Culture and Communication in China - Case Study Example

CULTURE AND COMMUNICATION IN CHINA of the of the Introduction China is considered as the World’smost populated country and is said to be the second largest by land mass (Ji, Peng & Nisbett, 2000). It took thirty years for the Chinese economy to grow (Ralston, 2008). My teacher assigned us a project related to the culture and tradition of China and we had a group discussion on the topic where we decided to create a presentation on Chinese economy. Being a team member I played a key role in planning the procedure to carry out the entire research. The study of Chinese economy offers us a scope to gather information regarding China’s growth prospect that would help us to prepare our presentation on China. In conducting the research we would have a golden opportunity to learn about a new culture which is quite different from our own culture. Our team appointed a group manager who has some knowledge regarding the Chinese economy as well as the person is well versed with the local language of China. My Cultural Background In my country the homes are built in a manner that they are clustered together to fulfil the needs of an extended family. The first name is considered to be the personal name and the second name is that of the father’s name (Country reports, 2015). The number of rooms within the homes built in Kuwait increases according to the family sizes. As far as our food habits are concerned the people of Kuwait love to have rich diet with no physical exercises. We eat around three meals a day. Since vegetables are unavailable in desert areas we largely depend on non-vegetarian diet. Some of the Kuwaitis are still found to wear traditional Arabian clothes (Country reports, 2015). The people of Kuwait spend most of their time socialising with the family members. The official language that we Kuwaitis speak is usually known as modern standard Arabic (Country reports, 2015). Evaluation of the entire team work Our group manager suggested us to study about China by accessing various journals and books available on China. However, we had to plan our research within a stipulated time period and our group manager planned it in a well-organised fashion. My team comprised of members with good English speaking capability but since I am from Kuwait I did not have much knowledge about English and this is where I faced a communication gap with other team members. We carried out a study related to the culture and tradition of China which revealed that the local language of China that is Mandarin is spoken by around 70% of the people living in China. The local people of China enjoy wearing traditional clothes. Our evaluation about Chinese tradition has suggested that the local women wear traditional clothes that depict their culture. There are traditional clothes for men as well which involve a jacket over the trousers. The local people in China love to live in large families rather than leading their lives independently. The cases observed by us suggested that there are families in China where two to three generations live in the same household. The elders within the family are paid respect by the younger ones and the elders are addressed in the family by their title and last name. The people of China are still found to wear traditional clothes in the era where most of the people wear western clothes which make the concept very unique and interesting. We gathered a lot of knowledge regarding the lifestyle of the local people of China. The study carried out by my team shows that education has been highly valued in the Chinese economy and it is considered as an essential factor for gaining success. The literacy rates in China have been quiet high both for male and female population. The tradition was quite different from my country where the literacy rate is quite low. Hence this can be considered as a major difference between my country and the country on which the research is being conducted. We have even conducted a study on the Chinese architecture that shows the Chinese buildings, monuments and tombs have been created with a special techniques like rammed earth construction, stone carving and bucket arch buildings. Some good books on China have provided us more knowledge about their architecture and we collected various pictures of these architectures that we could utilise in our presentation. Since my team comprised of members from different regions we could gather some interesting information about China and gained knowledge about the new culture. We studied about the martial art which is very famous in China and is usually practised for self-defence. There are various styles of martial arts that are practiced. Our research suggests that it is taught in schools of China and the children from their early age learn martial arts. We studied that the Chinese martial arts are practiced in numerous art schools to train the children as well as the adults, the method of self defence. Our group manager provided us with some extra knowledge and we could enlighten ourselves with regarding the famous art of China. Our research on China’s sports industry revealed that the country has excelled in the field of sports and as a result of the development of the sports activities in China, the country was able to host the 2008 Summer Olympics. Our group manager directed us to carry out a study on the revenue generated within the Chinese economy due to these sports activities. We could gather the information that the country has developed a lot by organizing these mega events. We could even manage to carry out a research on the Chinese cuisine that is liked by people all over the world. Our study says that the cuisine comprises of variety of dishes including vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian dishes. Many Chinese cookbooks were studied us that involved interviews of the Chefs in Chinese hotels who provided valuable information regarding Chinese cuisine and even they shared the information regarding the techniques that they use for making their food tasty as well as hygienic. It was quite interesting for us to know about their techniques. Cultural difference The culture of Kuwait generally depicts the lifestyle of people living in the desert areas and is mostly exposed to the hot climatic conditions. On the contrary there were several dynasties that ruled in China. However China is gradually emerging as a modern economy through its growth prospect and Kuwait is still far from developing into an urbanized economy. The homes of Kuwait are wind resistant and built with special technique in order to avoid direct sunrays. On the other hand Chinese architecture comprises of stone carvings and bucket arch buildings. Another difference that I can state about my cultural background is that of the food habit. Kuwaitis mainly depend on the non-vegetarian diet whereas the Chinese people consider both vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian diet as part of their daily diet. We usually consider Arabic as our local language but the local language of China is known as Mandarin. Skills Developed from training Through my interaction with my team members I could develop some communication skills. I had a good experience of working in a team and maintaining a good relationship with the team members. I played a key role in planning for our research process and also took part in the group discussion sessions with my team members which inculcated self-confidence as well as decision making capability in me. Through the study I even developed time management skill that is the exact way to allocate time for various segments of the research. The study has provided me a good opportunity to interact with local people of China and I could work efficiently in teams. I could develop communication skills through our interaction with my team members. It was a pleasure for me to be a part of this team. I could even enhance my English speaking skills through the process of interaction with my team members. Through the research I have gained experience of working with a team and interacting with people of different origin that helped me to gather confidence to take up future challenges of participating in team work. The team work has also helped me to gather experience regarding my participation in the group discussion process and to understand the views shared by other as well as efficiently communicate my own views. Conclusion Our study conducted on the Chinese economy has helped us to gain a lot of information regarding the tradition followed by the local people living in China. While conducting this research I faced various challenges and one of the main problems was my lack of knowledge in English. However I managed to learn English and communicate with my team members without any hindrance. The team members within our team are highly cooperative and hence we could carry out our evaluation smoothly. Our group manager planned the entire research process and even I took part in the planning process. The information gathered by my team has been quite helpful in preparing a presentation on China’s cultural backgrounds. References Ji, L. J., Peng, K. & Nisbett, R. E. (2000). Culture, control, and perception of relationships in the environment. Journal of personality and social psychology, 78(5), 943. Ralston, D. A., Holt, D. H., Terpstra, R. H. & Kai-Cheng, Y. (2008). The impact of national culture and economic ideology on managerial work values: A study of the United States, Russia, Japan, and China. Journal of International Business Studies, 39(1), 8-26. Country reports, (2015). Kuwait facts and culture. Retrieved from http://www.countryreports.org/country/Kuwait.htm Read More