A Comparative Study Of Personal Space In Chinese And Western Cultures

With the development of globalization, the interaction between people with different languages and cultural backgrounds increases rapidly, and intercultural communication has become an important part in human communicative activities. In the process of communication, people also use nonverbal symbols apart from verbal symbols. It is well-accepted that more than 90% of the information is conveyed by gestures, eyeball contact, space and distance which are called nonverbal communication. So it is admitted that main part of our culture involves an unspoken rule that people should draw much more attention to these nonverbal elements which are often ignored in the conversations or public speeches. Nowadays, nonverbal communication is more used in the intercultural communication, so the task of incorporating conscious awareness to nonverbal communications is made more important.In human interpersonal communications, the human relations can be measured by the far or close interpersonal distance between people. The well-known American anthropologist Edward Hall holds that changes in the space have an impact on communication, and even sometimes their influences are more significant than words. Space language, one of the categories of non-verbal communication and one element of deep cultures, is an indispensable part on exploring the cultural differences among different countries. The spatial communication has a subtle but pervasive influence on communication style and is, to a great degree, determined by one's culture, including one's historical development, environmental factors and perspective of value system. It is noted that different spatial systems are the important factors causing the misunderstanding and failure in cross-cultural communication. Therefore, the problem of cultural differences must be stressed.To better analyze the difference in personal space across cultures, this thesis carries out a comparative study on people's attitudes towards personal space in interpersonal communication between Chinese and western world with the aim to promote the mutual understanding and trust in intercultural communication. Through a comparative study of space cultures between Chinese and western countries, we should try to raise cross-cultural consciousness, overcome ethnocentrism, promote mutual-understanding, and finally reach the aim of successful communication.The thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter one serves as an introduction to the thesis. In chapter two, the basic knowledge about intercultural communication, nonverbal communication and personal space are discussed as well as the introduction of the relevant theories used in this thesis, such as Hall's four spatial distances and his three general categories of proxemics. Chapter three is an empirical study which presents a questionnaire on personal space involving 100 participants from four countries in order to investigate the cultural roots of this difference which constitutes the different attitudes between Chinese and western nations. Chapter four discusses the cultural roots of personal space's differences between Chinese and western culture are introduced and analyzed respectively. Chapter five points out several intercultural implications and puts forward some suggestions for improving people's intercultural communication competence, meanwhile it emphasizes the importance of understanding and appreciating the difference and seeking similarities of different cultures in intercultural communication.