social customs

Chinese Social Interaction Customs

PartⅠ：Introduction

PartⅡ：General Sketch about Social Customs 1. Definition 2. Importance 3. Difference

A: The difference in gratitude and thanks B: The difference in invitation C: The difference in telephone etiquette D: The difference in hospitality Part Ⅲ: Conclusion

Introduction: One might also say they are rules that define the

behavior that is expected, required, or acceptable in particular circumstances. They are learned by interacting in society. Even though what members of a particular culture value and how they perceive the universe explain a lot why people behave the way they do, we shouldn’t try to connect every human behavior with a certain value.

Thinking is greatly influenced by culture and other elements. China and The United States show us great differences in terms of thinking pattern, which results in their different ways of dealing with problems. The thinking patterns of the different peoples in different nations are quite different as well. While different thinking patterns are bound to cause

differences in the way that people view things and cope with things. For example, Chinese thinking pattern is figurative, intuitive and synthetic while the American one is individual, abstract and unique. Chinese dialectical thinking was well interpreted by the “Golden Mean”, which tends to seek compromise and balance. However, the American thinking reflects their innovation, tending to explore the nature of things.

Due to the differences of political system, cultural background and the way of being educated, there is great difference between China and the US in custom. This difference is shaped during a long-term history, some of which is deep-rooted, though it didn’t follow the rule of law, it restricts people’ speech and action in certain areas.

Definition: A social custom is an act whose utility to the agent

performing it in some way depends on the beliefs or actions of other members of the community. Social customs are very important part of culture. No communication is done without involving some custom rules, explicit or implicit. Social customs also are closely related to the deep structure of a culture that determines how a person responds to events and other people.

Great changes have brought about the “shrinkage” of the earth in effect which, as the Canadian writer Marshall McLuhan rightly proposed in the 1960s, has become a “Global Village”. This miracle is mainly attributed to the amazing development of science and technology in

transportation and communication systems. However, People live in different world sometimes can hardly communicate with each other because of different social customs. So learn some principle of different social customs is a necessary for us. Before really get to it, we need to know the importance of understanding foreign customs.

Importance: Social customs are very important part of culture,

and communication with others as well, especially with people from distinct cultural background.

Social customs are an important key to understanding a country’s culture. Knowledge and practice of these customs can spell the difference between a beautiful experience and being branded a rude guest. Difference in social customs can cause misunderstanding, unsatisfactory interaction and even unpleasant physical reaction. It is a common thing for a foreigner to get confused by the local social custom. To learn a foreign language is not enough to men to really understand a country’s conventions and customs.

Both Chinese custom and American customs are essential for their peoples, and for those who want to have a better understanding of their cultures as well.

To know the exact distinction between Chinese culture and American culture, men should learn it from the very basic part. That is to say: the etiquettes in daily life.

Difference: Chinese people differ from the people in western

countries in the aspect of gratitude and thanks. In China, we often thank our teacher for his or her help in our study, but we never do so to our parents. In our mind, we are used to taking it for granted that people who are very close to us do for us, such as our families. When we are old, it’s our children’s duty to take care of us. We don’t have to say thanks. In our traditional customs, there is no need to express thanks for the small favors that others have done for us. We usually tend to repeat the terms of thanks many times to show our courtesy and heartfelt thanks especially to those whom we are not familiar with and for what we think are important favors. But in western cultures, it is very common to say “thank you” to others, even between parents and children, husband and wife and for every small and most ordinary thing, such as the teacher will thank the student’s answer to his or her question. They think that there is no one having the responsibility to do things for them. So, whoever they receive help from, they have to say “thank you” to express their gratitude. So they thank people all day long. This is quite different from us. We always think too much thanks will make the “thanks” priceless, so that we just say it in important occasions. However, in the western cultures, it is quite necessary to say “thanks” to express their gratitude. Because, in their eyes, help should be respected no matter it is big or small.

When it comes to invitation, the differences are quite apparent

between china and western countries. In western countries, the invitations with no specific time and place, such as let’s get together soon, are just expressions of goodwill rather than genuine invitations. But we Chinese always mean what we say. If we say “let’s get together soon” to others, it’s the true invitation. When we send an invitation, we most likely to say something like: Do come. Please do come…While the Americans who value individual freedom a lot hate to impose anything on others, which they don’t like themselves. There are always different opinions on who should pay the bill. In western countries, they agree on go Dutch. But in china, it’s normal for inviter to pay the bill. Also a common point exists in both cultures. If anything happens that prevents you from the accepted invitation, you’d better let the host know.

Today, with the popularity of telephone and other communication means, more and more Chinese are making appointments before visiting others. Yet there are still unannounced visits. We usually consider an unannounced visit as a surprise to host to indicate the deep relationship between us, and the hosts are usually very happy. But in America, whatever the visit it is, it should be arranged by appointment. This is the courtesy to be observed. Take the visit in hospital for instance. When we in hospital, unannounced visits make us know that others care about us. If no one around us makes any visits, we may take it a sign of our unpopularity. We are generally group-oriented. However, in America,

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