First, a few definitions of High-context culture online:
"A high-context culture is a culture in which the individual has internalized meaning and information, so that little is explicitly stated in written or spoken messages. In conversation, the listener knows what is meant; because the speaker and listener share the same knowledge and assumptions, the listener can piece together the speaker's meaning. China is a high-context culture."
"Chinese is a high-context language, which means that it is very different to English, Danish and the majority of other European languages. High-context means that to understand and be understood, you must have a keen understanding and sense of the social and situational aspects of your conversation. In short, Chinese has lots of unwritten rules, many more than in English, that are essential to create meaning. In high context languages, what is said, the meaning of the words, is only comprehensible in terms of many important social realities, most importantly, the relationship between the speaker and the listener."----Skip Bowman
From various identifications, I sum up two interpretations of Chinese being high context culture:
a). A lot of unwritten rules and meanings that are not said or verbally expressed during communication-----Chinese are silent and shy;
b). Conversations contain a lot of extra meanings----Chinese are noisy and pointless.
And they are both true. There are numerous examples to give from my past experience in agencies:
Ask a supplier if something can be provided in time, his answer would be"Yes, but I need more time/it takes extra hard-working/I need to double check with my colleague/The traffic is terrible these days". All these would mean he wanted to increase the price;
Pitch with a client, give him/her the creative idea. If the response was a short" That's good." + silence(not pause, the kind of silence in which the speaker doesn't even have the slightest intention to start the conversation again), it means" That's a crap idea and I dont want it.";
Dinner with someone from the government side(which is a crucial part to build up your "Guanxi" in business), if for the whole three hours you find yourself into conversations that's all about his/her family/children stuff, dont lose patience. You are actually getting closer to become his "insider" and not very far from nailing the deal. However, if the dinner was short and focused on the business side only, you might not get much chance on it.
According to Eaton Consulting Group, there are a few characteristic features in Chinese culture that are emphazied: a collective culture; Hierarchy; The Importance of Face; Guanxi; The influence of Confucianism and Taoism. I agree with most of the opinion but my perceptions are silently different with what's been said on their website. The following is based on my personal experience and understanding of our culture.
Collective Culture: True. Although it takes ages to walk out of our history, collectivism is having weaker and weaker influence on younger generations, and has caused some concerns regarding moral education for the future Chinese, as collectivism has always been morally admired while individualism tend to connect with rebellion.
The importance of Face: Face, sometimes matters more than life. In some situations, Face is interpreted by Chinese as dignity. You need to keep your face all the time, and dont do anything that would lose someone else's face. That belief can explain why Chinese people avoid direct answers all the time: we do not want to make you lose your face by saying "no", so we invented thousands of different ways to indicate the meaning of "no" which can also save face to both sides of the conversation.
Any kind of disputes, arguments or disagreements would be seen as potential causes leading to "lose face". Therefore Chinese people like to maintain the "harmony" even just on the surface. There's a phrase as "Speak in a gentle/nice way（有话好好说）", with the hidden meaning of "any problem can be solved if we speak in a rather indirect and kind and polite way."
A rather extreme example is the empress dowager Cixi, famous for leading Qing Dynasty into complete ruins over a hundred years ago. In 1894, the empress was about to have her 60th Birthday, despite desperately tight navy budget and the economic situation of the whole country, despite all the courtiers begging her in tears, CiXi was determined to throw out an extravagant celebration, including building the Summer Palace. Her reason was:" My 60th Birthday celebration is not for me, an old lady, it's for the country, to save the face of Qing Dynasty. It's to show to all other countries that our Kingdom is capable and strong, and economically thriving." And she gained some support from that reason.
Of course in the end, she lost the navy battle with Japanese, she also lost her kingdom. But just look how far Chinese would go for the purpose of "saving face".
Guanxi: Guanxi can be translated as relationship. But it's more than relationship with little gifts exchanging around. Guanxi is more personal and more involving. If you have a good Guanxi with someone in work, that means you at least know his/her family for a while. This of course involves gifts exchanging in festivals and mutual benefits sharing. But true friendship also comes out of it. Chinese people are never good at(or not wanting to) separating business networking completely from personal relationships, a single word, Guanxi, includes them both. And it's an important element to evaluate whether you are a successful person in the society.
The influence of Confucianism and Taoism: Most confusing part: Confucianism is not a religion while taoism is. Actually, taoism(developed from our own history) and Buddhism(imported from India in Tang Dynasty) are the two most popular religions in China, while Confucianism is the core principles and ideas of Chinese culture, which influences every single aspect of everyday life in China.
Confucius
Confucianism values harmony, hierarchy, benevolence and morals. Some of its ideas blend in with Taoism, as taoism values harmony with the nature and avoiding conflicts most. Ask any Chinese people, they may say "I'm a Buddhist, I believe in Buddhism." ( as my grandma does. She was converted from an atheist about ten years ago and goes to the temple every two weeks regularly)，but nobody would say" I believe in Confucianism.", as it's not a religion and there is nothing to "not believe" in Confucianism. we all obey the rules: respect the older people, try to remain peaceful and calm with the surroundings, avoid conflicts,and be moderate, etc. Even for those few who remain illiterate and have no idea who Confucius is. It's running in the blood.
Public Relations in High Context Culture China:
A few brief thoughts.
Geographically, Northern China has more high context culture environment than Southern China.
PR practitioners in Public Sector,Political Communication and NGO sectors would need to be prepared for more high context environment, while for Fashion and consumer PR, a relatively low context culture has formed in China and is more acceptable to direct communications and expressions. It's also a reflection of different age groups.
Economically more developed cities and areas (aka Tier 1 & Tier 2 cities in China) is more low context compared to those underdeveloped areas.
For young people who received modern education and live in cities(as myself does) who also are the key target group to FMCG industry , work and career environment tend to be relatively low context, while personal life remains in a high context level.
Everybody is talking about how big Chinese market is. The truth is, however, this huge market also require specific targeting. There are so many sub-cultures for PR practitioners to know(as the same in other countries), simply using "high context" is far from enough to describe or truly understand it. High context or low context, we should always start with mutual respect.
References:
Amy Tan "The Joy Luck Club"Chinese Communication Style, Zach Skyles Owens
The Culture Context--China,Eaton Consulting Group
Talent in China: Face & Context, Frank Mulligan
Culture Differences: High Context vs Low ContextHigh Context vs Low Context Communication
