Culture as an orientation system

Example: The problem of German-Chinese negotiations
The manager of a German company has travelled to China for four times within a short period of tima for negotiations on a joint-venture contract.
But the nagotiations just didn‘t advance. Meanwhile, the German manager was beginning to have
serious problems with his head office. Time was pressing and the management of the coompany felt that the negotiations were not being conducted effectively enough. They expressed dipleasure at the representative‘s „unfortunate“ handling of the negotiations. The manager, himself, felt annoyed and frustrated. During further negotiations, when they still did not seem to have reached an agreement, the manager then believed that he had finally understood the Chinese partner‘s tactics.
The Chinese wanted to stall the negotiations so that they could extract as much information from him as possible, which they could then use to play off his company against competitors. He was angry and annoyed with his negotiating partners. In addition, he felt the strain of a week‘s gruelling negotiations.
Finally, he reacted in a way he would describe as to „give them a piece of our mind“ or „show them
what‘s what“. Completely without warning, the German manager screamed at his Chinese partners
that he was not prepared to be kept waiting any longer, that there should be no more „beating about the bush“: That his patience had finally come to an end and that he had expected transparency and commitment.
For the Chinese, these grievances were expressed in a shockingly, loud and direct manner. The Chinese partners turned pale and said nothing. The negotiations did not reach to a conclusion.
Upon his return home, the manager learned from his superiors, that this had been his last trip to China.
The Chinese, without uttering one word about the negotiations he had undertaken, wrote to say that they were still interested in the planned joint-venture. The company would have to start over again more or less from scratch, using a new representative.

Intercultural competence

I only learned one thing:
In my home country you generally say:
Don‘t let yourself be bent, even if you should break.
In China on the other hand it‘s the other way around:
Let yourself be bent, but don‘t let yourself be broken.

(After Sir Robert Hart who spent four decades in China working as a customs officer, in the
preface of the book by A.H. Smith, „Chinese traits of character“

Ways and Obstacles in Intercultural Communication

It may appear that different conventions and traditions of various cultures are the
main obstacles for cross-cultural understandig. However, the deeply rooted and
mostly sub-concious frame of thinking which was developed and established around
500 B.C. in most cultures is far more difficult to transgress than mere conventions.
Prerequisit for successful intercultural communication is therefore an insight into
merits and limits of our own frame of thinking, based on Aristotelian logic.
Comparison of our (so-called Western) culture with East-Asian (Chinese and
Japanese) ways should bring to light some common misunderstandings between
these partners and hopefully also help to overcome some barriers.

Verbal and non-verbal communication

Question:What do I need to know about verbal and non-verbal communications?
Local Perspective:

Maintain the same distance as you would in western society. In general, people tend to move away if the personal space is too threatening for them. However, if you are very intimate with strangers, (i.e, less than 2 feet away that one could feel your breath), you need to keep a farther distance from your Chinese partner.

Handshaking is a common practice for both men and women in China unless you are meeting people from the ethnic minority groups in China (e.g., tribes in remote areas). Once you are considered as a "friend", you will find that men will hold hands with men and women would hold hands with women and walk on the street. This may be "weird" in the west, but it is a common, friendly practice for young people/adults in China.

The key is to observe, watch what others do, and then you can decide if you are comfortable to do it. Once your Chinese partners understand where you are coming from, they would not be offended. So communication and respect from both sides are the key for a good relationship.

In a business contact, there is usually no touching involved. Hugging to say goodbye like what Canadians do here is also not a practice. Using handshakes for greetings and to bid farewell is the safest way as a start.

Definitely eye contact should be maintained (not staring) when you speak to your Chinese Partners. Not maintaining eye contact is a very old Chinese practice—when low class citizens met the Royal families—in those days, citizens were not even allowed to have their houses higher than those built in the palace! So time has changed.

If you are conducting a group discussion/teaching, etc, being a "leader/expert" in a formal setting (i.e., if the leaders are there), you must maintain yourself as a leader, and speak in a very direct manner and be in command of the group (though they like group interaction/discussion). Never sit on the table or slouch when you are in a discussion or meeting. How you as a "leader" present yourself when working in the Chinese environment is very important.

Chinese leaders tend not use a lot of hand gestures or facial expressions when they speak. They are accustomed to reading from their speeches, and most of the time, their audience would not pay full attention to these speeches. My Chinese audience told me that they like Canadian presentations, as they tend to be more interactive. My view is that use your body language effectively to help deliver what you intend to do.

When you are working with Chinese leaders, always let the leader lead you: re-where you should sit, when to speak and what to speak. You may discuss your agenda with the Chinese leader before hand. But once the leader is in the group, you let the leader lead.

The West's view

Zailiang Tang
How do business people in the West typically see China?
Well, let me say first that I am fascinated by the tension that arises from the way both sides see each other. This discussion is taking place not only in the Western media but increasingly in the Chinese media, too.
But let's start with the West's view. For the past 20 years, China has been seen as a massive potential market and as the "workbench of the world", providing gigantic opportunities for cheap production of everything from cameras to laptops. As a result, China is the largest receiver of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the world - more than $50 billion in each of the past three years.
Learn more about how the Chinese view the west in Business Spotlight 3/2006!Learn more about our suscription offers here:

But although Westerners are pleased to buy good products at low prices from China, at the same time they are worried about China getting too powerful and threatening jobs in the West. There is also a general feeling that the Chinese don't respect Western rules. For example, it is often said that they ignore laws on intellectual property. And more and more people in the West are starting to wonder how much profit their joint venture (JV) companies in China are really making. So the old clichés of the self-deprecating Chinese are being replaced by images of self-confident, aggressive business people. And it's true that, in the past few years, there have been cases of Chinese companies taking over Western firms - for example, the takeovers of Schneider by TCL, Fairchild Dornier by DeLong, the IBM PC business by Lenovo and Alcatel Mobile by TCL.

Intercultural Communication

"It can be harmful to come, without thought, under the sway of utterly new and strange doctrines." -- Confucius

Student Julian Flear attempts to address some of the problems faced by American business people when they are dealing with the Chinese, particularly in light of the American experience in China in the 1930s and 1940s. He focuses on the problems inherent in learning Chinese and about Chinese culture, such as Chinese ethnocentricity and the nuances of their non-verbal communication, and also on the many pitfalls in not doing so, such as a heavy reliance on the unknown abilities of individual translators, and the dangers of assuming that "they talk like us, so they must think like us" when dealing with western educated Chinese.Since the Chinese brokers have a 12 to 14 hour day they must sleep when they can. Protocol is such that they would never leave for the day before the boss.

Lifeforthought -- Awareness in Work and Life: InterCulture: China

Lifeforthought -- Awareness in Work and Life: InterCulture: China