A Contrastive Study Of Nonverbal Communication Between Chinese And American Business Interactions

With the rapid development of economy and its entrance into WTO. China has become the mainstay in world economy since China’s reform and opening. The trade between countries becomes more and more frequent. As the Sino-US economic cooperation has now been an important force in pushing forward the process of globalization, attention should be paid to the business interactions between China and America. China is the largest developing country while America is the most developed country in the world. The business interactions between these two parties have increased dramatically in the past decades. Chinese leaders also wish to expand the business activities far beyond the local markets and have taken a series of measures to offer a steady environment for foreign investors. These measures also arouse Chinese companies’interest in investing in America. We have every reason to believe that the business interactions between these two countries will grow more and better in the future.International business interactions are international activities. To get trade success, it is very important to understand the different cultural environments among countries and think about all cultural factors. Nonverbal communication, as a very important part of intercultural communication, is drawing more and more scholars’ attention. Just like verbal communication, it is a vital part in the process of human communication. It includes all those nonverbal stimuli in a communication setting that are generated by both the source and his or her use of the environment and that have potential message value for the source or the receiver. This paper studies the differences of nonverbal communication between Chinese and American business interactions from cultural perspectives. Culture is one of the most important factors influencing business interactions all the way. Different factors lead to cultural differences. Collective culture stresses harmony, connection with and independence on group or the society. And it tries to be harmonious with the whole environment. In contrast, individualistic culture puts emphasis on the individual itself and its own achievement. It is not closely connected to the group or society. In strong context cultures, much information is either in contexts or internalized in the person which means people are sensitive to the subtle environment cues. In weak context cultures, most information is given to the explicit code. So people are accustomed to communicating with the power of language itself. In high uncertainty avoidance cultures, people feel threatened for uncertain or ambiguous things and attempt to stop them. However, in low uncertainty avoidance societies, people usually have sense of safety. They tend to have a relaxed living attitude and encourage themselves to take risks. Meanwhile, people in the high power distance cultures are told that some people are nobler than others by nature. So they have more power. And It is more meaningful to respect power than equality. However, people in low power distance cultures are taught that people are born to be equal. Though some people have more advantages than others at birth, that does not mean they are superior to others.The writer makes a comprehensive study of nonverbal communication in this paper. It involves its research situation at home and abroad, definitions, characteristics, functions and classifications. Nonverbal communication is universal, contextual, conventional and ambiguous. It serves multiple functions in intercultural communication, including repeating, complementing, regulating, substituting, contradicting and reinforcing. Nonverbal communication is generally divided into four kinds:kinesics, object language, paralanguage and environment language. With the increasing contact between China and America, it is necessary for us to know how nonverbal communication influences the process of business interaction to gain double win in the trade. So at last, the writer analyzes some business cases about the use of nonverbal behaviors and provides several suggestions aiming to overcome the nonverbal communication barriers between Chinese and American business interactions.