BAC 312 Intercultural Communication Anne Dwyer

1. BAC 312 Intercultural Communication Anne Dwyer

2. China • 1.4 Billion people • Language: official language is Mandarin but many different dialects spoken throughout the country • Han Chinese 93% • 56 minority ethnic groups • Other immigrants including Mongol, Zhuang, Manchu and Uighur) 7%

3. PD ID MA UA LT USA 40 L 91 H 62 H 46 L 29 L Japan 54 M 46 M 95 H 92 H 80 H Hong Kong 68 H 25 L 57 H 29 L 96 H China 80 H 20 L 50 M 60 M 118 H External factors: Culture Culture Dimension Scores PD = Power Distance; ID = Individualism; MA = Masculinity; UA = Uncertainty Avoidance; LT = Long Term Orientation

4. Culture Gap Between U.S.A. (PCN) and China & Thailand (HCN) (FGI World)

5. Key Concepts • Guanxi • Mianxi • Lijie • Keqi • Inner and Outer Circles • Collectivist v Individual Interests

6. Guanxi 關系? • Reciprocity, kudos • “the set of personal connections which an individual may draw upon to secure resources or advantage when doing business or in the course of social life” Davies, 1995 • Networking of relationships among various parties that cooperate together and support one another • “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours”

7. Personal Reciprocal obligations Continuing over time if nurtured Declining if neglected Insider/outsiders New friends/old friends Networks of connections ‘Investing’ in guanxi Consideration for others ‘People’ orientation Some Ideas On Guanxi?

8. WESTERN PERCEPTIONS OF GUANXI? • Guanxi = Corruption and Complication • Building guanxi is expensive and time-consuming • Without guanxi nothing can be done • Difficult to identify who is the decision-maker • Negotiations take too long

9. 3 levels of relationships • Individuals are linked by: • the ‘expressive’ tie - family - distribution by need • ‘instrumental’ tie - strangers - earning a living - • ‘mixed’ tie - with non-family people you expect to interact with into the future

10. What Are the Social Costs and Benefits of Guanxi? • COSTS • inefficiency if people deal with a limited pool of others • corruption may have social consequences • BENEFITS • allows transactions to take place in the absence of trust and effective institutions

11. What Are The Private Costs and Benefits of Guanxi? • COSTS • dinners, gifts (appropriate to the situation) not usually money, help with kids’ education • BENEFITS • access to resources and permissions • favoured position for getting contracts

12. Mianzi面- face • Personal pride = basis of an individual’s reputation and social status • Never insult, embarrass, shame, yell at, or otherwise demean a person. • Neither try to prove someone wrong nor shout at him in public.

13. Lijie: surface harmony • Polite and courteous • Face and the role of intermediaries • ‘Maybe’ • Neutral v affective

14. Keqi: ke=guest, qi=behaviour • considerate, polite, and well mannered, … represents humbleness and modesty • impolite to be arrogant and brag about oneself or one's inner circle • seldom express what they think directly and they prefer a roundabout way • seldom show their emotions and feelings in public. They rarely greet people with a handshake

15. Inner and Outer Circles • “self in relation to other” wu lun五倫 • tend to put others into categories more sharply than Westerners • Strangers: outsiders, unrelated people, they are nobody, and the Confucian morality is not applicable for them. “We are temporarily related by instrumental relation.” • more family-oriented and regard helping the family as an ethical imperative - giving business to a relative = good not bad

16. Collective v Individual • Confucius: humanism, a social order in this world.世俗和諧秩序 • The individual and the community are closely related. An individual is not an isolated self • ren: the highest ideal in Confucianism, through self-cultivation, a personal attainment. • ren, 仁 = 二人 (two persons) • ren can only be found in human relation, within a community

17. (Focused) Family以家庭為本位 • Family is the communal system. • T. Parsons (sociologist), “China is a familistic community.” • In the Confucian family, father/son is the most important.

18. The Self of a Chinese • Chinese seldom consider themselves as individuals, but e.g., the father of his son, the son of his father, the brother of his siblings, the husband of his wife… • In every family, there is a head. i.e, the grandfather/ father of that family. The rest of the family respect and listen to his words. • In a Chinese family, the order/ structure is clear.

19. (Focused) Family • Because of the clear hierarchy, individuality is always suppressed • An individual’s obligation & duty: loyalty to the family, sacrifice for the family. • 个人義務,責任: 捍衛家庭,為家人作犧牲. • An individual’s privilege: lives within the family structure, relies on & supported by one’s family. • 个人權利: 受家庭保護, 被家人支持

20. (Focused) Family • Filial 孝, treating your parents well,provides a predominant identity for traditional Chinese. It is a fundamental ideal. • Filial has a superior status in culture • Traditional Chinese are not individualistic, but within the family-based moral system.

21. Questions • What does this mean for us? • (How) will this change in the future? • How will we know?