Seek situational dialog about body language.

(1) Gaze and facial expression. When British and Americans talk, they look at each other squarely, which, in their opinion, is a sign of integrity and honesty. The British and Americans have a maxim: Never trust a person who can't look you in the eyes． The Chinese, on the other hand, do not necessarily look each other in the eye from time to time during conversation, and some even deliberately avoid constant eye contact as a sign of modesty, obedience or respect. This may be one of the reasons why British and Americans who are new to China feel that the Chinese are not as warm and friendly as they should be; it also explains why the British and Americans prefer face-to-face conversations, whereas the Chinese tend to have "heart-to-heart" conversations.

Conversation between the two sides to look at each other is the British and Americans are accustomed to, but they hate that kind of unblinking stare (stare), because in their view this is a very rude behavior, as if they are "things" rather than people, that is, they "depersonalized". That is to say, they are "depersonalized". More than ten years ago, when China just opened the door of reform and opening up and welcomed a few foreigners, the Anglo-Americans found that the Chinese people looked up and down as if they were "rare animals", and then stared at them without turning their eyes away, which made them feel very annoyed. Many of the English-speaking people who come to China express their discontent with this. However, the Chinese meaning of staring is sometimes just curiosity and surprise, not rudeness.

It is said (Gao Shenying, 1991:55) that when people see something interesting or something they love in their hearts, their pupils will dilate, while when they see something they dislike or loathe, their pupils will narrow. This phenomenon is said to have been noticed by jewelers in ancient times, who could tell from the change in the pupils of their customers whether they were interested in the goods or not, and thus decide whether to raise or lower the price. This situation, if true, there is no cultural differences, but who is more versed in this way but there are cultural differences, such as American businessmen dealing with Chinese jewelers, said to wear sunglasses, so as not to change the pupils of the shrewd Chinese jewelers see.

(2) Gesture language. There are many different meanings that can be conveyed by hand gestures, and the cultural differences are particularly striking:

--The Chinese count from "1" to "5" with their fingers in a row by first opening the palm of their hand and then moving their fingers into the palm of their hand. The Chinese count from 1 to 5 with their fingers by first opening their palms and then bending their fingers into the center of their palms, while the British and Americans do the opposite by making a fist and then stretching out their fingers one by one.

--British and American people use their thumb and forefinger to form a circle, which means "OK" (good), while the Chinese "0" gesture is often used to indicate "zero". "Zero", so a Chinese student asked the American teacher the results of the test, the American teacher to "OK" gesture to answer, so that the Chinese students surprised: zero points?

--To indicate the number "3", the Chinese make a circle with the tips of their thumbs and forefingers, with the other three fingers open and straight (if they are bent, it means "zero"), which is the same as the Anglo-American "3" sign. The Chinese hold their thumb and forefinger in a circle (if bent, it means "zero"); the other three fingers are open and straight (if bent, it means "zero"), similar to the Anglo-American "OK" gesture; while the British and Americans hold up their forefinger, middle finger, and ring finger, with the thumb catching the pinky finger.

--Chinese say "6", "7", "8", "9", "10", which can be dealt with with one hand, as shown below;

The British and Americans indicate "6", "7 "6", "7", "8", "9", "10" can't be dealt with with one hand, so they have to work with both hands, as shown below;

--Chinese people use the index finger to scrape the skin, indicating that there is no shame, really disgraceful; while the British and Americans to express this meaning is to the object of ridicule, with the index finger of the stone hand in the left forefinger, one by one, flat cutting over (to whittle):

British and American palms outward with the forefinger and the middle finger to make a V-shaped, meaning Victory ( Victory, Success or Peace), while the Chinese equivalent of this gesture is "two". Nixon also made the three-V gesture.

--When British and Americans ask for a ride, they face the vehicle coming towards them, with their right hand clenched in a fist, and their thumb teetering towards their right shoulder (note: this is a lewd gesture in Australia and New Zealand); when Chinese hitchhikers face the vehicle, with one arm stretched out flat to the side, palm forward, making the "stop" gesture; and the Chinese make the "stop" gesture. "Stop" gesture, or raise your right hand or both hands to greet the driver.

--The Chinese wave to a person to approach them, palm down; the British and Americans palm up. A Chinese professor went to an American's house to give a gift to the child, and when he waved to the child, the child stepped back. It turns out that the Chinese palm-down wave is similar to the American motion of asking someone to move away.

Each of the examples above is either a case where the Chinese and the British and Americans have similar gestures but different meanings, or where the same meaning is conveyed with different gestures.

The following are the peculiar Anglo-American gestures with the hands:

--The arms are crossed at the waist, and then stretched down along the sides of the body, signifying that "it is over," "it is hopeless! ".

--Arms move up and down in front of the body, tracing the outline of the woman's body, indicating "beauty".

--Shrugging: wrinkling the forehead, raising the eyebrows and shrugging the shoulders, bending the elbows, spreading the palms upwards, and even slightly bending the legs, etc., indicating "I don't know", "What can be done about it? I don't know", "What can be done?", "This situation is hopeless", "I can't do anything about it", and so on.

--Patting the back of one's shoulder with one's hand as a sign of "self-congratulation".

The Chinese also have a number of unique gestures that are difficult for British and Americans to understand:

-When someone pours a cup of tea or a glass of wine for them, the Cantonese use their index finger and middle finger, or more than one finger, to nod on the table as a sign of appreciation. This action has now spread to many parts of the country. If one does not show politeness with this gesture, the traditional Chinese way of showing it is to place one or both hands beside the cup.

--Two hands to give something to someone or to receive something as a sign of respect.

--Extending two index fingers in front of one's body and slowly approaching one another to show that a man and a woman love each other, or that they are a good match.

--To cover the mouth with an open hand while speaking, indicating "secret words".

There are many other special sign languages in China and abroad, so I have to omit them for lack of space.

(3) Sit, stand, walk, squat. Qiu Wensheng (1994: 20) says: "In the West, the standing person is usually longer than the sitting person in terms of position, age or status, and plays a dominant role in conversation. Therefore, the fact that one of the talkers takes a standing position or walks back and forth implies that he/she is in a higher position and has the right to decide the course of the conversation. In China; the opposite is true. Generally speaking the junior or lower status person stands as a courtesy, listens to opinions and is in a passive position; the elder or higher status person often sits and is in a dominant position." There is some truth in this generalization, but it is better to analyze specific cases. For example:

--In the United Kingdom and the United States, to someone's home as a guest, if the guest is a woman, she enters the living room, the living room most men will stand up. English and American ladies of all ages enjoy this courtesy, although fewer of the younger generation follow this traditional custom now than in the past.

--In the classroom, when a Chinese teacher asks a question, the students usually stand up to answer the question; in the United States, the students usually sit down to answer the American teacher's question.

--Western culture emphasizes "ladies first," so it is polite to ask the ladies to be seated first. The men are obliged to pull out the chairs for the women before they are seated, and they sit down only after the women are seated, which is also a sign of good manners and civilization. Traditional Chinese culture emphasizes the order of seniority and inferiority, and stresses that elders, superiors and dignitaries sit down first, and after they sit down, some of the juniors, subordinates and lowly persons do not sit down immediately, but wait for the elders, superiors and dignitaries to "order to sit down", and then "thank you for sitting down". Banquet guests, the host and the guest before taking their seats, the more traditional people still maintain the "seat", "thank you for the seat" of the traditional etiquette, just not as formal as before, but in any case, "small people But in any case, the "little people" always have to be in the "big people" after the seat in order to be decent. The Chinese also let sit in a comfortable seat, see the following conversation (Ouyang Fasu, in Hu Wenzhong, 1988:36):

W: (Showing C the sofa) Sit down, please.

C: No, no. I'll sit here. I'll sit here. (Moving towards a chair)

W: Oh, do sit over here on the sofa.

C: No, no. This chair is perfectly all right.

The same is to sit, sitting posture also exists in cultural differences:

--Chinese people traditionally sit in the same way:

-Anglo-Americans are not accustomed to sitting "upright". Pressing one ankle on the other thigh is the typical American leg-stand, known as the "4-legged". In World War II, the German Nazis arrested a man who was judged to be an American spy based on his "4-leggedness.

--Americans are still not comfortable with the "4-legged" frame, and sometimes when talking to people, they even put their feet up on the table. When I was about to leave the United States to return home, I went to a U.S. bank to close the account. The bank manager will be wearing leather shoes in the conversation feet up to the desktop, a good set of "overbearing" style. After returning to China, I have been haunted by this incident, thinking: perhaps my bank deposits in the eyes of the manager of the pitifully small, he did not care, and then I am a yellow-skinned Chinese, and therefore the white broads can be "condescending", feet to the desktop with me to talk. Later I realized: "Americans feet to the desktop, is a kind of relaxed, informal expression, often still on the other side of the conversation a kind of respect. But for some Latin Americans and Asians, this behavior is a sign of rudeness or pretentiousness (Jensen, in Hu, 1990: 131).

--Anglo-Americans like to sit on the carpeted floor in their homes; and I have seen quite a few of them sitting anywhere along the streets or in public ****ings in the United States. After arriving in China, some British and Americans also sit on the ground, and Chinese people feel unhygienic when they see them. When Chinese people have to sit on the ground, they often find a piece of newspaper or use a handkerchief to lay it on the ground, and the British and Americans think that this is unhygienic, because in their opinion, how can they put a handkerchief on the ground? Littering itself is unhygienic and against public morals.

--American teachers in class, some even sat on the podium, Chinese students were surprised, thought it was a vulgar behavior, but the American teachers to do so, in order to reduce the tension in the classroom, narrowing the distance with the students, is a kind of impolite expression.

"Sit like a bell, stand like a pine, walk like the wind, lie like a bow," which is the orthodox requirements of Chinese culture, and in today's real life, the practice of Chinese people and this tradition has been a considerable distance. Above talked about "sitting", and then look at the "standing", "walking", "squatting" cultural differences.

--Chinese teachers in the classroom, in addition to returning to the blackboard, most of the time is to stand in the center of the podium, while the British and American teachers are particularly mobile, always love to walk back and forth in the classroom, it seems to stand still can not stand. Therefore, British and American people feel that Chinese classrooms are too conservative, too formal, too rigid, and even make people drowsy. And Chinese people sometimes feel that British and American teachers are too casual and even disturb the order of the classroom. Similarly, in the general presentation, the Chinese speaker is generally on the podium, standing still, calm and solemn, a serious, "dull not live"; while the British and American speakers in front of the audience constantly walking back and forth, and even walk to the audience, so as to strengthen the infectious force, the speaker's frequent movements, the body leaning forward and backward, tiptoe, even in order to achieve a certain effect, but also the British and American teachers are too casual, and even disrupt the classroom order. The speaker moves a lot, leaning forward and backward, standing on his heels, and even turning his back to the audience for some effect, which makes him look "too active" and "undignified".

--Anglo-Americans stand and stomp their feet to show impatience; Chinese stomp their feet to show anger, irritation, discouragement, and remorse.

--British and Americans walk with their heads held high, strutting and striding forward, so the former Soviets once said, "Americans walk as if the land under their feet belonged to them, and the Englishman walks as if he disdained to pay attention to who owns the land under his feet! The Englishman walks as if he doesn't care who owns the land under his feet"; while some Chinese students say that the Englishman walks "as if he owns the whole world". In short, the standing and walking posture of the Anglo-American is that of an athlete and a soldier, while the standard of the Chinese, in the eyes of the Anglo-American, is that of a scholar and a civilian.

--The Chinese can squat for a long time with both feet rooted to the ground and toes pointed outward. Anglo-Americans not only find this posture difficult to do and unable to maintain their balance, but are generally squeamish about it. The typical squatting position for Anglo-Americans is two toes on the ground, or one toe and one heel on the ground, but it is this "balanced" position; they can't hold it for very long, so if they want to take a break, they would rather sit on the ground. I found that the squatting position in Chinese public toilets is a reflection of the "squatting ability" of Chinese people. In many airports in China, all the toilets in the domestic terminal are squatting, except for one sitting toilet for the disabled, while all the toilets in the international terminal are sitting toilets.

(4) Head movements. Chinese people, like British and Americans, nod their heads to indicate agreement and shake their heads to indicate denial, but because of the differences in thinking as described in the previous section when answering "yes" and "no" questions, head movements are sometimes inconsistent. For example: "You should not be discouraged." Mother said to us. We all shook our heads.

The previous sentence means "Mother said to us: We all shook our heads."

The former sentence means "Mother said to us. We won't be discouraged. But if this sentence is translated into Chinese, No should be translated as "Yes", and the whole sentence should be "Yes, we won't be discouraged", and the Chinese non-verbal action corresponding to the No here should be "We all nod our heads! "If you use English to communicate with Anglo-Americans, the way of thinking and the non-verbal behavior governed by it should be in line with the custom of the English-speaking people, and shake your head to indicate "yes" in this scenario. For example, both Chinese and Anglo-Americans raise their heads and point in the right direction with their chins, but the difference is that the Chinese often do so with their lips pressed together, while the Anglo-Americans press their lips together and smack their lips to indicate a "flying kiss"!

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