- Gordon Dumoulin
A traditional week of reflection and bonding...
๐ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จโฆ
replies from your Chinese business partners might have been a little slow this weekโฆ
Tomorrow (September 10, 2022) is ไธญ็ง่ or Mid-Autumn Festival (or Moon Festival), the second most important traditional Festival in China after Spring Festival (Chinese New Year).
Besides ๐ ๐ถ๐ฑ-๐๐๐๐๐บ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐น being an ancient family festival and reunion enjoying the blessings of the harvest, especially in the beautiful shapes and recipes of mooncakes, it is also an important annual event for business in China. Especially for nourishing and respecting our ๅ ณ็ณป or ๐ด๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ถ.
It is custom before the Mid-Autumn Festival to visit your business relations or at least call them if distance is too large and bring or send gifts, commonly a beautiful set of mooncakes but a nice precious tea or harvest gifts with fruits or nuts are also appreciated.
It is one of the 2 major moments every year in China ๐๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฎ ๐บ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐, pay attention to and spend time with those you are engaged with professionally (but also otherwise for example relations with your old teachers or colleagues). ๐ฆ๐ถ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐๐ป, ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ ๐๐ผ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ณ๐น๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐บ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ต๐ ๐๐ผ๐ด๐ฒ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ since the beginning of spring (Chinese New Year) while considering together the wintertime to come. The mooncake or other gifts brought are for the family of your relation to enjoy on the Festival days itself.
This is a reason that mooncakes are not often bought privately but being sent or received by business relations or your employer and one can imagine that the appearance and quality of the mooncakes might have influence on perceptions and relations (and their families).
Mid-Autumn Festivalโฆ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ด๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐น to wish her or him (and their family) a happy Mid-Autumn Festival and thank with appreciation for the dear collaboration this year so farโฆ
Needless to say, it is big business this week for the mooncake and other harvest gift market, including packaging and designโฆ
๐ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ข๐บโฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด.
๐ช๐ถ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ฎ ๐ท๐ผ๐๐ณ๐๐น ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ ๐ถ๐ฑ-๐๐๐๐๐บ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ณ๐ฎ๐บ๐ถ๐น๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐น๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐ !
#chineseculture #chinesesociety #china #china2022 #midautumnfestival #tigeryear #guanxi #chinesebusiness #chinabusiness #mooncakes
Picture sources Max Chen | Unsplash, Huobg Ho | Unsplash, Oriento | Unsplash