culture of China is one of the most enduring and powerful ever to have been developed, and because it is the force that motivates and guides such a large number of people it is one of the world’s most important cultures.
Wenhua (wen-wha), the Chinese term for culture, can be translated as “patterns of thought and behavior.” The Chinese have traditionally viewed China more as a cultural entity than as a landmass, and in the past some writers have suggested that the country should be called Zhong Hua (Johng Whah), or “Middle Cultural Essence,” instead of Zhong Guo (Johng Gwoh), or “Middle Kingdom.”
China’s culture is so powerful that Chinese whose families have lived abroad for several generations are often still culturally identifiable as “Chinese.”
Throughout most of China’s long history, the relationships between people in all classes were based on carefully prescribed forms of behavior that addressed virtually every aspect of conduct. This was true to such a degree that learning and following proper etiquette was one of the major facets of life. And the higher one was on the social ladder, the more meticulous and demanding were the rules of etiquette.
The Chinese word for etiquette, li (lee), originally meant “rite” or “ritual”, referring to the fact that following officially sanctioned etiquette required detailed knowledge of hundreds of correct forms of behavior.
Training in this highly prescribed way of living was so thorough, so pervasive, that people were judged first, last, and sometimes only by how closely they followed its rules of behavior. Etiquette was equated not only with learning in general, but also with culture, morality, and even nationality and nationalism.
The Chinese eventually came to believe that theirs was the only correct form of etiquette in the universe, and that all who did not follow the same meticulous rules of conduct were uncivilized barbarians. Of course, the rules of etiquette in China today are no longer enforced by harsh feudal sanctions as they once were, and have been considerably relaxed. But they remain very important.
Despite the attempts of Mao Zedung and his communist regime to destroy all vestiges of China’s traditional culture, and despite the inroads made by Western cultures since then, most of the core values and basic behavioral patterns that have existed in China for more than two thousand years are still very much in evidence throughout the country. Formalities in business and formal situations are still ingrained in the behavior of the Chinese.
While some of China’s common customs are quite different from Western mores, others are similar. But in spite of any similarities, they often differ in ways that can spell success or failure for uninitiated foreigners.
It is therefore extremely valuable for visitors to China to have a working knowledge of the basics of Chinese etiquette, and it is vital for businesspeople, diplomats, and others going to China for professional reasons to know the ins and outs of Chinese thinking and behavior.
Since the last edition of this book, there have been momentous changes within China. By GDP, China is now the second richest nation in the world. The larger Chinese cities now look and feel just like cities in more developed nations, though there are still large pockets of poverty within China, especially in rural areas.
However, most people have access to cell phones, computers, and the Internet. Even if their home lacks a landline, it seems that just about everyone in China has some access to the digital world, giving people a degree of connection with others and access to information and news that would have been unheard of even just a few years ago.
Flush with dollars, Chinese students, tourists, and businessmen have become a common sight in the West. Riding upon this wave of internationalization, the Chinese government has helped finance and push Chinese language learning outside of China as a part of its soft diplomacy program, and more people overseas are learning Chinese than ever before. At the same time, China has dramatically increased defense spending, and has taken on a more robust military posture in Asia, much to the alarm of its neighbors.
In many ways, China has come into its own as a nation. Having said this, there are dark clouds on the horizon. The Chinese economy has finally started to slow, and many people question whether the Chinese government can manage a soft landing. Meanwhile, it appears that the government itself is making internal changes, the outwardly visible manifestation of which is a strong anti-corruption campaign, though there are hints of many more changes below the surface.
Times have become uncertain, and given the uncertainty of the times and China’s newfound place in the international community as a business leader and a military power, understanding how to work with the Chinese people has become more important than ever before.
Notes on Pronunciation
What has traditionally been referred to as “the Chinese language” is in fact a family of ten closely related but mutually unintelligible languages that includes Cantonese, Shanghainese, Fukienese, Hokkien, Hakka, Chin Chow, and Mandarin. There are also several dozen regional dialects within these languages that are used by some of the 56 officially recognized ethnic groups in China.
Following the takeover of China by the Chinese Communist Party in 1949 it was decreed that Mandarin, the primary language of the Beijing region, was to be the country’s national language. All schools outside this region would teach it as a second language, no matter what their native dialect. As a result of this decree, younger generations of Chinese outside of the Beijing area–including Hong Kong–are generally bilingual. Visitors who would like to communicate in Chinese even on a basic level are therefore advised to study Mandarin.
It is worth noting that people in all of China’s regions have historically used the same ideograms for writing their various languages. Although pronunciation is unique to each language, the meanings of the characters are the same. This makes it possible for people to communicate with one another, no matter which dialect they may speak.
There are four basic tones in Mandarin: first tone (high-level), second tone (rising), third tone (falling-rising), and fourth tone (falling). While most of the sounds in the language are easy for English speakers to emulate, getting the tones right can be a challenge because many words are spelled and look the same but have different meanings based on how they are pronounced.
Getting the tones right requires a combination of keen hearing, imitation, and practice. This begins with knowing how the vowels and consonants are pronounced. Here is a quick guide to their Romanized versions:
VOWELS
| a | as in ah |
| ai | as in buy |
| ao | as in how |
| e | as in fur |
| ei | as in day |
| i | as in see, or, when following the consonants c, ch, r, s, sh, z, and zh, as ur |
| ian | as yen |
| ie | as in here |
| iu | as you |
| o | as awe |
| ou | as in how |
| u | as in woo |
| ü | as urr |
| ui | as way |
| uo | as war |
CONSONANTS
| c | as the ts in cats or rats |
| h | as in hah or how |
| j | as in jeans |
| q | as the ch in cheap |
| r | sounds like a combination of j and r |
| x | as the sh in sheen |
| z | as the ds in fads |
| zh | as juh |
Other consonants are pronounced more or less as they are in English.
Part I
The Middle Kingdom
Chapter 1
The
