Welcome back everyone to the best guide to the galaxy! Today we’re continuing our analysis on China with today’s topic being nonverbal communication, an important but often undervalued aspect of communication that plays just as important of a role as speech and writing. Due to the vast differences in cultures nonverbal communication is often very different between cultures and today we’ll look into what to expect and bit on how to act in China.
Understanding nonverbal communication is crucial for a variety of reasons, let's consider an example. You're out with friends and in a loud environment, your friend asks if you want to go elsewhere so you give him a thumbs up in agreement, pretty standard yea? Well if you were to try that in Greece or Italy it would be interpreted as a middle finger! As you can probably guess, the importance of understanding what gestures are common in the culture you're visiting is just as important as understanding the language itself. Respecting the culture you’re visiting and reducing misunderstandings will greatly benefit your travels (LID).
The ability to understand nonverbal communication that’s new to you is riddled with obstacles, the main one being your own nonverbal communication. As you grow and develop you pick up nonverbal communication from your own culture that you don’t even consider, and a mistake many make is assuming some nonverbal communication is universal. Another obstacle you might face is simply not being aware of the nonverbal communication you display. A lot of actions we take and reactions we have are subconscious at this point, which can lead to some major miscommunications.
Let's delve a bit deeper into some specific body parts that play a role in nonverbal communication. For China we decided the most important aspects are facial expressions and eye contact, due to the high significance they play in the very power structure oriented society they have. In many western cultures eye contact is seen as a must, a sign of respect and acknowledgement for what the other person is saying, but not in China. Direct eye contact is a sign of major disrespect especially towards those more senior to you, so if you visit be sure not to make a lot of eye contact. Another aspect dear to China is facial expressions, or more accurately the lack thereof. When bad news is revived in China in a public setting it's common for Chinese to display little emotion and for uncomfortable situations to be met with laughter or smiling which can confuse many (LID). It’s small aspects like this that are crucial to understand when visiting to better your experience and show respect to those around you.
Personal space is something many hold dear to them, I mean heck humans consider a few feet personal space in some places, while we have an entire solar system of personal space here at GG. China has a bit of a different idea on personal space however, with public areas often giving occupants little to no space and pushing to get through crowds to ahead in lines is completely acceptable, a practice deemed awful in most western cultures. Personally I think I would struggle to deal with this, mostly because my alien anatomy would probably get stepped on a lot, but for a human not used to the culture I can’t imagine it would be too enjoyable either.
Touching is a touchy topic in western cultures but in China it's more of an accepted norm. It’s of note that Chinese use a lot more physical touch in day to day conversations with hand holding between the young and old seen as a sign of care and affection while actual public displays of affection such as public kissing is exceedingly rare. It's also only recently that the traditional American handshake has been integrated into more Chinese business practices, a practice that wasn't seen often until now (LID).
Chinese time organization is poly-chronic, meaning they are ok with handling multiple tasks simultaneously, and are more flexible with schedules. This doesn't mean to show up late to a meeting for business but when visiting friends you have more of an emphasis on building relationships then adhering to a strong schedule. This kind of information is important because just like all other nonverbal communication it can send messages you don’t want to if you're not aware of the implications.
Well there you have it! Another riveting edition of Galactic Getaways examination of China. We hope to see you again next time with more wonderful information on this rich country, and until next time, remember that for the best locations across the galaxy there’s no place like Galactic Getaways.
- The Galactic Getaways team
Works cited:
LID Publishing. (2024, May 14). Chinese communication style with Catherine Xiang. https://lidpublishing.com/2024/05/14/chinese-communication-style-with-catherine-xiang/
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