If you get the chance to attend a business event in China, you may find that it is quite different from what we’re used to back home. As most Chinese traditions revolve around food, many business meetings are also held at lunches or dinners, varying from small meals to extravagant banquets. A few of our InternChina Chengdu team had the pleasure of attending one of our partner companies’ events this week.
Not really knowing what to expect, Trainee office manager Paul, Chengdu office intern Helen, and myself, made our way to the venue in the South of Chengdu. We were greeted at the reception with our name tags and were asked to leave behind a name card. Then we were presented with a little gift-bag each (small presents from the host are not uncommon in China) and shown to our table. The venue was impressive – large round tables crowded the room, with screens along the walls and a stage at one end. The theme was ‘Russian-Chinese New Year Party’, and Russian folk music was straining the speakers.

Throughout the meal (which was exquisite) there were speeches, short performances and presenting of awards.

Even one of the interns who we had placed with the company, performed a short sketch in Chinese!

Our name cards were used to select the winner for an ‘apple note book’ – 苹果牌笔记本 pingguo pai bijiben – but what they actually received was an apple, a pack of cards and a paper note book!*

To our pleasant surprise, Paul was also called on stage to receive an award for ‘Best Strategic Partner 2013’! It was an honour to receive an award from our partner company, especially as we have only been in Chengdu for less than a year. We look forward to a continued successful partnership with them and we will strive to send more interns there in the future!

It was a very enjoyable gathering, with fantastic networking opportunities and just overall a lot of fun!

Apply for an internship now and experience a business event for yourself!

*苹果牌笔记本 actually means Apple Notebook, however 牌, which means brand, is also the word for ‘cards’, hence when one separates the words you get apple, cards, and notebook.