首页 现代国际礼仪:英文版

●Different Modes of Social Interaction

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Both Chinese culture and Occidental culture attach great importance to interpersonal relationship.However,they are clearly different in exchanging ideas.Chinese are very warm and hospitable,they think much of relationships but the privacy does not seem to be preserved.It is granted to ask the age,occupation,income,marital status,children and other issues with each other.Occidental generally do not like that.Chinese may ask the price of goods bought by others directly.In the eyes of Chinese people,the price is only for items or rank,which shows the quality of goods.But for Occidental,if you do in the same way,it may be regarded as the inquiry of other’s economic conditions,which is one of Occidental privacy not to be asked straightly.If you want to know the price in details,you can only skillfully praise the achievement of the goods.In this way,Occidental may tell you if it is cheap or expensive in general,but they normally do not tell you the price.Chinese prefer to ask “where are you heading for?” when they meet others,which is just considered as a form of greeting in China.While when it happens in the United States,it might make the other feel embarrassed,because it belongs to other’s private affairs you should not interfere in.In addition,the distance of the interaction between people can be divided into four types.They are close distance,individual distance,social distance and public distance.Chinese people’s kind relatively belongs to close distance.We often see two Chinese girls walking in the street arm-in-arm which is seldom to see in Occident.Occidental might think that Chinese are too close; while conversely,Chinese feel that Occidental are very indifferent,arrogant,distant with others,and unfriendly.If Chinese people find that there is a thrum in other’s clothes,they will naturally pick it off,which is a bad manner in the eyes of Occidental.When a Chinese people encounter a friend who wears very pretty clothes,he/she will stroke the clothes before asking price or texture,but an Occidental people,instead of doing in that way,will directly compliment his/her friends and his/her beautiful clothes.