Culture Shock! China - A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette, 2nd Edition

50 CultureShock! China

Focus on Education

One aspect of Confucian values which continues to have

a very strong and largely very positive effect on Chinese

culture is the traditional Confucian reverence for learning.

This is a large factor behind China’s literacy rates, among the

highest in the developing world (and in urban areas among

the highest in the world), and behind her growing prowess in

engineering, math and science. It is also, by the way, one of

the central factors in the complex ‘model minority’ status that

overseas Chinese tend to have in the US and other countries,

for good or bad.

Respect for teachers remains strong in China; anyone who

has taught courses there can speak to the pleasure of teaching

in an environment where students are generally not only

eager to learn and hardworking but actually still compete

to carry bags for and otherwise support the teacher. In fact,

this respect extends to anyone who takes on a teaching role,

which is part of why, from a business perspective, it is so

important for expatriates to take on training and mentoring

responsibilities, and why outreach to local universities can

be such effective corporate positioning. See Chapter Nine on

business for more details.

Buddhism and Daoism

Many have commented on the ways that Chinese

interpretations of Buddhism and local Chinese traditions of

Daoism both encourage a culture of self-restraint and distrust

of passion. Historian Orville Schell writes of the Chinese

concept of ping, which is often translated as ‘peace’, but

literally means ‘flatness’. The famously ‘inscrutable’ Chinese

face is really a reflection of this ideal of calm self-restraint.

Once you have been in China

for some time, you’ll find that

Chinese faces are as readable

as Western faces, but the cues

are subtler. For more on this,

see the section on non-verbal

communication in Chapter Eight

on language.

China’s Daoist and Buddhist
‘hermit’ traditions have their
modern counterparts also, not
just in revived (and growing)
monasteries and nunneries
throughout China, but in
such fringe groups as artist’s
colonies.