Understanding Chinese rules requires the ability to act with intercultural competence. A thousand rules that no one knows often make doing business in China an adventurous endeavor. China fascinates many German entrepreneurs with its rapid economic rise and entices them with the prospect of around 1.3 billion potential consumers. However, despite all the enthusiasm, the downsides of doing business in China are becoming increasingly apparent: product piracy, uncertain legal conditions, bureaucratic obstacles, and failed foreign assignments often represent just the tip of the iceberg. The applied cultural comparison allows for the decoding of culturally influenced behavior, thus helping to navigate the challenges of intercultural overlap situations. Additionally, cultural comparison offers the opportunity to unlock potential benefits from the complementarity of different cultures. Based on interdisciplinary cultural studies insights, this approach demonstrates how intercultural synergy potentials can be harnessed through German-Chinese cultural comparison.