"Embrace the culture, go for the ride, fall in love with the place and, when you get there, don't hang out with the expats," he told those attending a seminar in Dunedin yesterday.
A series of regional seminars are being held throughout New Zealand to explain what the NZ Inc China strategy, launched last month, means for business and other key stakeholders.
The strategy identifies five strategic goals for furthering New Zealand's relationship with China - retaining and building a strong and resilient political relationship; doubling two-way goods trade to $20 billion by 2015; growing services trade (education by 20%, tourism by at least 60% and other services trade) by 2015; increasing bilateral investment to levels that reflected the growing commercial relationship with China; and growing high-quality science and technology collaborations to generate commercial opportunities.
NHNZ (Natural History New Zealand) made its first film in China in 1999 and, since then, the company has become the largest foreign producer of documentaries about China in the world.
Research was important, both market and cultural, and the company realised the need to build foundations for relationships.
"I learnt on this journey that everything, absolutely everything, is based on relationships.
"It's the foundation on which everything will be built and, without them, you won't go very far," Mr Stedman said.
NHNZ also looked at what it could give back.
"All relationships are two-way."
Business was conducted in a very different way in China and it was important to understand negotiating - the Chinese were "masters" of negotiations - and it was also vital to establish a base in the country.
"In my view, if you're going to work in China as a company and you want to be involved, you've got to develop a real love of China. When you arrive, leave your Western approach and Western way of doing business at the border," he said.
Mr Stedman had "huge regard" for the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise in China, saying it was "very impressive".
Dunedin-based biotechnology company Seperex Nutritionals has its head office and principal laboratory at the Centre for Innovation at the University of Otago, with a regional office and satellite laboratory at the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park.
The company, which is focused on the research and development and global supply of bioactive food and nutritional health ingredients, was a finalist in this year's New Zealand International Business Awards for best use of research and development in international business.
Explaining the company's expansion into China, founding director Charles Williams said it was important to have a presence in the country, along with building and securing a reputation.
Grahame Morton, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said opportunities in China were large.
It was the world's second-largest economy, by 2016 it could be the world's largest economy and, by 2026, it was likely to be New Zealand's largest economic partner. Opportunities needed to be identified now for future growth, Mr Morton said.
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise investment director for greater China, Ivan Kinsella, said New Zealand's exports to China had been growing strongly while the trade deficit had been steadily reducing. NZTE was building capacity in China, with a 44% increase in staff in the past four years up to 55.
