Hi everyone! It is my great honor to start my blog journey in SAMK. I’ve mentioned in SAMK’s Agora magazine interview, that I work as a bridge between two countries.  I think it is also the ultimate purpose of my blog. Markku is coming with Satakunta mayor and high school principles to Changzhou this week. So let’s start by making an appointment with the Chinese.

If you want to make an appointment today with the Chinese government or school or other that kind of agency for your August trip, you may be disappointed because of the dubious response by the Chinese. I know most Finns are early-bird and your calendar can be fully occupied for the coming six months. However, Chinese are more flexible with appointments. It is appropriate to make a phone or sms request for an appointment one week in advance. It is fine if you inform a Chinese two weeks before your appointment, but you will hardly get confirmation. A good time to make an appointment is Monday. Normally the Chinese will bring out their weekly plan and you will be informed of the time when they are available.

If you have no idea about this in advance, you may spend much time in useless networking. A small tip for a successful appointment arrangement is to send someone an sms first, and after a day make a call and clarify the purpose of your appointment and the person you want to meet (if you don’t know the person, you can describe what kind of person in general fits your purpose). Just clarify as detailed as possible your requirements and you will have a great chance to make an appointment with the Chinese person you want to meet!

Last but not least, e-mail is not a Chinese thing. Don’t rely too much on it.