Guang Zhou Trip

I was once hired by my father to be his traveling translator and interpreter in Guang Zhou, China because I can speak mandarin but my dad can’t speak a word of it. When he planned the trip, he told me (without asking me first) that I was to be his interpreter. The day before I left, I didn’t even know where I was going in Guang Zhou. He gave me one huge traveling bag and told me to use it. I asked “Why do I need such a big bag?” He told me to just use it even if my stuff will only fill it half full.

On the first day of my arrival, he took me in a bus to a huge convention center. Only then I knew that I was supposed to help him source for suppliers for some products for his company. There were at least 15,000 people and over 5,000 booths in the convention center. It was divided into several sections: home equipment, machinery, hardware, heavy equipment and others. As we walked from booth to booth, I realised the myth that “China’s products has low quality” has expired. The finishing for chinese products was above my father’s and my expectations.

When my dad saw something interesting, he would ask me to ask the exhibitor for a catalogue. Then, I would help him ask the exhibitor for the price and other details. This was hard because my mandarin isn’t perfect and there were many hardware terms I had never heard of. Luckily, the exhibitor was smart enough and tried other ways to explain to me by using alternative mandarin words and showing me the catalogue. Only then I understood what he was trying to say.

Most of the exhibitors are manufacturers with a minimum order quantity of 3000. This doesn’t favour the Malaysian market. If we ever brought in such a huge amount of products, it would take us more than a year to clear the stock! Some smaller companies had more flexible conditions since they do not mass produce. However, it was hard communicating with some of them because they spoke Cantonese. Moreover, my dad kept interrupting the exhibitor and me when he thought I was translating something wrong. That was really annoying. For example, he will tell me to ask the exhibitor about the condenser in a refrigerator unit. As I was searching for the right words, he kept pointing at the exterior of the condenser (in the refrigerator). Obviously the exhibitor did not know what he was talking about, because my dad looked like he was just pointing at the base of the refrigerator.

This trip taught me to be patient with my dad. After all, he IS my employer and I am getting paid for this. “China is going to be a strong economic soon.” That is what my dad always said. This quote means more to me after this trip to Guang Zhou because I have experienced it myself. On the last day, the accumulated amount of samples and catalogues we brought back weighed more than half of our total baggage. Only then did I realise what that huge bag was for.