Question

Discuss the 2-3 most striking characteristics in the Chinese culture that are involved in communicating with local people that would affect business interactions and negotiating within China. Discuss how you would deal with any of these unique characteristics as a businessperson from the US.

Answer 1

Answer: China is a high context society and hence the following three important characteristics are involved while communicating with the locals

1. Hanxu: This means that the Chinese people do not say things directly and their communication is implicit and meanings are implied.

2. Keqi: This means that the people are polite when expressing themselves and they avoid aggression

3. Non-Verbal: As a high context culture, Chinese communication uses a lot of non verbal cues

All these factors play a very important role in the business communication and negotiations as well. As a business person from U.S, these unique characteristics will require me to change my communication style. As U.S is a low context country hence all these characteristics are not present in the local communication. Hence I will require being polite in my communication and should not say things explicitly. I need to be attentive towards the implied meanings and the non verbal cues that I receive during the communication. I need to listen carefully before reacting.