1. Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
Images of Europe Looking from the outside and EU-China Intercultural Communication
Prof. WANG Xiaohai
Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
Guangzhou, China

2. Brief introduction and …
Name:
GDUFS, Guangzhou
Following research so far mainly based on second-hand resources, no intention to offend anybody
Verifications and modifications needed instead

3. Contents Stereotype How do Europeans stereotype each other
National characters of European states: some examples
Images of Europe in Chinese people’s eyes
Suggestions for Intercultural communication

4. Stereotypes
“qualities assigned to groups of people related to their race, nationality and sexual orientation, to name a few”
derives from the Greek words.
The term comes from the printing trade.
It was not until 1922 that “stereotype” was first used in the modern psychological sense by American journalist Walter Lippmann in his work Public Opinion.

5. Stereotypes Relationship with other types of intergroup attitudes
Three related but different concepts:
Stereotypes -- the most cognitive component and often occurs without conscious awareness,
prejudice -- the affective component of stereotyping
discrimination -- one of the behavioral components of prejudicial reactions. (Schneider, 2005)

6. Stereotypes Cognitive functions
help make sense of the world; a form of categorization to simplify and systematize information; information is more easily identified, recalled, predicted.
Between stereotypes, objects or people are as different from each other as possible.
Within stereotypes, objects or people are as similar to each other as possible.

7. Stereotypes Social functions: social categorization
stereotypes used for explaining social events
used for justifying activities of one’s own group (ingroup) to another group (outgroup)
used for differentiating the ingroup as positively distinct from outgroups

8. Stereotypes vs. Generalizations
While all stereotypes are generalizations, not all generalizations are stereotypes.
Stereotypes are oversimplifications of people groups widely circulated in certain societies.
Both negative and positive stereotypes exist, but even the latter do harm.
That’s because all stereotypes are limiting and leave little to no room for individuality.

9. Europe & European Culture

10. Meanings of Europe
What one understands and means by Europe depends on one’s generation and one’s nationality.
in a wider sense, any country in Europe and Europeans; a narrow sense, specifically ‘EU’
Therefore…

11. Meanings of Europe
Europe can mean western Europe, the EU, or the territory represented by the Council of Europe from Iceland to the Caucasus.
In Britain European can simply mean foreign. “We are with Europe, but not of it. ”…
Outsiders have their perceptions.

12. Map of Europe

13. Map of Europe

14. Members of the Indo-European Language Family

15. Major Religious Groups in Europe

16. Mosaic

17. European society Investigation

18. Summary
Europe has homogeneous countries, but itself is a multicultural continental unit.
Diversity of European culture

19. How Europeans stereotype one another
Source: The New Sick Man of Europe: the European Union, 13 May

20. National character! The perfect European should be...
Humorous as a German, generous as a Dutchman, discreet as a Dane, famous as a Luxembourger, technical as a Portuguese, humble as a Spaniard, cooking like a Brit, available as a Belgian, controlled as an Italian, driving like the French, organised as a Greek, sober as the Irish.
--- EU (funny) post card, 1993.

21. Europeans in a few different regions
You may give any corrections if not true
The following information is directly from

35. A comparison of western and Chinese culture
Differences;

36. Image of Europe in the eyes of Chinese

37. Let the brands’ names say themselves…

38. First impression on Europe: A brief survey
Terms associated with Europe
‘Brexit’, ‘immigrant’, ‘EU’, ‘long history’, ‘ancient Greek and Roman civilization’, ‘diversity of cultures and languages’, ‘music’, ‘arts’, ‘football’, ‘philosophy’, ‘science and technology’, ‘elegant’, ‘tidy, clean, tranquil’, ‘obedience to law’, ‘tolerance’ and so on

39. Why
Chinese students are required to study the course of World History in middle schools, they learn much more about Europe and Europeans

40. Nottingham University Survey
Among the 3019 Chinese respondents, ranging from the age of 18 to 70,
74.1% and 77.6% have a very good impression on the EU and people in EU member states respectively, higher than Russians and Americans in percentage terms

41. Suggestions During intercultural communication:
Be cautious --- stereotypes and generalizations, because you are likely to cause offense to the country you are visiting and shows your country in a negative way.
When in doubt, avoid characterizing people according to a cultural identity. Make inquiries regarding identity carefully (if at all)

42. Suggestions
In terms of China, attention to the fact that the population --- about 1,400,000,000
avoid X_centralism view, both true to Chinese and Europeans

43. References
Schneider, D. J. The Psychology of Stereotyping[M]. New York: The Guilford Press, 2005.
Mikael af Malmborg and Bo Stråth (eds.). The Meaning of Europe: Variety and Contention within and among Nations[M]. Oxford: Berg, 2002.
A MO in collaboration with BOSATLAS. Atlas of Europe: The European Union as It Is. Available at [Retrieved on 8 May 2017]