Dress Code

The business etiquette police make a point to emphasize, “Don’t wear bright colors. Dress modestly.” Ignore the etiquette police and just be yourself.

If you are an attorney or accountant, dress like one. If you are a scientist or technician, you should also look the part. Relax, be yourself, just avoid overdressing or underdressing.

Context should also help you decide how to dress. Business casual is fine at most meetings. Save the suit and tie for events that might be photographed such as ground-breakings or contract signings. Banquets tend to occur in the evening after work, and most Chinese take off the coat and tie and relax a bit.

Weather is also a factor. In the south and the east much of the year is very hot, so dress appropriately. Northern winters are quite harsh so you’ll need a full winter kit including long underwear. Few buildings utilize central heating, so you’re gonna freeze both outdoors and indoors.

After seven years of taking businesspeople and business students to China I’ve really only encountered two dress problems. The first is that we tend to overdress when visiting factories. It can be uncomfortable and embarrassing wearing a suit and tie walking past welding robots with sparks flying while everyone else is in steel toe boots and hard hats. The other problem is with Western women having little understanding of business attire standards in Asia. In many business contexts in the West, women wear shirts that are too low, and skirts that are too high. High heels are great for date night, but they connote aggressiveness or even sexual promiscuity in many contexts in China. Better to play it conservative and go with a low skirt and a high neckline.