN subscription to have unfiltered internet access when out there - my work VPN wouldn't work well (it was an IPSec VPN), my personal SSL VPN worked. This information is years old though so things are potentially different with the great firewall now though.
Another edit - that flight on Hainan is probably your best bet if you definitely want MAN. I'd be trying to see if I could find a good value premium economy / business flight though even if it meant I had to go from LHR.
Ensure you allow plenty of time for your visa. Admittedly when I went it was back in 2011 so things will have changed, but it took a few weeks to get a letter of invitation sorted for a business visa and I only received my passport back the morning I was travelling.
Be prepared for a culture shock at times. I was visiting a software company's office - people would happily spit at their desks, smoke in the toilets etc. Equally I was treated very well by them - I remember going for meals in a restaurant where I was presented with a fish flailing around in a bucket. Also be open to what you eat - I had such delicacies as donkey. I remember taxi drivers offering me cigarettes as we were driving along also, when I refused they would start smoking anyway... . Remember this was Beijing, albeit in 2011.
Overall I enjoyed my time out there (I was there for a month).
Edit - avoid discussions on politics and things such as Tiananmen Square or anything that might be critical to the Chinese Government. Probably a good idea to avoid the topic of Covid also...
Also if paranoid consider taking burner electronic devices. I didn't bother but I know some companies insist you do. Ensure all software is up to date. Consider getting a VPN subscription to have unfiltered internet access when out there - my work VPN wouldn't work well (it was an IPSec VPN), my personal SSL VPN worked. This information is years old though so things are potentially different with the great firewall now though.
Another edit - that flight on Hainan is probably your best bet if you definitely want MAN. I'd be trying to see if I could find a good value premium economy / business flight though even if it meant I had to go from LHR.
Edited by Ynox on Thursday 9th March 13:03
It might be worth checking out a flight to Hong Kong and then on to Changsha, I think Cathay fly MAN to HKG and this would probably make the journey a bit shorter depending on how long you have to wait in Hong Kong.
If you opt for a Chinese carrier then most are OK these days, I have flown with Hainan airlines many times and they are pretty good, no issues at all, China Southern are decent also. You could ask your new company what their policy is on Business Class flights. My last company was business class if the total flight duration was over 9 hours.
As previously mentioned it would be well worth downloading a VPN on your phone and laptop if you still want to be able to access things like Whatsapp and Gmail, instagram, BBC etc
I assume that your company will arrange a driver for you but I would also recommend downloading an APP called Didi which is the Chinese version of Uber. There is an English version and it makes getting around very easy because you do everything through the APP and don't have the hassle of trying to explain to the driver where you want to go. If you book the "Premier" level car it is still very cheap compared to taxis in the UK but you will get a driver in a new clean car wearing a uniform and he certainly won't be spitting or smoking.
These days in China it is very rare to pay with cash, at least for small things, and western bank cards are not widely accepted so I would also download Wechat or Alipay on your phone, then in all stores you can scan a QR code to pay. You probably won't be able to connect these APPs with your UK bank account but what you can do is give a colleague cash and have them transfer money to your Wechat wallet. This will make buying coffee, paying for lunch and cabs so much easier. Western brand hotels will of course accept your UK credit/bank cards so no worries on that front.
Changsha is a great city with some really nice modern buildings and some cool old parts and you will enjoy exploring it. I love the Hunan food but watch out as it is the most spicy cuisine in China and makes the famously spicy Sichuan food seem a bit tame, so if you don't eat spicy then the phrase Bù tài là will be handy for you.
In my 9 years living in China I have found the vast majority of the Chinese that I have met to be friendly and helpful and they will be keen to talk to you and get your impressions of the place.
OP If you have any specific questions please feel free to contact me directly and I will help if I can
If you opt for a Chinese carrier then most are OK these days, I have flown with Hainan airlines many times and they are pretty good, no issues at all, China Southern are decent also. You could ask your new company what their policy is on Business Class flights. My last company was business class if the total flight duration was over 9 hours.
As previously mentioned it would be well worth downloading a VPN on your phone and laptop if you still want to be able to access things like Whatsapp and Gmail, instagram, BBC etc
I assume that your company will arrange a driver for you but I would also recommend downloading an APP called Didi which is the Chinese version of Uber. There is an English version and it makes getting around very easy because you do everything through the APP and don't have the hassle of trying to explain to the driver where you want to go. If you book the "Premier" level car it is still very cheap compared to taxis in the UK but you will get a driver in a new clean car wearing a uniform and he certainly won't be spitting or smoking.
These days in China it is very rare to pay with cash, at least for small things, and western bank cards are not widely accepted so I would also download Wechat or Alipay on your phone, then in all stores you can scan a QR code to pay. You probably won't be able to connect these APPs with your UK bank account but what you can do is give a colleague cash and have them transfer money to your Wechat wallet. This will make buying coffee, paying for lunch and cabs so much easier. Western brand hotels will of course accept your UK credit/bank cards so no worries on that front.
Changsha is a great city with some really nice modern buildings and some cool old parts and you will enjoy exploring it. I love the Hunan food but watch out as it is the most spicy cuisine in China and makes the famously spicy Sichuan food seem a bit tame, so if you don't eat spicy then the phrase Bù tài là will be handy for you.
In my 9 years living in China I have found the vast majority of the Chinese that I have met to be friendly and helpful and they will be keen to talk to you and get your impressions of the place.
OP If you have any specific questions please feel free to contact me directly and I will help if I can
Make sure you're aware of your company policy on travelling in China. It's not like Europe, and if it's anything like mine, we have very strict rules about managing our electronic devices, how we connect to our corporate network, how we get there/get around or how we deal with personal search requests.. Actually, we're not allowed to go there at all right now!
Chucklehead said:
Make sure you're aware of your company policy on travelling in China. It's not like Europe, and if it's anything like mine, we have very strict rules about managing our electronic devices, how we connect to our corporate network, how we get there/get around or how we deal with personal search requests.. Actually, we're not allowed to go there at all right now!
Very true - one of the global cloud providers equips staff with loaner laptops and phones..Go to the UKFR forum,and ask in the Pro section.
ALL firework importers (of which a lot lurk on there) fly to Changsha every year to have demos and buy their stock for the next year in Liuyang.
Trust me on this. They have been doing it for decades and will give you every detail about flights and also Changsha itself. Like a second home to lots of them,
ALL firework importers (of which a lot lurk on there) fly to Changsha every year to have demos and buy their stock for the next year in Liuyang.
Trust me on this. They have been doing it for decades and will give you every detail about flights and also Changsha itself. Like a second home to lots of them,
Edited by Griffith4ever on Monday 13th March 08:58
psychoR1 said:
Very true - one of the global cloud providers equips staff with loaner laptops and phones..
Indeed. I worked for a company that had this rule. You had to get a blanked loaner laptop to take to China and it got wiped on its return.
This was after a number of laptops were stolen en masse in a hotel in Shenzhen
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