I know how about China historically had trading relations centuries before this...back to the times of Rome...
That was quite a bit of diplomacy on both our parts, and it was possible only because Switzerland is one of the few countries with no holdings whatsoever in asia. As I understood the chinese player, that set us apart from the other european nations and made her curious. Plus I made a few good offers, and approached as the underdog, not as a "we're europeans, we are superior".
China has always had trade relations with western countries, for centuries before our timeframe, through the silk road mostly. They just never made a big deal out of it.
Agreements with neighbours to use their ports, made in the first turn. Also note that we don't have a trade agreement that would require shipping tons of stuff around, we are mostly exchanging people.
And also, Switzerland and China exchanged diplomats, artisans, writers and philosophers in the first turn, to learn about each others culture. One important step of respect that made the chinese open to an exchange.
I'm not sure if this is entirely historically acurate for the swiss, but I do assume that a democracy would be more open to be simply curious about foreigners. Especially one with much experience in serving abroad as mercenaries, I can't fathom they would be isolationists. Also, as a small, landlocked nation, I have to be creative in what I do to make sure I'm not simply a small piece of land someone rolls over if he wants to.
I know about European and Chinese trade relations, that goes back to the days of Rome...
But you have to keep in mind that not everyone will be willing to receive "savages" on their ports and land so that they can move to Switzerland. Even if the government did, there's no saying the local population would like it.
