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. External factors: Culture
Culture Dimension Scores
PD = Power Distance; ID = Individualism; MA = Masculinity;
UA = Uncertainty Avoidance; LT = Long Term Orientation 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
96 H
China
20 L
50 M
60 M
118 H

4. Culture Gap Between U.S.A. (PCN) and China & Thailand (HCN)
Individualism
Power Distance
Uncertainty Avoidance
Assertiveness
Long-Term Orientation
United States 91 40 46 62 29
China 25 70 85 39
118
Thailand 20 64 34 56
(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. Some Ideas On Guanxi? 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

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?
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?
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?