220 CultureShock! China
mixed situations, the Chinese say nothing. This explains
much of the famous ‘quietness’ of Chinese students
in Western colleges, of Chinese team-mates in cross-
cultural business situations, and of Chinese journalists in
mixed press conferences dominated by their garrulous
Western colleagues. Westerners who seek to benefit from
the wisdom and deep local knowledge of their Chinese
colleagues, friends, students or teachers need to be aware of
this and adjust accordingly. In the case of the press
conference, it may be necessary to segregate and have
separate events for Chinese and Western media. In the case of
the students or the colleagues, it may be necessary for
whoever is leading the discussion to deliberately hold off
acknowledging some comments or follow-up questions
from Western participants in order to encourage Chinese
participants to speak.Outside the Courtyard
Not all aspects of Chinese non-verbal communication have to do with
Chinese tending to be quieter and more tentative than Westerners.
In crowd situations, with strangers toward whom they have no
social obligations, Chinese can be, from the Western perspective,
surprisingly loud, pushy and lacking in manners. The great Cambridge
Sinologist Dr Joseph Needham wrote about what he called the Chinese
‘courtyard vision of the world’: inside the courtyards of their lives (at
home, school or work), Chinese tend to be models of tact, care and
attention. Outside the courtyard with strangers, there are generally
no holds barred. If you want to get to a ticket window, get on a bus,
make your way through a crowded entrance or otherwise negotiate in
situations with large numbers of Chinese strangers, you too may need
to sharpen your elbows. Many an expat has found a need to re-learn
culturally appropriate ‘crowd manners’ once they returned home.It is also worth noting that Chinese people, used to small
and crowded spaces, tend to stand closer to other speakers
than do Westerners. And finally, in terms of what the non-
verbal communications experts call ‘olfactics’, it is worth
noting that Chinese tend to judge cleanliness by sight more
than by smell. We sniff armpits to see if a shirt can be worn
again; Chinese peer closely for stains. So, be careful about