[Wogef]

>Where's "here"? I lived in Shanghai 3 years I would have put that number pretty close to 0%.

Shenzhen. You're right, 10% is being generous but a lot of long time expats pick up Mandarin not at work but through the "long haired dictionary" method.

I don't know any successful business people that have been here for more than five years that feel it's essential for business. Foreign companies fail here all the time due to not understanding culture, I've never heard of any failing due to the language barrier.

Value comes from scarcity- fully bilingual people simply are not scarce in China.

[matthewrudy]

In Taipei the percentage of foreigners who speak good Chinese is quite high.

Maybe just because I hang out with professionals rather than English teachers.

But I agree that general fluency is a whole lot more common than business fluency.