Chapter 4.1: Discovering Chinese Cultural Roots

Liu Baocheng, Professor, University of International Business and Economics

China's foreign trade totalled US$509.77 billion in 2001. By the end of June 2002, total foreign investment in China amounted to US$419.8 billion with investment from over 180 countries and regions . Nearly four- fifths of the top multinational companies have set up their subsidiaries here. As the frequency of business communication with China grows, cultural differences and clashes present some significant challenges. One must remain constantly alert, not only to different business behaviours, but also to their underlying values and their history, in order to prevent unnecessary mishaps.

Cultural traits

Effective cross-cultural communication requires knowledge, attitude and tactics. Chinese people eat with chopsticks, they always have good excuses for you to drink more at the dinner table, they are reluctant to say no even if a proposal is unacceptable and so on. To present a long list of the differences in Chinese behaviour, one does not need to know an overwhelming amount about China. However, to understand and cope with these differences, it is necessary to go beyond this superficial level. As a matter of fact, behaviour is only the tip of the iceberg. Behind differences in behaviour lies attitude “ attitudes towards oneself, time, the environment and the people around them. What is more profound and deeply embedded are different beliefs and values that are shaped by experience, history, tradition, family and society.

Table 4.1.1 is a broad summary of contrasting cultural traits between Chinese and Westerners in terms of different business methods . While considering the diversity and ongoing changes in the cultures under discussion, the author does not attempt to avoid charges of stereotyping.

Table 4.1.1: Summary of different cultural traits in Chinese and Western business methods

Cultural traits	Chinese	Westerner
Religion	Basically atheist	Basically Christian
Business	Highly	'Business is business'
relations	interpersonal
Planning	Incremental	Objective driven
Decision-making	Collective	Individualistic
Negotiation style	Friendly	Aggressive
Expression	Contextual	Explicit
Communication	Infrequent	Frequent
Organizational structure	Hierarchical	Horizontal
Logical reasoning	Deductive	Inductive