http://www.fathom.com/course/21701776/session5.html

August 29 2OO6 / University of Michigan

There are important cultural differences between China and the West, and as well as between China and other parts of Asia. Studies have shown that the Chinese are generally more comfortable working in environments where job descriptions and lines of reporting are clearly defined, and where relationships between superiors and subordinates are formal and distant.

The Chinese are more likely than Americans to describe themselves in terms of memberships in groups rather than in terms of individual achievement. Outward signs of Western influence among China's urban youth--from wearing jeans to eating at McDonald's--do not mean that these youth have rejected Chinese values, and in most cases their most important life decisions--where to work, where to live, whom to marry--are more influenced by their parents than are the decisions of America's youth.

In a business context, however, broad generalizations about Chinese culture are not very useful. Individual Chinese personalities vary according to family background, education, work experience, and a host of other factors, and appreciating this tremendous diversity is much more important than learning about broad cultural norms. Newcomers to China, for example, immediately notice the difference between Chinese people who work in state-owned companies and those who work in the semiprivate sector.

Attitudes toward work also vary greatly according to age, and despite more than a half-decade of Communism, multinationals are still able to find young managers who are eager to work for firms that reward personal achievement rather than seniority and political loyalty. Finally, China seems to have the same fraction of potential entrepreneurs and innovators as any other country--maybe more, given that China's strong family system can act as a safety net when new businesses fail.

cutely aware of their country's disastrous encounters with foreign powers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. With a series of wars, beginning with the Opium War in 1840 and ending with World War II, the European powers, as well as Russia and Japan, took their turns at extracting major diplomatic and territorial concessions from China.

Some parts, such as Hong Kong, became true colonies, while other, "semicolonial" parts remained Chinese but subject to foreign law. Chinese nationalism grew rapidly after World War I, when the Treaty of Versailles gave the German colony of Shandong to the Japanese rather than returning it to China. After the Communist victory in 1949, the Soviet Union was China's principal ally, but it was never a close alliance, and the relationship deteriorated into armed conflict in 1960.

For most Chinese, the lesson from recent history is that foreigners and their motives should be treated with extreme caution, if not outright suspicion, and that it is China's military strength, rather than the good intentions of foreigners, that prevents history from repeating itself.

Americans are educated to believe that their policies and practices toward China during this period were more enlightened those of the Europeans, and most Americans still believe that the United States has never owned colonies, including the Philippines.

The Chinese, on the other hand, tend to lump all foreign powers together when they talk about their past. To the extent that America is singled out as being different from other foreign powers, it is as the protector of Taiwan, which the vast majority of Chinese believe should be returned to China, and as China's main enemy during the Korean War.

The complicated and volatile relationship between China and the United States can have an impact on personal relationships. Americans traveling and working in China should be prepared to confront anti-American sentiment from all types of Chinese, even the urban, educated elite that foreign executives encounter in disproportionate numbers.

A common starting point is to be asked about a specific American policy or statement about China--perhaps a recent quote from a senior administrative official about Taiwan, or a speech by the American president on human rights in China. Rather than enter into a debate about the subject at hand, many Americans will respond by trying to separate themselves from the actions of their own government, pointing out that the American people are not the same thing as the American government.

This defense is perceived as somewhat disingenuous, however, because polls show that most Americans are in fact suspicious of China's global ambitions and deplore its human rights record. Educated Chinese who understand the American political system--and many of them do--will point out that democracies are supposed to elect officials who reflect the attitudes and opinions of their constituents.

The situation is complicated by several factors. For one, there are pundits in the United States who advocate a much more confrontational stance toward China, although their ideas are still not in the mainstream; for another, the Chinese government does not hesitate to fuel negative public attitudes toward the United States to its own advantage.

Access to foreign news and information through such means as satellite television, the Internet and foreign travel has done little to change public attitudes toward the United States, and the Internet may in fact contribute to the rapid development and dissemination of conspiracy theories about American intentions.

The successful approach you might want to take in order to avoid conflict is to openly acknowledge that many Americans have negative opinions toward China--without stating whether one agrees with them--while at the same time pointing out that Americans also admire many aspects of contemporary China, such as its record of economic achievement. Conversations on sensitive topics work better when personal relations between a Chinese and a foreigner have matured to the point where a certain amount of tension will not threaten to destroy the entire relationship.