The Difference Between Chinese and Western Business Etiquette

The Difference between Chinese and Western Business Etiquette

With the accelerating process of economic globalization, trade between countries is becoming more and more frequent, and economic friction is also increasing. For people engaged in international business activities, it is of great practical significance to familiarize themselves with the etiquette of different countries and master cross-cultural communication skills.

First, the way of address is very different

Business people on both sides of the meeting the first thing is to greet, if you do not understand the other side of the address habits, it is possible to get out of the division. On the one hand, the Chinese people have a strong sense of clan concepts, the pursuit of "up and down, noble and lowly points, the eldest and youngest in order", and "to reduce their own respect for people". To themselves is my humble, humble, humble, etc., to others are called: your, you, so-and-so manager, so-and-so director, and so on. In the West, the rules of address are simple and clear, "you" is you, "I" is me, and rarely use titles to address others, even if there are also limited to the royal family, the upper echelons of government, religious, military or legal professionals, such as Prince William (Prince William), President Obama (44th President of the United States), Father White (Father White) and so on. Mr. (Mr.), Mrs. (Mrs.), Miss (Miss) is sufficient for ordinary strangers, while acquaintances are called by their first names, which is a sign of close relationship and familiarity with each other, and even parents and their children can call each other by their first names. On the other hand, China, where Confucianism is dominant, honors the elderly, and elders are symbols of wisdom. There are many Chinese idioms that reflect this value, such as "the sword is not yet old, the old is strong, the ginger is still old and hot". Treating the elderly in front of the name or in the last name after the addition of an "old" character to show respect, such as "old leaders, old comrades, Liu Lao, Zhang Lao" and so on. Westerners all focus on the future, all forward-looking, "old" is a synonym for weak, useless, will hinder the progress of society, call others "old" is a rude performance. Therefore, you should try to avoid mentioning it when you talk to old people or use euphemisms, such as senior, elderly, advanced instead of old.

Second, the time view is very different

The Westerners are practicing a linear view of time, and they think that time is never coming back. Therefore, for them time is money, do anything should be a strict schedule, and will be interacting with the object of whether to comply with the time as an important basis for judging their personal qualities and work ability. In most Western countries, business meetings should be arranged at least two weeks in advance, and if something particularly important is encountered, the appointment should be made at least two months in advance, and contacting them at the last minute is considered to be a trouble maker and even insulting, and will generally be rejected. In business talks, they like to get right to the point, don't like to stop or remain silent, and are used to quick decisions. In China, on the other hand. . traditional culture, people respect the ring-shaped view of time, that time like a circle can be constantly round, repeat. As a result, Chinese people are more casual about scheduling time and don't pay much attention to appointments. Moreover, Chinese people in business pay attention to relationship, prefer emotional investment, slowly establish a good relationship with the other party, and place more importance on long-term mutual trust, so Chinese people's business activities have a longer time cycle. In the two different cultural differences, eager to enter the negotiation topic of the Westerners show helplessness and anxiety is often mistaken for a lack of sincerity by the Chinese side; and pleasantries of the Chinese is considered to be pulling the wool over the eyes of the people, do not do business. Failure to understand these differences in time perception often leads to business activities can not be carried out smoothly.

In addition, Westerners have a strict distinction between work time and personal time. If it is a working relationship, you should choose to work in the other side of the time; if it is a private relationship, you should choose to work in the other side of the time. The Chinese people often do not distinguish between public and private time, and it is not uncommon for them to talk about public affairs after work, or to talk about private affairs during work hours.

Three, food and drink have their own characteristics

Banquet is a way to contact feelings, promote friendship, both East and West of the business people are happy with this way. However, the styles of Chinese hosts and Western hosts are very different.

First, the difference in eating habits. Built on the basis of agriculture, the Chinese food culture is based on grains and cereals and other vegetarian food, clip vegetables, rice, long chopsticks formed a *** meal system; Western countries developed animal husbandry to provide them with a wealth of meat food, cutting meat knife and fork to bring the split meal system. Therefore, in business activities, the Chinese side like to arrange a round-table feast, and guests laughing and joking, lively; and each eat each of the Westerners like elegant, quiet environment, and even drinking soup or chewing food do not make a sound.

Secondly, the Chinese people pay attention to the feast, a wide range of delicious food, and constantly persuade the wine, on behalf of the guests to clip the food, only to reflect the hospitality of the host; and rich Westerners advocate thrift, even if it is a formal large-scale banquets, the number of dishes is not much, and try to eat, can not be wasted. The host will never force others, "help yourself (please feel free)", the guests to eat how much, what to eat completely by their own decisions, if as polite as in China that can only be hungry. In addition, in the arrangement of dishes, we must take into account the Western dietary taboos, they do not eat pets, animal offal, head, feet and claws, and fish without scales and fins. The Chinese have much fewer taboos in this regard.

Again, in terms of banquet etiquette, China to the left as the honor, the West to the right as expensive. In addition, by the influence of old social habits, the status of women in general is lower than men, the location of the general is not significant; and advocate the spirit of chivalry in the West at all times pay attention to the "Ms. first", the man should be next to the female guests to pull open the chair to show respect. At the end of the meal, to wait for the hostess to get up and leave the table, others can leave the table.

Finally, important or close people will be invited to the home for dinner. In the West, guests are not allowed to arrive early because the host may not be ready yet, and arriving early will keep the host busy. In China, guests sometimes arrive a few hours early and the women are busy preparing the meal while the men chat and watch TV. During the meal, Westerners will enthusiastically say, "This is my specialty!" or "This dish was prepared with great care for you." While the Chinese, who regard modesty as a virtue, keep saying, "The food is not well prepared, please feel free to eat" even when the table is full of good food. Westerners who are new to the country will be disgusted: "If the food is not well cooked, why invite me, is it because you don't value me?" In addition, when Chinese people invite guests, if the food is eaten up, they will feel disgraced, because it shows that the meal is not rich enough; while the Western hostess will be happy to see this scene. If there is still a lot of food left, on the contrary, will be downcast, because it shows that the level of cooking needs to be improved. Because there are more differences between Chinese and Western banquets, we must respect their customs and use proper etiquette to entertain them.

Four, the way of gift-giving worlds apart

Gift-giving is an important form of interpersonal communication, Chinese and foreign business people are concerned about gift-giving to enhance friendship. However, the Chinese and Westerners in the choice of gifts and gift etiquette is different. In China, although the mouth says: "gifts are light and love is important", but usually think that the more expensive gifts the better, too simple or cheap gifts not only can not play to enhance the purpose of the relationship, but may offend people. Westerners pay more attention to the cultural style of gifts and artistic taste. Such as: a beautiful bouquet of flowers to the hostess, to give a bottle of wine or a friend of small crafts. In general, they do not send over-expensive gifts, but pay considerable attention to the gift packaging, as a sign of deep friendship.

The language that people use to accept gifts is also very distinctive. Chinese people will be excused again and again, the hospitality is difficult to accept the gift, but also will say "let you break the bank", and will not open the gift in person; on the contrary, Westerners are always very quick to accept the gift, open in person and express surprise and thanks. They believe that praising the gift is like praising the giver. If you don't understand the difference, Westerners will think that China is cold and hypocritical, accepting his gift and putting it aside, making the giver very embarrassed, and thinking that you don't value his gift, or even disrespecting him; and Chinese people will think that the Westerners are impatient, or even greedy, and behaving roughly.

V. Conclusion

With the deepening of China's reform and opening up, in the increasingly close interaction between China and the West, we must face up to the differences in business etiquette between China and the West, and seek common ground while reserving differences, respect each other, and interact on an equal footing. At the same time to strengthen the training of professional etiquette personnel. This inevitably requires colleges and universities to send to the community not only know the rules of international business, but also can use English to carry out foreign activities with people of different cultural backgrounds. To achieve this purpose, teachers should continue to strengthen their own knowledge structure, cross-cultural knowledge throughout the teaching activities, expand the students' global thinking, cultivate their cross-cultural communication strength, so as to improve the efficiency of business communication, and establish long-term, friendly cooperative relations.