Bureaucracy in China and Germany

Bureaucracy has a history!

Talking about this topic, people somehow always have to sigh. I was confronted with so many cases even before I left the university, let alone was could have happened when starting your career. In both countries there dominates a real funny word to describe this phenomenon, namely the “stamp country”. So in this sense if you want to get things down, you normally have to get well prepared for possible torturing and suffering. I almost did not got my graduation degree cause I missed the appointment with the chief for 10 minutes later due to a traffic jam as I came a far way from 2000 km to Beijing, yet the chief said “you have to come the next year for it!” And I don’t want to talk about how picky and tricky my visa inspection process had been.

Now I’m in Germany, people get caught in the same situation. For a bank card you have to deal with the clerks for like years and at last it turns out that you have to contact their head bosses from far away via telephone yourself. After that, there would normally be a long time for you to wait and get relaxed. And according to Hofstede’s theory which I recently am engaging in, this would be described as PDI, Power Distance Index, which says to which degree people perceive and accept the bureaucracy and privileges of powerful people. No wonder, in both countries the index is high.

So one very important tip for you to carry on your life in Germany and China is that you always prepare yourself enough time and try you best not to burst into rage, which only brings you more trouble and mess your life up easily.

C’est La vie!