China's Culture Wars (Continued)
Posted by Dan on April 29, 2006 at 06:28 PM
Discussion: Comments (1) : TrackBacks (2) : Linking Blogs : Add to del.icio.us
The other day, in a post entitled, "To Succeed in China Know the Now," I blogged on the relative importance of knowing Chinese culture for doing business in China. My views on this are summarized here:
Knowledge of Chinese history and culture is an asset for doing business in China. However, because circumstances in China change so quickly, staying abreast of China's current situation is far more important than knowing its past. The most successful businesses in China usually emphasize knowing their own businesses inside and out first, understanding China today second, and China's history and culture third.
Asia Business Law Blog just did an excellent job probing the need for cultural knowledge in a two part series, entitled, "Do The Top Ten Cultural Tips For Doing Business In China Really Help?" Their first post quotes from Doug Berman, a second year law student at Indiana University School of Law (who I actually had the pleasure of meeting when I was there lecturing on International Law a year and a half ago) who also questions the value of the books that purport to teach a nation's culture in a few hundred pages:
How many more books do we need by the new China hand on the block explaining to the wide-eyed corporate executives the top ten tricks to put in one's knapsack?
While I am hardly an insider, over the years I have seen (and you probably have as well) how people of similar extraction in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China may behave quite differently in certain respects. Even in China, such "fixed" cultural attributes find variation among young/old, educated/uneducated. It is odd that such books often tout the tremendous changes in China and then fall back on cultural essentialisms...
Moreover, and more fundamentally, knowing that "guanxi" is important only takes one so far. In many ways, learning Chinese culture (or any culture for that matter) is a lot like learning chess. The basic rules are easily memorized; responding to every situation that can arise is very, very difficult. No wonder we often fall back on our acquired understanding and background when the going gets rough. I think the problem is that very few foreigners, especially businesspeople, are willing to put in the many years to learn the language, get that Ph.D. in anthropology or East Asian studies, and, more importantly, immerse themselves in the culture.
I like Asia Business Law Blog's reply to Doug because though it recognizes the inherent value in learning another's language and culture, it also makes clear it is quite acceptable for that not to be the businessperson's primary goal:
I love your well-founded skepticism about providing businesspeople with drive-thru lessons about China. I was reading about the philosopher Zhuangzi yesterday and he said something to the effect that our lives are limited and what there is to learn is unlimited. Taking the finite to learn about the infinite is an inspiring conundrum, but I think it highlights nicely the fact that people make choices about what they want to achieve in life, and the businessperson wants to increase their profit margin. Others, perhaps not unlike yourself, want to truly learn and understand the culture, which requires learning the language and actually being in the culture.
Doug then replies, in part two of the series, by conceding that knowing about culture is not always a prerequisite to commercial success in China:
Putting aside my obvious passion for China and a bias against people who represent the MNC [multinational corporation] view (which, unfortunately, I made all too obvious in my earlier post to you), I do think there is an argument to make that knowing about culture may not always be a prerequisite to commercial success in China. For many reasons, I would like not to believe that, given that it downgrades my own stock. On the other hand, the post Dan cites does not say this, merely that MNCs understand how to make money and do localize to the extent they need to do so.
Doug goes on to say that he still considers knowing the language and culture as very useful:
My tentative answer is still that knowing the language and culture is very useful, at least on an individual level, at the very least because it is important to the Chinese themselves and gives respect. No other country have I been to where speaking the mother tongue takes you so far.
I agree with all of this. The Chinese (like every other culture of which I am familiar, with the exception of the French) greatly appreciate foreigners who have an interest in Chinese culture and language. No country appreciates the stereotypical "ugly American" and I always strongly advise anyone doing business in China to learn the basics of Chinese culture, etiquette and language before going there for even the first time. Something as simple as just knowing how to say "I am pleased to meet you" in Chinese goes an incredibly long way towards showing your Chinese hosts that you care about their country and about them.
Ever since I read an article in the most recent Fast Company Magazine issue, entitled, "The Mintz Dynasty," I have been waiting for an opportunity to use a great question posed in it. The article itself is on the huge successes achieved by the Dynamic Marketing Group, an advertising and communications agency formed by Dan Mintz in Beijing eleven years ago. The question, from Dan Mintz, in many ways sums up the whole issue on culture. Mintz complains about Westerners coming to China and then he asks this question and gives his own answer:
Why would you think people in government here all think the same when there's nowhere else in the world where that's the case?" Mintz asks. "It's like thinking every Chinese guy knows kung fu.
Anyone who thinks they know China and its .3 billion plus inhabitants from reading a few books is as misguided as those who think every Chinese guy knows kung fu. Anyone who thinks reading a few books on Chinese culture gives them the measure of the individual Chinese person with whom they are dealing is mistaken.
http://203.208.39.99/search?q=cache:Iydfm2jycPoJ:www.chinalawblog.com/2006/04/chinas_culture_wars_continued.html+china+culture+war%EF%BC%9F&hl=zh-CN&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=cn&client=aff-cs-maxthon&st_usg=ALhdy29fKMkj7EQZq3d3G6OoHhmEkmnCxA
Posted by Dan on April 29, 2006 at 06:28 PM
Discussion: Comments (1) : TrackBacks (2) : Linking Blogs : Add to del.icio.us
The other day, in a post entitled, "To Succeed in China Know the Now," I blogged on the relative importance of knowing Chinese culture for doing business in China. My views on this are summarized here:
Knowledge of Chinese history and culture is an asset for doing business in China. However, because circumstances in China change so quickly, staying abreast of China's current situation is far more important than knowing its past. The most successful businesses in China usually emphasize knowing their own businesses inside and out first, understanding China today second, and China's history and culture third.
Asia Business Law Blog just did an excellent job probing the need for cultural knowledge in a two part series, entitled, "Do The Top Ten Cultural Tips For Doing Business In China Really Help?" Their first post quotes from Doug Berman, a second year law student at Indiana University School of Law (who I actually had the pleasure of meeting when I was there lecturing on International Law a year and a half ago) who also questions the value of the books that purport to teach a nation's culture in a few hundred pages:
How many more books do we need by the new China hand on the block explaining to the wide-eyed corporate executives the top ten tricks to put in one's knapsack?
While I am hardly an insider, over the years I have seen (and you probably have as well) how people of similar extraction in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China may behave quite differently in certain respects. Even in China, such "fixed" cultural attributes find variation among young/old, educated/uneducated. It is odd that such books often tout the tremendous changes in China and then fall back on cultural essentialisms...
Moreover, and more fundamentally, knowing that "guanxi" is important only takes one so far. In many ways, learning Chinese culture (or any culture for that matter) is a lot like learning chess. The basic rules are easily memorized; responding to every situation that can arise is very, very difficult. No wonder we often fall back on our acquired understanding and background when the going gets rough. I think the problem is that very few foreigners, especially businesspeople, are willing to put in the many years to learn the language, get that Ph.D. in anthropology or East Asian studies, and, more importantly, immerse themselves in the culture.
I like Asia Business Law Blog's reply to Doug because though it recognizes the inherent value in learning another's language and culture, it also makes clear it is quite acceptable for that not to be the businessperson's primary goal:
I love your well-founded skepticism about providing businesspeople with drive-thru lessons about China. I was reading about the philosopher Zhuangzi yesterday and he said something to the effect that our lives are limited and what there is to learn is unlimited. Taking the finite to learn about the infinite is an inspiring conundrum, but I think it highlights nicely the fact that people make choices about what they want to achieve in life, and the businessperson wants to increase their profit margin. Others, perhaps not unlike yourself, want to truly learn and understand the culture, which requires learning the language and actually being in the culture.
Doug then replies, in part two of the series, by conceding that knowing about culture is not always a prerequisite to commercial success in China:
Putting aside my obvious passion for China and a bias against people who represent the MNC [multinational corporation] view (which, unfortunately, I made all too obvious in my earlier post to you), I do think there is an argument to make that knowing about culture may not always be a prerequisite to commercial success in China. For many reasons, I would like not to believe that, given that it downgrades my own stock. On the other hand, the post Dan cites does not say this, merely that MNCs understand how to make money and do localize to the extent they need to do so.
Doug goes on to say that he still considers knowing the language and culture as very useful:
My tentative answer is still that knowing the language and culture is very useful, at least on an individual level, at the very least because it is important to the Chinese themselves and gives respect. No other country have I been to where speaking the mother tongue takes you so far.
I agree with all of this. The Chinese (like every other culture of which I am familiar, with the exception of the French) greatly appreciate foreigners who have an interest in Chinese culture and language. No country appreciates the stereotypical "ugly American" and I always strongly advise anyone doing business in China to learn the basics of Chinese culture, etiquette and language before going there for even the first time. Something as simple as just knowing how to say "I am pleased to meet you" in Chinese goes an incredibly long way towards showing your Chinese hosts that you care about their country and about them.
Ever since I read an article in the most recent Fast Company Magazine issue, entitled, "The Mintz Dynasty," I have been waiting for an opportunity to use a great question posed in it. The article itself is on the huge successes achieved by the Dynamic Marketing Group, an advertising and communications agency formed by Dan Mintz in Beijing eleven years ago. The question, from Dan Mintz, in many ways sums up the whole issue on culture. Mintz complains about Westerners coming to China and then he asks this question and gives his own answer:
Why would you think people in government here all think the same when there's nowhere else in the world where that's the case?" Mintz asks. "It's like thinking every Chinese guy knows kung fu.
Anyone who thinks they know China and its .3 billion plus inhabitants from reading a few books is as misguided as those who think every Chinese guy knows kung fu. Anyone who thinks reading a few books on Chinese culture gives them the measure of the individual Chinese person with whom they are dealing is mistaken.
http://203.208.39.99/search?q=cache:Iydfm2jycPoJ:www.chinalawblog.com/2006/04/chinas_culture_wars_continued.html+china+culture+war%EF%BC%9F&hl=zh-CN&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=cn&client=aff-cs-maxthon&st_usg=ALhdy29fKMkj7EQZq3d3G6OoHhmEkmnCxA
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第1个回答 2008-12-15
I and Olympic Games
Olympic Games is window, I keep watch. This is a maximum window, had been rubbed bright. Through it, those that see are worlds. Here, it is changing every day, here burgeoning thing is being replaced. Have only me, this loyalty keep watch, it is paying attention to it every day, hopes to know it more. Olympic Games is crossing, I am pedestrian. There are many persons who pass here every day, there is Asian, have European, there is old person, have child. Here is traffic fort, joins the friend of all corners of the country. I pass the one of persons of hundreds of millions of here merely, cross it, go to another world. Olympic Games is Holy Land, I am volunteer. This is the land with pure flat, has holy fire from start to finish to accompany in side. Just because it is so, I pay out voluntarily for it, I will let my strength, let this slice of land more clean, let more ones know it, is also willing to devote oneself to it as me. I still help to the person who comes to here, let them enjoy the happiness of this slice of Holy Land. Olympic Games is platform, I am host. It has put up platform for us , lets world know us; It has built bridge for us , lets us and world link up better. This platform may let us display self wantonly. I am the host of here, I am proud to be the host of here. I will let the friendship of landlord, let guest experience enthusiasm and happiness.
可以结合专业人士的讲解
Olympic Games is window, I keep watch. This is a maximum window, had been rubbed bright. Through it, those that see are worlds. Here, it is changing every day, here burgeoning thing is being replaced. Have only me, this loyalty keep watch, it is paying attention to it every day, hopes to know it more. Olympic Games is crossing, I am pedestrian. There are many persons who pass here every day, there is Asian, have European, there is old person, have child. Here is traffic fort, joins the friend of all corners of the country. I pass the one of persons of hundreds of millions of here merely, cross it, go to another world. Olympic Games is Holy Land, I am volunteer. This is the land with pure flat, has holy fire from start to finish to accompany in side. Just because it is so, I pay out voluntarily for it, I will let my strength, let this slice of land more clean, let more ones know it, is also willing to devote oneself to it as me. I still help to the person who comes to here, let them enjoy the happiness of this slice of Holy Land. Olympic Games is platform, I am host. It has put up platform for us , lets world know us; It has built bridge for us , lets us and world link up better. This platform may let us display self wantonly. I am the host of here, I am proud to be the host of here. I will let the friendship of landlord, let guest experience enthusiasm and happiness.
可以结合专业人士的讲解
第2个回答 2008-12-14
I and Olympic Games
Olympic Games is window, I keep watch. This is a maximum window, had been rubbed bright. Through it, those that see are worlds. Here, it is changing every day, here burgeoning thing is being replaced. Have only me, this loyalty keep watch, it is paying attention to it every day, hopes to know it more. Olympic Games is crossing, I am pedestrian. There are many persons who pass here every day, there is Asian, have European, there is old person, have child. Here is traffic fort, joins the friend of all corners of the country. I pass the one of persons of hundreds of millions of here merely, cross it, go to another world. Olympic Games is Holy Land, I am volunteer. This is the land with pure flat, has holy fire from start to finish to accompany in side. Just because it is so, I pay out voluntarily for it, I will let my strength, let this slice of land more clean, let more ones know it, is also willing to devote oneself to it as me. I still help to the person who comes to here, let them enjoy the happiness of this slice of Holy Land. Olympic Games is platform, I am host. It has put up platform for us , lets world know us; It has built bridge for us , lets us and world link up better. This platform may let us display self wantonly. I am the host of here, I am proud to be the host of here. I will let the friendship of landlord, let guest experience enthusiasm and happiness.
Olympic Games is window, I keep watch. This is a maximum window, had been rubbed bright. Through it, those that see are worlds. Here, it is changing every day, here burgeoning thing is being replaced. Have only me, this loyalty keep watch, it is paying attention to it every day, hopes to know it more. Olympic Games is crossing, I am pedestrian. There are many persons who pass here every day, there is Asian, have European, there is old person, have child. Here is traffic fort, joins the friend of all corners of the country. I pass the one of persons of hundreds of millions of here merely, cross it, go to another world. Olympic Games is Holy Land, I am volunteer. This is the land with pure flat, has holy fire from start to finish to accompany in side. Just because it is so, I pay out voluntarily for it, I will let my strength, let this slice of land more clean, let more ones know it, is also willing to devote oneself to it as me. I still help to the person who comes to here, let them enjoy the happiness of this slice of Holy Land. Olympic Games is platform, I am host. It has put up platform for us , lets world know us; It has built bridge for us , lets us and world link up better. This platform may let us display self wantonly. I am the host of here, I am proud to be the host of here. I will let the friendship of landlord, let guest experience enthusiasm and happiness.
第3个回答 2008-12-14
I and Olympic Games
Olympic Games is window, I keep watch. This is a maximum window, had been rubbed bright. Through it, those that see are worlds. Here, it is changing every day, here burgeoning thing is being replaced. Have only me, this loyalty keep watch, it is paying attention to it every day, hopes to know it more. Olympic Games is crossing, I am pedestrian. There are many persons who pass here every day, there is Asian, have European, there is old person, have child. Here is traffic fort, joins the friend of all corners of the country. I pass the one of persons of hundreds of millions of here merely, cross it, go to another world. Olympic Games is Holy Land, I am volunteer. This is the land with pure flat, has holy fire from start to finish to accompany in side. Just because it is so, I pay out voluntarily for it, I will let my strength, let this slice of land more clean, let more ones know it, is also willing to devote oneself to it as me. I still help to the person who comes to here, let them enjoy the happiness of this slice of Holy Land. Olympic Games is platform, I am host. It has put up platform for us , lets world know us; It has built bridge for us , lets us and world link up better. This platform may let us display self wantonly. I am the host of here, I am proud to be the host of here. I will let the friendship of landlord, let guest experience enthusiasm and happiness.
这个行吗？？？？？？
Olympic Games is window, I keep watch. This is a maximum window, had been rubbed bright. Through it, those that see are worlds. Here, it is changing every day, here burgeoning thing is being replaced. Have only me, this loyalty keep watch, it is paying attention to it every day, hopes to know it more. Olympic Games is crossing, I am pedestrian. There are many persons who pass here every day, there is Asian, have European, there is old person, have child. Here is traffic fort, joins the friend of all corners of the country. I pass the one of persons of hundreds of millions of here merely, cross it, go to another world. Olympic Games is Holy Land, I am volunteer. This is the land with pure flat, has holy fire from start to finish to accompany in side. Just because it is so, I pay out voluntarily for it, I will let my strength, let this slice of land more clean, let more ones know it, is also willing to devote oneself to it as me. I still help to the person who comes to here, let them enjoy the happiness of this slice of Holy Land. Olympic Games is platform, I am host. It has put up platform for us , lets world know us; It has built bridge for us , lets us and world link up better. This platform may let us display self wantonly. I am the host of here, I am proud to be the host of here. I will let the friendship of landlord, let guest experience enthusiasm and happiness.
这个行吗？？？？？？
参考资料：www.baidu.com
第4个回答 2019-04-15
My
opinion
on
copying
others'
homework
It
is
konwn
to
us
all
that
some
students
copy
others'
homework,their
reasons
are
as
below:first
of
all,the
homework
is
too
much
and
always
difficult;the
second,they
are
not
intrested
in
the
lessons;and
the
third,the
aim
of
finishing
their
homework
is
to
please
the
teacher.
In
my
opinion,copying
others'
homework
is
not
good,because
it's
against
the
rules
of
the
school.We
should
be
honest
and
work
hard
to
get
high
scores.If
we
have
difficulties,we
can
even
ask
the
teacher
or
our
classmates
for
their
help.
opinion
on
copying
others'
homework
It
is
konwn
to
us
all
that
some
students
copy
others'
homework,their
reasons
are
as
below:first
of
all,the
homework
is
too
much
and
always
difficult;the
second,they
are
not
intrested
in
the
lessons;and
the
third,the
aim
of
finishing
their
homework
is
to
please
the
teacher.
In
my
opinion,copying
others'
homework
is
not
good,because
it's
against
the
rules
of
the
school.We
should
be
honest
and
work
hard
to
get
high
scores.If
we
have
difficulties,we
can
even
ask
the
teacher
or
our
classmates
for
their
help.
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