Sino-British interaction in professional contexts

Abstract

This paper consists of two main sections. Section 2 provides a brief overview of and background to basic aspects of communication in a Chinese context. It provides some introductory information on the Chinese language, on naming patterns and on forms of address in the Chinese culture. It thus helps the reader gain some useful background information on Chinese communication, some of which applies to the interactional differences addressed in Section 3. The second section forms the largest part of the paper and discusses issues that members of the eChina-UK Programme (http://www.echinauk.org/) found particularly salient. It draws on case study examples, including recordings of project meetings, in order to exemplify communication issues that can impact on mutual understanding. We hope that these materials will help people with little experience of interacting with members of the Chinese culture to grasp some of the communication differences they may encounter. However, we strongly encourage the reader to refrain from forming immutable expectations of what communication with Chinese partners will be like. Rather, our aim is to increase sensitivity to the Chinese context and to raise awareness of the differences in interactional norms and principles that people may experience