Issue 1/2006
01/02/06
Competence in German-Chinese business relations The “invisible Great Wall”
Dr. Ursina Böhm
Even if the Great Wall has long ceased to be a physical obstacle meant to keep invaders out of the Middle Kingdom, there still remains an invisible “great wall”: the wall represented by Chinese culture. The Chinese market is considered to be of such great socio-cultural complexity that many investors still fail on this account. China and Europe – here it is not only the clash of different economic interests but also the clash of entirely different cultural norms and values, different ways of communication and thinking.
Category: Issue 1/2006
Posted by: Editor
Even if the Great Wall has long ceased to be a physical obstacle meant to keep invaders out of the Middle Kingdom, there still remains an invisible “great wall”: the wall represented by Chinese culture. The Chinese market is considered to be of such great socio-cultural complexity that many investors still fail on this account. China and Europe – here it is not only the clash of different economic interests but also the clash of entirely different cultural norms and values, different ways of communication and thinking. Despite all the reforms that have taken place, many traditional values retain their key significance in business life and thus constitute a major difference to Western models. While scientific investigations show that the up-and-coming economic elites in China are opening up to Western values, they nevertheless keep a traditional frame of reference so that thinking and conduct continue to be strongly influenced by the characteristic features of the language and culture of their society.
Culture and Intercultural Encounter
Culture affects our perceptions, thinking, emotions and actions, and thus exercises a significant influence on human conduct. Culture can be viewed as comprising a surface and a deep structure: the surface (perceptas) is perceptible and can thus be described. At the same time, it is the expression of a historically developed system of standards, values and rules of conduct which are learned and internalized as part of the socialization process. They are anchored in the deep structures of the personality. In the course of a varied learning process, our own specific cultural system of orientation has thus come to be taken for granted and has become routine in our day-to-day conduct.
In intercultural encounters, however, our own cultural orientation patterns often fail us so that the conduct of the people interacting with us seems strange, incomprehensible and cannot be reliably anticipated. On the surface of the relationship, the protagonists initially perceive only the different symbols and behavior patterns which are to be found in the relevant advice literature (lists of “dos” and “don’ts”). These are routines in the interaction which give “insiders” a feeling of self-confidence. For outsiders, these may well be observable and even imitable but they are not a priori comprehensible because an understanding of the deeper context of the exchange patterns is lacking.
In what follows, a brief overview of the background of Chinese culture and thus provide the basis for a deeper understanding of the behavior patterns of our Chinese business partners is presenented.
Philosophical background of Chinese culture
For better understanding of Chinese day-to-day and business culture, it is essential to bear the classical philosophies of the Orient in mind and take them as the starting point. Here, attention is focused on the “person”, not on the “thing” itself. Things and facts are considered in the context of human nature and human activity.
Chinese culture is influenced by two philosophical traditions: Confucianism, which is concerned with human relationships, and Taoism, which views life in harmony with nature. The Chinese are extremely pragmatic in this regard. Which of these two philosophical traditions is followed will depend on the aspect of life being considered. Such a procedure permits everything that is good and useful to be incorporated in the culture irrespective of its particular origin.
Confucianism
Confucianism as a fundamental philosophical tradition has exercised an influence on Chinese culture for over 2500 years. Confucius (551–479 B.C.) is considered the founder of this doctrine. Man is viewed in his relationship to the world’s hierarchical order which surrounds him. He is defined in terms of his position, his existence, his function in the family, in the network of social relationships and in communal life.
The following six principles of Confucianism are of key importance here:
- moral cultivation
- importance of interpersonal relationships
- family orientation
- respect for age and hierarchy
- avoidance of conflicts and need for harmony
- concept of face
1. Moral cultivation
Confucianism can be, first of alle, understood as a form of moral ethic. One major aim of Confucianism is to form men through life-long learning and moral education.
Five virtues (wuchang) are to be encouraged: (1) Ren (human-heartedness and benevolence), (2) Yi (righteousness and justice), (3) Li (etiquette), (4) Zhi (wisdom) and (5) Xin (trust). Confucian moral thought does not have a universal orientation but is viewed as being closely related to a family or group. It is the family or group which draws the borderline between trusted insiders versus distrusted outsiders.
For the Chinese, trust is more an interpersonal trust, and is thus fundamentally different from the more organization-related trust found in Western cultures. Accordingly, in Chinese business life it is important to develop and cultivate long-term, trusting relationships at the interpersonal level.
Confucianism is not concerned with the force of law. In Confucianism’s understanding, the state must rule by moral force. People’s conduct should be regulated by a set of self-regulating moral mechanisms and thus also through the feeling of shame. In Chinese culture, law has always been equated with a lack of trust and tyranny and thus treated as a less effective means of affecting human behavior.
2. Importance of Interpersonal Relationships
Confucianism can also be viewed as a practical philosophy of human relationships and rules of conduct. Firmly anchored in this world and pragmatic, it gives advice on coping with the day-to-day problems of community life and the art of government. Replying to a question relating to the nature of death, Confucius rejoined “If we do not yet know about life, how can we know about death?”.
In the Confucian tradition, man is understood as the sum-total of his relationships. Confucius laid down five cardinal relationships (wulun) which are characterized by mutual obligations: between parents and children, older and younger brothers, ruler and minister, husband and wife, and those in the intercourse between friends (see Figure 2). These are not simply any kind of relationships: they are relationships that harbor potential for conflict within a typical group.
According to this view of morality, relationships are not universally defined, but viewed as being reciprocal, embedded in a situation, dynamic and context-dependent. Individuals will have different rights and obligations depending on their status and the type of relationship. So before one can know how to behave, one must first know the relationship in which one stands to the other person.
The reciprocal feature of Chinese interpersonal relationship makes the impression from the first contact extremely critical from the Chinese point of view. It is largely based on the “feeling at the first sight” and the adjustment gradually made during later contacts that the Chinese calibrate their degree of trust and sincerity and choose influence strategies towards the other party in a dyadic relationship.
The principle of reciprocity finds its expression in the concepts of guanxi and li.
Guanxi
In China hardly any aspect of social life is not touched by “guanxi”. Whether companies buy or sell goods, whether they purchase or provide services, whether they employ personnel, take credits, obtain government permits or look for co-operation partners – guanxi are omnipresent. The concept of guanxi goes well beyond the Western concept of “connections” to gain social advantages. The translation that comes closest to the concept of guanxi is “personal relationships and connections”. If one has guanxi, then everything is open to one; without guanxi, one simply cannot get anything done. Guanxi make it possible for the individual to achieve his aims in a roundabout way which could not be achieved through official channels.
Frequently, unequal partners are bound by guanxi. In the Confucian tradition, there is the expectation that the individual improves the situation of less fortunate relatives and friends through his contacts and position of influence. The stronger partner gains face and thus prestige and respect if he gives the weaker partner more than the latter can give him.
By virtue of his ancestry, the individual is already embedded in the guanxi network of his family. Guanxi can also result from having attended the same school, lived in the same village or worked for the same company. Attachment to one’s home region also plays a special role. Chinese people are inclined to find greater guanxi with respect to people who come from the same village or the same province.
The intentional creation of guanxi frequently begins with gifts or favors. For the favors which person A does for person B, A will later expect a return favor which need not necessarily be performed immediately quid quo pro. As a rule, a whole chain of consecutive and interconnected services and counter-services is involved.
A good guanxi network which comprises influential and important decision-makers is thus of crucial importance in order to tap resources. Accordingly, in China people place more confidence in people than in systems, organizations and institutions.
Li
“Li” is a typical Confucian concept which originally was based on the social hierarchy and structure of the Zhou dynasty which was seen by Confucius as the ideal model of a society. The term “etiquette” is an inadequate translation since li comprises all obligations and rules, all social requirements, all rituals and every type of procedure which was laid down to guarantee social harmony – at weddings, funerals, salutations, meetings, meals or promotions. Li helps to channel emotions, reduce embarrassment and to give a reasonable amount of assurance and dignity to all concerned in any situation that might occur.
Li tells Chinese people how to position themselves in their hierarchical society and how to play their role accordingly. In the final analysis it is a matter of doing the right things with the right people in the right relationships. Lowering oneself and raising the other person is an important feature of Chinese politeness, as illustrated by the following dialogue:
In Chinese society, polite, role-conscious behavior is of key significance for stabilizing the community. However, li traditionally always referred only to one’s own reference group – i.e. the family or the village community. The group’s morale which steers virtually all energy towards good conduct within an existing network of relationships thus inevitably has a downside, namely that few or no obligations exist towards outsiders. This is evident, for example, in Chinese road traffic: the same people, who are shining examples of politeness and helpfulness in their relationships, become definitely churlish in the anonymity of road traffic or at counters in public places. Pushing and shoving are the order of the day and no word of apology will be heard there.
3. Family Orientation
The family is the root of Chinese society. Confucius teaches that there is a direct relationship between the family (jia) and the state (guo). Along the same lines, the Chinese are convinced that a person with too many personal and family problems cannot be a good leader or teacher. Since the Chinese define themselves through their role in the family and not through themselves as individuals, the words “individual” (geren) and “individualism” (geren zhuyi) mean “egoistic” and thus have a negative connotation in Chinese.
Of the five cardinal relationships, three refer to the family in the strict sense (see Figure 2). According to this system of rules, parents have the obligation to sacrifice themselves in providing for their children while exercising their authority. Children are taught that there is no duty more sacred than to serve their parents.
The strong orientation to the family prevalent in China can be explained by the rural social structure of the country which is characterized by the group. Survival depended on co-operation within the group, so that it follows that values like loyalty, harmony and submission were considered important in such a society. Today, two thirds of the Chinese population still live in rural regions and are employed mainly in the cultivation of rice and wheat.
Incidentally, the marked money-mindedness of the Chinese is also explained by the Confucian doctrine of mistrust of systems, organizations and institutions, as well as by the paramount importance of the family. In view of the lack of legal and social security in Chinese society, the achievement of security through the augmentation of the family’s wealth – and thus increasing the means of helping family members in times of need – is deeply rooted in the Chinese psyche. The acquisition of riches was and is morally positive, since something good is done for the family for whom one is responsible.
4. Respect for Age and Hierarchy
Chinese people are still accustomed to asking the age of people they have just met, in order to know who should take over the role of counselor and who the role of the respectful listener.
Instead of equality and individual freedom, Confucianism emphasizes social hierarchy and order. Like the term “individualism”, the term “freedom” has always had a negative connotation in China. It referred less to the rights of the oppressed than to the prerogatives claimed by the privileged. The rights of the individual in Chinese culture are derived from the latter’s relationship network – such as the right of younger people to receive care and protection and the right of the elders to be respected. Expressly not provided, however, was the right to break out of the network of relationships and to be responsible for only oneself.
As already explained in the section on moral education, the Chinese socialization process is characterized by practicing obedience, tactful behavior, controlling emotions and accepting one’s social obligations. This also affects communication which in Chinese culture is accordingly centered on listening (tinghua): not everyone has the right to speak. To be a speaker is considered equivalent to having seniority, authority, experience, knowledge and wisdom. Good children (hao haizi) are those that listen (tinghua) and do not interrupt (chazui).
Respect for age and status in the hierarchy is also clearly reflected in the Chinese language. Chinese has a broad vocabulary at its disposal for expressing differences between people as regards their age and generation. Examples of this are bofu or bobo for an older uncle and shufu or shushu for a younger uncle; gege for an older brother and didi for a younger brother.
5. Avoidance of Conflict and Need for Harmony
In the Confucian tradition, social harmony is achieved when all five cardinal relationships are satisfactory. This requires moral conduct in all relationships and thus adjustment to the collectivity, control of feelings, avoidance of conflict and rivalry, etc. Western conflict culture with its direct and open methods of dealing with conflicts is not appreciated by the Chinese, since from their point of view, such a course is damaging to relationships. For them it becomes virtually impossible to repair harmony once it has been destroyed.
The Chinese are therefore masters of indirect communication. Their need for harmony makes them accustomed to read between the lines to recognize the other speaker’s intentions at an early stage. If an argument is moving in an undesirable direction, a move in a different direction is made just as subtly and without open confrontation.
6. The Concept of Face
The principle of harmony finds its most accurate form of expression in the principle “Give face, never take face, but save your own face”. When asked something, for example, people will rarely admit that they do not know the answer. At the same time, they expect the questioner to overlook this gap in their knowledge and thus help the other to save face. Misinformation is accordingly permitted if it helps to save face and ease the situation. In China, truth is not considered an absolute good, but tends to be valued only with reference to the relationship between protagonists and the situation in question.
Confucius emphasizes that saving face serves harmony – namely both inner and social harmony. Saving face for a Chinese person is the most elegant form of human encounter which is reflected in the respect shown for the feelings of the person one is talking to. A devaluation of the other person will always have a negative effect on the person who is doing the criticizing, because loss of face is a two-edged sword. Conversely, appreciation reflects positively on the one who has expressed it. A person who gives others face shows that he is an educated and superior man and a member of a worthy group.
Social life in China is thus based on networked communities. The identity of individuals is determined by their membership and position within a framework of social relationships. Personal obligations, trust, prestige and an understanding of honor as being based on the fulfillment of obligations to the community, on the justification of the acquired prestige and trust, and on the occupation of the respective social position is accordingly of great significance. If personal interactions are considered in this context, all praise and criticism is felt to be a comment on the status held in the social network whose – informal – regulator gives support and orientation to individual conduct. The public withdrawal of trust or the suggestion that someone may not be fulfilling the duties of his position, can thus mean loss of face for the person concerned and thus a loss of self-respect, and undermine his position in the social network with its complex code of conduct which is what gives him his identity.
Taoism
Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism, lived at about the same time as Confucius. To understand Taoism, it is important to examine the concepts of Tao, Yin Yang and Wu Wei.
Tao
Unlike Confucius, Lao Tzu is not concerned with actively creating order but with finding the Tao, literally “the way” which is defined by Lao Tzu as follows:
In contrast to Western individualism, here the individual is not considered per se, but in a holistic context – the context of creative order, of the Way or the Law of the Universe. This universal order finds its expression in Yin and Yang.
Yin Yang
Modern Western thought is based on the Enlightenment with its quest for light and clarity. Chinese philosophy, on the other hand, is characterized by thinking in terms of complementarities. The well known symbol of the pole pair Yin and Yang originally illustrated the light and dark sides of a mountain – in other words, two forms of one and the same phenomenon which alternate, complement one another and only reflect reality as a pair.
Yin here stands for the feminine elements (the moon, water, weakness, darkness, softness, passivity, etc.), Yang on the other hand for the male elements (the sun, fire, strength, light, hardness, activity, etc.). As properties which all things in the universe have, Yin and Yang are opposites and complements at the same time. They cannot be separated from one another, and must be viewed as a whole. As the two forces regulating the cosmic order (which, when considered as a process, constitute the Tao, the course of the world) Yin Yang signify unity and harmony, and in the process touch on every aspect of life, from traditional medicine to economic cycles. Yin Yang shows the two changing sides of the same phenomenon. The interaction of Yin and Yang creates and is subject to constant change which is not linear but cyclic, in which the elements with different Yin and Yang components follow on one another. When the cold goes, heat comes, and when the heat comes, the cold goes. The reversion of Yin and Yang is exemplified by the Chinese fable of the old man who loses his horse:
This idea of reversion exercises a great influence on the Chinese character and helps in coping with difficulties. Thus the Chinese remain cautious in times of prosperity and hopeful in time of dire need.
Wu Wei
Translated literally, Wu Wei means “non-action” or simply “doing nothing”. It should not be considered merely superficially or the deeper philosophical meaning of Wu Wei will be overlooked:
Wu Wei can better be viewed as “acting without acting”, “non-interference”, or “letting things happen”. Taoism thus emphasizes the power of Yin and the power of weakness and passivity. Doing nothing thus means acting strategically.
Wu Wei is therefore a defensive tactic that makes it possible to master circumstances without taking rebellious action against them oneself. Taoism has had a significant influence on Chinese strategic thinking which will be explained in more detail below.
Strategic Philosophy
Strategic philosophy, like classical philosophy, has a long tradition in China. Here, Sun Tzu, a contemporary of Confucius, is to be found with his work “The Art of War” and what are known as “The Thirty-Six Stratagems”. “Stratagem” stands for strategy and tactic. The Chinese have been applying these stratagems for thousands of years. Sun Tzu too in his famous treatise on the art of war places military victory over the enemy only in third place on the scale of martial arts: he gives the second place to victory by diplomatic means, but the first to victory by means of stratagems.
Sun Tzu and “The Art of War“
Chinese leaders – political and military alike – from Cao Cao at the time of the Three Kingdoms to Mao Zedong – referred to Sun Tzu or Master Sun and his over 2500-year old work “The Art of War“ (Sunzi Bingfa), which is considered the first treatise ever written on strategy. Numerous publications in China are devoted to the interpretation of this Chinese military classic in relation to strategic management. Every manager in China is familiar with the strategic guidelines written by Sun Tzu.
Figure 3 illustrates “The Art of War” in fifteen principles which can be derived from “The Art of War”. To give some examples, some principles are outlined in more detail below.
Detailed information regarding all the relevant aspects of the opponent and a realistic estimate of oneself are the decisive allies in strategic conflicts. For Sunzi, the ideal opponent is one who is passive, self-satisfied and careless. In this situation, anyone who can out-maneuver his opponent strategically and tactically without causing him to panic has created the best conditions for an easy win.
According to Sun Tzu, physical military force is the last resort for overcoming an enemy. A clever strategist should be in the position to beat the enemy without battle, to take the enemy’s cities without besieging them, and to conquer the enemy’s country without shedding blood. The decisive strategic art is thus the avoidance of actual battle. This must be done through such skillful maneuvering that one’s opponent can no longer afford to begin belligerent conflict. In this light, Sun Tzu’s work is thus not so much a treatise on how to win a war but rather on the courses to be considered for avoiding war altogether and still achieve the aims one has set oneself. The battle will thus be waged in the heads of the strategists, not on the battlefield.
The Great Wall provides a typical instance of this Chinese attitude. The Chinese preferred to build a practically impassable defense against the repeated attacks of the nomads at their borders rather than to wear themselves out in attacking and pursuing their enemies in extermination campaigns.
According to Sun Tzu, a major tactic is to confuse the enemy about one’s own tactics and plans to such an extent that he cannot take any effective, comprehensive countermeasures. Accordingly, it is an expression of strength to pretend one is weak and the enemy is stronger. When someone keeps his true strength concealed, he offers no opening on which the enemy could concentrate an attack.
In the final analysis, the aim of all deceptive maneuvers is to fuel the enemy’s arrogance and make him incautious. In negotiations, one must not allow oneself to be deceived by outward appearances. Even if the other party seems naïve, open and trustful, one should assume that one is dealing with a well-informed and wide-awake negotiator. Friendly reserve and seeming passivity lend one an assurance from which the power of unruffled composure works on an enemy who is wearing himself out in frenzied activity.
For many there is no doubt that Western enterprises stand to make great profits by doing business in China. What these people forget are the risks that Western politicians and managers take who still believe that in the case of China they are dealing with an underdeveloped, naïve nation. It is necessary to realize that the Chinese started thinking about strategy over two thousand years ago.
Unlike the West’s “either or” mode of thinking, in China the freedom provided by vagueness is appreciated. This explains why Western “fuzzy logic” was first successful in Asia. Wherever one finds not only black and white but many shadings in between, there will be many possibilities for dealing successfully with the most varied situations. Life is seen as a continuing process which moves in the form of a spiral towards the future. This requires awareness of the cyclical nature of reality. Something that is helpful today may turn out to be harmful tomorrow, only to go back to being useful again after a certain period of time (see the remarks on Yin and Yang). Accordingly, the Chinese orient themselves less to firmly prescribed methods but tend to be guided by focusing on the existing situation. Which methods are appropriate is something which cannot be decided by recourse to an absolute rule, but will be assessed in the context of the given situation. With flexibility of this kind, things cannot go wrong, as the following excerpt illustrates:
The teachings of Sun Tzu constantly return to the question of the procurement and the safeguarding of information. As the German proverb aptly puts it: knowledge is power. Western executives are therefore well advised to realize how consistently the Chinese think in strategic dimensions and how enormously important Sunzi is in the Chinese way of thinking. Familiarity with Sunzi helps one to see through the tactics of Chinese business and negotiating partners and to act accordingly when it comes to gaining advantages through well honed strategies.
The Thirty-Six Stratagems or “The Secret Art of War”
The catalogue of Thirty-Six Stratagems (Sanshiliu Ji. Miben Bingfa) is an excerpt from a military treatise written by an unknown author of the late Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) or the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911). During Mao Zedong’s lifetime († 1976) the Thirty-Six Stratagems were a closely guarded secret in China and their publication was a criminal offence. They were made accessible to a broad public only in 1979.
Linguistically speaking, the Thirty-Six Stratagems are a collection of value-free phrases and quotations from historic events and legends in which shrewdness helped the hero to gain victory over mostly stronger enemies. Originally tricks of war, the significance of these stratagems goes much further, however. They are basic strategic and tactical instructions on how to achieve goals in difficult situations. The philosophical basis of Chinese stratagems is provided by the principles Yin Yang and Wu Wei described under Taoism. Each and every stratagem, which quite often is the expression of an entire philosophy, consists only of three or four characters.
In China, the Thirty-Six Stratagems have found their way to many sectors of public life, and are the topic of school primers, the theme of millions of printed cartoons and political analyses. Politicians make use of them just as do writers and economists. There are thus dozens of stratagem books for managers and CEOs. Unlike their Chinese colleagues, Western managers are largely ignorant of these stratagems, and the term “trick” hardly plays any part in Western management literature. This is seen as one of the reasons why the Chinese are often superior to their Western business partners.
Little attention is paid to “tricks” in Western culture or they are treated as a trivial matter. Europeans find it difficult to use tricks. Either they consider the use of tricks as immoral to start with, or they plan their tricks so half-heartedly that it is easy to see through them. It is often considered in bad taste to analyze others’ conduct to see if they are using tricks. In China, on the other hand, seeing through and applying tricks is an activity that has always been admired and cultivated. This is also evident in the Chinese term zhi, which means both “wisdom” and “trickery”. Consequently, for thousands of years, trickery has been held in far greater esteem in the Middle Kingdom than in the West.
Six categories of stratagems can be distinguished:
- Concealment stratagems: serve to cover up an existing reality, as for example stratagem No. 10 “Conceal a dagger in your smile”;
- Pretence stratagems: to create an impression of something which does not exist. Stratagem No. 29 “Let (artificial) flowers bloom on a (shriveled) tree” belongs in this category;
- Revelatory stratagems: to reveal a reality difficulty to access, as in stratagem No. 13 “Beat the grass to flush out the snake”;
- Exploitive stratagems: to take advantage of a situation which already exists or one has brought about artificially. This category includes stratagem No. 20 “Make the water murky to catch the fish”;
- Combining several stratagems: two or more stratagems are applied simultaneously (stratagem No. 35);
- Escape stratagems: to protect oneself by avoiding a dangerous situation (stratagem No. 36).
The study of Chinese stratagems can thus help Western managers to recognize those used by their Chinese business partners, see through them, and – if necessary – thwart them. It is important to overcome the blind spot existing in Western culture when it comes to stratagems. At the same time, the “stratagem” way of looking at things provides a new approach to solving problems.
Language and Writing as the Key to Understanding
The way people living in a certain culture think and feel, and the desires they express essentially result from the structure of their language as well as their philosophy and religion. Therefore, in what follows, important features of the Chinese language and writing will be described.
The Chinese character script is quite different from the scripts which are based on the letters of the Roman or Greek alphabet. We take it for granted that we think in concepts and words which are expressed in strings of letters. In Chinese the characters are pictograms derived from pictures. The letters that we string together have no meaning whatsoever in themselves. Chinese characters, on the other hand, each developed from an object or idea which it originally represented. This makes the Chinese language much more plastic, so that it appeals much more strongly to the imagination (see Figure 4).
Since the meaning of Chinese characters is independent of the pronunciation, they make it possible for people from different regions to communicate through writing though their dialects – the spoken language – may differ even more than German and English from one another. However, one shouldn’t forget that the acquisition of even a limited vocabulary for practical use (a normal newspaper reader is familiar with about 3000 of the more than 40 000 characters) takes more effort than learning the alphabet. On the other hand – since there are enormous differences in the languages spoken from region to region – the thought, social standards, values and traditions of Chinese culture which developed in the course of over five thousand years are handed down through the script.
Unlike our Western languages, Chinese has no grammar in the strict sense. The type of word, person, and tense is not conveyed by the way a word is inflected but can only be derived from the context. While our sentence structure is characterized by a linear and sequential structure, Chinese statements are built up from the general to the specific: the core statement of a sentence is approached in concentric circles (see Figure 5).
Similarly, the often monosyllabic words can be given quite different meanings by the intonation placed on them. Here again, the context of the sentence is decisive. Ambiguities are common, however. In fact, they are often intentional and are considered particularly felicitous. A Chinese sentence may thus have three or four different German translations which are all correct. What gets lost in translation the other way round are German accuracy and with it also important statements. An interpreter, therefore, will be additionally required to act as a cultural mediator, since failure to take the cultural context into account can often lead to misunderstandings when a translation is merely literal, and make communication impossible.
Thought Structures Resulting from Philosophy and Language
Important differences between Chinese thought structures and Western thought patterns become evident once one is familiar with China’s traditional and strategic philosophy and the structure of Chinese writing and language.
Western thought based on the Enlightenment is linear and orientated to an end-result, thus encouraging the systematic, methodical and deductive procedures which we value as logic, analysis and order. What we find difficult to cope with are indirect causal relationships and the interplay of the various elements of a networked system as is commonly the case in China and dominate thought processes there. In Chinese culture, the whole and the context are much more important since they are what gives meaning to the various components. What is more, holistic thought processes run in cycles and loops. Since a cycle does not aim at a particular point as its final goal, the path itself becomes the goal. While in a Western context the objective orientation to an end-result provides the basis for rationality, in a Chinese context it is person-related and process-orientated.
Summary and Outlook
Table 2 summarizes in a comprehensive overview the essential differences in philosophy, writing and language and thus in thought patterns in Western and Chinese cultures. Some practical consequences of these differences on how science, intelligence, communication, planning and ways of arguing are understood are also presented.
Despite these notes on the background of Chinese culture, you, dear Reader, may well come across one or other cultural barriers in the course of your business dealings in China which have not been discussed in the present paper. It should be borne in mind that guoxing – the “Chinese situation” or “Chinese” reality – is much too complex. Thus, for instance, the Chinese use the words “not guoxing” to reject methods and ideas which they believe their Western colleagues are trying to force on them. Politics, economic planning, a legal framework, technological backwardness, the size of the country, economic and social change, and in particular, Chinese bureaucracy are variables in the guoxing puzzle. Doing business with China may sometimes be discouraging, but it is for sure an exciting and highly interesting challenge. I wish you every success!
Further literature
Brahm, Laurence J.: Sun Tzu’s Art of Negotiating in China. Hong Kong 1997.
Fang, Tony: Chinese Business Negotiation Style. London 1999.
Himmelmann, Hermann and Jürgen Hungerbach: Das China-Paradox – Warum keiner die Chinesen versteht und wie man mit ihnen trotzdem Geschäfte macht (The China Paradox – Why no one understands the Chinese and how to do business with them all the same). Munich 2005.
Reisach, Ulrike; Tauber, Theresia and Yuan Xueli: China – Wirtschaftspartner zwischen Wunsch und Wirklichkeit. (China – business partner between wish and reality) Vienna 2004.
Senger, Harro von: Die Kunst der List – Strategeme durchschauen und anwenden. (The art of shrewdness – seeing through and using stratagems) Munich 2001.
1/2006
