WHAT DO YOU SAY To A Friend From China?
My First Mandarin Chinese Language & Cultural Guide will be released on March 18, 2025!
Subscribe on YouTube for all pre-launch content and more...
I love and care deeply about our evolving story----How will China exist in harmony with the West this time around? Still, I left China in 2017. Even before the pandemic, I had a general sense that the "reasons" I wanted an expat assignment in China were diminishing. My son JAYDEN was born in Irvine, California in 2019, and I began writing books to contribute to a more positive conversation regarding China through business. It's a crowded scene.
In a pivot, I just released my first children's book, What do you say to a friend from China? Maybe I can make a more positive impact with the next generation. If you are interested in sponsoring this series of books (click here)
MANDARIN STORYTIME: Curated and translated imagination-provoking stories
Raising my 4-year-old son, Jayden, in Irvine, California, has inspired me to create the type of content I would like to share with him growing up in a multicultural environment with so many classmates from China. My goal is to curate and translate imagination-provoking stories for all cross-cultural kiddos who aspire to excel in the collective harmony of US-China relations. Listening to great stories while learning a little Mandarin Chinese is excellent exposure for our kids today, and I hope you can watch this video with your little one, too.
Provocative China: Love, Hate, or Curious Podcast Series
Presented by China Myth Podcast on YouTube, TikTok, and IG Reels, sharing insights related to my upcoming book, Strategic Pragmatism for De-Risking Post-Covid China: Circumnavigating cultural and psychological landmines inside the Chinese arena
TikTok
YouTube #shorts
Coaching
EXACTLY WHAT TO SAY IN CHINA is outcome-driven approach based on perception management, Art of War psychology, and crafting a winning persona for playing the China game inside the Chinese arena.
Books
The Chinese Honeymoon Period & Everything We Know About China help readers develop greater empathy and cultural awareness to improve communication and cooperation based on 10 essential Chinese cultural concepts.
Courses
Solving CHINA's Unknown Unknowns full program with 4 modules, 25 video lessons, and a 100-page workbook download is now FREE for 2024. Improve all relationships with your Chinese counterparts.
Meet Gene J. Hsu
I was born and raised in the "deep South" of Atlanta, GA, with typical "American" dreams of being either a major league baseball player or a rock star like Eddie Van Halen (RIP). I've always felt caught between the two worlds of my Chinese heritage and American roots, which served to heighten my self-awareness from an early age.
And now, I can't stop serving those operating at this intersection between China and the West.
After 25 years in Greater China in diverse business roles across multiple industries, an intercultural marriage with a Chinese wife, and now a father of a next-generation ABC, I want to bring my two worlds closer together.
...check out some video clips from our Meetups!
Discover hidden breakthroughs in your psyche to elevate your cultural awareness and empathy so you can deepen Guanxi, foster mutual trust, and create more collaborative communication patterns
THE CHINESE HONEYMOON PERIOD is the result of 20+ years living and working in Greater China plus a lifetime struggling to reconcile between world worlds, my American upbringing, and my Chinese heritage. Once my attention shifted to how others feel within our relationship's cultural context, the circular conversations ended, and more constructive collaboration followed.
This is a book for everyone, from a college student studying international business to a seasoned China expat adapting to changes in Chinese attitudes and bargaining power. This book provides a blueprint to transform your reality of doing business in China and that of your partners.
In THE CHINESE HONEYMOON PERIOD you’ll learn and develop:
- IMAGINATION: Enhance empathy across cultural differences and increases your capacity to give others a benefit-of-the-doubt.
- CURIOSITY: Opposite of judgment and gateway to developing greater awareness.
- CULTURAL AWARENESS: Understand why Chinese people behave the way they do and how best to interact with them.
- EMPATHY: Know how and why Chinese people feel the way they do to unlock possibilities to connect on a deeper level.
- SITUATIONAL AWARENESS: Know how certain words, actions, and behaviors will play out in the context of how China works.
- SELF-AWARENESS: Understand how you are perceived by others to foster more mutual trust and develop real Guanxi.
- PERSPECTIVE: Broaden your worldview to attract rather than unintentionally repelling others.
- MINDSET: Capacity to think different and reduce barriers to greater cooperation. You cannot create a new reality (in China) with the same MINDSET that led to the current one.
- ATTITUDE: The most important component for managing the perception of others.
- APPROACH: Create new interaction and communication patterns to replace old, dysfunctional ones.
- PERSONA: Attract positive attention and begin engagements on a more positive trajectory.
- MODUS OPERANDI: Everything in China is easier when a winning attitude and approach becomes natural.
- REAL GUANXI: Every in China runs on Guanxi and mastering its nuances will dramatically simplify most endeavors.
- NEW COMMUNICATIONS PATTERNS: No more frustrating, circular conversations. Know what to expect and reinforce its outcome.
- WINNING PARTNERSHIPS: Understand the PROS and CONS of deepening Guanxi and choose the most productive balance with your Chinese counterparts.
And a more rewarding journey in China!
A practical guide to dealing with China based on awareness
A groundbreaking book that reveals everything we really know about China, Chinese people, and its culture. In exactly 88 pages, eight for each unknown unknown, Gene distills two thousand years of history, analysis, and thousands of interviews to reveal the most comprehensive understanding of our (Western) knowledge and understanding of China, its culture, and how its people think in Everything We Know About China. Culturally nuanced, in-depth, and brilliantly insightful, this book spells out everything we know about:
- Developing real Guanxi-based relationships
- Eliminating those frustrating, circular conversations
- Getting Chinese employees to share their honest feedback
- Convincing Chinese counterparts to talk in specifics
- Persuading Chinese partners not to do anything corrupt or unethical
WARNING! You cannot create a new reality in China with the same mindset that led to the current one. So, this book is completely BLANK! It's a metaphorical "clean sheet" approach and personal development journal to change your reality in China and cooperation with Chinese people.
James Warner
Vistage China CEO
"Working in a diverse cultural environment like Shanghai, your creation of the Cross Culture Performance model and your group coaching sessions were extremely valuable to me and others that attended the session. Your experience working with leaders in China provided unique and practical insights into how to bridge cultural differences in real-world settings. Your coaching approach and the use of your framework helped people to get beyond the cultural stereotypes and understand how to show empathy and build relationships across cultures."
Jaap van Ingen
Global Supply Chain Director
"I would definitely recommend Gene as a person to work with, in any multi-cultural challenge, project or industry. His specific abilities to engage, his understanding of the global cultural playing field, his personal skill to establish trusting relationships as well as his drive the need for results, make him a unique asset in a rapidly changing global economy. I would look forward to working with Gene again."
Michael Eagleton
Meetup Workshop Attendee (China Expat)
"Insightful, I found this of real value. Thank you Gene, even after my 21 years of living and building businesses in China, I've learned something new. This was packed with so much useful mindset insights, am going to watch it over again. Being able to hear the experiences of others in the Q&A is a real plus."
Questions? Contact Me Directly.
