Cultural Communication Practices

Cultural Communication Practices

Communication and culture are closely interlinked as stated earlier in the research proposal. Since communication is used to pass across cultures from one group to another or from one person to another, culture heavily influences how individuals communicate. Cultural-based communication has an impact on face-to-face communication, non-verbal cues, business negotiations, international business practices, and other communication patterns. China is gradually emerging as a world superpower in this age of globalization and the internet. This essay will examine the Chinese cultural communication patterns and how they affect how Chinese people communicate with the outside world in the real world.

Chinese Tolerance of Ambiguity

One of the outstanding Chinese values is their tolerance of ambiguity. The Chinese mental world is paradoxical and dynamic since they rarely believe in absolutes. To the Chinese, life is a play where nothing is guaranteed. Fang (2014) offers an insight into the story of an old poor village man who lost his horse, which later returned. After the initial disappearance of the horse, neighbors came to the old man’s home to express how sorry they were for the bad luck, but the old man refuted their claim that it was bad luck. The horse later returned with other wild female horses, and people came to express how happy they were at the man’s good luck, but the old man still insisted it was not necessarily good luck. The horse injured his son later on, and this saved him from going to war, where all his peers lost their lives.

The ‘old man and his horse’ analogy offers an insight into the paradoxical nature of the Chinese people. To that end, it is difficult for a Chinese to reply to questions that require yes/no and either/or answers (Fang, 2014). Also, the Chinese experience difficulties classifying events as either good luck or bad luck. The Chinese values have also influenced their decision-making nature. For instance, during the Cold War, China did not align with both the Soviet Union and the US and its allies, further cementing their dynamism (Fang, 2014). Chinese people’s mental dynamism manifests in business negotiations. It is difficult for a Chinese negotiator to declare a deal unacceptable from face value before considering details and alternative offers.

Implicit and Explicit Communication in China

Communication in China is implicit. China’s use of implicit communication is influenced by Taoism, which seeks to maintain harmony across all aspects of communication. The principle of Taoism aligns with a common saying across the Chinese communication spectrum that suggests that suggestiveness, not articulateness, is the real Chinese art (Fang & Faure, 2011). People sometimes rely on non-verbal cues such as facial expressions, voice tone, and gestures to communicate with others since the communication process is indirect and subtle. Such indirect and implicit communication is also significantly influenced by Confucian principles.

In China, business relations highly rely on the concept of face. Business people are keen to save face, and they are willing to communicate in a way that ensures their reputation is intact (Deng et al., 2019). Besides, people are keen on displaying competence while controlling their emotions. For instance, television advertisement messages seldom attack competitive brands to gain a competitive edge. Instead, such advertisements focus on selling their brand as the best while offering the customer insights on the value they will gain by using the specific brand.

Another aspect of communication used to attain communication implicitness is using nonverbal cues during face-to-face communication. The Chinese avoid eye contact when communicating with strangers or people of the opposite gender (Fang & Faure, 2011). Furthermore, they do not express their feelings directly; instead, they do so by changing their tone, facial expressions, or body posture. Understanding implicit communication patterns is relevant in this age of globalization and the internet, where people from different cultures engage one-on-one or through video conferencing. Outsiders should pay attention to the non-verbal cues used by the Chinese for maximum comprehension.

Social Trust 

According to Feng (2016), social trust impacts how people communicate. Consistently, the Chinese are classified as people with low social trust. However, such low trust mostly affects relationships with strangers as opposed to close people like family and friends. The Chinese are likely to trust most people within their circles but struggle to trust outsiders. The practice represents a stark difference from Western practices, where individuals easily trust strangers. On the other hand, the Chinese have difficulty transcending religious, nationality, and family boundaries to trust outsiders.

Social trust deficit gives rise to insider-communication orientation, a Chinese practice of preferring to engage more with people they know the most than outsiders. The Chinese are less likely to talk to a stranger unless there is a connection with the stranger through a known middle person (Fang, 2014). Further, the habit of insider communication is compounded by the longstanding communism, which has imposed regulations on how people interact with one another. However, it is worth noting that with internet penetration, globalization, and the need to compete effectively, the Chinese are gradually embracing some elements of outsider-oriented communication.

Listening and Speaking

In China, speaking is traditionally associated with seniority. A younger participant in a conversation is supposed to listen to older members of society without interrupting to ensure successful communication. The communist discipline has also compounded the culture of listening more and speaking less by associating overt talking with toxicity (Zhang & Zhou, 2014). Young people are expected to take instructions, which often manifests in social and institutional contexts. For instance, lower-cadre employees are not expected to interrupt their manager even when they believe they may offer invaluable information. Although today’s China has become more diversified, overt speaking is still viewed as toxic.

Conclusion

Since communication serves as a channel for the transmission of culture, communication patterns are influenced by culture. The paper links Chinese communication styles to fundamental principles, historical facts, and religious convictions. The paradoxical mentality of the people, seen from a Chinese perspective, is one of the major impacts on communication. Given such a paradoxical nature, the people of China embrace ambiguity while resisting absolutes like yes/no and either/or. Also, Taoism, a Confucian principle, has greatly influenced communication patterns in China. The Taoism principle seeks to ensure there is harmony, thus encouraging the application of implicit communication over explicit communication. Chinese people are also inside-oriented communicators who prefer to speak with their family and friends over outsiders due to a lack of social trust in their culture. Also, based on the Yin-Yang approach, the Chinese associate speaking with seniority, expecting younger members of society to listen without interrupting. The culture-based communication patterns are relevant in social and institutional contexts.

References

Deng, X., An, S., & Cheng, C. (2019). Cultural differences in the implicit and explicit attitudes toward emotion regulation. Personality and Individual Differences, 149, 220-222.

Fang, T. (2014). Understanding Chinese culture and communication: the Yin Yang approach. Global leadership practices: A cross-cultural management perspective, 171-187.

Fang, T., & Faure, G. O. (2011). Chinese communication characteristics: A Yin-Yang

perspective. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 35(3), 320-333.

Feng, Z., Vlachantoni, A., Liu, X., & Jones, K. (2016). Social trust, interpersonal trust, and self-rated health in China: A multi-level study. International Journal for Equity in Health, 15(1), 1-11.

Zhang, J., & Zhou, C. (2014). Understanding Chinese culture and business from the Yin-Yang perspective. In Another State of Mind: Perspectives from Wisdom Traditions on Management and Business (pp. 293-310). London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.

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Based on your proposal from Topic 3 and any feedback you may have received, write a 1,000-1,250-word paper that connects specific cultural communication patterns or practices to the history, values, and beliefs of that culture. You should focus on a culture of which you are not a member. Your paper should integrate five reputable and authoritative sources.

The following journal article titles illustrate the variety of patterns or practices that your paper could address:

The Gift and the Common Good: A Chinese and Business Ethics Perspective
Acculturative Family Distancing and Depressive Symptoms Among Latinas: The Role of Intergenerational Cultural Conflict.
Engaging Malaysia: A Grassroots Approach to Inter/Intra-Religious Communication
Impact of Romantic Facebook “Crush Pages” on the Egyptian Youth
The Impact of Covid-19 to Indonesian Education and Its Relation to the Philosophy of “Merdeka Belajar”
This is not an all-inclusive list and you are free to pick any pattern or practice in collaboration with your instructor. Notice that each of these articles addresses a communication issue and links it to cultural distinctiveness. The focus of your paper is to present research on the history, beliefs, and values of a cultural group and give examples of communication patterns or practices that are influenced by these histories, beliefs, and/or values.