Chinese Culture

Cultural Differences - Chinese vs. Western

Cultural Topics	Chinese	Western
Guanxi ("relationships") • Personal Identity • Getting things done • Long/short term • Task vs. Relationship • Survival vs. Pleasantries	• Corporate • Who you know • Long • Relationship • Concrete help	• Individual • systems/uniformity • Short • Task • Convenience
Hugging	No	Yes
Same/Opposite Gender Touching	Same	Opposite
Floor/Shoes	Dirty	clean
Handshakes	Prefer not	Necessary
"Personal" questions/comments	Interest	"Privacy"
Humor	Serious	Teasing
Politics	Irrelevant	High interest
Direct/Indirect Answers	Read between lines	Direct
Emotions	Reserved	Transparent
Spitting	Normal	Gross
Gifts/Favors	Polite, tokens	Manipulation
"Face"	Immediate situation	Overall reputation
Privacy	No Word!	Precious
"Empty—handed"	Bring/carry/return	OK
"Yes/No" (No, no, no, Yes)	"Face" value	Face value
Eating	Social, hospitality, loud	Pleasure/nutrition/quiet
Drinking	Moderate	No alcohol, or drunk
View of China/West	New Friends	Political enemies
Pushing	Normal	Rude
Strangers	Obstacles	People
Lines (Ques)	What Lines?	First come, first serve
Pecking order of seats/door	Elderly/children	Women/men/children
Age & gender	Elderly/roles	Youthfulness, "equality"
Modesty	Torso, gender distance	Legs, (if any)
Traffic	Play "chicken"	Order
Work Unit	Life's Dictator	9-5 Company
Formal/Informal	Informal	Formal
Safety & Health	Good food, prevention	Clean, Clean, Clean
(in) Consistency	Fluid, patchwork	Consistent, "policy"
Role of Religion	Corporate, functional	Private, spiritual
English Language	Emigrate or foreign company	All I know
Hospitality	Food, foreigners, no appointment	Come & eat, casual
Money	Save & share, (RMB)	Spend! (Dollars)
Good—byes	See you off	Hug & "good—bye"
Religious Freedom	Designated place, time, leader;"three-self patriotic movement"	Almost absolute