Sometimes it’s not so much what you say but how you say it. It’s both, however, if you want to successfully deal with Chinese businesspeople. It’s saying the right things at the right time in the right order and with the right gifts. It’s about flexibility. Adaptability. From a Chinese perspective, it’s more about people than products. It’s culture.

That’s the advice Quanyu Huang was expected to deliver Nov. 13 at a seminar sponsored by the Ohio State University Chinese Flagship Program. The university brought Huang, director of the Confucious Institute at Miami University in Ohio and a specialist on Sino-American cultural and educational comparison, to campus to talk about doing business with China.

His appearance and subject came at a time when a faltering economy is working its way deeper into America’s fabric and many companies are looking for ways to survive.

Prior to the OSU event, Huang said Ohio companies do billions of dollars in trade with China annually, yet many of them and Western businesses are unsuccessful in China from a wholly Chinese perspective.