Culture Shock !

Why I chose culture shock this toice because is very intersting for me.What is culture shock? This question has fascinated scholars in various academic disciplines for many decades. This question makes a lot of scholars and professors confused. Culture is very important in every country. Culture’s meaning is so wide. I found three books in the library. In the three books, culture is described as a learned meaning system that consists of patterns of traditions, beliefs, values, norms, meanings, and symbols that are passed on from one generation to the next and are shared to varying degrees by interacting members of a community, and for the three books shows a lot of information of Chinese culture.

While I only summarized the topic of “Culture Shock! China” above, I expanded on the concept/ideas with some additional research. At before, a lot of people think a visit to China required determination that people all most from other country. It is because getting a vise, changing money for Chinese cash, buying international fly tickets was very hard, challenging and demanding to others. But today, everyone from other country they fly to Beijing or Shanghai, it was very normal thing in their daily lives. It’s like travelling anywhere in the dawn of the new millennium. That very normality marks a vast change. Kevin says: “The truth is, as China has soared in every sphere at such a blinding pace, spurred on by brave new economic policies, it becomes inevitably linked with other parts of the global village”(1). Instead China likes an account of an ethno-centric; this will not only benefit firms themselves, but also be more beneficial for enterprises that need funds and the economic development of the country. because the nation is developing at an unhealthy and uneven rate. The pearl river delta gallops ahead to become what some visionaries see as the world’s most immense and potentially most wealthy conurbations, a vast metropolis embracing the present cities of Macau and Hong Kong, Fatshan and Guangzhou, Panyu and Dongguang and that miraculous skyscraper town of Shenzhen, which has sprouted like a cluster of gigantic concrete mushrooms along the northern bank of the Shenzhen river. The River is a big link around Guangdong province. Nowadays Pearl River not only plays an important role in north-south transportation, but has also brought about a thriving industry corridor, resulting in the formation of the Grand Canal Economic Belt.

I found the following book “China: a handbook in intercultural communication” by Brick Jean that deals with from this information, we can understand that if we need to have good intercultural communication, we should search the boundary lines of the people that you communicate with. “One of the most important resources for newcomers is people from a similar cultural background who have already been through the experience of adjustment” (2). Learning about other cultures is a good way to solve intercultural communication problems. There are two ways to learn different cultures.  One is objective approach and the other is subjective approach. Objective approach is the way that we learn knowledge of different cultures. Subjective approach is the way to learn about different cultures through interactions with people. We need to combine the two approaches to learn different cultures. Furthermore, I found “China’s New Nationalism (Pride, politics, and Diplomacy)” by Gries Peter Hays that deals with the same problem/content these matters also relate to the concept of “face”. We can understand that face is related to people’s feelings of self-worth and position in society. “Yue’s poem is no masterpiece, but it is a powerful and pure expression of sorrow over the deaths of three total strangers” (3). All people from different cultural backgrounds are involved in it to different levels. Chinese care very deeply about being treated with respect and protecting their honor, their face. However, for Chinese, it is very important. The stronger Chinese value of directness may cause trouble here. And if you come from a country where saving face is important, be assured that Chinese are not trying to make you lose face with their directness.

A great deal has been written about the nature of the culture shock experienced, to varying degrees, by all foreigners in China. “Essentially, just about everything is different for intercultural communication, not to mention the physical and natural environment, to name but the major ones” (4). Communication style is always influenced by different cultures. And give many ideas on how to communicate better with people from different cultural backgrounds. There is a common knowledge which is about everything having been process in this world especially the first step, and I think this is the most significant step in this whole process. The important of culture in language learning it is speed, memory, problem solving, flexibility, attention. I found other link source of. “Power distance is defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally” (5). Culture distance factors can include differences in culture values, language, verbal styles, nonverbal gestures, learning styles, decision-making styles, and conflict negotiation styles, as well as in religious, sociopolitical, and economic systems. Sometimes, languages also make people confused.

Culture shock and intercultural communication is very important in the world; and I will continue to learn a lot about communication from people of other cultures. In this way, I can have a good time when communicating with people and make a lot of friends. For the book useful tips on how business people and visitors should behave around Chinese clients or hosts, but irritatingly leaves out any and all difficult information about Chinese habits and customs that the average visitor including business people may be bewildered by, due to their strangeness or initial unpleasantness, but which to know about will help them both cope with and understand China better and ultimately, appreciate it more positively. I think that cultural background plays an important role in my life. Different cultures cause a lot of difficulties in dealing with intercultural communication. All the issues in the peer response groups cannot be fully understood, so the groups have to find ways to communicate with each other.

Works Cited:

(1)Sinclair Kevin & Iris Wong Po-yee“Culture Shock! China (A Guide to Customs and Etiquette)”, Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company, 1990 Kevin Sinclair, Revised 1996, 1999, Reprinted 1997, 1998, 1999. Portland, Oregon. USA. Page15.

(2) Brick Jean “China: a handbook in intercultural communication” National Center for English Language Teaching and Research Macquarie University 1991, Sydney NSW 2019. Page12.

(3) Gries Peter Hays “China’s New Nationalism (Pride, politics, and Diplomacy)” University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California. 2004 by The Regents of the University of California. Page14.

(4) http://middlekingdomlife.com/guide/culture-shock-china.htm/visited 10-1-2013

Link: Culture Shock China

(5)http://jasonkim29.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/power-distance-and-uncertainty-avoidance-in-china-2/ /visited 10-1-2013

Link: Power Distance