Tick Tock - Right on Schedule

No messing around in China. If work officially starts at 8:30, then everyone is in the office beforehand. If you come in at 8:31 everyone knows you are late. It's interesting because I eat at the cafeteria in the mornings and at 8:20 it is bustling and packed with people enjoying breakfast. By 8:25 it is deserted.
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The other interesting fact is that they have lunch at 12:00 and have "free time" until 1:30. Usually it takes about 20 minutes to grab something at the cafeteria, and then most people get some sleep or surf then net for an hour. The lights are turned off in the office and the phones stop ringing. If anyone speaks, they whisper. I'd love to see this introduced in the states, but I think it's probably unlikely.
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Otherwise I'd say the business culture is quite similar. They wear business casual in the office and the managers are more formal. I even spoke to a friend yesterday who is responsible for quality control. He said that he is working on Six Sigma analysis of the manufacturing process. It's really amazing how a culture that is so drastically different is adapting their business practices from the West.