Mindmapping China: Language, Discourse and Advertising in China [1 ed.] 9789054876908

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Mindmapping China Language, discourse and advertising in China

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Jeanne Boden

Mindmapping China

Language, discourse and advertising in China

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Cover design: David Hyde, Studio Hyde Cover photograph: Jeanne Boden Book design: David Hyde, Studio Hyde Photography: Jeanne Boden Map on page 20: James Greig Print: Silhouet, Maldegem © 2010 text and illustrations Jeanne Boden © 2010 ASP nv (Academic and Scientific Publishers nv) Ravensteingalerij 28 B-1000 Brussels Tel. ++ 32 2 289 26 50 Fax ++ 32 2 289 26 59 E-mail [email protected] www.aspeditions.be ISBN 978 90 5487 690 8 NUR 630 / 810 / 740 Legal Deposit D/2010/11.161/006 All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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Contents Acknowledgements ..................................................................................... 11 Introduction: In the country of the blind, one eye is king ......................... 13 Chapter 1 The Chinese language: Introduction to the modular system ................... Comparison between Chinese and western languages ................................... Features of the Chinese language ................................................................. A few grammatical aspects ........................................................................... Short sentences ........................................................................................... Asking questions ......................................................................................... Affirmative or negative answer . ................................................................. Double negation as strong affirmation ....................................................... Comparative and superlative forms ........................................................... Classifiers ................................................................................................... Variety of concepts . ...................................................................................... Directions . .................................................................................................... Pronunciation of Chinese . ............................................................................ Transcription of Chinese characters . ............................................................ Pīnyīn ......................................................................................................... Bōpomōfo . .................................................................................................. The written Chinese language . ..................................................................... Sorts of Chinese characters ........................................................................ Some examples of characters ..................................................................... The position of radicals .............................................................................. The writing of a Chinese character ............................................................ The structure of Chinese characters . ......................................................... Evolution of the Chinese language ............................................................... Classical Chinese .......................................................................................... Combinations in modern Chinese . ............................................................... Fixed expressions . ........................................................................................

21 22 23 25 25 26 26 27 27 27 28 30 32 32 33 33 34 34 36 39 40 41 41 42 43 43

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Creating new expressions in Chinese ........................................................... Your own corporate vocabulary .................................................................... An endless modular system? How many Chinese characters are there? ...... The ‘right’ translation ................................................................................... Learning Chinese without characters? ..........................................................

44 45 45 46 46

Chapter 2 Origin and development of Chinese characters ........................................ Evolution in writing style ............................................................................. Stages in the evolution of Chinese script . .................................................... Big Seal . ..................................................................................................... Li script . ..................................................................................................... Grass script ................................................................................................ Model script ................................................................................................ Simplification of Chinese characters ............................................................ Towards a restoration of complexity in the People’s Republic? . ................. Connection of contemporary with classical China .......................................

47 50 51 51 51 51 51 52 55 55

Chapter 3 Language and culture ................................................................................. Introduction: The links between Chinese language and culture ................... Link between the Chinese language and Chinese philosophy ...................... 1. A Confucian view on language ................................................................. Confucianism: Introduction . ...................................................................... A centralist organization ............................................................................ Confucian dynamic ..................................................................................... Revival of Confucianism ............................................................................. Proverbs reflecting Confucian ideology ..................................................... Confucian work ethics reflected in proverbs .............................................. Modern China: A harmonious society ........................................................ Reflection of social status in titles .............................................................. 2. A Taoist view on language ........................................................................ Taoism: Introduction . ................................................................................. Symbols . ..................................................................................................... Terms of combined opposites . .................................................................... 3. A communist view on language ................................................................ 4. Globalization and Chinese language . .......................................................

57 58 60 61 61 63 65 65 69 71 72 73 74 74 76 76 78 82

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Chapter 4 Cycles and circles ........................................................................................ Time concepts and linguistic terms referring to time ................................... Time concepts in Chinese ............................................................................. Synchronic or chronologic . .......................................................................... The meal as a reflection of cultural preferences ...........................................

83 84 87 92 92

Chapter 5 Calligraphy and self-cultivation ................................................................. Writing as moral education ........................................................................... The circle as the basis of calligraphy . .......................................................... Political power of calligraphy: Calligraphy of great communist leaders .....

95 96 98 99

Chapter 6 Language and identity .............................................................................. 103 Mandarin, standard Chinese and local languages ....................................... 104 Mandarin Chinese as lingua franca in Asia ................................................ 104 Chinese who don’t speak Chinese .............................................................. 106 ‘Becoming Chinese’ . .................................................................................. 106 Mandarin Chinese: The standard for all Chinese ....................................... 107 Globalization and localization .................................................................... 108 Insider-outsider ethics and language . ......................................................... 109 Confucius Institutes: The international image of China .............................. 111 Preservation of traditional Chinese characters: Identity in China and Taiwan ...................................................................... 113 Chapter 7 Political and social discourse .................................................................... Introduction . ............................................................................................... 1. Language as a political instrument throughout the ages . ....................... From Empire to Republic ......................................................................... From Republic to People’s Republic ........................................................ Pictorial language as political instrument ............................................... Golden communism .................................................................................. Government Policy transferred to language and pictorial language . ..... Changes in discourse . .............................................................................. Nationalism . .............................................................................................

117 118 118 118 121 126 128 129 131 133

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Counter discourse . ................................................................................... Economic policy via slogans .................................................................... Environmental policy . .............................................................................. 2. Language as an instrument to civilize the people ................................... Shanghai World Expo in 2010 .................................................................. 3. Language as a societal instrument .......................................................... Spiritual civilization ................................................................................. Everyone takes responsibility ................................................................... A list of do’s & don’ts . .............................................................................. Red banners with white characters .......................................................... Political propaganda in surprising places ............................................... 4. Language as a strategic instrument ......................................................... Good preparation ..................................................................................... Material and rules .................................................................................... Chapter 8 Characteristics of communication in China . .......................................... Introduction: Language as a commercial instrument . .................................. From planned economy towards a ‘socialist economy with Chinese characteristics’ . ............................................................................. The arrival of advertising and commercials in China . ................................ General evolution in business communication ........................................... Advertising in China ................................................................................... Logos and brands ........................................................................................ Translation of company and product names ............................................... Popular terms in product and company names ........................................... Mottos and corporate spirit ......................................................................... Classical language in advertising . .............................................................. Hybrid strategies in advertising .................................................................. 1. Confucian discourse: Hierarchy and harmony . ...................................... The family as a central theme . ................................................................. Preference for a boy ................................................................................. Group orientation in promotion campaigns ............................................. Relationships and communication . .......................................................... Insider-outsider ethics .............................................................................. 2. Taoist discourse . .....................................................................................

133 134 135 136 138 139 139 143 144 145 146 148 155 155 157 158 158 160 162 164 165 167 168 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 176 177 178

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3. Communist discourse . ............................................................................ 4. Western discourse ................................................................................... Globalization . ............................................................................................. Good products have a history ..................................................................... Design: The aesthetic game of Chinese characters . ................................... Calligraphy in advertising . ......................................................................... An inspiring advertisement: Translation pens ............................................ Other messages in advertising .................................................................... One strong united China . ......................................................................... Harmonious society and scientific development . ..................................... Heroes as a role model in advertising ......................................................... Hong Kong movie stars .............................................................................. Historical icons ........................................................................................... 5000 years of Chinese culture: Modern China’s connection to traditional China ..................................................................................... Bamboo books .......................................................................................... Seals . ........................................................................................................ Piling up Chineseness . ............................................................................. Advertising and changes in Chinese society . ............................................. Changing China .......................................................................................... A successful image for China ..................................................................... Quality ........................................................................................................ Campaigns with a positive connotation ...................................................... Advertising and the law .............................................................................. Impact of the government on advertising ................................................... Public space plastered with advertisements . .............................................. Intellectual Property and copying ............................................................... The Chinese customer . ............................................................................... Group orientation in buying behavior . ....................................................... Customer service . ....................................................................................... Bad English translations: Chinglish . ..........................................................

179 181 183 184 185 187 188 191 191 192 193 195 196 197 198 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 211 212 213 214

Epilogue ..................................................................................................... 216 Bibliography .............................................................................................. 218 Index . ......................................................................................................... 224

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汉语中充满了把人生看作演戏的比喻 The Chinese language abounds in metaphors regarding the drama of human life 林语堂 Lin Yutang

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Acknowledgements

No book can be written without the help and involvement of many people. Therefore I would like to thank all the people who helped me to gain insight into the Chinese language and culture and who have supported me along my path. I am grateful to all the people who have stimulated me throughout the years and continue to share many things with me today. Slowly but surely I started to love the Chinese language. I enjoy discovering China and its culture and learning more about the endless fountain of proverbs and hidden meanings in the Chinese language. I enjoy the discussions about culture and language and the variety of versions of reality connected to it. It has become part of who I am. Studying China for so many years has offered me an alternative view on life and I find it absolutely fascinating. Along with the process of learning about China, my love for my own culture has deepened. It is fascinating to dig deep into another culture, but the deeper you dig, the more you look into the mirror and reflect. My special thanks go to Zhao Yining phd, mba, strategy manager at Pfizer, Rong Haojing phd and senior scientist at Pfizer, Peng Jiayu phd and lecturer at PCVO, Bai Xuesong, Director AID Beijing, Kong Xiangjun, lawyer at Nivea Shanghai, Yang Rui, general procurement specialist at Lenovo, Sun Lulu, operational logistics assistant at IBA, and Liu Lixin, professor at Beijing Daxue, who assisted me in finding all the proverbs and who supported me in many ways and to Huang Meicui, secretary Ambassador at the Belgian Embassy in Beijing and her son Neil Conen who explained to me the method of memorizing idioms in Chinese. I would especially like to thank all the people who took the time to read through the manuscript and who provided me with their invaluable comments, Lianne Baaij, sinologist and director of China Access, Lieve Peeters, sinologist and General Manager of BCECC, Annie Zheng Yi, Partner at PNC Connect, Anneleen Verstegen, sinologist and lecturer at Katholieke Hogeschool

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Mechelen, Jan Van den Bergh, marketing specialist and Chairman of Holaba in Shanghai, and Dirk Van Braeckel, Finance Director at ICRH. Their comments and remarks helped to raise this book to a higher level. I want to express my gratitude to my publisher Gert De Nutte, to Lizz De Walsche for her commitment to the promotion of this book, to all the other people at ASP who were involved in the process of producing this book, and of course to David Hyde for his friendship and beautiful book design. Finally, I want to thank my children Jono and Nuna Pili Van Belle for our exciting discussions and for the multicultural view on life they also have.

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Introduction:

In the country of the blind, one eye is king

Knowledge of the Chinese language and culture has an enormous impact on cooperation with China. Decent knowledge about China is an absolute must in order to work efficiently there and to achieve good and fruitful communication. To communicate efficiently it is necessary to gain insight into Chinese cultural preferences and sensitivities. This means one needs to understand both the culture and language. The Chinese language attracted enormous interest after the 1978 Reform introduced by Deng Xiaoping. Today, more and more people deal with China and more and more people ask questions about the impact the Chinese language has on cooperation with China. “Is learning Chinese really that difficult?” is what we often hear. Since Chinese differs so much from western languages it is surrounded with a kind of mystique. This is a perception more than anything else, and it makes the language unnecessarily distant. It is true that you may say ‘horse’ instead of ‘mother’ if your tonal pronunciation is wrong. Because ma pronounced in one tone means ‘horse’ while in another tone it means ‘mother’. Chinese is a tonal language. For people who grew up in a language environment without tones, this takes some getting used to. In tonal languages, the meaning of a word or character is connected to the tone. Different pronunciations result in different meanings. This is one of the difficulties of the Chinese language. Another is the exotic Chinese script. This looks like little drawings that seem impossible to decipher. How does one succeed in learning to read them? Westerners who speak and write Chinese are often ascribed a kind of exclusivity in their milieu, while everyone finds is absolutely normal that the billions of Chinese are fluent in it.

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Due to globalization, the number of people studying Chinese is rising rapidly. The exclusive position sinologists once had is disappearing. Yet exoticism continues to play a role and have an impact. Many westerners erect a psychological barrier for themselves and never even make a start at learning Chinese, even if they live in China. This is a pity because it has a lot more consequences than you may think. You make your life more difficult than necessary if you don’t make any effort to gain even a basic understanding of the language. Foreigners who speak Chinese find themselves in a more comfortable position in China. Since the Chinese have a strong tradition of insider-outsider ethics, knowledge about the language will make you more of an insider and it will make life easier. The effort you make to learn Chinese will be rewarded in unexpected ways. It will be seen as a commitment towards China, more than an effort to communicate. Nowadays, the Chinese start to learn English from the moment they begin to speak. Chinese are good at long-term thinking; westerners usually prefer a reward for their actions on a short-term basis. Westerners keep finding excuses not to learn Chinese. “It is too difficult”, “I have no time” or “The Chinese I work with speak very good English”. Slowly but surely this results in a disturbance of the balance between China and the West. The Chinese language seems so difficult and remote that it is difficult to know what is possible in which timeframe. New handbooks and language courses are published on an almost weekly basis. Masses of teaching material and packages can be found on the Internet. But what should you choose? ‘Learn Chinese online’ or ‘Chinese in twenty lessons’ or will you go for the ‘Business Chinese’ many institutes offer? For a beginner, it is difficult to know where to start. However, it requires little imagination to realize that ‘Business Chinese’ is an illusion if you don’t even have a basic understanding of the language. But there are more questions. How come one person can be wildly enthusiastic about his acquired knowledge of Chinese after two years of evening classes, while another who has spent decades studying Chinese can humbly come to realize that he will never master it all? I will never forget how my professor of classical Chinese spontaneously grabbed a dictionary when I consulted him about my translation of a part of my thesis. How was it possible that someone who had studied Chinese for more than thirty years and who was so erudite still

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I ntroduction

needed a dictionary? It came as a shock to me, even after four years of studying Eastern Languages and Cultures. I later realized how naïve I was at the time. Literary translations of Chinese can never be made without dictionaries, even if you master the language very well. The Chinese language has a great deal of flexibility and a more or less defined meaning only arises from the context in which the characters are used. Learning Chinese is a long process involving different stages of euphoria and utter frustration. In the beginning it is difficult to memorize the characters without being able to associate them with the knowledge you already have in your head. The principle of learning by association and linking to other knowledge in your memory is impossible because there is nothing there that makes sense in the context of Chinese characters. The principle of learning by association is not possible as long as you do not have a basic understanding of the structure of the Chinese language. Since we learn by linking knowledge to other knowledge, it is quite hard to make a start. After the first victory of understanding a few characters, the euphoria comes. Initially, it is fantastic to see sentences and realize that you recognize all the characters. But therein lies the next obstacle. You are confronted with a sentence made up of characters you know and yet you still cannot read what is written because you do not see the structure of the sentence. When you start to read more fluently, the euphoria comes back again. It is absolutely fantastic when you can read Chinese texts. A new world opens up to you. But full victory is not yet in sight. Suddenly you are confronted with the fact that the Chinese argue about the ‘right’ translation. They talk about ‘context’ and ‘preferred characters’ and ‘implications’. One says this, the other thinks that, and all of them think they are right. What is the right translation? For a westerner who does not have any insight into the language, this can be quite disorienting. You have to rely on the Chinese or on specialists for your translation and you want the correct one, but who is right? In the meantime you have learnt that Chinese contains a lot of proverbs and idioms. The more you seem to learn, the more new ones seem to appear. After a while you find out that there are hundreds, maybe thousands, maybe tens of thousands of these proverbs. You then realize that you will never master them all. The long path of euphoria and frustration, of victory and

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new obstacles stretches ahead of you. And in the end, if all goes well, you reach a level that you can live with and you know that you will keep learning for the rest of your life. During the cross-cultural training sessions at ChinaConduct, I have been asked many questions about the Chinese language and the impact language has on working with China. In this book, I try to formulate an answer to these questions. What does it mean to learn Chinese? What does it mean to speak Chinese? What does it mean to read Chinese? There is no doubt that learning Chinese is not easy, but after all it is a language that has existed for thousands of years and more than a billion people speak and write it today, so it cannot be impossible either. Moreover, it is not that difficult to gain basic insight into the system of the language and the characters. This is what motivated me to write this book, to dispel the many misconceptions and prejudices about Chinese. This look at the differences between Chinese and western languages and the impact of language on culture and society will be illuminating. This insight will help you to communicate well and efficiently in China, not only in your contacts with people, but also in corporate and commercial communications. This book is not a language course; there are enough of those on the market. Neither is it a full description of the Chinese language. In this book we will look at Chinese culture and society through language. In the West, language is mainly an instrument to communicate; in China it is a lot more. The Chinese language carries the culture and history of the country. I use the Chinese language as an instrument, as a method to look at China today. I will make an analysis of the language and pictorial language of slogans and other campaigns that are common and popular in Chinese society. Slogans are about society, politics, economy, ethics, strategy and commerce, marketing and advertising. From my analysis it will become clear that language, discourse and culture are closely connected in China. This insight will help people who work with or in China to better understand what is at stake in written or oral translations, what the impact is of translated company names, product names, your own name, and what language formats are used in advertising in China.

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I ntroduction

The different structure of the Chinese language, in comparison to western languages, and the flexibility of the Chinese language, has an impact on dealing with information, on ways of communication, on the implementation of corporate culture, and giving instructions, presentations and assignments. In short, the influence of language on culture and corporate culture in China is so strong that it is hard to believe that westerners work in China without this basic insight. In the first section we focus on different aspects of the Chinese language. We start with a look at the Chinese characters. We explore the different kinds of Chinese characters, how they are constructed, and how their different parts relate to each other. Next we look at how independent characters become part of the linguistic structure. We will see that this is a kind of modular structure in which small parts add up to a character, and characters add up to a text in a way that is different from western languages. We will highlight a number of aspects about Chinese grammar and focus on a number of words that are important in the context of this book. All the features of the Chinese language we discuss here are chosen to serve as an illustration of the relationship between language and daily practices in China. The grammatical aspects we highlight are needed in order to understand why the Chinese language is particularly suited to slogans and why slogans are so popular. We will look at numbers, directions and time terminology that bring insight into some specific cultural issues. Because the Chinese language has so many proverbs and idioms, ancient philosophies are embedded in the language and passed down from generation to generation. It is striking to see to what extent language dominates Chinese society and how many agendas are being simultaneously promoted. Language is a political instrument, an economic tool, and a way to impose moral and ethical norms. Language educates Chinese civilians with moral messages. It is a way of ordering society. The content of slogans can relate to corruption, hygiene, AIDS, crime prevention, the one child policy, or teaching good manners. Slogans are visible everywhere in China, even in its remotest regions. The changing discourse of the Chinese government is implemented through language. The same focus can be detected in commercial messages in China. The Chinese grow up with propaganda. I wonder if it ever occurs to them that these kinds of messages are seldom used in the West?

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In my opinion, the impact of language on communication is more deeply rooted in China than in the West. Messages refer to traditional culture, to poems, proverbs, or other cultural forms. It is normal practice in everyday life and in business to make reference to situations in the past as a way to find solutions for the present. In Europe, if you referred to the Greeks or the Romans in your business dealings, people might be surprised. However, awareness of history is high in China and history is still part of daily life. Therefore we will also highlight the historical evolution of Chinese characters and give some concrete examples of contemporary advertisements and promotion campaigns that use historical references. The analysis of slogans in this book is based on those that have appeared in public places in China over the past few years. The pictures in this book were taken in many different cities across China. Because I want this book to focus on the influence of Chinese language on Chinese culture and on China as a country, I have walked many miles with my camera in hand to collect these images. It is not difficult to find slogans in China. As soon as you go outside you are confronted with them. But to get a general view on what kind of messages are posted in which places, I have spent many years looking at Chinese society from this specific perspective. It has fascinated me to observe this mixture of messages and how they influence the people passing by. I hope that my journey will be helpful in bringing the Chinese language and culture closer to those who work in or with China or those who are interested in the country and its culture. I have chosen Mindmapping China as a title because I wanted a title that refers to the brain. This book is about how the brain deals with language and structure, and about how language is used to influence ways of thinking. As a central idea we have the Chinese language. From there we look at a number of aspects and influences floating around it, like a ‘mindmap’. The idea of ‘mind map’ is therefore chosen as a metaphor. For the transcription of the Chinese characters we use the pīnyīn system, the standard in the People’s Republic of China. Only where relevant do we use another transcription, for instance, in the names of people who became part of history in a certain way like Sun Yat-sen (pīnyīn: Sun Zhongshan). There are pictures illustrating the text throughout the book. Most of them are photographs of slogans, signs, or advertisements taken in cities all over China.

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I ntroduction

In most cases a pīnyīn version of the Chinese characters in the text or in the pictures is provided. The few exceptions are images chosen for their pictorial language rather than for the text on them. In cases where the Chinese characters in the picture are indistinct or partly missing, the Chinese characters or the full slogan is provided plus pīnyīn and a translation. For images with a lot of text, a full translation is only given if relevant to the content of this book.

Jeanne Boden Ghent, October 2009

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Chapter 1

The Chinese language: Introduction to the modular system

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Chapter 1

The Chinese language: Introduction to the modular system Comparison between Chinese and western languages Western languages have an alphabet of around 26 letters. Letters are combined to construct words; words are arranged according to certain principles into sentences. Grammatical rules decide on tense and gender. The pronunciation of a word is based on sound, but the word in itself has no meaning. Chinese has a fundamentally different structure. There is no alphabet. The language is written in Chinese characters. 214 meaningful elements or ‘radicals’ build up the meaning of a character. The combination of radicals results in the meaning of the character. A character in turn only gets full meaning in the context of a text. It is only in relation to other characters that meaning is more or less outlined. Chinese has few grammatical rules. In the build-up to the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing, all taxi drivers were obliged to learn English. They were part of Beijing’s population that would be in close contact with the thousands of ‘foreign friends’ who were coming. Many different textbooks were published for taxi drivers. It is funny to see a sentence like ‘Your grammar is fantastic’ in English for Taxi Drivers.1 It is what a westerner could say to a Chinese person but it is not very likely that this would be one of the sentences used in ordinary conversation. The fact that we find this kind of sentence in this kind of book reveals the difference in grammar between Chinese and western languages. For the Chinese, it is difficult to learn grammar. Equally, for westerners who are used to learning languages on the basis of grammar, it is difficult to learn a language with very little grammar.

1

Bennett, Andrew, 2004, p 177

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T he C hinese

language :

I ntroduction

to the modular system

Features of the Chinese language A number of features are unique to the Chinese language. The Chinese linguist Yong Ho describes four aspects.2 Morphological simplicity is the first. Compared to European languages Chinese grammar is extremely simple. A sentence in Chinese does not get its specific meaning from the manipulation of words (conjugation, inflection) but from the manipulation of word forms, order of words, specific particles and vocabulary items. The second is syntactic economy, in other words, the economic use of elements to construct a sentence. Many of the syntactic techniques of European languages do not exist in Chinese. There is no distinction between singular or plural (book/books), no nominative distinction (I/mine), no conjugation of verbs (work/worked), no active or passive form, no comparative or superlative forms (big, bigger, biggest), no past or future tense. Gender is absent. A fúwùyuán 服务员 or servant can be a man or a woman, a yǎnyuán 演员 or actor can be a man or woman. Obviously the Chinese language has other ways to make these things clear and explicit. This is done by the specific way a sentence is constructed. There are a number of grammatical particles. The particle le 了 serves to indicate time. There are only two modes: finished and ongoing. Depending on the specific use of le, the time is indicated. The particle de 的 substantiates everything preceding de or makes it possessive. The character men 们 is used as a suffix in Chinese to make personal nouns (I, you, he) or people (ladies, gentlemen) plural. It is only used when it is not clear from the context that we are referring to more than one person. From the moment the context is clearly dealing with more people, the suffix is dropped. Only with personal nouns is it kept. The personal noun in the third person is tā in Chinese, which can mean ‘he’ 他, ‘she’ 她, or ‘it’ 它. The difference is distinguished in the characters, but not in the pronunciation. This might explain why the Chinese often make mistakes in the use of ‘he’ or ‘she’ in a sentence when speaking in English. 2

Yong Ho, 1997, pp iv–v

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我 你 您 他／她／它 我们 你们 他们／她们

wǒ

I /mine

nín

you (polite)

nǐ tā

wǒmen nǐmen tāmen

you/your

he/she/it/his/her we

you (plural) they

This syntactic economy makes the Chinese language extremely suitable for condensed messages like slogans. The low impact of grammar allows the generation of very compact messages. On top of that, characters can have strong associations with other characters or with stories and can therefore have multiple meanings and layers of meanings. Because certain combinations of characters have such strong associations, it is even possible to eliminate some of them and still keep the same meaning because the association stays intact. One example is Beijing University Běijīng Dàxué 北京大学 which is reduced all over China to Běidà 北大. No one doubts the meaning of Běidà. A third feature of Chinese is that meaning is more important than form. The order of the words in a sentence is crucial to the meaning. European languages use a system of subordination (hypotaxis), which means that grammatical elements or clauses are dependent on the main clause to which they are connected by means of linking words. Sentences in Chinese use a system of juxtaposition without the use of coordinating or subordinating conjunctions (parataxis). A most particular feature of word order in Chinese is the relationship between the syntactic structure (structure of sentence) and the chronological continuation of actions.3 Time and space expressions precede the verb in Chinese. A sentence first describes the time and space where an action takes place. For example: Wǒ míngtiān lái 我明天来, which literally means ‘I tomorrow come’. Adjuncts,

3

Yong Ho, 1993

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T he C hinese

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to the modular system

adjectives and adverbs always precede a noun or verb and are substantiated by the grammatical particle de. For example: ‘The person that goes to Shanghai’ will be in Chinese ‘go to Shanghai de person’ qù Shànghǎi de rén 去上海的人. The de subjects all the preceding elements to what follows. We can take the same sentence as an example of absence of plural or singular, male or female. The sentence qù Shànghǎi de rén can mean ‘The people who go to Shanghai’, ‘The person who goes to Shanghai’, ‘The woman who goes to Shanghai’, or ‘The man who goes to Shanghai’. What exactly the person speaking or writing means will become clear from the context. The word order outlines the meaning. A fourth feature is what Yong Ho distinguishes as the subject-commentary sentence. Over 50% of sentences in Chinese have this structure of two parts: 1. Subject; 2. Commentary on the subject. For instance: tā māmā – shēntǐ hén hǎo 他妈妈身体很好, which literally means ‘his (or her) mother – health is very good’.

A few grammatical aspects The Chinese language has very little grammar in comparison to European languages. There is no conjugation or inflection. A character has a certain function in the context in which it is used. It can serve as a verb, a noun, an adverb and so on, depending on its position. To analyze a sentence, one needs to discover which function the different characters have in the specific context. As soon as a character is taken out of context it loses its specific function and can have a different meaning. Despite the fact that Chinese has little grammar, it is still a language that is used to communicate with. This implies enough logic in the language to make communication possible. We will now look at a few grammatical issues to give an idea of grammar in Chinese. The examples given here serve only to show the differences between European languages and Chinese.

Short sentences

In English we have to use a verb to say something about the subject. In Chinese it is possible to do that only by use of an adjective without a verb

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in the sentence. This is an example of the syntactic economy Yong Ho refers to. ENG: You are good.

CH: You good. Ní hǎo 你好

ENG: You are busy.

CH: You busy. Nǐ máng 你忙

Asking questions

There are different ways of formulating a question in Chinese. Here is an overview of the most important methods. The first one is to add the grammatical particle ma 吗 behind the sentence. ENG: You go

CH: Nǐ qù 你去

ENG: Do you go?

CH: Nǐ qù ma? 你去吗？

A second way is to use characters in the sentence that have the function of an interrogative pronoun: who shéi 谁, shuí 谁; what shénme 什么; how zěnme 怎么; how many/how much jǐ 几, duōshao 多少; where nǎr 哪儿. A third way is to give a choice between two issues: ENG: male or female? CH: nánde háishi nǚde 男的还是女的？ Yet another method is to use a verb followed by the negation of the verb. ENG: Do you go?

CH: Ni qù bú qù 你去不去? (Literally ‘you go not go?’)

Affirmative or negative answer

Sometimes you hear people say that the Chinese have no words for ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Still there are ways to reply to a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question in an affirmative or negative way. Affirmation can be made by repeating the verb from the question, which makes an answer affirmative. ENG: Do you go?

CH: Nǐ qù ma?

ENG: [I] Go!

CH: Qù!

Agreeing with someone can be done with the character duì 对 which means ‘exactly/precisely/it is true what you say’. This is not the same as ‘yes’ and it does not mean that ‘yes’ can simply be replaced by duì in all contexts. Another way is by using shìde 是的 which means ‘that is correct/indeed’.

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To answer negatively, the character bù 不 ‘not’ is seldom used on its own. Usually bù precedes the verb used in the question. ENG: Do you go?

CH: Nǐ qù ma?

CH: Bú qù.

Only before the verb ‘to have’ yǒu 有 bù is replaced by méi 没: ‘not have’, méi yǒu.

Double negation as strong affirmation

Here we focus on the grammatical structure of the double negation that results in a strong affirmation. The English sentence ‘You have to see this!’ can be translated into Chinese as Fēi kàn bù kě! 非看不可 which literally means ‘It cannot be that you have not seen this’. Particular features of communication in China are indirectness, double layers and hidden meanings. In a culture where ‘face’ is always at stake, people prefer to use a way of communicating that is not direct or explicit. Chinese usually prefer not to take definite standpoints. Therefore, words like ‘probably’, ‘maybe’, ‘possibly’ are very common. It is interesting to see that even grammar suits this indirect way of communication.

Comparative and superlative forms

Comparative and superlative forms like ‘big, bigger, biggest’ in English are created in Chinese by the combination of different characters. Good

hǎo 好

A little bit better hǎo yìdiǎn 好一点 (literally: ‘good one dot/good a little’) Better still

gèng hǎo 更好

(literally: ‘more good’)

Best

zuì hǎo 最好

(literally: ‘most good’)

Classifiers

The Chinese language uses a system that classifies things that look alike or belong to a certain category. The so-called ‘classifying characters’ classify categories of sorts of things. In English we also use these kinds of words but only very few: a piece of paper. In Chinese there are a lot of these words. The use of classifiers brings an extra semantic rather than quantitative meaning.4 4

Yong Ho, 1997, p iv

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Here are a few examples: To describe any category of thing, be it long, thin or flat, round or anything else, the use of ge 个 as a classifier is always correct. When you do not know the right classifier for a certain context, you can always use this general classifier. The classifier zhāng 张 is used for anything that is flat: ‘one zhāng ticket’ (one ticket), ‘two zhāng painting’ (two paintings), ‘three zhāng paper’ (three pieces of paper), ‘five zhāng table’ (five tables). The classifier jiàn 件 is used for clothing: ‘three jiàn jacket’ (three jackets), ‘three jiàn t-shirt’ (three t-shirts). Trousers are long and thin and therefore they go with another classifier tiáo 条: ‘two tiáo trousers’ (two pairs of trousers). Ships are also long and thin; they use the same classifier: ‘five tiáo ship’ (five ships). Snakes are long and thin as well: ‘three tiáo snake’ (three snakes). Some things have their own classifier, for instance, běn 本 is only used for books: ‘six běn book’ (six books). To address the number of people in a family the classifier kǒu 口 meaning ‘mouth’ is used. ‘My family has eight kǒu people’ literally means ‘My family has eight mouths of people’. A few examples of classifiers: 个 张 件 口 条 本

ge

general classifier

jiàn

clothing

zhāng kǒu

tiáo běn

flat

Ticket, paper

mouth

Number of people

long thin

Ships, trousers Books

Variety of concepts According to Ferdinand De Saussure, Charles Sanders Peirce, Roland Barthes and other scholars, language is based on conventions within a culture. Those conventions of the language system are adopted and unconsciously learnt when a child learns to speak. Different languages use different convention systems. Some languages have a huge amount of words for particular aspects of life while others may only have a few for the same aspects.

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A popular example of this is the number of terms Inuit Eskimo’s have to describe snow and ice.5 Later in this book we will return to the question of whether different language use results in a different experience of reality or not. Chinese differs from western languages in the variety of terms it uses. There are a number of words in Chinese to refer to things we do not have words for in the West. We find an example in colors. Apart from the traditional colors we use in the West, Chinese uses the color qīng 青 that is usually translated in different ways depending on the context in which it is used. This color refers to the color of ‘mountains in the distance’ and is translated as ‘black’, ‘green’ or ‘blue’. 红 黄 蓝 绿 白 黑 青

hóng

red

lán

blue

huáng lǜ

bái hēi

qīng

yellow green

white black

b lue, green, black color of mountains in the distance

Another example of words we often do not have alternatives for in western languages are characters that describe sounds. There are many Chinese characters to describe squeaking, cracking and lots of other noises and sounds. This sort of character often has the mouth radical. Examples are bā 吧, meaning ‘crackling’ or gū 呱, meaning ‘the crying of the baby’. This can be a problem in translations because in European languages we have hardly any words for these. The Chinese characters can even have the sound reflected in the way they are written. An example of this is ‘pingpong’ 乒乓 pīng pāng. We can see the movement reflected in the characters.

5

Hall Stuart, 1997, 2009, pp 22–23

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Directions Directions recur often in Chinese culture and in everyday life in China. The four directions appoint the four main traditions in Chinese cuisine: Beijing/North, Shanghai/East, Sichuan/West, Guangdong/South. When you ask someone in the street for directions to a place, he or she will always tell you to go North, South, East or West. Names of cities and provinces often refer to natural scenery or features in the neighborhood connected to the direction. We know the provinces Hebei/ North of the river, Henan/South of the river, Shanxi/West of the mountains, Shandong/East of the Mountains, Hunan/South of the lake, Hubei/North of the lake. Examples of city names containing directions are Beijing/the city in the North, Nanjing/the city in the South. In Chinese, the center is often included in the number of directions, resulting in five directions. 中 北 南 东 西

zhōng

center

nán

south

běi

dōng xī

north east

west

In the overview below, we see the cities and provinces with their names in Chinese characters. The column on the right shows the literal translation. 北京 南京 河南 河北 山东 山西 湖南 湖北

běijīng

Beijing

North city

hénán

Henan

River south

nánjīng héběi

shāndōng shānxī húnán húběi

Nanjing Hebei

Shandong Shanxi Hunan Hubei

South city

River north

Mountains east

Mountains west Lake south Lake north

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Not all of China’s cities or provinces have names associated with directions. Sometimes cities have names referring to their specific location; other names have no reference at all to the location. Shanghai shànghǎi 上海 literally means ‘onto the sea’ or ‘to go up the sea’. Hong Kong xiānggǎng 香港 literally means ‘fragrant harbor’. Jilin jílín 吉林 literally means ‘prosperous wood’. Number plates on cars in China begin with a Chinese character. Usually it is one of the characters of the city or the region, like 京 for 北京 Beijing, 吉 for 吉林 Jilin, and 津 for 天津 Tianjin. Sometimes this character refers to the old name of the region. In Shanghai 上海 for instance, the character hù 沪 is used, and in Jiangxi 江西 the character gàn 赣.

Number plates from different regions

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Pronunciation of Chinese

The four tones 6 Chinese is a tonal language. Depending on the tone you use in your pronunciation the meaning will be different. The first tone is pronounced high and is extended at the same level. The second tone starts low and rises. The third tone starts rather high, lowers first and then rises again, and the fourth tone starts high and goes down very rapidly and strongly.7 Examples: mā in the first tone means mother, má in the second tone means hemp, mǎ in the third tone means horse, mà in the fourth tone means to scold. wū means house, wú/not, wǔ/five, wù/mist. yī means one, yí/to move, yǐ/chair, yì/a hundred million/ten thousand times ten thousand.

Transcription of Chinese characters The Chinese language has no alphabet. There is a way to express the Chinese characters by way of Latin letters. The transformation of Chinese characters into letters of the alphabet is called transcription. Naturally this transformation implies limitations. We can only give an approximate representation of the pronunciation of the Chinese characters. All meaning of the characters is lost in the transcription. In the past, a lot of controversy surrounded the transcription system. A number of competitive systems were used traditionally. Some of them were based on the Cantonese dialect that was used by the Chinese Post. 6 7

Yong Ho, 1997, p viii Wiedenhof, 2004

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In 1867 Sir Thomas Francis Wade proposed a system that was internationally acceptable. During the 1890s Herbert Allen Giles made some adjustments. This system became known as the Wade-Giles system.8

Pīnyīn

After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, China developed its own system, Hànyǔ pīnyīn, or pīnyīn. In 1958 pīnyīn was developed as the standard transcription system for the People’s Republic. Initially it was meant to standardize the pronunciation of Mandarin Chinese for Chinese children all over China. Since the end of the 1970s the system is used worldwide. Since 1982 pīnyīn is registered as the norm at the international standardization bureau ISO and is widely used in academic and official literature, and international communication on the Internet.

Bōpomōfo

At the beginning of the 20th century, another transcription system was developed, usually referred to as Bōpomōfo. Officially it is called Zhùyīn fúhào 注音符号,or zhùyīn. It exists of 37 phonetical symbols and four tone symbols that represent all the sounds and tones of Mandarin Chinese. This system makes no use of the Latin alphabet. It has its own symbols. Bōpomōfo is popular in Taiwan today. It is also sometimes used in the People’s Republic. In Asia, computer keyboards have Bōpomōfo symbols on them.

Bōpomōfo symbols 9 8 9

Ronan, 1988, p 5 Wiedenhof, 2004, p 362

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The written Chinese language Sorts of Chinese characters

The Chinese language does not use an alphabet with letters. The written language is expressed in Chinese characters. Different sorts of characters exist. The first sort is the pictogram. A pictogram is like a little drawing with a clear link to reality. It is the reflection of objects in real life. Naturally, objects most suited to this form of depiction include the sun and moon, animals, plants, and tools. It is interesting to study the old forms of characters from a traditional Chinese scientific point of view.10

Pictograms 11

10 11

Ronan, 1988, p 8 Picture: Tan Huay Peng, 1998

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The second sort of character is the geometric pictogram. These are depictions of gestures, actions, or effects. They are also sometimes called indirect symbols. We look at some examples in the overview below. The third sort of character is associative combination. An example is fù 婦. This character is composed of the parts ‘woman’ and ‘broom’. As a character it means ‘wife’.12 The character ‘good’ hǎo 好 comprises of the parts ‘woman’ and ‘child’. We will come back to the underlying ideological messages hidden in the characters later in this book. Another sort of character is the meaning-phonetic composition. One part is the ‘radical’ and gives the meaning; a second part is responsible for the pronunciation. The origin of these characters lies way back in history and sometimes the precise etymological meaning is not easy to find. But we can still say that they are often the right, poetic reflection of what they stand for. The radical system was already used in the 9th century BC and was codified in 213 BC. By way of the radicals, it is possible to look things up in a dictionary. The first large dictionary had 541 radicals. This large number was kept in use for about 1200 years and was then reduced to 360 radicals, and finally to the 214 radicals we use today.13 The modular system of Chinese characters can be compared to molecules that are permutations and combinations of 214 atoms. The position of the molecules or meaningful parts in the character has influence on the meaning. Therefore it is the specific combination that defines the meaning of the character. One character can have up to seven radicals and the same radical can be repeated three times. One example is the wood radical mù 木 that is repeated three times to form the character sēn 森, which means ‘forest’.

 his character is an example of a non-simplified version. The simplified version is 妇. We will come back T to this in the next chapter. We can see from this example that simplification implied a loss of meaning in the characters. 13 Ronan and Needham, 1988, p 10 12

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Some examples of characters a. Pictogram: representation of object niǎo

鸟

shān

山

yuè

月

rì

日

chē

车

kǒu

口

xīn

心

bird

mountain

moon

sun

car

mouth

heart

b. Geometric pictogram: form reflects meaning shàng

上

xià

下

zhōng

中

jǐng

井

up

down

middle

well

c. Associative characters 安

ān

peace

信

xìn

闷

mēn

trust

休

xīu

rest

depressed, dejected

combination of ‘roof’ and ‘woman’ under the roof

combination of ‘human being’ and ‘word’ combination of ‘door’ and ‘heart’ locked into it combination of ‘human being’ and ‘tree’

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Overview of a number of radicals with a very clear meaning. In the left column we see the radical, in the middle column the Chinese characters with the same meaning that can be used independently, and in the right column we see the Chinese character with the respective radical.14 d. Meaning/phonetic combination The radical gives an idea about the meaning; the phonetic part is responsible for the pronunciation. A number of examples of characters with different radicals illustrate this kind of Chinese character. In the first example, all the characters have ‘water’ as a radical.

14

Wu Zhongwei, 2003, Contemporary Chinese, Character book, p.2.

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That means they have something to do water or humidity. The ‘water’ radical, expressed by ‘three drops of water’ on the left side of the character, gives an idea about the meaning. The pronunciation is decided by the right part of the character. Water radical 水 泪 流 河 洗 汽

shǔi

water

líu

to stream

lèi hé xǐ

qì

tears

= radical 15

river

to wash steam

Wood radical 木 松 林 森 楼 机

mù

tree, wood

lín

wood

sōng sēn lóu jī

pine tree

= radical

forest

building

machine

Hand radical 手 打 扔 拿 拉 推

shǒu

hand

rēng

to throw

dǎ ná lā

tūi

to beat

= radical 16

to take in the hand to pull

to push

 he character in this line is the Chinese character for ‘water’ in the form it is used as an independent character. T When ‘water’ becomes a radical as a part of another character it turns into ‘three drops of water’. 16 Like in the case of the water radical, there is a difference in the Chinese character for ‘hand’ when it is used as an independent character and when it is used as the radical of another character. When used as a radical, the ‘hand’ only has three strokes as we can see on the left hand side of the characters listed here. 15

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Mouth radical 口 喊 含 鸣 吃 喝

kǒu

mouth

hán

to hold in the mouth, to hold

hǎn míng chī hē

to shout

= radical

cry of the bird to eat

to drink

Some characters can have more than one pronunciation. Different pronunciations result in different meanings. An example is the character 行. When pronounced as xíng it means ‘to go’, when pronounced like háng it means ‘a row’. We can conclude that a Chinese character is built up of different radicals or parts. We can see this as a modular system in which different meaningful modules are built into the meaning of the character. The deconstruction of some characters can be a complex process. Six sorts of Chinese characters are described during the first centuries AD. The pictograms, indirect symbols, associative combinations and radical/phonetic are the most important. This last category is the largest.17

The position of radicals

Meaningful parts can occupy different positions in a character. Depending on the position of the radical, it has more or less impact on the meaning of the character. The picture below shows the radical ‘woman’ 女 in different positions.

Radicals in different positions of the character 18

17 18

 onan, 1988, p 12 R Ledderdose, 2001, p 17

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Characters are built up of a number of radicals. Different levels of complexity exist. Sometimes simple modules build up to more complex modules. Each character, complex as it may be, must have the same size so that characters can form nicely ordered lines and columns in texts.

The writing of a Chinese character

The order of strokes of a character follow a certain standard as we can see in the picture below: horizontal precedes vertical, the sweeping stroke to the left precedes the sweeping stroke to the right, the outside component is written before the inside component, the central component is written first, next the stroke on the left, and then the stroke on the right, the components inside the unsealed box are written before the last stroke seals the box at the bottom, strokes are written from top to bottom and from left to right. Some strokes are written in one go without interruption. We see an example in the writing of the character moon, the third character below: 月. First the left stroke is made, followed by the above-right stroke in one go.

Constructing a Chinese character 19

19

Tan Huay Peng, 1998, p. xi

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The structure of Chinese characters

All the characters fit into the same size ‘square’. We have seen that a Chinese character can be very simple but also very complex. No matter how many strokes a character may have, it has to fit into the same square. Different characters can have different basic structures.

Structure of a Chinese character 20 A component can take different positions in a character and accordingly have different meanings.

Evolution of the Chinese language The Chinese language has changed through the ages. We will come back to this in a later chapter. Until the beginning of the 20th century, classical Chinese was used as the official language. In the changeover from the Chinese Empire that had existed for two thousand years, to the Chinese Republic in 1911, Chinese society was transformed. These changes were also reflected in the language. 20

Tan Huay Peng, 1998, p. viii

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During the emancipation movement at the beginning of the 20th century, several scholars argued for the replacement of classical Chinese wényán 文言 by modern Chinese báihuà 白话. Modern Chinese is a general term for the Chinese language used since the May Fourth Movement.21 Modern Chinese was promoted as the written language. Soon afterwards, the Chinese government took the decision to introduce modern Chinese into education and the media. Already during the Empire, colloquial language was used as a written language. The famous novels Dream of the Red Chamber and Journey to the West are examples. Classical Chinese, however, was the official language. At the beginning the 20th century, classical Chinese or wényán was replaced by modern Chinese or báihuà. During the 20th century the Chinese language changed more than ever before. Many foreign words and grammatical structures were adopted.22 In spite of the introduction of modern Chinese, classical Chinese continues to have a huge impact today. Many of the proverbs and idioms used today are rooted in classical China and are in fact classical Chinese.

Classical Chinese Classical Chinese is monosyllabic. This means that each character is a separate element and the full meaning arises from the context in which it is used. Each character is a basic module that gets its meaning in combination with other characters. If we know that the character luàn 乱 can mean ‘to rebel’ or ‘to bring chaos’ in one context and ‘to bring order’ in another context, it becomes clear that the context is extremely important. A character can have different ‘functions’ in a sentence. It can be a verb but many other things as well.

 hen the Chinese Empire came to an end, the Chinese Republic was established in 1912. Chinese society W underwent fundamental change. Sun Yat-sen, the first president, promoted his Three Principles of the People: the Principle of Nationalism (liberation from foreign domination), the Principle of Power of the People (gradual introduction of democracy in different stages) and the Principle of Welfare of the People (social economic program of the party). On May Fourth 1919, students from Beijing University took to the streets to protest against the Treaty of Versailles, which stated that former German rights to Shandong (occupied by Japan since the beginning of WWI) would be transferred to Japan. As a result of the protest, China did not sign the Treaty. The May Fourth Movement is symbolic of the emancipation China experienced at the time. 22 Wilkinson, 2000, p 28 21

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What makes classical Chinese extremely difficult, apart from being monosyllabic, is the absence of interpunction. There are no conjugations or inflections. We have to rely on the order of the words and a few grammatical particles to detect the grammatical relations in a text. On top of that, the number of grammatical particles is very limited. To translate classical Chinese texts can be a very lengthy task. Only if you research the whole context in which a text was written can you discover the real meaning and references.

Combinations in modern Chinese To more or less outline the meaning of Chinese characters, modern Chinese uses character combinations, often a combination of two characters but sometimes more. It is the specific combination that defines the meaning. 电

diàn

Electricity

电话

diànhuà

telephone

电车 电视 电脑 电器 电热 电影

diànchē

diànshì

diànnǎo

diànqì

diànrè

diànyǐng

tram

tv

computer

electric machine

electric heating

film

electric + to speak

electric + car

electric + to look

electric + brain

electric + machine

electric + heath

electric + shadow

Fixed expressions Chinese has thousands – dictionaries full – of expressions of four characters called chéngyǔ 成语. Behind each of these expressions there is a story from classical Chinese tradition. Dictionaries full of idioms are complemented by dictionaries full of explanations of these idioms. This throws some light on the fact that many Chinese characters have associations with stories. From the very young age of five Chinese children start to memorize chéngyǔ by rote learning. This is called the chéngyǔ jiēlóng 成语接龙, which can be translated as the ‘dragon of connected idioms’. Each idiom has four characters.

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The last character of one idiom is the same as the first character of the next idiom. Hundreds of idioms are memorized during childhood. The stories associated with the idioms follow later in education. In the translation of a company name or product name in Chinese, you can make use of these associations. It soon becomes clear that this is about more than just a ‘translation’. It is looking for a link with China, for a translation that has its roots in classical Chinese tradition.

Creating new expressions in Chinese Obviously Chinese is under the influence of a changing world and new terms need to be created to suit contemporary times. To create a new term in Chinese, two or more characters are combined into new meanings. The combination of 工况 gōngkuàng can be translated as ‘working conditions/ way of working’. The combination of the four characters 工况分析 gōngkuàng fēnxī can be translated as ‘performance analysis’. The separate characters from the combination can have the following meanings according to the context: - 工 gōng: a workman, work, a project, industry, a working day, skill, be good at, delicate, excellent or a musical note in the Chinese music system. - 况 kuàng: condition, situation, a Chinese surname, to compare, moreover. - 分 fēn: to part, to divide, to distribute, to assign, to distinguish, to differentiate, branch of an organization, portion, part, one-tenth, unit of length, unit of area, unit of weight, fraction unit of money in China, minute, rate of interest, point, mark, a component, what is within one’s duty or rights, to judge. - 析 xī: divide, separate, analyze, dissect, resolve, a Chinese surname. Because each different character can mean different things, it is only the specific combination that has a meaning. A new combination will result in a new meaning. To translate concepts of western language into Chinese the translator must sometimes create his own new combinations.

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New combinations of characters that have come into use during the last decades are for instance shǒujī 手机, which means a ‘mobile phone’ and is built up of the characters ‘hand’ + ‘machine’. Another is short message (sms) duǎnxìn 短信 built up of ‘short’ + ‘message’. New, sometimes very poetic, combinations are continuously being created.

Your own corporate vocabulary The ad hoc generation of new combinations has far-reaching consequences for international cooperation. When a western company wants to transfer processes to China, it is very important to keep the translation under control and to create one’s own vocabulary in Chinese corresponding to the corporate culture and requirements. Only then can the company be sure that the terms used in China will be standardized. When different translators work on different documents, translations and corporate communications will become chaotic and this will easily lead to confusion.

An endless modular system? How many Chinese characters are there? In the course of history, different attempts have been made to compile all existing Chinese characters. Emperor Kang Xi, who ordered the collection and compilation of all Chinese characters, made one of the first systemized attempts. At the beginning of the 18th century, this compilation counted 47,000 characters. A recent inventory in Taiwan carried out by the Ministry of Education collected about 100,000 varieties.23 Today around 10,000 characters are actively used. A person is considered literate when he knows about 3,000. It is in fact impossible to collect all Chinese characters in a ‘closed’ system due to the flexible and modular nature of the language.

23

 異體字字典 http://dict.variants.moe.edu.tw/eng.htm

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The ‘right’ translation Different people will differently translate a text from a western language into Chinese. Translators always have to make choices. The Chinese often discuss what is the ‘right’ translation or state that a translation is not ‘completely right’ or ‘in a certain context other terms are preferable’. For westerners who do not know any Chinese this is very confusing. Now that we understand that flexibility is a fundamental feature of the Chinese language we can understand why this may lead to discussions between people.

Learning Chinese without characters? Some institutes offer Chinese language courses that focus mainly on listening and speaking. Students learn to pronounce Chinese, based on pīnyīn only. No Chinese characters are used or taught. This may be a good idea for people who want to learn to speak some simple sentences or ask basic questions in a short space of time. However, the use of pīnyīn only will soon become limiting because the Chinese language has a lot of homonyms, which means that exactly the same pronunciation and the same tone can mean totally different things. Of course people always talk in a context and the context can clarify what is exactly meant. But this can lead to confusion. An example is zài 在 and zài 再. The first zài means ‘to be in’, the second zài means ‘again’. Seeing the Chinese characters, it is clear we are talking about two different things. Without them, it is unclear. Opinions of Chinese language teachers differ on this subject. Some find it useful to give lessons with characters, while others prefer without. In my opinion, it is best to use characters from the beginning, not only to avoid misunderstandings but also because this insight teaches us so much about Chinese culture. Therefore, those who really want to learn Chinese should choose the total ‘package of four parts’: the Chinese character, the pronunciation, the tone and the meaning.

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Chapter 2

Origin and development of Chinese characters

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Origin and development of Chinese characters Cang Jie is considered to be the mythological inventor of Chinese characters. He worked as a minister for the Yellow Emperor, also a mythological figure, the founder of the Chinese nation. Cang Jie is usually depicted with four eyes, sometimes with six, and he is dressed in leaves and grass because he lived in the age before civilization.24 His image can sometimes be found on traditional Chinese religious altars. For the invention of the Chinese characters, Cang Jie found inspiration in the tracks of birds and other animals. He made drawings of these and objects, simplifying them into a few lines and by doing so, created the first Chinese characters. During the Han dynasty these were called xiàng xíng 象形, which can be literally translated as the ‘form of a phenomena’.25

Cang Jie with four eyes 26;

Cang Jie with six eyes 27

Stevens, Keith, 2001, pp 40–41  an Hauy Peng, 1998, p v T 26 Idema, Wilt; Haft, Lloyd, 1996, p 12 27 Stevens, Keith, 2001, p 42 24 25

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Apart from the spoken language, Chinese script has always been a binding factor between the Chinese people. Since ancient times, Chinese inscriptions were written on all types of material resulting in a treasure of historical sources. These sources help us to reconstruct Chinese history.

Tortoise plastron used as an oracle instrument; left 28, right 29

Bamboo used for Chinese script 30

 su Ya-hwei, 2002, p 37 H Guo Bonan, 1995, p 43 30 Wu Che-fu, 1993, pp 14–15 28 29

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Evolution in writing style A common perception of Chinese is that the language has not changed over the ages. There is a similar perception of the Chinese culture, which many believe has enjoyed historical continuity without any major change. Reality proves different. Through the ages, Chinese characters have undergone a huge evolution. The evolution of the script was often related to the use of new materials.

Evolution from pictogram to character 31 In the picture above we see two series of characters. We should look at them in three columns. In the third and sixth columns (from left to right) we see how drawings evolved into characters as they exist today. The first and fourth columns show contemporary characters.

31

Wu Che-fu, 1993, p 6

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Stages in the evolution of Chinese script There are four major phases in the evolution of Chinese script: 1. Big Seal; 2. Li script; 3. Grass script; 4. Model script.

Big Seal

The archaic or Big Seal script originated during the Shang Dynasty (1600– 1045 BC). This old script was carved in hard materials like oracle bones and ritual bronzes. From the Zhou Dynasty (1045–256 BC) characters were also chiseled in stone. After the establishment of the first Chinese Empire (221– 206 BC) the first emperor Qin Shi Huangdi standardized Chinese characters. All regional variations that had developed independently were unified. The Small Seal script developed from the Big Seal script by eliminating some of the variants and introducing simplification.32 Since the 19th century, Seal script has again been used in calligraphy.

Li script

During the first Empire, Minister Li developed the Li script, which was adapted to the use of the brush. The motivation to standardize the script was linked to a desire to establish a strong clerical administration in service of the emperor. Before the use of silk and paper, characters were written on pieces of bamboo. Bamboo books of laws and regulations have been found dating back to the Qin Dynasty.33

Grass script

Grass script, which is the literal translation of cǎoshū 草书, developed during the 3rd century AD. This script is very sketchy, quick, cursive and fast. The aesthetical dimension often supersedes the communicative dimension.

Model script

Also during the 3rd century AD, the model or Kai script kǎishū 楷书 developed. This is what we still use today. The use of paper and writing materials became more and more common. The absorbent quality of paper called for a script that 32 33

 hang Kuang-pin, 2002, p 17 C Chang Kuang-pin, 2002, p 28

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was quick to write and at the same time clearer and more formal. Model script was also used for printing Chinese characters in books from the 8th century. Calligraphers Wang Xizhi (307–365) and his son Wang Xianzhi (344–388) developed the most authoritative calligraphic styles. Wang Xizhi’s ‘Preface to the Orchid Pavillion’ Lántíng jí xù 兰亭集序 is considered the most perfect model script ever produced. It describes a meeting of scholars in a garden where they enjoy drinking wine and composing poetry and find themselves in a state of peace and tranquility. Inner calmness is seen as an essential condition for the calligrapher to find deeper spiritual meaning in nature. He needs to control his brush in such a skillful way that no intellectual effort is needed. Only through spontaneity will aesthetic quality be achieved. Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi’s calligraphy dominated the conditions and practice of calligraphy in the ages that followed. Over time, calligraphers developed several variations of model script but it was Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi who set the standard and laid the foundations for all future generations.

Simplification of Chinese characters After the establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949, the Communist Party wanted to go one step further in the evolution of the Chinese language. The discussion about the simplification of Chinese characters had been going on since the end of the 19th century. In the 1950s, Mao Zedong decided to implement this simplification. The traditional Chinese characters fántǐzì 繁体字 still used in Hong Kong, Taiwan and by overseas communities, were simplified on Mainland China to become jiǎntǐzì 简体字.

豐 丰 廣 广 Two examples of complex traditional characters with their simplified form

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Not all Chinese characters were simplified. A large number were kept in their original form. In 1956 the first series of simplified characters were introduced in the People’s Republic. In 1964 the final list of simplified characters was published. In 1977 an extra list was added.34 To improve literacy on Mainland China, simplification was implemented in various ways: - A simplified version of a number of Chinese characters was created with fewer strokes (see examples above). - A number of characters were selected as a package to obtain basic literacy. - The transcription of characters was standardized in the pīnyīn system. - When learning the language, a combination of the Chinese character, the pīnyīn system and the tone was introduced. The reform was implemented throughout the People’s Republic of China but not in Taiwan, Hong Kong and other Chinese areas. As a result, today Taiwanese and Hong Kong citizens may not be fluent in pīnyīn and in simplified characters, while most Mainland Chinese are not fluent in traditional characters. In principle, with a bit of effort all Chinese people can read both versions because simplification was developed in a systematic way.

34

 oreign Language Press in Beijing publishes an overview of the simplified characters: Chinese Characters. F Unsimplified, Simplified plus Pinyin Romanization, Chinese Language Library, Beijing 1985

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Different styles of Chinese script (ways of writing). A comparison of the characters in the right-hand column with those in the left-hand column illustrates the simplification. Right: traditional; left: simplified 35

35

周卫，六体书点唐宋词甘二首，吴建贤等六人书，上海书画出版社，上海，1982, p 34

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Towards a restoration of complexity in the People’s Republic? The discussion over simplified versus traditional continues today, not only in Taiwan, but also in the People’s Republic. Some people argue for the reintroduction of traditional characters; others want to restore a number of characters that have become too simple to their original form. At the CPPCC 36 congress in 2009, Pan Qinglin called for a return to traditional characters. Earlier, cultural critic Wang Gan had argued for a return to the traditional version. Conservative Xu Jinru took an even more extreme standpoint, stating that the simplification of characters has led to moral decay in China today. Discussions about the simplification and evolution of Chinese characters may well continue for some time.

Connection of contemporary with classical China English and other European languages have evolved over the ages to such an extent that only specialists can still understand the English or Dutch from the Middle Ages. In Chinese, due to the strong historical continuation of characters that have changed little since the 3rd century, the situation is different. According to Lin Yutang this continuity is responsible for the ‘hypnotic’ power of classical scripts on generation after generation of Chinese.37 The simplification of some Chinese characters has probably led to a diluted link with history. This is one of the reasons why the discussion about traditional versus simplification continues because it is linked to a deep-rooted concern that is not so much about language, but more about the core of Chinese culture. This discussion also reflects popular debate on the reconnection of today’s China with the past.

 he ‘Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference’ is a forum for the democratic parties in China who T can advice the CCP, the Chinese Communist Party. The power of the CCPPC is limited to giving advice. 37 Lin Yutang, 1998, p 214 36

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Chapter 3

Language and culture

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Language and culture Introduction: The links between Chinese language and culture Lots of questions can be raised about the impact of Chinese language on Chinese culture. Is the language the reason why the Chinese develop a better memory than westerners? Or is that connected to their education system? Does the Chinese language have an impact on the Chinese way of thinking? Would the Chinese culture have survived for so long in the way it has if the language did not have its particular structure and pictographic features? Is the flexibility of the Chinese language responsible for the continuity of the culture despite all the – at times strong – influences from outside? Influences from outside China have been assimilated over the centuries and have become part of Chinese culture; they have been ‘made Chinese’. Due to the flexibility of the Chinese language and culture, a mechanism seems to exist that absorbs new influences. This is of course partly rethoric, but several authors have used it stating that in the course of history, new waves of foreign influence have resulted in new revivals of Chinese culture. Lin Yutang quotes the research of Dr. J.S. Lee, which describes a recurrent cyclical movement of eight hundred years throughout Chinese history in which foreign influences have resulted in cultural revival.38 Today we can see this happening again. The stronger China becomes, the more we hear about the ‘five thousand year-old culture’ and the ‘specific feature of the Chinese culture to absorb everything’. China is not becoming westernized. China is absorbing what it can use from the West. At the same time we see a revival and reconnection with ancient Chinese culture.

38

Lin Yutang, 1998, pp 29–31

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In a 2009 advertisement from Landgent Senior Living Center in Beijing we read: 人生六十岁开始 孝道五千年传承 rénshēng liùshí suì kāishǐ xiào dào wǔ qián nián chuánchéng Life starts at sixty; Filial piety and morality have been passed on for five thousand years. A century ago, anthropologists like Franz Boas or Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf saw a thorough study of language as a fundamental condition to study cultural phenomena. According to the Whorf-Sapir-hypothesis, perception and imagination of reality depend on language and human beings organize reality by way of language. Post-structuralists like Roland Barthes or Michel Foucault were equally convinced that Chinese language is an expression of another world image than that of the western ‘horizontal’ script.39 Lera Boroditsky at Stanford University conducts cognitive linguistic research. With her research she proved that linguistic processes influence the most fundamental domains of thinking. In the comparison of languages we can soon come to the conclusion that different languages ask different things from speakers. Boroditsky describes her research of an aboriginal group in Australia. This ethnic group has no words for ‘left’, ‘right’, ‘forward’, or ‘backward’. They always use the four main directions to describe a route or position. Research shows that these people develop a high sensitivity for directions. People from different language groups were asked to arrange a number of pictures that showed a progress in time (e.g. a man getting older). The Englishspeaking people arranged the pictures from left to right. The Hebrew speaking people arranged them from right to left. The aboriginals arranged them according to a pattern from East to West. When they were facing South, they arranged the cards from left to right. When they were facing East they arranged them from top to bottom. This happened without anyone telling them any direction.40

39 40

Cui Zhongze, 2006 http://economy.guoxue.com/article.php/14198 Lera Boroditsky, 2009, p 116

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It may well be possible that Chinese people who live in a city like Beijing that is built according to the four main directions will also have a heightened awareness of direction. When I asked someone in the supermarket where I could find the fruit, the woman answered me that I had to go East. Time concepts in English reflect a horizontal concept, in Chinese a vertical concept.41 We see this pattern returning in other ways in Chinese culture. Westerners have series of books according to a horizontal pattern (A, B, C, or 1, 2, 3…), Chinese according to a vertical pattern: upper, middle, lower. The Chinese anthropologist and linguist Yong Ho, specializes in the relationship between culture and language. He is also convinced that linguistic structures reflect a specific thought process.42 In his research, Yong Ho focuses on the word order of Chinese sentences. In his opinion this word order reflects a kind of dynamism that is dominated by specific principles. He sees a strong resemblance between the word order and actions in the real world and human perception. He gives the example of the ‘subject-comment’ sentence structure in the Chinese language, which he sees as characteristic of a specific way of thinking: a speaker will first focus on the subject he is going to say something about before he has thought about the further semantic representation of his statement.

Link between the Chinese language and Chinese philosophy The Chinese language can be looked at from the point of view of Chinese philosophies. The Confucian background is implied in many terms and proverbs, as well as the Taoist background. Obviously the communists also left their traces on the Chinese language. During the reform of Chinese society after the establishment of the People’s Republic, communist ideas became part of the language. In the heat of the communist revolutionary struggle, language had to be powerful and determinant. Today we still see this reflected in the use of communist terms. The simplification of Chinese characters is probably the deepest impact communism had on the language. 41 42

Brockman, 2009, p 118 Yong Ho, 1993

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Modern China is a mix between institutionalized communism and the revival of tradition. Globalization and influences from outside China have had an enormous impact. We will now look at a number of examples, which reflect the different philosophies in China today.

1. A Confucian view on language Confucianism: Introduction

Before we look at Chinese language from a Confucian point of view, we will look at the basic concepts of Confucianism. Confucius lived in the 5th century BC. He looked for harmony in society and was one of the great thinkers at the time of the Warring States. Confucius formulated a societal organization model in which he describes how a human being should behave in relation to nature, in relation to other human beings and in relation to himself.

Confucianism as a centralist hierarchical society The Confucian society is hierarchical and organized like a pyramid. The ruler is on top; he has moral power over the other people. He is the role model for others. His behavior and conduct is moderate, his moral virtue is so high that others will automatically follow him and be in harmony. The ruler is the link between the world and the universe or nature. He has the mandate of heaven. He is the contact between the human world and the universe and he assures harmony in society.

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The well being of society depends on the charisma of the ruler. The whole of society is based on reciprocity. The true ruler is like a father. He is an example for his subordinates who are in turn loyal to him. The ruler is noble. He is jūnzǐ 君子. He has a high level of virtue dé 德 and he is humane rén 仁. He is loyal zhōng 忠 and does his best for others. He shows justice yì 义 for everyone. He embodies Confucian values to such an extent that he pulls other people up. One of the most important values in Confucianism is filial piety xiào 孝. This means that a son should obey his father, the father should obey his father, a younger brother, his older brother. A woman obeys her father, then her husband and when he dies, her son.43 Inside the family, all human relations are hierarchically ordered. By extension, the whole of society is hierarchically ordered. All relations between humans and interaction between them are based on hierarchy. Not only the ruler, but also all the other people in society have a duty to develop into highly moral human beings. This can be done through study, through cultivation of the self and by behavior according to Confucian norms in all situations. In the ideal society there is harmony hé 和. This means that everyone behaves according to his position and that all role models are attuned. Confucianism is a meritocracy. The best are pushed upward. Those who have a particular talent for something should develop that talent even if their individual preference is different. In principle, anyone can climb up the ladder in society by studying and working hard and by developing his personality and potential. Perseverance, hard work, and following the leader are highly praised. This results in enormous competition in China. Everyone is trying to climb up because that is what is expected of them. For Confucius, the key to social harmony lies in public conduct. If everyone behaves according to what is expected in his particular social position, then the whole of society is in harmony. Relations are ruled by ritual or lǐ 礼. Even 43

I n the Chinese People’s Republic, the traditional pattern changed under the influence of Communism. Emancipation is strong in China today. In the countryside, tradition still continues to have a strong influence. The preference for a male child is connected to Confucianism and is still quite common.

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today, the Chinese attach a lot of importance to the right relations and positions between people and respect for social position. The whole of Chinese etiquette is based on hierarchy between people. A host and guest should be of the same social position. Seating positions at the table or in a room reflect the hierarchy between the people present. Toasting during a banquet follows a hierarchical pattern. The family also has the form of a pyramid; everyone in the family has a certain position based on age, gender, and blood tie with the father or the mother. Family relations mirror social relations in society, which are also ordered according to the same pyramid principle. A Chinese delegation has one leader. Group dynamics in China are strongly influenced by this model. The Chinese use the centralist pyramid with one leader at the top as the favorite organizational model. It is no coincidence that China only has one party leading the country. Confucianism is probably one of the reasons why the Chinese are very pragmatic. Hierarchy between people can be different in each situation depending on who is present. This calls for flexibility because in one situation a certain person will be the role model who decides everything. In another situation the same person might be in a position where he has to follow. This demands a flexible attitude.

A centralist organization

Corporate organization is strongly influenced by Confucianism. There is often a preference for the hierarchic centralistic system where each person has a clearly defined task and position. Everyone knows who is on top and who is below. People in companies are strongly aware of their position and status. Responsibilities are usually closely connected to one’s status.

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Pyramid organization in which everyone has his defined task and responsibility

A larger organization can be looked at as a collection of pyramids that together form one big pyramid

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Confucian dynamic

In the 1980s, Michael Harris Bond with the Chinese Culture Connection at the Chinese University of Hong Kong developed a survey to research Chinese values. They came to the conclusion that something like a ‘Confucian dynamic’ exists.44 The findings of the Chinese Culture Connection were harmonized with the theory of Geert Hofstede about cultural dimensions. To the four dimensions Hofstede had researched in different cultures – power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculine/feminine, and individual/collective – a fifth was added. What the Chinese Culture Connection had originally called the ‘Confucian dynamic’ was renamed ‘long-term versus short-term orientation’.45 Different researchers built further on this research and came to similar conclusions. Aspects like ancestor worship, financial care for parents,46 reciprocity 47 and face, the Chinese way of networking or guanxi, the golden mean zhōngyōng 中庸 and other Confucian values, play an important role in China.

Revival of Confucianism

Confucianism is experiencing a revival in China today. The Chinese government stimulates Confucianism and it is replacing communist ideology more and more. Especially in the past few years we are seeing a pro-active reintroduction of Confucianism. The central Chinese television, CCTV, created a platform to reintroduce Confucianism and Taoism to the Chinese people.48 One of the influential figures on this platform is professor Yu Dan who links Confucianism to contemporary life and who has become wildly popular in doing so. After she had become popular on TV, she wrote a book. Millions of copies were sold of her interpretation of Confucius’ Analects.49 Many people criticize her for

 lso see Michael Harris Bond, The psychology of the Chinese people, Oxford University Press, 1986 A Hofstede Geert, 2001 46 Matthews, 2000, p 117–126 47 In Confucianism relationships are based on reciprocity. Reciprocity should always be kept in equilibrium. Due to this reciprocity, all Chinese people are somehow connected to each other. 48 CCTV 10 Bai jia jiangtan 百家讲坛 (literally: hundred schools discussion forum) 49 Yu Dan, 2007 44 45

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popularizing traditional ideology but at the same time she has contributed to the fact that the Chinese are again focusing on classical texts and that Confucianism is again well known today. According to professor Daniel Bell from the Tsinghua University in Beijing, a number of aspects and values from Confucianism can be regarded as inspirational for alternative political forms in today’s world, apart from democracy. Daniel Bell distinguishes different versions of Confucianism: the relatively a-political Confucianism Yu Dan presents today; traditional Confucianism that is a mix between legal elements and Confucianism and is about blindly following the ruler combined with harsh punishment and the subjugation of women; and the third version which he calls ‘left Confucianism’. Left Confucianism promotes values like the obligation of intellectuals to criticize bad government and to look after the material well being of the people. This last version goes back to original Confucianism, that of Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi and stems from a time before Confucianism was adopted as a state ideology. Other Confucian thinkers today include Jiang Qing 蒋庆 who in his work about Political Confucianism,50 searches for parallels between Confucianism and social ideals.51 The renaissance of Confucianism is a nice example of long-term thinking in China and of the flexibility to make 180° changes in course. During the Cultural Revolution, the communists tried to root out all traditional culture. Today everything is back again and the extreme communist period seems to have been nothing more than a ripple on the water. It may be too early to ask whether communism will disappear altogether in the future. However, it is already seen as something institutional and political rather than ideological. New winds are blowing in China and ideology in Chinese society is different today than it was a few decades ago. Who knows, perhaps the time will come when Confucian slogans will replace the communist ones on the Tiananmen Gate. An example of the reintroduction of Confucianism and tradition is also reflected in the names of new buildings at the People’s University Rénmín 50

 olitical Confucianism of Jiang Qing is explained briefly but clearly by Xujun Eberlein: http://www. P insideoutchina.com/2009/04/rise-of-political-confucianism-in.html

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Dàxué 人民大学 in Beijing. This university has the strongest historical ties with the Communist Party. Nonetheless, now one of the new buildings is called Míngdé 明德. The text in the picture below explains it.

Rénmín Dàxué Míngdé Name Plate at the entrance of the newly built complex In reality, the idea of eradicating Confucianism and Taoism may have been a little naïve. Both are deeply rooted in Chinese culture and in the Chinese language. It would be impossible to prevent their influence unless the culture was totally destroyed. We find an example of the close interaction between language and ideology in the research of Hodge and Louie.52 They illustrate how meaning is not only constructed in the interaction between the text and the Chinese characters. Ideological values are encoded in the Chinese characters themselves. Their research of the radical ‘women’ 女 in Chinese characters shows that it is very often used in characters with a negative connotation. The subjugation of the female is embedded in the Chinese language. This not only illustrates the position of women according to Confucian standards, but it also reflects 52

Hodge, Louie, 1998, p 57

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the female principle of yin and yang. China is aware of this because reform committees and women’s groups have called for the replacement of the ‘woman’ radical by another, but without any success.53 In the days of authoritarian communism, signifiers of tradition were accepted without any problem as part of general language, even during the simplification of Chinese characters. The communists blindly adopted the traditional values embedded in the Chinese language.54 Other characters however were removed after the establishment of the People’s Republic due to the negative connotation of their radicals. That was the case for instance with names of some minority peoples who used to have radicals like ‘reptile’, ‘worm’ or ‘dog’ marking their ‘animal nature’. Examples are the radical ‘worm’ 虫 in the names of ethnic groups like Ruǎn 蝡, Dàn 蛋, Mán 蠻 or ‘dog’ 狗 in Dí 狄, Tóng 狪.55 One of the most popular expressions used today in China is the Confucian ‘harmony’ hé 和. It is referred to in all kinds of places and situations. But other terms like ‘moral virtue’ dé 德 are also very common and popular in slogans in public space. The ‘family’ jiā 家 as the cornerstone of traditional society has never lost its position. Even during the reform of Chinese society after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China when families were often disrupted by the system of the work unit, close family ties survived. Today, strong family bonds are back to what they were in the past. The concept of ‘family’ has an important impact on the position of an individual in Chinese society, much more so than in individual-oriented societies in the West. Communication specialists Gao Ge and Ting-Toomey argue that the concept of the Chinese ‘self’ in Confucianism is defined in relation to surrounding relations. Each person is part of a relational network and is very much aware if his or her position in that network. The relationships are derived from relational networks supported by values like filial piety, loyalty, moral virtue and integrity.

Hodge, Louie, 1998, p 57 Hodge, Louie, 1998, pp 65–67 55 Francois Thiery, 1989, p 78, quoted in Gladney Dru, 2004, p 35 53 54

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For Confucius, a civilized person is responsible and aware of his or her position in society and the world and should act accordingly. In principle, a Chinese person can never shake off his/her relations with other people and self-worth is closely connected to collective values.56 We can detect Confucian influences in the Chinese language but also in the discourse within Chinese society, as we will see in our analysis later in this book.

Proverbs reflecting Confucian ideology

As we said earlier, traditional values in China are passed down from generation to generation, through language. Not only at the level of radicals as Hodge and Louie analyzed, but also in the numerous proverbs and idioms that reflect Confucian values and norms. Here we look at some examples of proverbs that reflect Confucian ideology. The concept of the moral leader is reflected in the following proverbs. 大河有水小河满， 大河无水小河干 dà hé yǒu shǔi xiǎo hé mǎn, dà hé wú shǔi xiǎo hé gān When there is water in the big river, the side rivers will be filled, When there is no water in the big river, the side rivers will be dry. 唇亡齿寒 chún wáng chǐ hán When the lips are gone, the teeth are cold.57 The ideal of the golden mean, the harmony between extremes that is a central concept in Confucianism, recurs in proverbs. The following proverb reflects the state of equilibrium and moderation that is expected under all circumstances. 胜不骄 败不馁 shèng bù jiāo bài bù něi Do not feel pride when you win, Do not feel disappointment when you lose.

56 57

Gao Ge, Ting-Toomey, 1998, p 9 Gao Ge, Ting-Toomey, 1998, p 9

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One important aspect of Confucianism is filial piety. Everyone takes his position according to the situation and according to the human relations around him. In every situation it is clear who is on top and who is the moral leader who needs to be followed. This is reflected in the following proverbs. 夫孝， 德之本也， 教之所由生也 fú xiào dé zhī běn yě, jiào zhī suǒ yóu shēng yě Filial piety is the foundation of all virtue, Filial piety is the fountainhead whence all moral teaching springs. 君君臣臣父父子子 jūn jūn chén chén fù fù zǐ zǐ A king is a king a subject is a subject, A father is a father a son is a son. 听大家的 tīng dàjiā de We obey authority. 长者为尊 长者为先 zhǎng zhě wèi zūn zhǎng zhě wèi xiān The eldest is the most honored, The eldest goes first. Traditionally the wife obeys her husband, or in other words ‘follows’ her husband. As a daughter she obeys her father, as a wife she follows her husband, and when her husband dies, she listens to her son. During a visit to some young Chinese friends in Beijing in the summer of 2009, the man tells me he would like to move to Canada. When I ask his wife what she thinks about the idea, she answers me as follows: 嫁鸡随鸡 嫁狗随狗 jià jī suí jī jià gǒu suí gǒu When you marry a rooster you follow the rooster, When you marry a dog you follow the dog.

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Confucian work ethics reflected in proverbs

The Confucian work ethic is to work hard and persistently until the bitter end. This attitude is embedded in many proverbs. 德才兼备 dé cái jiān bèi Integrity and ability are equally important 梅花香自苦寒来 méi huā xiāng zì kǔ hán lái The fragrance of the plum blossoms originates in bitter cold. 水滴石穿 shǔi dī shí chuān Dripping water wears through a stone. 学海无涯苦作舟 xué hǎi wú yá kǔ zuò zhōu To study the boundless sea of knowledge one needs to sail the boat with bitterness. 只要功夫深 铁杵磨成针 zhī yào gōngfu shēn tiě chǔ mòchéng zhēn Only thorough skill can grind an iron pestle down to a needle. 吃得苦中苦 方为人上人 chī dé kǔ zhōng kǔ fāng wèi rén shàng rén To be able to eat the most bitter of bitterness elevates a human being to a higher level. 一分耕耘，一分收获 yì fēn gēngyún, yì fēn shōuhuò Plow one part, harvest one part.

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一滴汗水，一分收获 yì dī hànshuǐ, yì fēn shōuhuò One drop of sweat, one piece of harvest. 百尺竿头，更进一步 Bái chǐ gān tóu, gēng jìn yī bù After being successful, go one step further. 不在其位，不谋其政 bú zài qí wèi, bù móu qí zhèng One who is not in position, does not engage in policy. In other words, everyone occupies himself with his own position and his own responsibilities. This last proverb reflects the pattern of Chinese organizations. In all organizations and companies in China, everyone has a clear-cut task and responsibility. In comparison to the West multitasking is less common. The assignment of each person in an organization is clearly defined and he or she will stick to that task rigorously. The idea behind this is that the whole can only function well when everyone sticks to his own assignment. In this system people are strongly aware of their position. Therefore, titles and the right ritual and etiquette, linked to social status, are very important.

Modern China: A harmonious society

Since 2004 Confucius is again promoted actively by the fourth generation of Chinese leaders, including Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao.58 Their policy is about ‘scientific development’ kēxué fāzhǎn 科学发展 and ‘harmonious society’ héxié shèhuì 和谐社会. Suddenly the classics are back in fashion and can be found everywhere in society. They are disseminated in the form of children’s book, comics, schoolbooks and in many other ways. The basis of Confucianism is once again part of the official curriculum and is even taught at the central party cadre school. Neo-Confucian thinkers are convinced that Confucianism can offer additional answers to other ideologies for governmental policies today in China. In general, the goal of memorizing the classics and historical stories is to provide a source of role models that are always at hand when needed. Apart 58

The first three generations in the CCP were led by Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Jiang Zemin.

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from state education, numerous private initiatives are being taken outside the school curriculum to spread knowledge of Confucianism. High profile Chinese companies even offer cultural training rooted in Confucianism.59 In 2008 the Chinese government restored a number of traditional festivals based on the lunar calendar, like Qīngmíng 清明, the honoring of the dead, and Duānwǔ 端午, the Dragon Boat festival. It is becoming more and more clear that China is once again embracing tradition and seeking ways to reconnect with traditional and classical values. In our analysis of discourse in contemporary society, we will see that Confucian teachings play an important role again today.

Reflection of social status in titles

The influence of hierarchy and social status in Confucianism is reflected in the importance attached to titles, for instance, on business cards, or a position in a company. Usually Chinese organizations have many levels in their hierarchy so that one can climb all the way to the top, but one needs a lot of time to get there. One’s title will create expectations and determine how one is dealt with. A ‘secretary’ is rather low in the hierarchy and will be treated accordingly. A manager is higher up and he/she will be expected to assume his position in the hierarchy.60 It is therefore important to choose a title that correctly reflects one’s work situation in China. It is even a good idea to choose a very impressive sounding title to avoid any confusion. Terms are not disconnected from the context in which they are used. It is important to understand the context to find the right translation of a title. Culture has an impact on expectations linked to titles. In the book The Pocket Interpreter for Business Trip in China 61 we read something about a ‘delegation Bell, 2008, p 12. Leadership in China is often different from leadership in the West. In China, a more authoritarian leadership is appreciated while Westerners usually prefer a consultative leadership. These are respectively rooted in Confucianism in China and democracy in the West. 61 The wrong English translation of the title indicates that this book was written by Chinese authors. It is not clear what kind of audience the authors have in mind. The book first introduces some very basic aspects of China and then moves to very complicated sentences to be used in negotiations. One needs to have a pretty good knowledge of Chinese to be able to use these sentences. 59 60

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leader’ dàibiǎotuán tuánzhǎng 代表团团长 and ‘assistant delegation leader’ fù tuánzhǎng 副团长. It is useful to know in this context that a Chinese delegation leader is always the top of a pyramid structure. He is the one and only leader at the head of a delegation at the top of a hierarchy. All others are hierarchically subject to him. The title ‘delegation leader’ has a clearly defined meaning that corresponds with a function in the Chinese context. In a western context, a delegation leader will also be the most important person of a delegation, but his function is described and outlined within a democratic context and expectations towards him will be different than in the case of a Chinese delegation leader. A delegation with two ‘leaders’ does not exist in China. When a western delegation with two important people goes to China, the Chinese will still ask who is the most important. Because Chinese etiquette is linked to the consolidation of hierarchical relations, most of the honor goes to one person.

2. A Taoist view on language Taoism: Introduction

According to Taoism there is one power, dào 道, the Way underlying the universe. This idea is reflected in the ‘diagram of the universe’ tàjítú 太极图, in which yīn 阴 and yáng 阳 are both present. This symbol reflects the one force in which two opposite but complementary forces continuously interact. It is the basic concept of dào.

Diagram of the universe tàjítú with yīn and yáng

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The interaction between yīn 阴 and yáng 阳 produces the Five Elements/ wǔ xíng 五行. The Five Elements – wood, fire, earth, metal, water – are also translated as the Five Phases or the Five Processes. In Taoism they refer to dynamic concepts rather than static elements. The continuous interaction between the Five Elements is a process creating all things. Referring to the Five Elements, Chinese culture knows five relations, five directions (center, east, south, west, north), five colors (green, red, yellow, white, black), five flavors (sour, bitter, sweet, sharp, salty), five smells (goatish, burnt, fragrant, rank, rotten), five animals (sheep, fowl, ox, dog, pig), five organs (spleen, lungs, heart, liver, kidneys), five musical notes, and so on. The Eight Trigrams/bā guà 八卦 of the Yì Jīng 易经 describe how heaven and earth relate to each other. Categories becoming more and more complex describe the universe: ten earthly branches, twelve heavenly stems, twentyfour directions and so on. Taoism sees social and political phenomena in relation to natural cosmic patterns in a process of interdependency and causation.62 This means that life on earth has an interdependent causal relation to cosmic patterns.63 This implies that everything is connected to each other, plays into each other and interacts with each other. When one part or element changes, the rest consequently also changes. This is a sort of modular system where new combinations of elements create and reflect a new reality. Just like the Chinese language, a new combination results in a new meaning. This flexibility exists both in the cosmic concept and in the Chinese language. The human being is part of this system; his actions influence the rest. This holistic concept is responsible for the fact that China attaches a lot of importance to numerology, directions, star constellations, etc. The impact of numerology and other aspects related to this holistic concept became clear in preparations for and during the 2008 Olympic games when 62 63

Goldman Merle, Ou-Fan Lee Leo, 2002, p 16  his cosmic viewpoint continues to have influence today. It is very well explained in Aylward Thomas F., The T Imperial Guide to Feng Shui & Chinese Astrology. The only authentic translation from the original Chinese, Watkins Publishing, London, 2007

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symbolism played a crucial role. The countless books published in the run up to the Olympics to ‘educate the people’ made use of symbolism. The games started at 8 o’clock on the 8th of August 2008. During the opening ceremony, 2008 drummers and 2008 shadow boxers tàijíquán 太极拳 were on stage. The Olympic mascots refer to the Five Elements. The footsteps of fireworks during the opening ceremony were running along the North – South Axis of Beijing,64 an axis that is crucial to the principle of fēng shǔi 风水,65 the system used to design and develop the whole city. Man, society and the universe belong to one and the same system.

Symbols

The idea that everything is interrelated results in a lot of symbolism in Chinese society in general and as a consequence equally in advertising and corporate culture. Because everything is related, human beings should strive for harmony with the universe. Numbers, animals, colors, the interplay between yin and yang and many other things are responsible for double or multiple layers and meanings. The number four refers to death and is to be avoided in telephone numbers, or car number plates. The number eight or a combination of 168 is considered to be very auspicious. Yellow, gold and red are lucky colors. White is the color of mourning and death. Fish and bats bring good luck.66

Terms of combined opposites

The basis of Taoist thought is the unity of opposites. Yin and yang are united in one force. In the Chinese language, we encounter a number of expressions that are created by opposites generating a certain meaning.

 ccording to the classical Chinese cosmic concept, the Polar star, fixed in heaven is crucial to the cycles of nature. A The Polar star is a symbol for the emperor who has the mandate of heaven and assures harmony on earth. For this reason the Forbidden City where the emperor lived is built according to the principle of fēng shǔi (literally: wind water) that describes how, where and in which direction human constructions and buildings should be placed to be in harmony with nature. The North-South axis runs through the Forbidden City and through the whole of Beijing. The emperor sits in the North looking towards the South. At all levels of society, the host sits furthest away from the door. It is not by accident that the Bird’s Nest, the Olympic stadium, is built in the North of Beijing. It is not by accident that the Bird’s Nest is round and that the Water Cube next to it is square. This reflects the traditional cosmic concept of the earth being square and heaven round. 65 The Chinese holistic universe was dominant throughout history until the beginning of the 20th century when it was replaced by Western scientific thinking. 66 More information about symbols in China: Eberhard Wolfram, 1986 64

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Here are a few examples: 危机 wēijī Danger + opportunity in combination means ‘crisis’. 多少 duōshao A lot + a little in combination means ‘how much’. 大小 dàxiǎo Big + small in combination means ‘size’. 高低 gāodī High + low in combination means ‘height. 紧张 jǐnzhāng Tight, stringent + open/spread means ‘nervous’ 东西 dōngxi East + West means an ‘object’ 内外 nèiwài Inside + outside means ‘about’ Equally on the level of proverbs and idioms we can find many examples reflecting the Taoist view. 合久必分 分久必合 hé jiǔ bì fēn fēn jiǔ bì hé What has been united for too long, must divide What has been divided for too long, must unite 存天理灭人欲 cún tiān lǐ miè rén yù To follow the heavenly principle and to suppress personal longings

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上有政策 下有对策 shàng yǒu zhèng cè xià yǒu duì cè A policy above Has a counter policy below.

3. A communist view on language With the reforms that followed the establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949, numerous new terms were introduced. Chinese society was reorganized into ‘work units’ or dānwèi 单位. In socialist society people called each other ‘comrade’ tóngzhì 同志. All people were registered at the place where they lived and worked. This system is called household registration, the hùkǒu 户口.67 Today the term ‘comrade’ is no longer so commonly used, although elderly people or members of the Communist Party will still address each other in this way. However, the term ‘work unit’ is as popular today as it ever was. At the top of pre-printed invoices the term dānwèi is used in China whether the company is private or state-owned. In spite of the enormous changes and evolution China has been through in the past few decades, Chinese society today is in many ways a continuation of what it was before the Reform of 1978. Today, China calls itself a ‘socialist economy with Chinese characteristics’. This means that the economy is developing according to market mechanisms but that the central government retains a strong control. This implies a partial continuation of the planned economy. The institutions and systems in society that existed before the Reform still exist today. 67

I n the 1950s, the Chinese Communist Party introduced the system of the hukou. This system was designed to keep the Chinese population under control and to avoid people migrating to other areas. Farmers and workers were all registered in a fixed location, either in a work unit or in a commune in the countryside. In this registered location, each person was entitled to food, housing, energy, education for their children and to other necessities. Life was lived between the walls of the work unit. There was no reason to travel. There was a difference between an urban and a rural hukou. Sometimes members of the same family were appointed to different places, often thousands of kilometers from each other. Today the hukou system still exists but it has become largely absurd since millions of people no longer live at their place of registration. The system has undergone some changes over the last couple of years but it has not yet been abolished.

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During the planned economy, daily life was publicly shared. There was no room whatsoever for individual choice, private initiatives or privacy. Everyone was under the control of the Communist Party. This was possible because of the strongly centralized organization of society and the economy.

Centralist society Everything was public and commonly shared. A telephone was public, used by everyone; the work unit had a car that was used by everyone. Today we see the continuation this system. In Chinese cities you still see a lot of taxis since relatively few people own a private car. While almost everyone has a mobile phone in China today, and while China has developed ahead of Europe in this field, we still see many ‘public telephones’ or gōngyòng diànhuà 公用电话 in the streets. Apart from expressions that refer to communist ideology and communist society, slogans spread communist ideology in public spaces. Mao Zedong made a plea for having many children. His credo sounded as follows: 人多力量大 rén duō lìliang dà Many people have a lot of power.

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Other Communist slogans are: 加强社会主义 精神文明建设 jiāqiáng shèhuìzhǔyì jīngshen wénmíng jiànshè Strengthen socialist spiritual civilization 68 为人民服务 wèi rénmín fúwù Service to the people 实现四个现代化 shíxiàn sìgè xiàndàihuà Realize the Four Modernizations

CCP party members 立党为公 lì dǎng wèi gōng The Party is established for the People

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The communists never abandoned the traditional ideology completely. An example is the architecture and name given to the ‘Hall of the People’ on Tiananmen Square. This famous hall, with circles in the ceiling around a red star in the middle, is the place where national and international congresses take place. The Chinese name for this congress hall is wàn rén dà lǐ táng 万人大礼堂 ‘the big ceremony hall for ten thousand people’. Ten thousand is traditionally the biggest number in China and also stands for ‘everyone’. According to Confucianism, relationships between people need to be arranged by lǐ 礼, ritual or ceremony. In other words, relationships need to be arranged according to the rules of etiquette as prescribed during the Empire and even before that. We can also detect references to traditional architecture in the construction of the hall. The sculptured stonework next to the steps in front is reminiscent of the architecture of the Forbidden City and other traditional buildings. Inside the Hall we can find yǐngbì 影壁 or ‘screen walls’ as they are prescribed in traditional architecture in accordance with fēng shǔi to keep bad spirits out.69 In our analysis of communist discourse in advertising we will see that not only language slogans refer to the socialist ideology, but also the pictorial language of communist propaganda is popular in advertising. In the run up to the 2008 Olympic games, numerous examples can be found that reflect this communist discourse. The advertising campaigns of state-owned companies like China Mobile as well as multinationals like Adidas used a pictorial language that can be associated with pre-1978 discourse. We will come back to this in chapter eight of this book.

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 he title of Boden, 2008, The Wall Behind China’s Open Door refers to this wall. A shadow wall is used in T traditional architecture. As soon as you walk into a door or gate of a building, a wall blocks the entrance so that you are obliged to turn left or right. This wall keeps bad spirits out. The Chinese traditionally believe that ancestors influence family members who are alive. If the necessary rituals were not performed when an ancestor died, they will not find peace and tranquility in the hereafter and they become bad spirits. These spirits cannot fly round corners, therefore they bump into the screen wall behind the door and cannot get inside.

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4. Globalization and Chinese language At the beginning of the 20th century, many western concepts and terms were introduced into China and the Chinese language underwent grammatical change. Today, under the influence of globalization, the Chinese language is again changing. After the 1978 Reform, lots of literature and theory were translated into Chinese. This led to the introduction of new terminology. Due to technological developments, the Chinese language needs to create new concepts. Numerous new expressions are being created as a consequence of multinationals and companies who transfer their processes and management techniques to China. As well as the new concepts that are being created in Chinese characters to describe new terms, some concepts in their original form have become part of the Chinese language, for example, CEO, CD and DVD.

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Chapter 4

Cycles and circles

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Chapter 4

Cycles and circles Time concepts and linguistic terms referring to time The terms used to mark the time or to refer to concepts of time in a language usually tell something about the time concept used in the culture. Professor Sander Griffioen, who specializes in intercultural philosophy, focuses on language and time in China. He analyzes three different ways of looking at time: historical continuity, organic time, time and occasion.70 How real the historical continuity of Chinese is, is differently argued by different authors. According to some critics, historical continuity is strong, according to others dramatic changes throughout time and history have taken place and there is no real historical continuity. In this context, we are mainly interested in ‘organic time’, which reflects the relationship between language and time. This brings us to the Taoist concept of interrelatedness of all things. Time in the West is strongly related to the division of time according to the clock, which reflects a chronological order of time. In China, time is more related to cycles in nature. This is not only the continuation of the seasons but the interaction between all things. Since 1949 the Gregorian calendar has been used throughout China. For thousands of years before that, China used the lunar calendar. Today the lunar calendar is still used, next to the Gregorian calendar creating a double system. Chinese people have two birthdays. Chinese newspapers show the date in both Gregorian and lunar calendars.

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The lunar calendar is cyclical, connected to cycles in nature. In the People’s Republic it is also called the Farmer’s Calendar. Traditional festivals are based on it. People can also find out if a certain time and space is prosperous for them or not. We can detect that the Chinese language reflects the cyclical features of time. In English we speak about ‘noon’ and ‘afternoon’, ‘last week’ and ‘next week’, which is a chronological indication. In Chinese we speak about ‘early above’ zǎo shang 早上, ‘above noon’ shàng wǔ 上午 and ‘under noon’ xià wǔ 下午, and wǎn shang 晚上, ‘late above’. Last week is ‘upper week’ shàng gè xīngqī 上个星期 and next week ‘under week’ xià gè xīngqī 下个星期.

UPPER

NOW

UNDER

Chinese terms for time

BEFORE

NOW

AFTER

English terms for time

We saw earlier that the Chinese tend to make mistakes in the use of ‘he’ or ‘she’ since gender is often not made explicit in Chinese colloquial language. Westerners deal with a similar situation when speaking Chinese. Westerners tend to make mistakes in the use of ‘upper’ and ‘under’ when referring to time. In Chinese, ‘upper week’ is last week; ‘under week’ is next week. For westerners it is apparently more logical to switch these terms. While in our agenda we have the morning on top and the afternoon below, our minds are apparently influenced by another logic of chronological tendency than the Chinese. Chinese references to time make use of heaven, stars and planets. To refer to Sunday ‘heaven’ tiān 天 is used, the days of the week use the ‘star’ xīng 星 the months of the year the ‘moon’ yuè 月, a day in a date is marked as the ‘sun’ rì 日.

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The cyclical feature of the Chinese time concept does not mean that the Chinese do not have an abstract concept of time. Christoph Harbsmeier points to the fact that already in the Han Dynasty, a chronological timetable was used, the nián biǎo 年表 71 as described by Sima Qian.72 The choice of organic or abstract time entities is mainly a ‘cultural preference’ rather than an ability of formulating an abstraction of time. The tendency to have a cyclical concept of time in China versus the tendency to have a chronological concept of time in the West becomes apparent in the way people deal with time and planning. Westerners tend to plan everything and stick to the planning. In China, it is sometimes difficult to implement a long-term planning. In fact planning is always subject to change in China. When cooperating with westerners, the Chinese often find that westerners stick to their planning too rigidly and therefore miss opportunities. It is very difficult in China to plan long-term or to get a hold on a pre-planned visit to China. In the West, planning is seen as crucial to efficient work. The Chinese tend to deal with planning in a very flexible way and change everything at the last minute, which is sometimes disorienting for westerners. Chinese often think westerners are rigid and have no flexibility; westerners often find the Chinese chaotic. And again the Chinese have a proverb for this: 计划不如变化 jìhuà bù rú biànhuà Planning is inferior to change. The concept of ‘time and occasion’ interests us in this context as well. Throughout the ages, the Chinese have given importance to divination and consulting the oracle. This is based on the classical book Yì Jīng, the Book of

h ttp://www.cangdian.com/zhiliao/nianli/01.htm (consulted April 2009) Griffioen, p 16 73 It is interesting to note that wèi or ‘position’ is also used as a classifier today, for example, in a restaurant. When you enter a restaurant, the waitress will ask you jǐ wèi 几位?, ‘How many people?’, which could be translated as ‘How many positions?’. The classifier wèi is linked to position in society; it is a particle that expresses respect. Depending on the context, wèi can refer to ‘physical position’, ‘rank’ or ‘status’. In turn, the ‘positioning’ of guests reflects social status: the position of people at the table reflects the hierarchy between them. More about positioning at the table in Boden 2008, The Wall Behind China’s Open Door. 71 72

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Changes. Again we return to the concept of the interrelatedness between all things. The Yì Jīng encloses ‘time’ shí 时 in relation to ‘position’ wèi 位.73 The Chinese time concept implies an interrelated connection to the universe and a connection between time and space. Symbols that are related to everyday life and corporate life are connected to this system. A new production line in a factory will be opened on a special day. Important decisions will be taken on special days. Sometimes at an opening ceremony of a factory, a dragon will be made in paper and the eyes will be painted, which makes the ‘dragon alive’ and brings good fortune to the factory.

Time concepts in Chinese As we have seen, Chinese concepts of time make use of terms related to references to the firmament. The Chinese tend to focus on the whole, before they look at the parts. In a date, first the year nián 年 is written, then the month and then the day. A date is expressed from large to small: year, month, day: 2009 年 5月8日. We see this tendency in other domains as well. In a person’s name the surname comes first followed by the first name, because the family is more important than the individual. An address in Chinese starts with the country, then the city, district, section, street, number, and finally the organization or addressee. Overview of time terms: 点 几点 分 分钟 半 刻 刻钟 小时 时候 现在 今天 明天

diǎn

jǐ diǎn

fēn

fēn zhōng bàn

dot

how many dots

part

Hour

How late

Minute

A minute Half

kè

To carve/ to cut

Quarter

xiǎoshí

small time

Hour

kè zhōng shíhòu

xiànzài

jīn tiān

míng tiān

Quarter

Time Now

Today

Tomorrow

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后天 昨天 前天 星期 星期一 星期二 星期三 星期四 星期五 星期六 星期天 月 一月 二月 三月 四月 五月 六月 七月 八月 九月 十月 十一月 十二月 日 年 明年 去年 岁 号 一下 空

hòu tiān

The day after tomorrow

qián tiān

Day before yesterday

Yesterday

zuó tiān xīngqī

xīngqī yī

xīngqī èr

xīngqī sān

xīngqī sì

xīngqī wǔ

xīngqī liù

Week one

Week two

Week three

Week four

Week five

Week six

Week

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

xīngqī tiān

Week heaven

Sunday

yī yuè

One month

January

yuè

èr yuè

sān yuè

sì yuè

wǔ yuè

liù yuè

qī yuè

bā yuè

jiǔ yuè

shí yuè

shí yī yuè

shí èr yuè

Two month

Three month

Four month

Five month

Six month

Seven month

Eight month

Nine month

Ten month

Ten one month

Ten two month

Month

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

rì

Sun

Day in date

míng nián

Bright year

Next year

nián

qù nián

suì

Go year

kòng

Last year

Years in age Number

hào

yí xià

Year

Empty

Once

Free time

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Numbers in Chinese

In the overview above we see that Chinese characters are used to appoint numbers. From one to ten there are two sorts of characters, the simple form and a complex form, which is only used for money or in documents to avoid misunderstandings. Besides the Chinese characters, Arabic numbers are commonly used in China.

The numbers in Chinese are built up in a very easy way: - 11 is 10+1, 12 is 10+2, ... 19 is 10+9. - 20 is 2+10 (two times ten), 21 is 2+10+1, 30 is 3+10 (three times ten), 68 is 6+10+8, and so on, until 100. - 100 is 1 time a hundred, 101 is 1 time 100+1, 168 is 100+60+8. - There are Chinese characters for 100, 1000, 10,000 and for 10,000 times 10,000.

The fact that ten thousand is the largest number in Chinese is sometimes confusing in cooperation between Chinese and western companies. In Chinese, you don’t say ‘a hundred thousand’ but ‘ten times ten thousand’. A different unit is used in calculations. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11

12 20 21

零 一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十 十一 十二 二十 二十一

líng yī

èr

sān sì

wǔ liù qī

bā

jiǔ

shí

shí yī

shí èr èr shí

èr shí yī

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23 30 35

100 168 600

1000

10.000

100.000.000

二十三 三十 三十五 百 一六八 六百 千 万 亿

èr shí sān sān shí

sān shí wǔ bǎi

yì bǎi liù shí bā liù bǎi qiān wàn yì

Traditionally, the Chinese believed that all good things come in twos or threes. Therefore, the use of double characters symbolizes good luck. The use of three characters symbolizes a lot, many, implying a lot of success or fortune.74 In pre-1949 China, this idea of twos and threes greatly influenced design. Nowadays, the double happiness is very popular.

1930s Matchbox covers: good things come in twos or threes 75 74 75

 hou Daguang, Chinese Matchbox Covers, Foreign Language Press, Beijing, 1989, p 18 Z Zhou Daguang, 1989, p 18

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Counting in stripes

Westerners counting in stripes use four aligned vertical stripes and a fifth diagonal line through them. The Chinese have a Chinese character for this. The character is built up with five stripes: zhèng 正.

Jingdezhen, counting the number of produced articles

Blackboard zhèng 正 counting

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Synchronic or chronologic The cultural preference for chronological or cyclical is reflected in other cultural preferences in everyday life. In China, there is a strong preference for a circle in many things. In the next chapter we will see that the circle is the basis for Chinese calligraphy. The Chinese always eat at round tables to establish harmony between the people. During the Moon Festival, people give round moon cakes to symbolize the desire for harmony in the family. Important meetings will take place in round rooms, the seats placed in a circular shape. Beijing has ‘ring roads’ that are in reality squares. The entrance hall of a restaurant is often circular in shape. Numerous other examples can be found in daily life.

The meal as a reflection of cultural preferences An example of cultural preferences like chronological versus synchronic, group-oriented versus individual-oriented, are meals. In the West, a meal is a chronological event: starter, soup, main dish, and dessert. Each individual has his own tools and chooses his own preferred dishes. Eating, like many other aspects of life in the West, is about individual choice and personal preference. The meal is dominated by chronology and individual orientation. In China all the dishes are placed in the middle of the table and served simultaneously. There is harmony in flavors and colors, in ingredients and in the way they are prepared. The host chooses all the food and tries to set up a harmonious collection of dishes. All the guests help themselves or even help each other to all the dishes. It is in the sharing of the meal that harmony arises between the people at the table. When a toast is offered, the whole group is involved. The Chinese meal is dominated by synchronic preference and group-orientation.

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Chinese dinner: all the dishes are served at the same time

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Chapter 5

Calligraphy and self-cultivation

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Calligraphy and self-cultivation Writing as moral education Education in China is not only about gaining knowledge;76 it is also about developing into a human being with the highest moral standards.77 Knowledge has to be obtained and the body and mind need to be controlled. One of the best ways to achieve this is through the practice of calligraphy. As we have seen in the overview of the development of Chinese script, writing gained aesthetic importance early in Chinese history. The writing of Chinese characters evolved from a utilitarian action into a form of art. Writing, painting and poetry are traditionally one and the same form of art. Writing and painting are connected to the Taoist concept of the universe. Therefore, it is the highest form of art. The production of porcelain, lacquerware, furniture and other objects was regarded as crafts rather than art. Already in the Han Dynasty there was awareness of rhythm in writing and of the fact that the different levels of pressure of the brush could result in different aesthetical effects. During the third and fourth centuries, the aesthetic quality of a calligraphic text superseded the communication of content. Calligraphy became a form of art that had both an aesthetical and a moral aspect. It became an essential part of politics, literature and art. The writing style of an individual reflects his character and his moral dignity. Brushwork can be rough or refined, thick or thin, dry or wet, regular or varied, fast or detailed. The way in which the brushwork starts and ends shows the level of accomplishment of the calligrapher.

76 77

 uo Qijia, 2006, p 581 G Boden, 2008, pp 96–68

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Throughout the ages, the Chinese (and Japanese and Koreans) have attached great importance to calligraphy. A good calligrapher has control over his mind and body. Also today calligraphy is used to cultivate the spirit and it still has an important status. For example, during the opening ceremony of an art exhibition or a new company, guests are invited to sign the guest book. Often in order of hierarchy, each guest will sign the book in their own calligraphic handwriting.

Guest book at the opening ceremony of the Guiyang biennale in 2007 The artists signing in Mao Xuhui Apart from official events, we can see calligraphers at work with brush and water in Chinese parks. In refined lines, beautiful characters are drawn on the ground. They are drawn with water and they immediately evaporate. This is not about the production of material art; it is purely about spiritual practice, about trying to get your mind and feelings under control.

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Calligraphers in Beijing

The circle as the basis of calligraphy We focused on the cultural preference for the circle and the cyclical in the previous chapter. The circle is also the basis of calligraphy as we can see in the picture below. Sun Zhenxin states in his overview of calligraphy: “The basic principle of the calligraphic line is the ‘circle’.” 78

Method for the use of the brush point 79 78 79

 un Zhenxin, 1995, p 11 S Sun Zhenxin, 1995, p 11

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Political power of calligraphy: Calligraphy of great communist leaders Calligraphy has political power in China. Mao Zedong, who tried to erase all traditional culture, was himself deeply rooted in that culture. By recognizing the importance attached to his calligraphy, he recognized the idea that written characters were related to the basic value of morality.80

Mao Zedong’s calligraphy Entrance of the Publishing House of the People’s Daily, Rénmín rìbào 人民日报 in Beijing The calligraphy above the gate is by Mao Zedong. It is also used in the banner headline of the newspaper. Mao Zedong’s successors, presidents Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin, equally left their stamp on society with their calligraphy.

80

Link Perry, in Silberberg, 2006, p 56

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Deng Xiaoping calligraphy zào fú wàn dài Bring wealth to the ten thousand generations Here it is obviously not only the calligraphic writing that counts but also the content of the message. Even if the Chinese Communist Party was the only one that governed China since 1949, different leaders clearly have their own vision and preferences. Deng Xiaoping entered the history books as the great reformer. He introduced the Reforms in 1978, which gave the impulse to the huge changes China has undergone over the past decades. The Chinese sometimes say that Mao Zedong made the Chinese people stand up again and that Deng made them rich. Deng Xiaoping’s vision is reflected in the message above.

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Jiang Zemin calligraphy (16 August 1997) 全民健身利国利民 功在当代利在千秋 quán mín jiàn shēn lì guó lì mín gōng zài dàngdài lì zài qiān qiū If the whole population engages in sports, it will benefit the country and the people; the merits of today will benefit the then thousand years. We see that Jiang Zemin, as president of communist China in 1997, still uses traditional characters in his calligraphy. Jiang Zemin was known as a traditional person. The continuation of the use of traditional characters shows that the communists never fully erased the past.

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Chapter 6

Language and identity

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Language and identity Mandarin, standard Chinese and local languages It is not only the awareness of ancient culture but also the language itself that binds the Chinese together and contributes to nationalist feelings. There is a perception that Chinese is only one language; in reality big differences exist within the language meaning that we could almost speak of several different languages. Despite these differences, the Chinese language acts as glue between the different Chinese areas across the globe. In spoken Chinese there is ‘standard Chinese’ or Mandarin pǔtōnghuà 普通话 and alongside this ‘local languages’ or fāng yán 方言 like Cantonese dialect, Fujian dialect, Shanghai dialect and others. Dialects not only differ in the use of words but also sometimes in grammar. Mandarin is based on the Northern dialect of Beijing. Since the introduction of Mandarin as the standard language in education by Mao Zedong in the 1950s, everyone in China speaks it as well as his or her own dialect.81 Until the 1950s, the Chinese living below the Yangzi River mainly spoke their own dialect and no Mandarin.

Mandarin Chinese as lingua franca in Asia In the course of history, the influence of the Chinese language has reached far beyond the borders of China. Japanese uses Chinese characters (besides the katakana and hiragana alphabets). Korea used Chinese characters for many years. In Vietnam, many texts in temples are written in Chinese. The influence

81

 everal ethnic groups in China have their own language, which is completely different from Chinese, like for S example Tibetan, Uyghur, Mongolian, and Yi. Since the 1990s, all Chinese residents study Mandarin, so these people also speak Mandarin besides their own language.

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of China is historically strong. With the rise of China today we can see that the influence of the Chinese language is growing again, not only in Asia but also in the rest of the world. Inside China, Mandarin is actively promoted since the opening up of the country and especially since the 1990s. During that decade, this was achieved by way of slogan campaigns. 说话写字要规范 生活工作都方便 shuō huà xǐe zì yào guīfàn shēnghuó gōngzuò dōu fāngbiàn Speaking and writing according to the standard Make life and work easier 82 国家推广 全国通用的 普通话 guó jiā tuīguǎng quán guó tōngyòng pǔtōnghuà National spreading of standard Chinese to be used all over the country 83 In 2001 Chinese language policy was formalized. For the first time in Chinese history the National Common Language Law was implemented.84 This law gives legal status to the standard Chinese language and is meant to outline standards for the officially spoken and written language in governmental organizations, education, the media, the public sector and public writings. In a country with 56 ethnic groups speaking different languages, the implementation of a common language will without any doubt contribute to the efficiency of communication. The same law stipulates in which context it is permitted to use non-simplified or traditional characters. This is allowed, for instance, in calligraphy and cultural activities. h ttp://www.ruf.rice.edu/~tnchina/polads/spiritual.html http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~tnchina/polads/spiritual.html 84 http://www.edu.cn/depth_1405/20060323/t20060323_4014.shtml 82 83

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Chinese who don’t speak Chinese In these times of globalization, we can no longer think in terms of essentialist cultures. Due to heightened interaction between many areas of the planet there is a continuous multilateral cross-cultural influence. Multi-cultural societies are becoming more and more mixed. Greater numbers of people have multinationalities and multi-cultural identities. Therefore we cannot speak of an essence of a culture. We expect people who look Chinese to be able to speak Chinese while many of them are born in the West and may not master the Chinese language at all. Having Chinese parents seems sufficient to create expectations about all aspects related to being Chinese or having a ‘Chinese identity’. Which identity does a Chinese person have who was born in Europe, moved to the States when he was eight, and then back to China when he was twenty? Which identity does a French person have who was born in Africa then moved to the States when he was fifteen? Identities are becoming more and more complex. A prominent author in the field of identity, Eurocentrism and Chineseness is Ien Ang who in her book On Not Speaking Chinese describes how during her childhood in Holland she was continuously confronted with ‘cultural expectations’ she could not live up to. Among them one question haunted her: why she could not speak Chinese while being born of Chinese parents, hence the title of her book.85 Sometimes a second or third generation Chinese person in the West who has been raised in a western manner, finds a connection with China and the Chinese. The Chinese in the global diaspora construct identities in diverse ways, maybe partly as a result of what their surroundings ascribe to them. This is of course not only the case for the Chinese. The same applies to all ethnic groups. Globalization results in complexity and hybridity as far as identities and ethnic groups are concerned.

‘Becoming Chinese’ Numerous examples can be found of people born of Chinese parents in the West that are ascribed an authority about China even if they have never been there or don’t speak one word of Chinese. Being ethnic Chinese seems to be 85

Ien Ang, 2001

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enough to possess an authenticity that in reality may be completely lacking. It is often a pragmatic game between westerners who need to have a Chinese face for authenticity at events regarding China in the West and the Chinese who need a ‘white face’ in China to give authority to international events there.

Mandarin Chinese: The standard for all Chinese The National Common Language Law stipulates that even in the western regions of China like Xinjiang or Tibet, Mandarin Chinese is the standard. Mandarin is obligatory in education. The Chinese language is actively promoted in areas where the majority of people do not belong to the Han Chinese ethnic group. Mandarin is implemented by the central government, sometimes at the cost of the local culture and language of minorities. Different terms are used to describe the standard Chinese language: zhōngwén (literally: the language of the middle), guóyǔ (literally: the language of the country), hànyǔ (literally: the language of the Han). The Han Chinese form the largest group, about 95% of China’s population. The term hànyǔ makes it clear that the Chinese standard is the language of the Han Chinese and that this is imposed on all of China’s minorities. In Xinjiang, in the West of China, the largest section of the population is Uyghur. They speak Uyghur, a language related to Turkish that uses Arab script. Today standard Chinese is obligatory in schools, even in areas like Xinjiang. Obviously this has an impact on the preservation of local language and culture. Therefore, the policy from Beijing is not always warmly welcomed. Signs in the streets bearing official messages state that everyone is happy with one united strong China and that even minorities are happy to accept the hand reaching out from Beijing. But the reality may be slightly different. In Kashgar, the most western city in China, we read a sign in the Idkah Mosque: ‘This shows that the Chinese government pays special attention to the historical treasures of ethnic groups and that ethnic groups in turn are happy to receive the religious policy of the Party. It shows that between the different ethnic groups there is a relationship of equality, unity and mutual help and that the freedom of religion is protected. All ethnic groups live in peace with each other.

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They work together to build a beautiful homeland and stand against ethnic separatism and illegal religious practices’. Although the above text is mainly about religion, we can take it as an example of how the central government implements its language policy, throughout China and even in faraway places in the West of China. In July 2009 we saw that ethnic harmony is not always as easy to achieve as the government would like. Severe ethnic conflicts took place in Xinjiang between Uyghurs and Han Chinese that could only be suppressed by an iron hand of the army. Some Han Chinese authors adopt the official central discourse that ‘local people recognize the importance of a standard language and are actively learning it’.86 In Urumqi, a Han Chinese professor at Xinjiang University claimed that the ‘Han Chinese offer their lives and the lives of their children to help local people in their civilizing process’. This feeling of superiority of the Han Chinese has existed for centuries and is being revived today. As China becomes stronger so do nationalistic tendencies. The Chinese government certainly has a hand in this. Since the return to Mainland China of Hong Kong and Macau, Mandarin Chinese is also actively promoted in these areas. In the Chinese business world, Mandarin is often the corporate language. Only ten years ago most Shanghai companies used Shanghai dialect as their corporate language because most of the employees were from the city. Today they use Mandarin. Many employees working in Chinese companies today no longer come from the local area but from all over China or even from Greater China, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore or other overseas areas.

Globalization and localization While the English language plays a crucial role on a global scale and has gained even more importance during the last few decades, critical voices are heard in China about the dominance of English as a global language in the corporate and academic worlds.87

86 87

 hang Sheri, 2006, p 13 Z “The Overdominance of English in Global Education”, in De Bary Theodore, Cheung Chan Fai, Kwan Tze-wan, Confucian Tradition and Global Education, The Chinese University Press, Hong Kong, Columbia University Press, New York, 2007, pp 75 –99

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Now that the dominance of the West is slowly but surely disappearing, Chinese is becoming one of the most important languages on earth. We can see a growing influence of Chinese in international communications. Therefore, westerners should be encouraged to make an effort to learn Chinese or at least gain a basic understanding of the language. In May 2009 the People’s Daily Online, the mouthpiece of the Chinese government, launched a campaign to promote a new domain extension for the Internet. Next to the traditional ‘.com’, ‘.cn’ and so on, there is also the extension in Chinese characters ‘.中国’, meaning ‘.China’. This means that the Internet is no longer dominated by the pure English alphabet system. Contemporarily to the standardization of Chinese throughout China and to internationalization, we can also detect localization. In the last few years, Cantonese has gained in popularity as a consequence of the popularity of Hong Kong pop music and karaoke. Young Chinese in the North are beginning to use a Cantonese transcription of their name, which implies a growing perception of international radiance. Examples include the changing of the pīnyīn Huang Lili to the Cantonese transcription of Michelle Wong, or pīnyīn Hu Rui to the Cantonese Andy Hoo.

Insider-outsider ethics and language China has a strong tradition of insider-outsider thinking. Sociologist Fei Xiaotong describes Chinese relationships, or guanxi, as circular: when you throw a stone into a lake, circles appear. The closer to the stone, the more obvious the circle is. In relationship terms this means the closer you are to an individual, the higher your loyalty. People who are not inside the circle are outsiders. Loyalty to people you know is high, there is no real connection to people you don’t know and therefore loyalty is low to non-existing. This results in the use of different ethical standards towards insiders or outsiders. It is perfectly acceptable to cheat someone you don’t know but not someone you know. With insiders, you share real information, but not with outsiders. It is interesting to see that all kinds of terms relating to the insider-outsider ethics and guanxi can be found in the English-Chinese MBA dictionary.88 88

闻洁，1999

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We see terms like insider shúxī nèi qíng de rén 熟悉内情的人/ nèi xiàn 内线 ／nèi xìng xíng rénshì 内性行人士, insider trading nèi bù rén de jiāoyì 内部人的交易, insider-outsider theory jú wài rén lǐlùn 局外人理论, relationship-focused negotiation guānxi jiāodiǎn xíng tánpàn 关系焦点型谈判, relationship marketing guānxi yíngxiāo 关系营销. In China it is important to become an insider. Knowledge about the Chinese language has a clear impact on your position. Academic research has proved that knowledge of the Chinese language heightens your chances of being perceived as an insider.89

Crazy English

Li Yang developed a method to teach the Chinese English. His method is widely popular in China. Li Yang teaches groups of ten thousands of people at the same time. In the method he has developed, hand gestures correspond to pronunciation. Masses of people simultaneously wave their arms during his lessons and shout sounds and words along with the gestures. The focus is on memorization.

Li Yang’s tone and presentation is rather nationalistic. According to him, learning English is a must for the Chinese in order to make China the strongest country in the world, a statement appealing to nationalist sentiments. English is presented as a poor language with only 26 letters, which is nothing in comparison to the rich treasure of thousands of Chinese characters. The Chinese need to learn English only in order to earn money and to make China stronger.90

89 90

 eng Shiyong, 2003, p 90, reference to research of Du-Babcock & Babcock, 1996 P Zhang Yuan, a controversial filmmaker in China directed Beijing Bastards (1993), a film about young people in the margins of urban life, and East Palace, West Palace (1997) a film about gay people in China. In the documentary Crazy English (1999) he recorded Li Yang teaching thousands of Chinese people at the same time.

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Confucius Institutes: The international image of China Inside China, political slogans help to implement the policy of the Chinese government. However, Chinese political discourse is not limited to inside China alone. On an international scale China also has a clear strategy. The pyramid-like group dynamic and organizational preference with one leader at the top is reflected in the way China communicates inside the country and outside with the world. A Chinese delegation speaks with one voice. At the negotiation table, the Chinese speak with one voice. An organization speaks with one voice. Chinese institutes usually have a department that is responsible for ‘outer communication’. And even as a country, China tries to speak with one voice. Since several years, China has been establishing Confucius Institutes all over the globe. We may well wonder what the deeper goal is of this, what the longterm strategy of the Chinese government is and with what kind of agenda. 有朋自远方来 不亦乐乎 yǒu péng zì yuǎn fāng lái bù yì lè hū Isn’t it a delight to have a friend come from afar! 91 China began setting up Confucius Institutes outside China in 2004. The official purpose of these institutes is to spread Chinese culture throughout the world. More and more people want to study Chinese and interest in the Chinese language and culture is growing. The Chinese government, more specifically the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, helps to establish these institutes. The goal is to have 500 institutes globally by 2010 and 1000 by 2020. These institutes are non-profit organizations under the control of the Chinese government. We’d like to believe that the most important task of the Confucius Institutes is to convey a cultural message, like the Goethe Institutes. But questions could be raised about the impact of the control of the Chinese government and the pre91

http://www.confuciusinstitute.net/

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programmed propaganda it is carrying out. Along with the Chinese language and culture, a well-chosen and censured official communication is being propagandized.

Confucius Institute in Venice When we watch propaganda movies from the Confucius Institutes on Youtube for instance, they are somehow reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution between 1966 and 1976 when China’s young people were sent out to the remotest areas in China to carry Mao Zedong’s message. The communist message needed to be spread throughout China. In the series of ‘documentaries’ 92 produced by the Hanban 93 we see a clearly developed message: the Chinese language and culture are the oldest and the best. As a viewer we are carried along by a series of well-chosen historical references that bring us to the end result: a powerful China. The Tower of Babel, the Rosetta Stone, cuneiform writing, the Egyptians and Italy as old cultures are depicted. This gives an historical dimension to the importance of Chinese characters in a global context. History and contemporary times alternate effortlessly and make contemporary China seamlessly melt together with ancient times. All this is presented as if China and the Chinese culture have evolved in an unaltered continuity. The icons of Chineseness that are depicted during the introduction to each ‘documentary’ tell us the great truth, the ‘great symbols of Chinese culture’: 92 93

 he movies are called ‘documentaries’ but they are rather the staging of a well-chosen discourse. T Hanban 汉办 is the institute under the control of the Chinese government that establishes the Confucius Institutes: http://www.hanban.edu.cn/

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bamboo and the panda, the Great Wall, oracle bones, ancient bamboo books, Chinese characters of all sorts and forms are presented in their historical evolution, whereby the character for ‘harmony’ is highlighted. Calligraphy, bronze, traditional literati, the wheel, technical drawings, and finally the end result: simplified Chinese characters as a symbol of the contemporary point in history where we find ourselves today. There is no mention of a ‘revival’ of China but of a ‘recovery’, a restoration huīfù 恢复. It is amazing how well everything is thought out. Voltaire is depicted in relation to Confucius. The Lafayette shopping gallery in Paris is given as an example of how the whole world is starting to speak Chinese. A succession of people from every corner of the globe testify to how important Chinese is and what a success story China is and how it is a model of development. The principle of the role model, typical for China is played out at global level. It is also interesting to see how some of the icons of ancient China used today only gained their iconic value in modern times. For example, the Great Wall only became a symbol for China during the 20th century. Amongst others, Deng Xiaoping helped to build the myth of the Great Wall when he launched a campaign in 1984 ‘to love the country and restore the Great Wall’.94

Preservation of traditional Chinese characters: Identity in China and Taiwan As we have seen, the People’s Republic of China is experiencing a revival of non-simplified or traditional characters. We are beginning to notice their use in certain situations like company names, in titles, people’s names or calligraphic signs. This revival of traditional characters in the People’s Republic is not disconnected from other evolutions. It can be seen as part of a general revival of traditional culture. Now that China is becoming stronger, there is greater focus on the ‘five thousand years of history’ and on the strength of China through the ages. In the rapidly modernizing contemporary China we also find examples of people who are returning to traditional literati life. One example is Lin Gang 94

Wu Hung, 2005, p 33

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from Beijing who obtained a PhD in engineering. He dresses in traditional Chinese clothing style. He has retreated from public life and devotes his time to carving seals and searching for poetic inspiration in the Chinese classics.95 In Taiwan, criticism has always been heard about the simplification of Chinese characters introduced by the Communist Party. This simplification is in many ways a loss of the richness and meaning of the characters. Several scholars like Ovid Tzeng and Selena Wei have tried to get a UNESCO world heritage status assigned to traditional Chinese characters.96 It is no coincidence that this debate about traditional characters is being raised again in Taiwan. In 2008, Ma Yingjiu, head of the Guomindang (GMD) party, was elected president of Taiwan, following Chen Shuibian of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The DPP strives for an independent Taiwan, whereas Ma Yingjiu and the GMD prefer to work on building better relations with China. Almost immediately after the election of Ma Yingjiu, the relationship between Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China started to improve. In 2009 the Chinese government decided to develop Fujian, the province bordering Taiwan, an area that for strategic reasons had been economically neglected. Transport between Mainland China and Taiwan developed rapidly. Whereas a few years ago there were no direct flights between Taiwan and Mainland China, many Chinese cities now have direct flights to Taiwan. This will have an economic impact on Taiwan, but there will also be cultural and linguistic consequences. In Mainland China simplified characters are the standard. When Mainland Chinese go to Taiwan for business or other kinds of cooperation, the use of simplified characters will increase in Taiwan, which may result in pressure on traditional characters in the long run. In Taiwan the idea of unification with China meets with a lot of resistance. President Ma Yingjiu came under fire when he proposed publishing some texts in simplified characters. In reaction to that, Ma Yingjiu took a clear

95 96

h ttp://kharakter.spaces.live.com/ http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/03/14/2003438444

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standpoint towards traditional characters. President Ma believes it his duty to promote Chinese culture and to convince the Mainland Chinese to reintroduce traditional characters or at least to learn them, because they are an integral part of Chinese culture. Ma Yingjiu plans to set up Taiwanese institutes for the promotion of traditional Chinese language and culture, in reaction to the Confucius Institutes that promote simplified characters. Ma wants to begin with two Taiwanese institutes in the United States.97

97

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/2009/06/20/212940/Ma-dispels.htm

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Chapter 7

Political and social discourse

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Chapter 7

Political and social discourse Introduction In the next chapter, we will focus on the corporate world in China and on advertising and promotion. We will see that the moral and commercial often go hand in hand. Therefore it is useful to first take a look at how political and social messages are used in society in general. Therefore, in this chapter we focus on the discourse in language and pictorial language in Chinese society. We will discover how language is used as an instrument to serve politics, ethics, and commercial issues and how it is used in Chinese strategy.

1. Language as a political instrument throughout the ages From Empire to Republic

The Confucian exam system, first introduced by emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, was used during the entire period of the Chinese Empire (221 BC – 1905 AD). This system provided a strong administrative apparatus in service of the emperor. The exams were organized at different levels of administration – district, province, national – and a hierarchy of grades could be obtained. Only those who succeeded at the highest level could directly serve the emperor. People were recruited all over the country. Because the system was based on meritocracy, only the most competent students made it to the highest level. The Confucian literati had a prominent status in traditional society. The system was in principle open to anyone; through study anyone could climb up in society. Therefore, not always the same families were in power in imperial times.

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A fixed curriculum was taught in the central tradition. From the Han Dynasty onwards, people studied the Five Classics. Two of the Five Classics can be seen as historical works: the ‘Book of Records’ Shū Jīng 书经 consists of speeches from the rulers of the Zhou Dynasty. The ‘Spring and Autumn Annals’ Chūn Qiū 春秋 is a chronicle of the Lu State where Confucius was born. The Five Classics also contain the ‘Book of Odes’ Shī Jīng 诗经, a compilation of songs for ritual use at the court of the Kings of the Zhou Dynasty, and the ‘Rites’ Lǐ 礼. The fifth book is the ‘Book of Changes’ Yì Jīng 易经 that tries to formulate the cyclical changes of the cosmos. The Yì Jīng was mainly used for divination. The focus of the Classics lay on history and rites. Apart from the Five Classics, great importance was attached to history and philosophy. The ‘Historical Records’ Shǐ Jì 史记 deal with the dynastic histories and were always written by the successor, based on archive material. The works of philosophers were also part of the curriculum. These were Confucian and Taoists thinkers, and other philosophers. The Confucian exam system and the Confucian tradition were used over the centuries by the different dynasties. Although China became decentralized on several occasions, each time upon reunification the Confucian exam system and the centralist organization were reinstalled. During the Song Dynasty (960–1279) Neo-Confucian scholar Zhu Xi adapted Confucianism with elements of Buddhism and Daoism. Zhu Xi’s philosophy became the orthodox version of the official ideology for all subsequent dynasties. The curriculum of the central tradition evolved over the centuries, but the core always stayed the same until 1905, when the Confucian exam system came to an end. Studying in traditional China was implicitly connected to politics. Language and literacy were implicitly political. It is amazing to see how large the influence of the classics remains even today. Chinese relationships are still organized according to ritual and ceremony. The tradition of role models dating back to imperial times continues today. This can be seen in written language and in pictorial language. The Confucian classic ‘Twenty Four Filial Pieties’, èrshísì xiào 二十四孝 prescribed role model stories. These stories were exemplary of the behavior and conduct expected according to Confucian standards. They showed how the ideal of harmony could be put into practice. The script was memorized so that the stories could

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serve as examples in everyday life. Pictures of the stories, carved in stone or wood in traditional buildings, reflected the content.98

Twenty-Four Filial Pieties At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the traditional sinocentric cosmic concept in China was replaced by western scientific thinking. The so-called ‘new learning’ xīn xué 新学, was inspired by western Enlightenment. Darwin, Newton, Huxley, Smith, Stuart Mill, Spencer, 98

Fu Genqing, Liu Ruixiang, Lin Zhihe, 1998

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Montesquieu, Kant, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and many others were translated into Chinese. This is called the first Enlightenment of China. Absorption of western ideas like liberalism and individualism took place. A new education system was introduced according to a western model. There was an antiConfucian climate in China for some time in this confrontation between own tradition and western ideas. The May Fourth Movement in 1919 became symbolic of the emancipation movement. Chen Duxiu, one of the prominent figures in the movement promoted ‘Mr. Science and Mr. Democracy’. The fascination for the West has to be put into perspective. After the Opium War, the Chinese-Japanese war and the civil wars of the 19th century, during which China lost over and over again, the country came to realize it had to study western knowledge to be able to resist foreign nations trying to colonize China and international military power. Westernization in China led to heated discussions between people promoting western knowledge and others defending the Chinese tradition. The ‘New Confucianism’ that arose in the 1920–30s can be seen as a reaction against this wave of westernization and a means of opposing western domination.99 Language played an important role. The so-called Literary Revolution that took place with Hu Shi and Lu Xun as its forerunners reflected the spirit of the time. In the battle against illiteracy, the official classical Chinese was replaced by colloquial language in education. In 1920 this reform was officially introduced. For the first time newspapers and magazines were printed to disseminate the new tendencies. Again language became the vehicle of political, ideological and social reform. The move from classical to modern Chinese is symbolic of the changes in Chinese society.

From Republic to People’s Republic

Since 1949 there has been only one party in power in China: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The original goal of the CCP and Mao Zedong was to create a classless society. Therefore all Confucian influences of hierarchy, ritual and harmony had to be eradicated. Especially during the Cultural 99

I n 1921 neo-Confucian scholar Liang Shuming wrote his influential book East-West Cultures and Their Philosophies (Dong xi wenhua ji qi zhexue) in which he defends Confucianism as a means of opposing strong westernization.

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Revolution100 and in the 1970s during the anti-Confucius campaign they tried to banish Confucius to the past forever.101 In spite of this, the communists borrowed more from tradition than they realized. They took over the centralist organization and administration of China that had existed for centuries. The principle of the role model was adopted from Confucianism. The content of the role model in the days of Mao Zedong no longer embodied Confucian ideals; it now embodied socialist ideals. Under Mao Zedong the role model was the revolutionary farmer, worker or soldier who gave his life to the revolution, but the idea was exactly the same as in Confucian tradition. One of the instruments used to implement Maoist ideology in Chinese society was the slogan campaign. In Maoist times there was only one dominant narrative in the whole of Chinese nation: class struggle and a classless proletarian society. The content of messages addressed class struggle in general or in specific political campaigns like the Great Leap Forward or the Cultural Revolution. The entire Chinese nation was dominated by the same discourse. Literature, art, film, music, and aesthetics were all subject to politics. Equally, slogans in public space carried political messages. The use of propaganda posters became extremely popular especially during the Cultural Revolution.102

 uring the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) the campaign the ‘four old’ was launched to destroy old culture, D old habits, old customs and old ideas. 101 In 1973 a campaign was launched against Lin Biao and against Confucius. Lin Biao was accused of Confucian tendencies. Indirectly it implied criticism towards Zhou Enlai. 102 Stefan Landsberger, 1995 100

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Slogan on a wall of the Drepung Monastery in Lhasa: 你们要关心國家大事，要把无产阶级文化大革命进行到底 Nǐmen yào guān xīn guójiā dà shì Yào bǎ wú chǎn jiē jí wénhuà dà gémìng jìnxíng dào dì Take the important causes of the country to heart Bring the Great Proletarian Revolution to a good end This picture was taken in 2002. The characters were more than likely painted in the period between 1966 and 1976. The slogan dates from the time when simplified Chinese characters were not yet widely used, as we can see in the use of some traditional characters. The introduction of simplified characters did not happen overnight. During the transition period it was sometimes not very clear what the government expected.103 Today, intellectuals are back as the role model for contemporary times. In the run up to the sixtieth commemoration of the establishment of the People’s Republic, China announced on the 14 of September 2009 that a ‘hundred 103

 he confusion surrounding the use of traditional or simplified characters in the transition period is shown in T Xie Jin’s film Hibiscus Village 芙蓉鎮 (1986) that deals with the Cultural Revolution.

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heroes and models’ were elected to inspire the nation.104 Around the same time, fifty new political slogans were launched by the CCP to get the people in the right mood for the 60th anniversary.105

Shanghai 2004 伟大的马克思列宁主义毛泽东思想万岁！ Wěi dà de mǎkèsī lièníng zhǔyì Máo Zédōng sīxiǎng wànsuì! Long live Marxism, Leninism and the thoughts of Mao Zedong! Below we can see an example of a slogan campaign that was launched a few years ago. President Hu Jintao calls on the Chinese people to follow the socialist spirit. The message was visible all over China, even in the remotest regions. This picture was taken in Kashgar, in the West of China, in 2008.

104 105

h ttp://english.eastday.com/e/0915/u1a4659571.html http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/KI23Ad03.html

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Kashgar Station in West China, 2008 Slogans by Hu Jintao with eight do’s and don’ts promoting a socialist society. shùlì shèhuì zhǔyì róng rǔ guān Yǐ rè ài zǔguó wèi róng yǐ wēihài zǔguó wèi chǐ Yǐ fú wù rénmín wèi róng yǐ bèilí rénmín wèi chǐ Yǐ chóngshàng kēxué wèi róng yǐ yúmèi wú zhī wèi chǐ Yǐ xīnqín láodòng wèi róng yǐ hǎo yì ě láo wèi chǐ Yǐ tuánjié hù zhù wèi róng yǐ sǔn rén lì jǐ wèi chǐ Yǐ chéngshí shǒu xìn wèi róng yǐ jiàn lì wàng yì wèi chǐ Yǐ zūn jì shǒu fǎ wèi róng yǐ wéi fǎ luàn jì wèi chǐ Yǐ jiānkǔ fèn dòu wèi róng yǐ jiāo shē yín yì wèi chǐ View on honor and disgrace in socialist society · Love the motherland, do not harm it. · Serve, don’t disserve the people. · Uphold science, don’t be ignorant and unenlightened. · Work hard, don’t be lazy. · Be united and help each other, don’t benefit at the expense of others. · Be honest, not profit-mongering. · Be disciplined and law-abiding, not chaotic and lawless. · Know plain living and hard struggle, do not wallow in luxuries.

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Pictorial language as political instrument

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In 2009 the People’s Republic of China celebrated its 60th anniversary. Everywhere in the country, slogans were hung up to get the population in the right mood. Sixty years of glorious history needed to be celebrated. In Shanghai’s Museum of Modern Art in the neighborhood of Renmin Park and Renmin Square, also the location for the Shanghai biennale, a special exhibition of photographs marked the commemoration. In the introduction to the exhibition it said that photographers in Shanghai wanted to express their ‘unconditional love for the motherland’. It was interesting to see patriotic discourse underlying the strongly Photoshoptreated pictures. It occurred to me that, in contrast to other exhibitions on at the museum at the same time, there were no English subtitles. (Maybe this was not perceived as really necessary. I did not meet any other westerners in the exhibition.) The pictures were carefully chosen. At the beginning of the exhibition, the first photograph showed the Great Wall, the symbol of China and equally of this show. Next came a series of photographs of a number of cities. The first city was Hong Kong, followed by Beijing then Shanghai. It cannot be a coincidence that Hong Kong was the first city featured in the exhibition. Hong Kong returned to China in 1997. This can be seen as one of the main and most glorious realizations of China in the past sixty years. Hong Kong was a British Crown colony since the Opium War of 1840. The 1842 Treaty of Nanjing stated that Hong Kong had to be handed over to the British: a defeat for China. This was the moment when the ancient Empire began to crumble. It would take until 1949 before China was really united again, this time under Mao Zedong and the communist government. The Chinese refer to the period from the Opium War to the coming of Mao Zedong as the ‘century of humiliation’. What was celebrated with the 60th anniversary is not so much the take-over of China by the communists, but rather the unification of China that made it possible to rise again and eventually put China back on the global map. The return of Hong Kong can be seen as symbolic of this.

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The picture of Beijing showed the Bird’s Nest, another icon from recent history. The success of the Olympic games in Beijing was another victory for China. The picture of Shanghai shows the Huangpu River with both Puxi, the West of the river and the brand new Pudong, the east of the river. Furthermore, there were a lot of ‘lucky symbols’ in the show: a picture with lots of fish, the symbol of ‘abundance’, a sailing boat, the symbol of ‘prosperity’ and ‘everything according to wishes’. A picture of cranes referred to ‘longevity’. References to traditional culture were present in the form of calligraphy and ink painting. Pride in history in the form of fireworks that China invented. Chinese nature was shown in all its variety featuring many mountains and rivers: shān (mountain) and shǔi (water) are together symbolic of the ideal landscape where fēng shǔi is perfect. Different generations of Chinese people were represented by a group of people in front of an ancestral temple and next to that, a group of children happily showing their drawings and paintings. Architecture was also present in many forms: from traditional and contemporary, to Tibetan and Hakka architecture in Fujian. Rituals in the form of a traditional wedding and a dance of the Miao minority were depicted. There was no doubt that minorities are considered an integral part of this glorious period in China. Among the funniest pictures were two ‘old China’ photographs, undated but dating back to the time when all Chinese people wore Mao suits. The people in the picture all had a broad smile: the past was fun! In contrast to this, a photograph of a Ferrari and Maserati car show packed with people showed that contemporary China is also fun! There was a lot to celebrate and China can be truly proud of what it has achieved over the past decades. How many people recognize the propaganda aspect of a show like this remains unanswered.

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Golden communism

It is ironic to see that in 2009, the pictures taken sixty years ago during the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 are now melted in gold and sold as souvenirs. In 2008 Olympic gadgets were sold. The communist forerunners in gold have now replaced them. A gold bar is not within reach of everyone. Today, class struggle seems a very distant thing.

Mao Zedong and the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, melted in gold. Gadgets in gold to bring good luck or to offer someone as a gift.

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The opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing: An example of Confucian discourse

The same discourse used by the Confucius Institutes could be detected during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing. One of the most breathtaking scenes during the opening ceremony was the appearance of thousands of actors dressed as classical Confucian literati 106 with classical scripts in their hands while they quoted the famous saying ‘Isn’t it a delight to have a friend come from afar!’, a quote from the Lún Yǔ, the Analects of Confucius.107 The most prominent Chinese character depicted during the games was ‘harmony’. Confucius is back, and with him all the etiquette, rituals and a place for everyone in the hierarchical system of social status.

Government Policy transferred to language and pictorial language

In contemporary China, streets and public areas are still plastered with slogans. Political slogans are an integral part of public space. The policy of the government is implemented in Chinese society in all kinds of ways. The media are under control of the government. In spite of all the technologically advanced systems, the control on the information flow is strong. Slogan campaigns in streets and public places are a popular way to spread messages. Alongside these, newspapers, magazines and television play their role in the implementation of governmental focus in politics. In their research of children’s television programs, Kara Chan and Fanny Chan discovered that the influence of the Chinese government is strong.108 Their analysis shows a marked focus on scientific knowledge, competition, and group-orientation.

 uring the Chinese Empire there was only one curriculum in the Confucian system. Those who studied were D called ‘literati’ (wénrén). 107 English translation: Yang Bojun, Waley Arthur, Lun Yu, The Analects. Hunan People’s Publishing House, Foreign Language Press, 1999 108 Chan Kara, Chan Fanny, “Children’s Television Programs in China: A Discourse of Success and Modernity” in: Wu Doreen, ed., 2008, pp 113 –128 106

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We can see the effect of control on the media in the uniformity of the language and pictorial language used. In the pictures below we see how Chinese people seem to position themselves as one block behind the ideas propagandized by the Chinese government at certain moments in history. In the top picture we can see masses of people crying out their support for Mao Zedong, ‘Long live Mao Zedong’; in the picture below, we see the Chinese army preparing for the Olympic games, again as one block behind the government.

1972 Cultural Revolution 109

2008 Olympic games in Beijing

109

Fava, 1973 p 67

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Changes in discourse

The same discourse can be found throughout the whole of China and this reflects the impact of centralized government control and the military-like organization of the country. The Chinese government always uses well-chosen messages. When changes in policy occur, discourse in society follows and these changes are reflected in the messages. These can range from minor policy changes to 180° changes of course. An example of a minor change can be seen in the change of propaganda during preparations for the Olympic games. Since 2001, China used the slogan ‘New Beijing – Great Olympics’ in preparation for the games. However, after a number of years the face of Beijing had changed drastically; the time had come to choose a new slogan for the games. This time it extended much further than the face of Beijing. It was now directed at China’s place in the world: ‘One World, One Dream’. This slogan clearly reflects the fact that China is taking its place on the global stage. A year after the games, the ‘Olympic spirit’ was still high. Amazingly many competitions from the games were still being watched on video screens in subways or other public places in the summer of 2009. There are still slogans extolling the Olympic spirit in the streets and on announcement screens in the subway. Years before the games, there were slogans referring to the games, and years after the games, they will still serve as a role model.

Subway screen on line 10 in Beijing. Underneath the time indication we read: 新北京，新奥运 xīn běijīng, xīn aòyùn New Beijing, new Olympics

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An example of a more drastic change in direction is the renewed focus on intellectual development after the opening up of China. During the era of Mao Zedong, intellectuals were considered to be the stinking old ninth category of society. Today we see new emphasis on knowledge and study.

Beijing 2009: Zhīshi zhàoliàng rénshēng Knowledge illuminates life

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Nationalism

The slogans we find in public space sometimes have a nationalist flavor: ‘Love China’. This is not so much a call to love communist China but rather to love Chinese, zhōnghuá.

Shanghai station 2008 爱我中华 ài wǒ zhōnghuá Love China

Counter discourse

The proverb ‘where there is a policy from above, there is a counter policy from below’ can be applied to discourse in society. Even if the Chinese government is trying to pass messages that place all noses in the same direction, this does not mean it’s happening on the ground. So much indoctrination from above, so many counter movements from below. The Chinese government tries to retain control over counter movements in society. For a short period during the 1980s, Beijing had a ‘Democracy Wall’. Anyone could voice his/her ideas and thoughts on it. That is until Wei Jingsheng plastered the following slogan on it: ‘the fifth modernization: democracy and other things’, hereby referring to the Four Modernizations

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that had been introduced in 1978 and in which politics were not mentioned. It cost him 15 years in prison. Freedom of speech is limited in a country like China. Today, dissident voices use the Internet as a platform. The government tries to keep the Internet under control by way of firewalls. When events occur that threaten stability in the country, government control becomes stronger. Following the Uyghur – Han conflict in July 2009, the Internet throughout Xinjiang was blocked. E-mail communication was impossible. Even mobile telephones were blocked for a time and across the whole of China, social networking sites like Facebook were blocked.

Economic policy via slogans

Slogans are not only used to pass political messages. They are also used to implement general policy. Here we see how slogans are used as an economic instrument.

Economic census slogan Nǐ chū lì wǒ chū lì Jīngjì pǔchá rén rén chū lì I do my best; you do your best; For the economic census, everyone does his best

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In 2004 China organized its first economic census on a national scale to find out how much the economy had really grown. Reliable information needed to be gathered all over China, which is no easy task. Therefore, the government decided to organize an economic census every four years. In 2008 the second census was held, again supported by slogan campaigns.

Environmental policy

Environmental policy is another hot topic in slogans and videos in public space. On public transport in the north of China, there are slogans asking people to use water sparingly because the region suffers from water shortages. A very popular way of campaigning is by way of cartoon films in public transport. You can find them in subways, buses, stations and airports. These very simple films spread a clear message. For example, there is the film about two frogs that meet on top of a lotus leaf. They fall in love and soon afterwards the female frog becomes pregnant. However, during her pregnancy the water beneath the lotus leaf becomes very polluted. When mother frog delivers her baby he turns out to be completely black. The message is clear: ‘Don’t let pollution affect future generations’.

Mother frog in labor with her baby frog

Baby frog made black by pollution

不要让污染影响了 我们的下一代 Bù yào ràng wūrǎn yíngxiǎng le Wǒmen de xià yí dài Don’t let pollution affect future generations

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2. Language as an instrument to civilize the people By way of the Chinese language, ethical principles, daily rituals, norms and values are passed from generation to generation. Many of these things are embedded in the language or transmitted in numerous ancient proverbs and idioms. Via the language, Chinese children learn how to behave, what conduct is expected from them and how things should be done. In modern-day China, countless sayings are repeated over and over again transmitting ancient knowledge to current generations. Confucian morals and centuries-old Taoist wisdom are passed on from mouth to mouth. This is not only done through spoken language but also written language. In the chapter on ‘Language and culture’ we gave a number of examples of proverbs reflecting ideology. We will now look at some of the slogan campaigns in public space in China today.

Wèi guó jiào zì yǐ dé yù rén Zhèngzuò hégé jiāzhǎng Péiyǎng hégé réncai Raise your child for the country, Educate it with virtue dé 德; A competent father Makes competent people

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In 2009 China replaced the Olympic games mascots – Beibei Jingjing Huanhuan Yingying Nini – which is a doubling-up of ‘Beijing huanying ni’ or ‘Beijing welcomes you’ – by other dolls called ‘wenwen’ and ‘mingming’, the doublingup of ‘wenming’ or ‘civilized’. The meaning of wénmíng 文明 is charged with tradition and history. Throughout the centuries, China has considered itself as a civilized nation, while all other nations are uncivilized or ‘barbarian’. Now it is up to Wenwen and Mingming to educate and civilize China.

Subway Beijing: Wénwén 文文 en Míngmíng 明明

Píngpíng ānān chéng dìtǐe Wénwén míngmíng bàn nín xíng Take the subway in a peaceful way Wenwen and Mingming accompany you

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Shanghai World Expo in 2010

When I traveled to Shanghai in search of slogans and to see how Shanghai was preparing for the World Expo, a friend from the city told me I would not find anything there. Shanghai is all about money and business. It is a very international city and Beijing is far away. That is of course true, but I was still convinced that I would find something. Already in 2006 I had taken pictures of slogans referring to preparations for the Shanghai Expo and in the past few years I had seen them in various places in Shanghai. Already in 2006 Shanghai was actively promoting ‘good manners’ and ‘civilization’ in society. And indeed, as soon as I turned a corner, I bumped into a slogan. The fact that my friend thought I would not find much there, maybe says something about their impact or the lack of attention paid to them in a city like Shanghai. At the same time, it is almost unthinkable that these numerous slogans have no impact at all. Like Beijing in 2008, Shanghai in 2010 wants to be a civilized city. Slogans in neighborhoods around all the construction sites call for a revival of ‘civilization’. Moral and ethical slogans can be found in the most surprising locations. For example, in a digital weather forecast announcement for the city, a call for harmony and civilization can be found between the temperature and the cloudy sky. Obviously there are also numerous posters all over the city promoting the Expo. Ethical messages in Shanghai are often hidden between other messages or mixed with commercial messages or other varieties of propaganda, something I had not seen elsewhere. In a city where everything revolves around business and commerce, perhaps it is the most efficient way to implement propaganda. It’s a mixture between commercial advertising and educational messages. There was also another difference in Shanghai from what I had seen in other cities. While slogans at construction sites in other cities mainly call for safety, in Shanghai they call for safety and quality. One of the slogans that especially drew my attention was ‘We learn from the Olympic games in Beijing to make the World Expo in Shanghai a success’.

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This slogan is reminiscent of communist slogans like ‘We learn from Dazhai’, a model commune in former communist times. In this instance, Beijing is the role model for Shanghai. There is quite some competition between Beijing and Shanghai. Shanghai likes to think it is more advanced than Beijing. The fact that Shanghai has to learn from Beijing is a bit of a political statement. I have to admit I was surprised to find so much propaganda in Shanghai. The city feels very international, but even here the hand of the government reaches into public space.

Shanghai digital slogan on the facade of the China Construction Bank: ‘To be able to establish a glorious World Expo, we have to be civilized first’

3. Language as a societal instrument Spiritual civilization

When special actions are taken or specific policies are being implemented, like the promotion of the standard language, or the civilization campaigns in preparation for the Olympic games, China’s cities are full of assignments to civilize the people. This implies ‘spiritual civilization’ as well as ‘etiquette and conduct rules’. Videos are shown in public transport, books are printed for every layer of society, and slogans are used to educate the people. Here we take a look at a few examples from the end of the 1990s.110 110

http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~tnchina/polads/spiritual.html

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祖国万岁 zǔ guó wàn suì Long live the motherland 做文明市民，建文明城市 zuò wénmíng shìmín, jiàn wénmíng chéngshì Be a civilized citizen, build a civilized city. 讲文明 讲礼貌 讲道德 讲秩序 讲卫生

jiǎng wénmíng jiǎng lǐmào jiǎng dàodé jiǎng zhìxù jiǎng wèishēng

Civilization; Politeness; Moral; Order; Hygiene.111

Other subjects are safety, health, environment, crime prevention, public order.

Jiànkāng sì dà jīshí Guǎnzhù nǐde zuǐ Màikāi nǐde tuǐ Bù zhān yān hé jiǔ Kuàilè jiànkāng suí Four pillars of health: · Take care of what you eat; · Stretch your legs; · Do not drink, do not smoke; · Happiness and health will follow. 111

http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~tnchina/polads/spiritual.html

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We recognize the importance of the family in messages about safety. The following two slogans each have the family as a core motivation.

Wèile nín hé jiātíng de xìngfú, qǐng zhùyì ānquán For your happiness and the happiness of your family, pay attention to safety

Shèhuì shì gè jiā Fángfàn kào dà jiā Society is a family, For crime prevention we count on everyone This is a prime example of how suitable the Chinese language is for slogans. ‘Family’ is jiā 家; ‘everyone’ is dà jiā 大家, which literally means ‘the big family’. The fact that both sentences end in the same character creates the possibility of playing with the design of the slogan.

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In the next slogan we notice a similar situation. ‘My family’ wǒ jiā 我家 and dà jiā ‘everyone’ 大家 are used in this case.

ānquán xiǎoqū shì wǒ jiā ānquán wénmíng kào dà jiā My home is in a safe place For safety civilization we count on everyone

Beijing 2008 in preparation for the Olympic games: Páiduì lǐ ràng – Yíng aòyùn zhìxù wénmíng xíngdòng Měi yuè 11 rì páiduì tuīdòng rì Stand in line and let people go in front of you in a polite way – Action for the promotion of order and civilization for the Olympic games. The 11th of each month, stand-in-line promotion day.

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Everyone takes responsibility

In slogan campaigns we can detect a number of popular formats that seem to be appealing and easy to remember. A popular format is a succession of two times four characters, in which the second part is always rén rén yǒu zé 人人有责: ‘everyone takes responsibility’.

Protect the green àihù lǜ dì rén rén yǒu zé To take care of green areas, everyone takes responsibility

Public order wéihù zhì ān rén rén yǒu zé To preserve public order, everyone takes responsibility

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A list of do’s & don’ts

The Chinese have a tendency to classify and categorize everything. Another popular format for propaganda and promotion is a list of ‘recommendations’ or ‘forbidden issues’. A number of items is listed, usually ‘8…’ or ’10…’, a symbolic number. We already looked at an example of this kind of format in Hu Jintao’s call for a socialist spirit. Here is another example.

Standard regulations to civilize the people of Nanning nánnìng shì wénmíng shì mín “bā bù” guīfàn bù suídì tǔ tán; bù luàn rēng lājī; bù sǔn huái gōng wù; bù pò huái lǜ dì; bù dǎ rén mà rén; bù pū zhāng làng fèi; bù wéifǎn jiāotōng guīzé; bù zài gōng gòng chǎng suǒ xīyān.

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Standard regulations with ‘Eight don’ts’ to civilize the people of Nanning: · Do not spit anywhere; · Do not throw rubbish anywhere; · Do not harm public material; · Do no demolish green areas; · Do not hit, do not scold; · Do not waste anything; · Do not violate traffic rules; · Do not smoke in public places.

Red banners with white characters

One of the most popular ways of spreading slogans in society is by way of red banners with white characters. It is hard to imagine China without these slogans in the streets and in public space.

Second half of the slogan: 多乘公交车 少用私家车 duō chéng gōng jiāo chē shǎo yòng sī jiā chē Use public transport more, Use private cars less.

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Political propaganda in surprising places

Sometimes you bump into propaganda in the most surprising locations. In reality they are always everywhere in public space, wherever you look. We have seen the propaganda mix of commercial and ethical or the mix of ethical and weather forecast in Shanghai. A few more examples of surprising places are on traffic cones or on the side of parasols. The term ‘harmony’ is very popular. In Guangzhou there is even a train called the ‘harmony train’.

Traffic cones with characters ‘harmonious society’ héxié shèhuì On another cone, the slogan ‘Peaceful Beijing’ píng ān běijīng 平安北京 is used.

On the side of the parasol we read ‘Harmonious Beijing, safe traffic’ 和谐社会 平安交通 héxié shèhuì píngān jiāotōng

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Traffic rules in China

It certainly comes in handy if you can read a few Chinese characters when you are in China, especially if you are going to drive a car. Traffic rules are not universal. In China, a number of traffic signs are in Chinese characters. These include: ‘give way’, ‘stop’ and ‘slow down’.

‘Stop’ tíng

‘Slow’ màn

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4. Language as a strategic instrument 不打不相识 Bù dǎ bù xiàng shí No dispute, no mutual understanding In other words, only after a dispute will people get to know each other better and come to a mutual understanding. In the fifth century BC, Sunzi wrote his script ‘The art of war’. Somewhat later, the 36 strategies were formulated. Today the Chinese are still notorious for their strategic thinking and tactics. This is especially so in negotiations and doing business, but you also often hear references to strategies in daily life. The core of Chinese strategic thinking is to prepare well and review the whole situation and every aspect related to it up front. The rest is all about psychological warfare directed at weakening your opponent and getting him to destroy himself. When we read through these strategies we can indeed recognize many of the tricks used in China at the negotiation table. Some of these tricks could be interpreted as unethical according to western standards, but in China they are perfectly acceptable to be used towards people who are considered as opponents. The 36 strategies have become part of common knowledge in China and they are applied to all kinds of situations, for political, societal, or corporate purposes. Because the Chinese language employs so many proverbs and idioms, the 36 strategies have become part of the written and spoken language. Chinese negotiate about everything. Therefore, strategic tactics can be useful in many situations. During the last few decades they have often appeared in business dealings or in the political world, as well as in everyday management situations. The 36 strategies describe how each situation can be dealt with. In reality the number 36 originates from the Yì Jīng where six refers to a dark scheme associated with military strategy. Six times six is 36. In reality this means a ‘numerous’ amount of strategies can be used rather than an exact number of 36. The strategies are ascribed to different authors, Sunzi being just one of them.

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The strategies were originally formulated as war strategies. They were passed on down the ages in the form of proverbs and they have inspired generation after generation of Chinese in all kinds of situations. It is not so much about clearly described, precisely outlined rules. It is rather about a particular way of thinking. We can look at the strategies as a kind of knowledge transfer by way of language. They have a fixed structure: each strategy consists of three or four characters. The 36 strategies can be subdivided into categories: · Winning strategies (1–6) · Confronting the enemy strategies (7–12) · Attacking strategies (13–18) · Chaos strategies (19–24) · Proximate strategies (25–30) · Defeat strategies (31–36).112 1. Deceive heaven to cross the ocean 瞒天过海 Mán tiān guò hǎi Rather than talking big and proposing too many projects, it is better to carefully choose one well timed action that can lead to success. If you don’t want to be seen, take a low-profile position. 2. Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao 围魏救赵 Wéi Wèi jiù Zhào It is better to take a small step than attack an enemy from the front. 3. Kill with a borrowed knife 借刀杀人 Jiè dāo shā rén Make use of the power of others to win your own battle.

112

 he 36 strategies have been published in many varieties and publications, one of them is Sun Bo, Fan Xiaohua, T 1996, pp 70 –105

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4. Substitute leisure for labor 以逸待劳 Yǐ yì dài láo Patiently wait for the exhaustion of your enemy. Taking a rest gives the impression of weakness, while in fact it is a source of power. 5. Loot a burning house 趁火打劫 Chèn huǒ dǎ jié Opponents who are already in trouble are easier to conquer. 6. Make noise in the East, attack in the West 声东击西 Shēng dōng jí xī Surprise attacks work well. 7. Create something out of nothing 无中生有 Wú zhōng shēng yǒu See the possibilities. Create need. Make your opponent believe there is something while in reality there is nothing. 8. Sneak secretly to Chencang 暗度陈仓 àn dù chén cāng Draw the attention of your opponent to one route, while sneaking through another one. 9. Watch the fire burning from across the river 隔岸观火 Gé àn guān huǒ Delay entering the battlefield. When your opponent is exhausted, grab your chance with full strength. 10. Hide a knife with a smile 笑里藏刀 Xiào lǐ cáng dāo Charm your opponent and gain his trust, then secretly turn against him.

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11. Sacrifice a plum to gain a peach 李代桃僵 Lǐ dài táo jiāng Lose a battle to gain a war. Sacrifice a small effort to gain a big deal. 12. Lead the goat away when passing by 顺手牵羊 Shùn shǒu qiān yang While executing your plan, be flexible enough to grab a chance when it occurs. 13. Beat on the grass to frighten off the snake 打草惊蛇 Dá cǎo jīng shé Do something spectacular, seemingly without any goal, to provoke a response from your opponent. 14. Borrow a corpse to resurrect the soul 借尸还魂 Jiè shī huán hún Make use of others, of organizations or institutions, of long forgotten methods, and put them to your own advantage.

In advertising, companies sometimes make use of the reputation of others to promote their own product. 15. Entice the tiger away from the mountain 调虎离山 Diào hǔ lí shān Pull your opponent away from his favorite environment to make him feel weaker. 16. To capture, let go 欲擒故纵 Yù qín gū zòng Give your opponent the false feeling he is winning to capture him by surprise.

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17. Throw a brick to attract jade 抛砖引玉 Pāo zhuān yǐn yù Entice your opponent by giving him something small, to catch something of much greater value afterwards. Let him believe you give him something, while your advantage is a lot bigger. 18. To defeat the enemy, capture their leader 擒贼擒王 Qín zéi qín wáng We have seen that the favorite organization in China is a group with one leader. Obviously such a group will weaken and fall apart when the leader is taken away. 19. Take away the firewood from under the pot 釜底抽薪 Fǔ dǐ chōu xīn Try to discourage your opponent by taking away his motivation slowly but surely. 20. Catch the fish when the water is disturbed 混水摸鱼 Hún shuǐ mō yú Grab your chance in difficult times. 21. Remove the cicada’s golden skin 金蝉脱壳 Jīn chán tuō qiào Mask yourself. Give the impression of staying in one place while moving to another place for a surprise attack. 22. Close the door to catch the thief 关门捉贼 Guān mén zhuō zéi When you are at the point of victory, bring the battle to a quick end.

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23. Befriend a distant state while attacking a neighbor 远交近攻 Yuǎn jiāo jìn gōng It is easier to be friends with far off places than to deal with a threat close to you. A competitor in the same field, who is closest to you, is the most dangerous. 24. Borrow a path to attack Guo 假途伐虢 Jiǎ tú fá Guó Make use of the power of a befriended party to attack a common opponent. 25. Replace the beams with rotten timber wood 偷梁换柱 Tōu liáng huàn zhù Steal, sabotage, destroy the basic structures of your opponent and replace them with weak ones or unexpected structures. 26. Point at the mulberry while cursing the locust 指桑骂槐 Zhǐ sāng mà huái Curse another person than the one you really address. The person who is addressed will understand it is meant for him. 27. Feign madness but keep control 假痴不癫 Jiǎ chī bù diān By feigning madness your opponent can be misled. 28. After climbing the roof take away the ladder 上屋抽梯 Shàng wū chōu tī When your opponent is in a trap, remove any escape route. 29. Let flowers blossom in the trees 树上开花 Shù shàng kāi huā Even when you are small, present yourself as big. Make something useless seem fantastic.

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30. Exchange guest and host 反客为主 Fǎn kè wéi zhǔ Present yourself as a guest to infiltrate from within. 31. Beauty Strategy 美人计 Měi rén jì Make use of a beautiful woman to deceive your opponent. 32. Empty City Strategy 空城计 Kōng chéng jì Make your opponent believe you have a lot of power at hand. 33. Change the spy Strategy 反间计 Fǎn jiàn jì Make the people of your opponent turn against him. 34. Injuring Strategy 苦肉计 Kǔ ròu jì This strategy is based on the fact that people feel compassion for a person who suffers. Injure yourself to get compassion to mislead your opponent. 35. Chain Strategy 连环计 Lián huán jì If one strategy does not work, be sure to have the next one at hand. 36. Retreating is the best choice 走为上 Zǒu wéi shàng If all the above strategies did not work, retreat. You can always come back later.

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Good preparation

In everyday language we also find proverbs that are inspired by the strategic tradition. One of the most important aspects of Chinese strategic thinking is that you prepare well before you start. Every single detail needs to be studied, thought over, and considered. The idea of preparing well is the content of many other proverbs in China. 兵马未动，粮草先行 bīng mǎ wèi dòng, liáng cǎo xiān xíng Before the army moves, the food has to be on the road

Material and rules

Another important element to bring a case or action to a good conclusion is to have the necessary material. Again we can find proverbs that refer to this. 不以为规矩，不能成方圆 bù yǐ wéi guī jǔ, bù néng chéng fāng yuán Without compass and hook no circles and squares can be drawn. 工欲善其事，必先利其器 gōng yù shàn qí shì, bì xiān lì qí qì To bring a case to a good end, you must have the right material.

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Chapter 8

Characteristics of communication in China

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Chapter 8

Characteristics of communication in China Introduction: Language as a commercial instrument In this chapter we will highlight a number of aspects relating to business communication in China. In the first part, we look at a number of aspects related to form and content in advertising, branding, marketing, and promotion. After that we will deal with some general aspects of the impact of language on doing business in China.

From planned economy towards a ‘socialist economy with Chinese characteristics’ The Chinese economy today is a hybrid form somewhere between a totally state controlled planned economy and a market economy. China calls this a ‘socialist economy with Chinese characteristics’.113 This means that market mechanisms are at work in a strongly state controlled environment. The transfer of the planned economy to the economy that exists today in China is mirrored in advertising, promotion and branding. In the planned economy hardly any competition existed between different brands and consequently promotion had little influence. The choice between different brands was limited. Living standards were largely the same for everyone. No one had much but everyone had everything he or she needed in life. Everyone used the same products that usually had brand names with revolutionary connotations like ‘Red Flag’, ‘Liberation’, ‘East Wind’, and so on. Especially in the decades following the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, and to an extreme during the Cultural Revolution, aesthetics, culture, 113

有中国特色的社会主义 yǒu zhōngguó tèsè de shèhuì zhǔyì

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and art were subject to politics and had to obey the standard of Socialist Realism that clearly described the language and pictorial language to be used. Everything was directed at educating the people in the spirit of socialism. In the cities and in the countryside, slogans told people how they were supposed to think and behave. The reforms in 1978 brought a shift from political to commercial propaganda.114 One of the things that brought change in society after 1978 was that public space became a lot more colorful. It is unbelieveable the change China has undergone in past decades, and especially in the last 15 years. Today Chinese cities are dominated by advertisements and promotion campaigns. Not one single spot seems to be without commercial messages. Western language slogans alternate with Chinese characters and western beauties contest with Chinese beauties. Colorful flashing LCD screens promote Chinese and western products. In 2001 China became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This implied that China was committed to respect international business regulations and to integrate into the global economy. The rush of foreign companies to China had already started in the 1980s, but gathered momentum when China joined the WTO. The heightened economic exchange meant that the world started to see China even more as a potential market. To understand exactly what the Chinese market and the Chinese customer want, it is necessary to understand cultural preferences and social tendencies. To be able to play on the Chinese market in any meaningful way it is of utmost importance to build an image that appeals to the Chinese. This involves both company image as well as products. On the other hand, very few Chinese companies have yet to grasp how to build a successful brand image that is appealing to the western market. To this day Chinese companies do not really succeed in building an international brand. We find examples of missed chances in Lenovo, which bought part of IBM a few years ago. To this day Lenovo is not very well known on a global scale. Another example is Nanjing Automobile, which took over the famous car brand Rover but had no access to the brand name because they had failed to include this in the contract of acquisition. 114

Li Xiaodong, 2000, pp73 –88

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This proves a lack of insight into what Intellectual Property is. For western companies it is inconceivable that something like this could happen. At the same time, western companies should be aware that they equally overlook issues in China that can have serious consequences. Not only is Chinese strategic thinking a good preparation. Western companies should also study how to make promotion in China and how to build a brand in China.

The arrival of advertising and commercials in China Until the middle of the 1980s little attention was paid to aesthetics and design in advertising. In 1986, seven people from the first class to graduate from the Beijing design school after the Cultural Revolution established their private communication and design company called the White Horse bái mǎ 白马. It grew into a successful company.115 Also in 1986, the first commercials appeared on Chinese television. The first international brands making commercial promotion in China were Colgate, Nescafe and Tide. The commercials were on television just a few minutes before the first foreign documentary series was shown to a Chinese public. The documentary was sponsored by the brands and was called ‘One World’. The series was produced by an overseas Chinese who lived in the US and it explored subjects like the Egyptian pyramids, farmers from Iowa, cooking with a microwave oven, and a program about New York that showed people living from the garbage, proving that it was not all heaven on earth in the West.116

115 116

 i Xiaodong, p 175 L Pan Lynn, 1987, p 132

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Until the mid-1990s, advertisements in China were painted by hand. Artists sometimes worked for weeks on end to finish one billboard. It was a way for many artists to make a living because the art market was not developed at the time.

Handpainted billboards Shanghai, 1994

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General evolution in business communication When we look at the evolution in business communication and sales methods in the period after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, we can see a clear caesura in the period from 1949 and the post 1978 period.117 If we look a little further back in history, we see that in the early 20th century there was already another caesura. Before the introduction of communism there was a lot of promotion and advertising in China. In the 1930s and 1940s millions of posters were printed. These posters often depicted Shanghai beauties and film stars who promoted beauty products, medication or cigarettes. Chinese brands as well as western brands like Dupont and Sunlight were promoted. Numerous books have been published in the last few decades about that glamorous time before communism brought it to an abrupt halt.

Advertising from Shanghai, 1940s

117

http://immi.se/intercultural/nr3/zhu.htm

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In the period after 1949, the planned economy was introduced, which meant a disconnection with the market economy of former times. As a result, business communication drastically changed. Everything followed a strictly hierarchically organized top-down and bottom-up line. The Communist Party implemented a system of public ownership of production. All companies were state-owned enterprises. They could not make any independent decisions on buying or selling. The central government controlled every level of society: from provincial, district and village levels to the very basis of society in communes or work units. The ministry took every decision about the buying and selling of products. Lower levels received what they ordered from higher levels. Production quotas made sure the market was provided with what it needed. The higher levels controlled the stock. They either approved or rejected an order. A request to the top did not mean that the ordered goods would also be delivered. Sometimes the amount of available goods needed to be spread over different areas and produced goods were not enough to supply the whole market. There was no need for promotion to influence the sale of products because in the planned economy, the government decided everything. There was no competition between companies or products. Any business communication purely served the national plan. Sales documents reflected the hierarchy of the centrally planned economy. They also reflected the relationship between the people along the whole chain. There were three types of documents in the planned economy: one bottom-up 上行 shàng xíng to order and request products, one top-down 下行 xià xíng to approve and grant products and one used between people at the same level 平行 píng xíng. After 1978, a change took place, away from the centrally controlled economy towards a more market oriented economy. Business communication changed accordingly and became more a matter of horizontal communication than vertical hierarchy. With the introduction of the Reforms in 1978, the Chinese economy moved in the direction of direct contact between business partners. This was inspired by a desire for a win-win cooperation with other countries and influenced by advanced technological developments.

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Sales now took place between companies and organizations. Competition became a crucial factor. Business communication was now used to promote products in a fiercely competitive market. Communication specialist Zhu Yunxia concludes in his research on communication in China that relationship networks or guānxi are a distinctive feature of making promotion in China.118 Relationship networks are influential throughout society and consequently also in business and trading. Building relationships is important in sales and product promotion in China. Apart from that, communication in China also basically follows the AIDA model of attention/interest/desire/action.

Advertising in China When we analyze the underlying messages of advertising in China we can conclude that they are deeply rooted in Chinese culture. Commercial messages in China are often connected to traditional moral, ethical and aesthetical values and norms.119 In 1984 Deng Xiaoping claimed that ‘Western cultures and ideas should adapt to Chinese national characteristics’.120 In 1987 Wan Li, premier of the national state council stated that ‘advertising was a necessary factor to obtain economic prosperity’. In 1995 the Chinese government published a number of recommendations and restrictions in the field of advertising. These implied more freedom but at the same time a clearer outline of conditions that needed to be followed. The government put the focus on honesty, respect and a positive representation.121 Positive representation meant that attention should go to positive aspects of a message and that advertising should not point at problems. Later in this book I will give an example of how this need for a positive message is used in AIDS campaigns.

h ttp://immi.se/intercultural/nr3/zhu.htm Li Xiaodong, p 75 120 Yan Rick, 2004, p 126 121 Li Xiaodong, 2000, pp 73-88 118 119

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Business communication and commercial culture in China are closely linked to the government. We have seen how government discourse is reflected in general campaigns in the previous chapter. We can also detect the same discourse in commercial advertisements. You could say that the specific sort of economy China has chosen has an impact on commercial culture. When the government controls telecommunications and information, it is logical that the hand of the government is visible in commercial communications. In the ‘socialist economy with Chinese characteristics’ the economy and politics are intertwined. We will see this mirrored in the analysis of advertising.

Logos and brands In the West the logo of a company is the main image of a company. In some cases the logo is accompanied by a slogan to give extra strength to the image or to give the company image a specific flavor or focus. China has an extra trump card when it comes to image building. The iconographic quality of Chinese characters offers an extra dimension in branding and advertising. Next to the logo, Chinese characters can be used as a company name to offer a deeper dimension or to make it more visually attractive. A company name mirrors the moral image of the enterprise. The pictographic quality of the characters adds an extra dimension to branding and advertising. A logo in China often refers to traditional Chinese culture. The dragon, symbol of the emperor, is symbolic of power and vitality. The phoenix accompanies the dragon. Together they depict the unity of opposites, the harmony between yīn and yáng. The unicorn is the symbol of a big family. The bat is the symbol of happiness. Fish are symbols of wealth. All these ancient symbols are used in many different forms and versions in contemporary logos in China. Sometimes they are used in such a highly stylized way that a direct connection to their meaning almost disappears but at the same time is still there. The characters for ‘double happiness’ or ‘long life’ are also very popular, as are the characters rúyì 如意 which means ‘everything according to wishes’.

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The old cosmological concept of the earth being square and heaven being round is used in all kinds of design. The architecture of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing is based on it. The Bank of China uses this concept as its logo. Coins in imperial times were based on the same concept: a round coin with a square hole in the middle. Therefore, the logo of the Bank of China has a double meaning referring to the old cosmological concept as well as to coins from former times.

Logo of the Bank of China

Coins used during the Chinese Empire 122

122

SeipelWilfried,2003,p.62

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Translation of company and product names Chinese companies choose their name very carefully and take the cultural impact of their name into account. Ancient traditions and associations with luck, happiness and prosperity underly Chinese corporate names and brands. One Chinese company that is famous in the West is Ping An, which stands for ‘stability and peace’ píng ān 平安. In the translation of western corporate names or brands, the choice of the Chinese name will be based on phonetic resemblance to the original western name. The translation also presents many possibilities of playing on the Chinese market in a deeper way. It would be a pity not to exploit this. Taking a quick look at the Chinese version of western company names tells you which companies had advice and which did not. A good translation plays on the cultural preferences of the Chinese. A company or product name often has a prosperous connotation or association. It is linked with the concept of the family as a core of society, with Confucian values, and with symbols referring to imperial times. Beauty products often refer to beauty; food products refer to happiness and health. An example is Coca Cola, Kě kǒu kě lè 可口可乐, which means something like ‘a joyful happy taste’ or Lay’s crisps, in Chinese Lè shì 乐事, meaning a ‘happy case’. The brand name of Revlon beauty products in Chinese sounds like lù huā nóng / 露花浓, meaning literally ‘the fragrance of flowers in the morning dew’. This is part of a poem from the Tang Dynasty (618–907) describing the love between a Tang ruler and one of the four most beautiful women in Chinese history.123 Maybelline in Chinese is měi bǎo lián 美宝莲 meaning ‘beauty precious lotus’. The French chain Fnac uses the Chinese name fǎ yǎ kè 法雅客, meaning ‘France charming customer’. In Chinese, the brand name BMW is called bǎo mǎ 宝马, which means ‘precious horse’. Carrefour in Chinese means ‘happy wealthy family’ jiā lè fú 家乐福. In the translation of names, symbols and double layers of meaning play a crucial role. They can have a decisive impact on the response to and perception of a company or product. 123

Yan Rick, 2004, p 131

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Formica in Chinese means ‘Rich and beautiful family’

Popular terms in product and company names 乐 安 平 和 福 富 家

lè

Happiness

píng

Equilibrium

ān hé fú fù

jiā

Peace

Harmony

Happiness Wealth

Family

Mottos and corporate spirit Next to the logo and name, organizations and companies in China often use a motto to reflect corporate spirit. This motto takes the form of a slogan. Popular words are wisdom, honesty, ambition, progressiveness, truth, commitment, and perseverance.

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Classical language in advertising During the Chinese Empire when the Confucian exam system was used, calligraphy and poetry were an integral part of the knowledge and skills one needed to acquire in order to pass the exams. Poetry masters from the Tang Dynasty, like Li Bai or Du Fu, are still cited today. Their poems and those of many other great poets from the past still fill children’s and adult’s books. Poetry quotations have become part of everyday colloquial language. The language used in advertising in China is often inspired by classical poetry. The sentence structure of four characters per line, eight in a couplet, is considered comfortable to the eye. Therefore, we encounter the same format in advertising. New sentences are formulated in this format. They are used as slogans and some of them have become very popular. Here we take a look at a few examples.124 誉满中外 Yù mǎn zhōng wài To have a good reputation in China as well as abroad 行销全球 Xíng xiāo quán qiú To have a good position in the market all over the world 质地优良 Zhì dì yōu liáng Superior quality

式样美观 Shì yàng měi guān Beautiful fashion

手感舒适 Shǒu gǎn shū shì To have a comfortable feeling

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Examples from Sun Bo, Fan Xiaohua, 1996, p 95

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Advertising for bankcards In the above advertisement for bankcards we see how classical text is used in advertising, not so much at the level of the sentence or slogan, but at the level of the full text. The advertisement refers to classical China via the format of the text. Traditionally, Chinese texts were written from top to bottom and from right to left. This changed during the language reforms of communist times before 1978. Today in the whole of Mainland China, books and newspapers are written from left to right like in English. Only for poems or calligraphy is the traditional format still used. Here we see how the advertisement uses a classical format to promote a bankcard. Except for the logo at the bottom of the advertisement, it’s difficult to gauge on first sight what this advert is about. The emphasis is placed on the link with traditional China rather than the promoted product.

Hybrid strategies in advertising Media research shows that hybrid strategies are used in promotion and advertising in China. On the one hand there is an attempt to preserve traditional values like family, filial piety, social harmony, social status. On the other hand, we see western tendencies like equality, innovation, orientation towards the future, and a focus on the information that is promoted. To be able to communicate efficiently in China it is necessary to understand cultural preferences. Only then you will be able to use them to your advantage.

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An analysis of the messages in various advertisements in public space in China shows what cultural sensitivities and cultural preferences are at stake. The underlying ideologies in Chinese society today – Confucianism, Taoism, communism and western influences – can all be found in these advertisements.

1. Confucian discourse: Hierarchy and harmony The Confucian discourse we explored earlier can also be detected in advertising. Hierarchical thinking and striving for equilibrium and harmony are responsible for the fact that the Chinese have different expectations of a large company than a small company. When a large company looks for a partner in China, the Chinese might expect it to look for companies of an equivalent size in China. Everything always needs to be in equilibrium. When a Chinese company presents itself, it will try to place itself as high up as possible in the hierarchy of companies. The same will be done with a product. The image they portray will have references like ‘we are in the top fifty in the world’, ‘we are the largest in the province’, in the ‘top three’, or in the ‘top ten’. The group dynamic of following one leader can also be seen in advertising, sometimes in the arrangement of the people on the advertisement, sometimes in the text. The principle of reciprocity that dominates Chinese relationships is responsible for insider-outsider ethics. Loyalty is high towards insiders, low or non-existing towards outsiders.

‘Number 1’ department store in Shanghai: a reflection of hierarchy

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The family as a central theme

Mother and child

Happy life insurance: one child with two parents and two grandparents

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Preference for a boy

Traditionally the Chinese prefer to have a male child rather than a female child. Today this has somewhat changed, certainly in the cities, but it still exists to some extent. Therefore we often see boys in advertising. We see it in the Generali advertisment for life insurance: the boy continues the family line. We also see it in the advertisement for Happy Life Insurance, which features a family with a boy, his parents and grandparents, and we also see it in the advertisement with the mother and child above.

Generali

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Group orientation in promotion campaigns

A new popular culture has risen in China today: this is all about shopping and window-shopping. In commercial centers across the country, promotion shows are continuously staged, especially during the weekends and on holidays. The variety is impressive. Big stages are set up and the promotion campaigns often last a full day. The promotion team dresses up in uniforms. Sometimes these are traditional Chinese costumes; sometimes they are futuristic silver or latex outfits.

Promotion of Lacoste perfume in Shanghai. All members of the promotion team wear the same uniform. Promotion campaigns are not only group oriented in the use of uniforms. They also involve interaction with the public. Small groups of people are invited to come on stage to participate in competitions. These usually take the form of a game, like piling up cans of Coca Cola to make the highest possible tower, or playing darts, or throwing fluffy strawberries into a basket ring or other childish games. Sometimes a quiz is held, but before the questions are asked, the answers are already given in the promotional presentation of the product. Anyone can win; these actions are open to everyone. By participating in the game, people become personally involved. This fits in perfectly with the idea that a relationship needs to be built with the customer.

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An analysis of this kind of promotion campaign reveals the cultural preferences of the Chinese: group orientation, competition, awards, free promotional gadgets, face, and family involvement (parents and children often participate). The promotion seamlessly combines tradition with modernity in a sequence of traditional martial arts and hip-hop dances performed by girls with tattoos and piercings, dressed in miniskirts.

Intel and Acer promotion campaign: traditional outfits and martial arts

Intel and Acer promotion campaign: hip-hop dancing

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This cultural preference for participating in games and competitions as a group is also used in marketing and promotion on the Internet. A good example of a company that plays on Chinese consumer preferences is Holaba.com.cn. Holaba has developed a system to research Chinese customers and their preference for certain products. The customer is asked to evaluate a number of products and if he would advise his friends and acquaintances to buy this product. Through this sophisticated system a well-defined profile of Chinese customers can be generated. The online instrument is well designed by Chinese people who know exactly what the Chinese consumer likes and dislikes. This is visible on the website. Not only does the website design suit the Chinese market, but also the ‘action’ of the site and the fact that people can participate in something is important.

Relationships and communication

As we saw in the chapter on Confucianism, communication specialists Gao Ge and Ting-Toomey have described particular characteristics of communication in China. One of the issues they stress is that human networks are an integral part of Chinese communication because communication always takes place between people in networks rather than between individuals. In this way attention is paid to position and status. Other specific aspects of communication in China are ‘implicit communication’ hánxù 含蓄, ‘listening centeredness’ tīng huà 听话, ‘politeness’ kèqì 客气 and ‘insiders’ of the insider group zìjǐrén 自己人.125 All these aspects of communication can be perceived in advertising in China. Double layers of meaning are used, the client is directly addressed in order to establish a relationship, and the message is directed towards the family and insider group.

125

Gao Ge, Ting-Toomey, p 37

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Insider-outsider ethics

In Chinese culture, where insider-outsider ethics dominate relationships, a great deal of attention is paid to establishing a relationship with the customer. It is important that this is a kind of personal relationship; the customer needs to feel connected to the product. Sometimes this insider-outsider thinking is used in a very subtle way. In the Adidas advertisement below for the Olympic games, we can see a slogan in English and a text in Chinese. At first sight one would assume that the Chinese text is a translation of the English text, but this is not the case. The message in Chinese is strongly and exclusively directed at the Chinese.

Adidas advertisement before the Olympic games English slogan: ‘Impossible is nothing’ Chinese text: Gěi tiǎozhàn tiǎozhàn. Zài jiā mén kǒu, kàn wǒmen zài dù zhàn fàng! Challenge the challenge, In front of the doors of our families, let us show we will flourish again!

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2. Taoist discourse Next to Confucian discourse we also see Taoist holistic discourse in promotion and advertising. It is important to give a positive connotation to a company or product name. Therefore traditional symbols are used. Here are a few examples.

Promoting business offices: Fortune/cáifù 财富

Telephone numbers: 168...

‘168 Motel’

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3. Communist discourse The pictorial language in advertising today is sometimes reminiscent of propaganda in Maoist times and during the Cultural Revolution. This is the irony of history: references to communist ideology are now used to serve commercial goals. Everything is possible in pragmatic China. Maoist influences and references to Socialist Realism have become part of identity construction in contemporary China.126

Cultural Revolution propaganda poster Gān yí bèizi gémìng dú yí bèizi Máo zhǔxí de shū Engage a whole life in revolution; study a whole life the books of Chairman Mao

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Gao Minglu, 2005, p 49

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Promotion campaign in the Beijing subway

China Mobile

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4. Western discourse The image of the West that is presented in promotion campaigns shows two main tendencies: quality of products and quality of life. The quality of a product is communicated by referring to the names of cities that are synonymous with fashion like ‘Paris’ or ‘Milan’ or by referring to historical buildings. Quality of life is communicated in a romantic depiction of an easygoing western lifestyle, like the advertisement for Chevrolet that depicts a man taking a rest beside his car in pastoral scenery with a big dog beside him. In most places in China it is forbidden to own a big dog.

Chevrolet: ‘Quality of life: pastoral scenery, a big dog, peace of mind’

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GoTone: European buildings – history, tradition ‘Milan’ or ‘Paris’ is used as a brand name for wedding outfits. In China today an enormous amount of money is spent on creating romanticized, stylish and fashionable weddings. Marriage has become a symbol of the nouveau riche dream. Vast amounts of money is spent on wedding pictures, in which the couple is usually wear several outfits – traditional and modern and sometimes even a Red Guard uniform – with a layer of make up that makes people unrecognizable. Everyone is a film star for a day. During the wedding day the bride switches dresses three times. Advertising plays on this target group of the newly rich.

‘Marriage picture Milan’

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Globalization Globalization has turned the globe itself into an icon and a marketing tool.

Promotion for Ice-tea

Promotion for Thermos

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Good products have a history The history behind a product or a date that goes far back in history like ‘since 1875’ or ‘since 1904’, are elements that give credibility to a product. In Chinese advertising the big icons of traditional Chinese culture are used: old Chinese coins, calligraphy, traditional clothing, a lucky knot, lions, dragons, the abacus, and traditional ink painting. In promotion campaigns for western products, it is usually the date that signifies the histrical roots or as in the case of Tissot, a slogan: ‘More than a watch. Innovators by tradition’.

Tissot Swiss watches: ‘Innovators by tradition’

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Design: The aesthetic game of Chinese characters Already during the Chinese Empire, characters were used in experimental ways. The grass script, with all its swiftness, can be seen as an experimental form of writing where the aesthetic aspect supersedes the communicative aspect. In the field of design, China’s traditions go back as far as the sixth century with, for example, ‘bird script’ where all characters were written in the form of a bird, or mirrored script. An extreme abstraction and stylizing of characters found its way into Chinese architecture, for instance, at the ends of roof tiles where abstraction evolved to such an extent that only a specialist can read them. People experimented with the design of characters in many other ways.

Zhao Zhiqian 赵之谦 (1829–1884) 127 Today the abstraction of characters is found in contemporary Chinese art. Several Chinese artists focus on Chinese script in their work. They explore the limits and possibilities. In marketing or in the development of logos and advertising slogans, we can see the same game of exploring with the design and deformation of characters. This is rooted in Chinese tradition.128 The pictographic features of Chinese characters are appealing. Experimenting with the design and typography of characters results in a pool of possibilities. Characters for children are made playful and colorful. All kinds of round and square forms are invented. Characters can be used in a very creative way as a special tool in advertising. The customer target group is addressed in an appealing way through the design of the characters. 127 128

 hang Kuang-pin, 2002, p 61 C Chang Kuang-pin, 2002, p 58

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Two examples of shops in Shanghai where the special design of the Chinese characters is used to achieve a certain effect The advertisement for Taiping Life Insurance is a sublime example of the way Chinese characters can melt into the design of the logo. For the reader not acquainted with Chinese characters it might take a small effort, but if you look carefully you can see the characters tài 太 (top of the pine tree) and píng 平 (bottom of the pine tree) in the logo. The pine tree is a symbol of ‘long life’ (the perfect symbol for this kind of company).

Logo Taiping Life

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Calligraphy in advertising As we have seen in the chapter on calligraphy, this form of writing is about much more than aesthetic script; it is about moral development. A famous calligrapher was asked to contribute to the design of the wine label below. This gives the label a high quality standard plus an extra moral connotation.

Wine label with calligraphy

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An inspiring advertisement: Translation pens 129 Xu Bing is one of the most prominent Chinese artists alive today. During the 1980s he developed thousands of Chinese characters that in reality did not exist. To do this he used parts of existing characters. The result was a huge collection of characters printed into texts that looked real but were in fact devoid of meaning. Xu Bing printed the texts in a traditional book format and on long rolls of paper, completely according to tradition. His work is heavy with Chinese tradition. One of his most famous works is the ‘Book of Heaven’ tiān shū 天书 shown in the photograph below. Xu Bing’s work is widely discussed and criticized both in China and in the West. Libraries of books have been written about Xu Bing and the meaning of his artwork.

A Book from the Sky 129

http://www.cnad.com/html/List/1/197/index.shtml

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In his later work, Xu Bing continued to focus on language. He developed a way of writing English that looked like Chinese characters but was in fact English words. In the pictures below we see an example of his invented fake Chinese characters on the left hand side and an example of English words on the right hand side. The illustration on the right is the cover of a book about Xu Bing that has his name written on it. At first sight you see something resembling Chinese characters. On closer inspection, you can read the Latin letters: XU BING.

Fake characters by Xu Bing 130, 131 130 131

b ook cover Silberberg, 2006 book cover Erickson Britta, 2001

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The work of Xu Bing has not only inspired art critics and academics. It has been used for the promotion of translation pens as we can see in the advertisement below. On the left we read the Chinese character for ‘horse’ mǎ. On the right we recognize the same Chinese character. But if you read more carefully you also see ‘hor S E’.

馬

Character ‘horse’



In another example we can read the Chinese character for ‘whole/all’ quán on the left. On the right we see this mirrored in the Chinese character that can also be read as the English word ‘ALL’.

全





Character ‘all’

This is an exquisite example of the possibilities of playing with both design and meaning in Chinese characters. The pictographic quality of Chinese can be enormously powerful in advertising and branding.

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Other messages in advertising One strong united China

The ‘grand’ story of China we regularly bump into today in advertising is that of ‘one strong and stabile united nation’. China’s heroes and their realizations are presented as deeds for the nation. Chinese astronauts and the Shenzhou spacecraft were inspiration for many advertisers. China’s Olympic game’s athletes are depicted over and over again for the glory of the nation.

蒙牛牛奶强壮中国人 měng niú niúnǎi qiángzhuàng zhōngguórén Mongolian milk makes Chinese stronger

Adidas for the Olympic games The whole nation supports the heroes

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Harmonious society and scientific development

The government actively promotes a harmonious society and scientific development. We have already seen many examples of the promotion of ‘harmony’. We can equally detect a focus on ‘scientific development’ in advertising. One example is the Mongolian milk, Mengniu. The emphasis is clearly laid on scientific aspects: analysis, control, and precision are the key messages, as if milk is produced in a laboratory.

Mengniu advertisement 每一天 为明天 Měi yī tiān wèi míng tiān The presence of a foreigner in the advertisement lends Mengniu international allure and implies quality. In fact you need to look carefully at the advertisement to understand what it is about. Even milk seems to be ‘developed’ with great ‘scientific’ precision. The slogan says: ‘Every day, for tomorrow’. We also see a focus on science in other places in society. A corridor in the Wangfujing shopping mall in Beijing leading to the subway is called the ‘Science and Culture gallery’. This probably alludes to the paleontology ‘museum’ located there. During excavations for the subway, many archeological artifacts were found. These are now displayed in a small room along the corridor.

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A visit to this small museum makes you wonder how many other treasures lie buried beneath the concrete of the subway. There’s not always a lot of time to spend on archeological research in a China that is developing at breathtaking speed.

Wangfujing ‘Science and Culture gallery’ wángfǔjǐng kē pǔ wénhuà zhāngláng

Heroes as a role model in advertising The Confucian tradition makes use of role models. This is one of the things the communists adopted in the Reform of 1949. Role models in communist China were no longer the Confucian literati; they were the revolutionary heroes who sacrificed their lives for the revolution and the socialist state. Module communes were created to inspire others. Model workers and model revolutionaries, like the model soldier Lei Feng, were held up as examples for everyone. New China has new role models. In 2005, the NBA basketball player Yao Ming became a grand example: he was chosen as a model worker. This gave rise to criticism from the conservative camp in China. A role model needed to embody socialist ideals and these were not immediately obvious in a rich basketball player. But such criticism didn’t stop the rise of Yao Ming to the status of national hero.

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Before the Olympic games many of the great Chinese athletes were depicted as role models for the nation. China’s heroes are used in a pragmatic way in advertising, rather than an effective way in the light of promotion.

Yao Ming at Chaoyangmen It’s interesting to see how a hero like Yao Ming is used over and over again for all kinds of different products: Yao Ming for Coca Cola, Yao Ming for Visa, Yao Ming for McDonald’s, Yao Ming for Reebok. The list is endless. This shows that the role model is more important than the product he is supposed to promote. Yao Ming is also considered suitable for other campaigns, like that for the protection of wildlife below.

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Hong Kong movie stars Alongside China’s sporting heroes we see the faces of famous Hong Kong film stars in advertisements. Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997 and today it has the status of ‘special administrative region’ of the People’s Republic of China. And yet, the lure of the glamorous and trendy image of Hong Kong lingers.

Tony Leung for GF perfume and Maggie Cheung for Olay

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Historical icons The Chinese love historical stories and legends. One very popular historical figure is the Monkey King. He accompanies monk Xuan Zang on his trip to the West, as romanticized in the classical Chinese novel ‘Journey to the West’. The Monkey King or Sun Wukong 孙悟空 who is the novel’s protagonist, is often used in logos. 5KVK (www.5kvk.com) is an example of a company that has the monkey in its logo.

The Monkey King

5KVK logo

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5000 years of Chinese culture: Modern China’s connection to traditional China The subtlety with which some western companies portray themselves on the Chinese market is amazing. By establishing an image that refers to Chinese history and tradition, they create a strong link with China. One example is Oracle, which uses an extremely subtle strategy in its advertising in China. The shells and plastrons of tortoises were used in pre-imperial China to consult the oracle. These bear one of the oldest forms of writing in Chinese history. In Chinese, these tortoise shells are called jiǎ gǔ wén 甲骨文. The company Oracle uses these characters to build its image in China. Oracle also uses other trump cards. In a reference to or association with hierarchical thinking, Oracle positions itself at the top in: ‘10 of the 10 – Top IT Service Firms’. The colors of the advertisement are black, white and red, the colors of calligraphy. At first sight the advertisement looks very simple and plain. In reality it is a fine example of an attempt to establish a link with Chinese culture.



10 of the 10 Top IT Service Firms

Tortoise oracle shells 甲骨文 jiǎ gǔ wén

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Bamboo books

In the overview of the historical evolution of Chinese characters, we gave another example of ancient sources of writing in China, the bamboo book. This inspired CCTV gadgets for the Olympic games. CCTV promoted itself using exactly the same format as bamboo books.

CCTV promotional gadgets for the 2008 Olympic games

Seals

The art of seals in China goes way back in time. The brand Nike uses this to establish a link with Chinese tradition. At the entrance of the Nike building in Beijing we can see a metal tile in the shape of a traditional Chinese seal. In the upper right-hand corner of the seal we can see the Nike logo.

Nike metal tile

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Piling up Chineseness

Another example in advertising of a reference to traditional Chinese culture is ‘Red Star’ spirit wine hóng xīng èrguōtǒu 红星二锅头. The picture in the advertisement shows a dressed up Peking Opera actor. The website of Red Star (http://www.redstarwine.com) contains dozens of clichés referring to traditional China: a long history, the Tiananmen Gate, the Forbidden City, a fountain in the center of the altar in the Temple of Heaven, red and yellow as basic colors, the red star, a Ming vase with dragons, the Great Wall, calligraphy, the cloud pattern, firecrackers, the red flag. The website tells the history of the product.

Red Star

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Advertising and changes in Chinese society China changes fast and the media and advertising certainly play a crucial role in this. Just fifteen years ago, in many places in China there was no television. Today it can be found everywhere. Advertisements depict a rich lifestyle that many Chinese have no access to. New expectations are being created. The government tries to retain control of the content of advertisements and information by, amongst other things, control of the Internet. China has a tendency to absorb everything new or anything that arises on the margins of society into the mainstream. We find an example of this in the figure of Li Yuchun. In 2005, Chinese TV held a competition in the style of western idol competitions. The show was called ‘Super Girl’. The public could participate in the voting. Li Yuchun won the competition with a new look. She was a girl dressed in a boyish style, with short hair and a kind of a wild look. She became the symbol for a new look for young Chinese people. In fact she introduced the unisex look into China. A year later I saw her on the cover of a magazine: feminine, dressed in a traditional qípáo 旗袍, on a golden, yellow and red cover, with a calligraphy brush in her hand. Lu Yuchun, the symbol of innovation and individuality has been recuperated by the establishment and absorbed into tradition. Magazine cover with Li Yuchun We can find many other examples like this. Film director Zhang Yimou who was severely criticized at the beginning of his career, has become one of the great icons of China.132 In his new status he was chosen to design the opening ceremony of the Olympic games. This is the way China deals with new trends. 132

 hang Yimou directed movies like Red Sorghum, Raise the Red Lantern, To Live, Hero, The house of the Z flying daggers, and many more.

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Changing China Advertising plays a role in the changing Chinese society, not only in the pictorial language used but also in life and lifestyle expectations. A new market has been created. The gap between the generations born before 1980 and post1980 is huge. There is more room for individual choice in China today. Privacy is slowly but surely growing. Aesthetic taste has changed and has become more expressive and direct, but also deeper changes are taking place in society. In the streets you can see young people dressed in fancy, sometimes extravagant ways. Chinese society is more diverse than ever before. People can make individual choices about the kind of life they want to lead. Diversity can be shown today. This is an obvious trend in advertising as well. This does not mean that children born under the One Child Policy are all spoiled princes. Group orientation among the Chinese remains strong and only children grow up together with their cousins, whom they address as brother or sister.

Ice-tea from the brand 冰红茶 bīng hóng chā 我就是无极限 wǒ jiù shì wú jíxiàn I have no limitations In another slogan for the same brand we read: “I am different from the masses”

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A successful image for China A successful promotion campaign in China calls for insight into the language and culture. Therefore is it important to create the right image for the Chinese market. This obviously does not mean that a company should change its brand colors or design a new logo. But it does mean that in the field of branding and advertising in China, western companies can use specific cultural preferences to their advantage. Those who can successfully appeal to the Chinese customer will have the most success in China. The right translation of the company name into Chinese is a good start. The effort of looking into these things and asking advice will be rewarded. The translation into Chinese can have phonetic resemblance with the original name but can at the same time bring about a certain association. A suitable translation is necessary for the company name and for product names. Symbolism is influential. Beauty products often have names associated with the beauty of Chinese heroines. A company needs to establish credibility. First of all, in China this implies having a history, not only internationally but also in China. When introducing a company into China, it is a good idea to add historical background, if possible with stories and legends connected to important or famous people. If any link at all with China or with Chinese culture can be found, it’s a good idea to use it. Keeping insider-outsider ethics in mind, it is best to try and build an image with as much of an insider sentiment as possible. Alongside the historical aspect is international reach. Chinese people think big and hierarchically. The broader the international reach of a company the better. For a small company it is better to overstate its image than to be modest. The way a company introduces itself will determine how it is dealt with. It is therefore of utmost importance to try and rank your company as high as possible in the hierarchical ranking of companies. The same goes for the products a company puts on the Chinese market. Western companies can also play on the image China has of the West, for example, the quality of products or the quality of life. The ‘face’ of a company is important. Its headquarters must present an appealing image. Brochures, websites, and other promotion tools should be carefully

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designed for the Chinese market and with Chinese cultural preferences in mind. All these things will have a positive effect on a company’s success in China. Relationships need to be built in communications. The importance of connecting to China and building relationships is even apparent in e-mail communications with Chinese people. E-mails never start with a direct reference to the concrete content. There is always a kind of introduction to establish a personal link. Sentences like ‘I hope you are fine’, ‘how nice to hear from you’ are used. The same method is used in promotion campaigns. The customer must be spoken to. Promotion campaigns often appeal to the competitive spirit of the Chinese. A prize or award can be won. This always has a positive effect. Incentives are often used to attract the customer. A funny example of an incentive used in China to motivate people to do something is the pre-printed invoice you receive in restaurants or other places. Attached to the invoice is a kind of lottery ticket. You can always win a little bit of money while spending. This is a smart incentive to motivate people to use invoices.

Quality Today Made in China does not always imply bad quality, although we have to admit a lot of work still needs to be done. Quality problems are very often still an everyday reality in China. But things are improving. China now uses its own quality systems and its own quality labels. We can see a number of Chinese quality labels on the box below.

Chinese quality labels

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Campaigns with a positive connotation The positive focus the Chinese government demands in commercial advertising can be found in other campaigns as well. The posters below are designed to help raise awareness of AIDS in China. In the West these kinds of campaigns are explicitly associated with sex, with naked bodies and condoms. In China the focus of the campaign is put on the family, and on the child. These posters focus on the positive, and call for solidarity with the victims of AIDS. Not one word about sex is mentioned.

Understanding – sharing – loving A smile, a hug, eating, playing Although these are the normal things in life, they are what children who have become orphans due to AIDS lack, but need. Love with love, take care with your heart.

Support a piece of blue sky; let us fly high Helping children who have no support or no one to turn to, is the responsibility and duty of everyone.

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The pictorial language of the poster on the left is carefully conceived. A mother feeds a boy (preference for the male child). She gives him jiǎozi to eat. Jiǎozi is a dish the Chinese eat at Chinese New Year because it brings good luck. The child’s toy is a traditional lion, a symbol of happiness and protection. In the background we see traditional architecture. The link with traditional China is very clear. There is no doubt that the idea of the family lies behind the message.

Advertising and the law Confucianism has dominated Chinese society throughout the ages. As a consequence, ‘moral power’ as it is described within Confucianism, has always been more important than ‘legal power’. To understand attitudes in China when it comes to law and regulations, it is important to fully understand Confucianism and that China has another legal tradition than the West. Much of the West’s legal system today is rooted in the Roman Empire. The fact that China was never colonized influences the general situation of the law in the country. At the beginning of the 20th century, China adopted a legal system based on the western one. It was in that period that laws were codified in China. During the communist reign of Mao Zedong, much of this was abolished. In the 1980s, during a new wave of reform, the Chinese law system was reestablished.133 Many of the laws used in China today were stipulated during the last few decades. China has no separation of power. The trias politica, as formulated by the French thinker Montesquieu, is a product of western Enlightenment and has not been adopted by China. Obviously this influences the position of and attitudes towards the law. The development of the Chinese law system is in accordance with international standards and expectations, but until today it remains a complex issue. The problem is not so much the stipulation but rather the implementation of law and the intertwining of justice and government.

133

Qu Sanqiang, 2002, pp 50–51

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In addition, Chinese law and regulations have a tendency to be formulated in rather vague terms so that much is left to interpretation. Western companies are used to relying on laws and regulations but because the legal system in China is under continuous development, there are still a lot of gaps and ambiguities. Sometimes a law or regulation suddenly changes and is implemented almost overnight. The complexity of this situation can be understood when we look at copyright in China. Copyright is a concept that arose in a western context. In grouporiented, state-controlled China, knowledge is often seen as public property. Copyright is globally implemented but that does not imply that the entire world follows it. This is not only a problem in China, but in many other places around the world. In comparison to western law, Chinese law tends to focus on different things. Generally speaking, more attention is paid to public interest than to private interest. Moral guilt is more important than factual guilt. In jurisdiction, administrative responsibility is upheld rather than civil.134 Relationships based on reciprocity sometimes result in corruption. The intertwining of politics and the economy results in institutionalized corruption. According to Luo Yadong, who studies Chinese relationship networks, the exchange of services and favors belongs as much to the legal system as to informal social interaction. It is difficult to implement an anti-corruption policy under such circumstances.135

Impact of the government on advertising In the ‘socialist economy with Chinese characteristics’ the hand of the government is never far away. This includes advertising and promotion. Like most other Chinese laws, the law on advertising is fairly recent and only came into being in 1995.136

I bid, p 257 Luo Yadong, 2000, p 30 136 Overview of law in China: www.lawinfochina.com/ 134 135

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Advertising law is directed towards advertisers, advertising agencies and publishing houses in the People’s Republic of China. The law applies to everyone, no matter what nationality the advertiser may have. The policy, conditions and restrictions, the controlling authorities and the sanctions are all stipulated. This law needs to make sure that the rights and interests of consumers are protected, that a healthy growth of advertising industry can develop, and that social and economic order in the socialist market economy are secured. Especially the last item reflects the concern of the Chinese government to ensure stability in Chinese society. A number of issues are forbidden in advertising: - The national flag, emblem of China and the national anthem cannot be used; - The names of state organs or governmental officials, the words ‘state level’ or ‘highest level’ or ‘best’ cannot be used; - Life should not be endangered, material things should not be destroyed, social interest and social stability should not be endangered; - Social customs should not be violated and public order should not be disturbed; - No pornographic, superstitious, aggressive or ugly information should be given; - The environment should not be damaged; - There should be no discrimination against ethnic origin, race, religion, or gender; - The ruling laws and decrees should not be violated.137

Public space plastered with advertisements Regulations on how to deal with promotion and public space do not really seem to exist. You can find advertisements in every corner of every location. On the radio and television, advertising seems to go on without interruption. On streets and in public space, promotion materials are put into your bag as you walk along. One favorite format is the ‘bankcard’ format to promote all kinds of products and services.

137

http://en.chinagate.cn/english/434.htm

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Slogan in Subway in Beijing: ‘Protecting Intellectual Property Rights And Promoting Innovation Development’

Intellectual Property and copying It is generally accepted that copyright and Intellectual Property are treated in a rather negligent way in China. Numerous examples can be found of copies and copies of copies. There are several copies of Starbucks in China, which all use a round logo in the same green as Starbucks but a slightly different version of the design. Kentucky Fried Chicken has a Chinese copy. McDonald’s has a Chinese copy. We could go on like this for a while.

Original and copies

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Even authentication cards are copied. Here is an example of Chanel: authentic fakes or fake authentic.

Fake Chanel authentication

Original version of McDonald’s

Imitation McDonald’s

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In the case of Adidas, the logo and even the format of making promotion have been copied. Adidas uses the slogan ‘Impossible is nothing’. This motto has become so popular that it is immediately associated with the Adidas brand. The Chinese company for sports clothing and shoes, Li-ning, found inspiration in both the brands Nike and Adidas. It combined a logo strongly reminiscent of Nike with a slogan that sounds very much like Adidas. For Li-ning this becomes ‘Everything and all is possible’, in Chinese yī qiè jīe yǒu kěnéng 一切皆有可能. We can see their logo in the picture below.

Promotion for Li-Ning In addition to the inspiration it found in international brands, Li-Ning deeply roots itself in Chinese tradition. The Chinese character dào 道 is used in its advertising. A deeper rootedness in Chinese culture cannot be imagined as dào or the ‘Way’ is the very core of Taoism. The pictorial language of the Li-ning website (www.lining.com) equally refers to traditional China. We see a burning football reminiscent of the pearl that two dragons traditionally play with. The motto for Li-ning is: ‘trust, breakthrough, professionalism, integrity, passion’.

Li-Ning website graphic

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The Chinese customer Part of consumer behavior in China is ‘looking around’. As we already said, gigantic promotion campaigns are common, where consuming is connected with exploring, testing, participating, and exchange. A Chinese proverb says ‘never buy before you have compared three shops’. This implies that impulsive buying is not very popular.138 China is a negotiating society. Prices and product exploration is an integral part of the buying process. Negotiating is part of the purchase. The Chinese consumer is very demanding. He wants the best product for the lowest price. He will compare prices and take everything carefully into consideration. Chinese consumers are very demanding, especially towards foreign products. This is connected to the false perception that everything made abroad is of high quality. The information best received in advertising is information about the product that will help in making the right choice. A product must be good, have the right features and the way of using it should be clearly explained. Mentioning the price of a product in an advertisement is sometimes frowned upon, as this is associated with inferior quality.139 Food needs to be fresh. This is reflected in the way supermarkets display fresh meat, fish or fruit like in an open-air market. Freshness is the top criteria for food in China. Sometimes products need to be adapted for the Chinese market. The Chinese beauty ideal is white skin. This means that beauty products have whitening components. This is another example of how important it is to have a clear view of the market and of cultural preferences before introducing something onto the market or designing promotion.

138 139

 an Rick, 2004, p 130 Y Li Xiaodong p 83

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Group orientation in buying behavior It’s amusing to see that not only the promotion team in the picture below is wearing a uniform; there also seems to be a lot of unity in what the public is wearing. Many people are dressed in blue stripes or blue and white stripes. The group dynamic in China is dominated by following one leader. This pattern can also be seen in buying behavior. If a Chinese delegation wants to buy something abroad, the whole group tends to buy the same thing as the leader. If one person decides to buy something, many will follow. Over the last few years, the phenomenon of group buying tuángòu 团购 has become popular in China. A group of people comes together (on-line or off-line) to buy a certain product. They negotiate as a group instead of as individuals. If the price is acceptable the whole group will buy the product.

Thermos in Shanghai

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Customer service In the centrally planned economy, customer service did not exist. A relationship between the producer and the client hardly existed and was in any case neglected because everything was organized along a hierarchical supply chain. With the move to a market-oriented economy, China is in a transition period when it comes to customer service. Because this did not exist in the past, the Chinese do not like to pay extra for it. They usually expect service to be included in the purchase price. But awareness is rising! In the huge Oriental Plaza shopping mall in Beijing you will bump into the ‘Customer Service Ambassador’ as soon as you walk in! Although the girl seems to be more of an icon of modernization than someone with a real job (I have never seen anyone talking to her), but she is there in case a customer might need her.

Customer Service Ambassador

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Bad English translations: Chinglish There are fewer and fewer bad English translations in China, but sometimes you still bump into some really funny ones in so-called Chinese-English or ‘Chinglish’. As westerners it’s good fun to read these. But we shouldn’t forget that the Chinese also have lots of fun with our bad Chinese translations and pronunciations!

‘Westeln food’

‘Refuse to pass through’

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‘Your friend (China) Chaining and Joning Development Headquarters’

‘Clothes And Hat Is Out Or Order, Entrance Decline With Thanks’

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Epilogue Good communication in China can only be achieved when people have sufficient understanding of the Chinese language and cultural preferences. Therefore, in this book I have tried to highlight a number of aspects that are helpful to understand the Chinese market. In the first part, we focused on the Chinese language, its specific features and the differences with western languages plus the implications of this for translations. We then looked at Chinese culture through the Chinese language and pinpointed the ways in which language and culture are connected. Chinese language reflects Chinese culture. It carries the culture within it and absorbs changes through time. After language, we looked at the different forms of discourse we encounter in Chinese society, where language is used as a political, ethical, social, strategic and commercial instrument.

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E pilogue

Since this book is targeted towards people who do business in China or who work in China, we finally focused on the specific features of advertising in China and on which elements appeal to Chinese consumers. By analyzing advertising messages, we come to the conclusion that general discourse in Chinese society can also be found in advertising and promotion. Cultural preferences as well as the impact of the government can easily be detected in commercial advertising. I hope this book will help people who want to try to understand China, especially those who work in China and advertise in China, but also those with a general interest in the country. I hope it sheds some light on information that is rarely written about, because of its inaccessibility to those who do not speak Chinese. www.chinaconduct.com http://jeanneboden.com

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Bibliography Aylward Thomas F., The Imperial Guide to Feng shui & Chinese Astrology. The only authentic translation from the original Chinese, Watkins Publishing, London, 2007 Bell Daniel, China’s New Confucianism. Politics and Everyday Life in a Changing Society, Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford, 2008 Bennett Andrew, English for Taxi Drivers 出租车英语, Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press 外语教学与研究出版社, Beijing 北京, 2004 Boden Jeanne, De essentie van China, Communicatie – cultuur – commitment, Coutinho, 2006 Boden Jeanne, The Wall Behind China’s Open Door. Towards efficient intercultural management in China, ASP Brussels, 2008 Bond Michael Harris, The psychology of the Chinese people, Oxford University Press, 1986, revised version in 2010 Boroditsky Lera “Geeft onze taal vorm aan de manier waarop we denken?” in Brockman Max, What’s Next? Originele essays van de volgende generatie wetenschappers, Spectrum, Utrecht, 2009 Brockman Max, What’s Next? Originele essays van de volgende generatie wetenschap- pers, Spectrum, Utrecht 2009 Briessen Van, F., The Way of the Brush. Painting techniques of China and Japan, Tokyo, 1998 Buckley Ebrey Patricia, Cambridge Illustrated History China, Cambridge University Press, 1996, 2004 Chang Kuang-pin, Chinese kalligrafie, Garant, Antwerpen, Apeldoorn, transl. Claire Smulders, 2002 Chen Xiaomei, Occidentalism. A Theory of Counter-Discourse in Post-Mao China, Oxford University Press, 1995

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Chow Rey, ed., Modern Chinese Literature and Cultural Studies in the Age of Theory: Reimagining a Field. Duke University Press, Durham, London, 2000 Crevel van, Maghiel, Language Shattered. Contemporary Chinese Poetry and Duoduo, Leiden, CNWS, 1996 De Bary Theodore, Cheung Chan Fai, Kwan Tze-wan, Confucian Tradition and Global Education, The Chinese University Press, Hong Kong, Columbia University Press, New York, 2007 Du-Babcock, B. & Babcock, R.D. “Patterns of expatriate-local personnel communication in multinational corporations.” The Journal of Business Communication, 33 (2), 1996, pp 141–164 Eberhard Wolfram, A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols, Routledge, London, NY, 1986 Erickson, Britta, Words without Meaning, Meaning without Words. The Art of Xu Bing, A.M. Sackler Gallery and University of Washington Press, Seattle, London, 2001 Fava Patrice en Chantal, Zhongguo 中国 La China, Editions G.P., Paris 1973 Foucault Michel, transl. C.P. Heering-Moorman, De orde van het vertoog, Boom Meppel, 1982 Fu Genqing, Liu Ruixiang, Lin Zhihe, The Classical of Filial Piety, Shandong Friendship Press, 1998 傅跟清， 刘瑞样，林之鹤“孝经” 山东友谊出版社 1998 Gao Ge, Ting – Toomey Stella, Communicating Effectively With the Chinese, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi, 1998 Gao Minglu, The Wall. Reshaping Contemporary Chinese Art, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, University of Buffalo Art Galleries, New York, Millennium Art Museum, Beijing, 2005 Gilmore Fiona, Dumont Serge, Brand Warriors China, creating sustainable brand capital, Profile Books, London, 2003

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Gladney Dru C., Dislocating China. Muslims, Minorities, and Other Subaltern Subjects, University of Chicago Press, 2004 Glessner Creel, Herlee, Sinism: A Study of the Evolution of the Chinese Worldview, Chicago, Open Court, 1929 Goldman Merle, Ou-Fan Lee Leo, An Intellectual History of Modern China, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002 Guo Bonan, Petit Traite de calligraphie chinoises, Editions en langues étrangères, Beijing, 1995 Guo Qijia, A History of Chinese Educational Thought, Foreign Language Press, Beijing, 2006 Griffioen Sander, “Taal en tijd in China”, Wijsgerig Perspectief 44, 2004, 4, pp 13–22 Haley George T., Haley Usha C,V., Chin Tiong Tan, The Chinese Tao of Business. The logic of successful business strategies, John Wiley & Sons (Asia), Singapore, 2004 Hall Stuart, Representation. Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, Sage Publications, London, California, New Delhi, 1997, 2009 He Peizhong, 何培中 Contemporary foreign study of China, 当代国外中国 学研究, Shangwu yin shu guan, 商务印书馆, 2006 http://economy.guoxue. com/article.php/14198 Hodge Bob, Louie Kam, The Politics of Chinese Language and Culture. The Art of Reading Dragons, Routledge, London, New York, 1998 Hofstede Geert, Cultures Consequences, Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi, 2001 Hsu Ya-hwei, Ancient Chinese Writing, Oracle Bone Inscriptions from the Ruins of Yin, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2002 Idema Wilt, Haft Lloyd, Chinese Letterkunde, een inleiding, Amsterdam University Press, 1996

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Ien Ang, On Not Speaking Chinese. Living Between Asia and the West, Routledge, 2001 Kwo Da-Wei, Chinese Brushwork in Calligraphy and Painting. Its History, Aesthetics, and Techniques, Dover Publications, New York, 1981 Landsberger Stefan, Chinese Propaganda Posters. From revolution to modernization. The Pepin Press, Amsterdam, Singapore, 1995 Landsberger Stefan, Chinese Propaganda Posters. Taschen, Koln, 2003 Ledderdose Lothar, Ten Thousand Things, Princeton University Press, 2001 Leeuw, van der, Karel, Het Chinese Denken, Amsterdam, 1994 Lin Yutang, My Country and My People, Wu guo yu wu min, Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, Beijing, 1998 Liu Kang, Globalization and Cultural Trends in China, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 2004 Liu Lydia, Translingual Practice. Literature, National Culture, and Translated Modernity China 1900–1937, Stanford University Press, 1995 Li Xiaodong, Dancing Dragon. Chinese Aesthetics since 1979, Drills, Utrecht, 2000 Luo Yadong, Guanxi and Business, World Scientific, Asia-Pacific Business Series – Vol 1, 2000 Matthews R.H., Matthews’ Chinese English Dictionary, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1943 Matthews B.M., The Chinese Value Survey: An interpretation of value scales and consideration of some preliminary results, International Education Journal, Vol 1, No 2, 2000 Pan Lynn, The New Chinese Revolution, Hamish Hamilton, London, 1987 Peng Shiyong, Culture and Conflict Management in Foreign-invested Enterprises in China. An Intercultural Communication Perspective. Peter Lang, European University Studies, Vol. 369, 2003

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Qu Sanqiang, Copyright in China, Foreign Language Press, Beijing, 2002 Ronan Colin, The Shorter Science & Civilisation in China. An abridgment of Joseph Needham’s Original text. Cambridge University Press, 1988 Seipel Wilfried, Geld aus China, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Skira, 2003 Silbergeld Jerome, Ching Dora, Persistence/Transformation. Text as Image in the Art of Xu Bing, Tang Center for East Asian Art, Princeton University, 2006 Smith-Glintzer H., Geschichte der chinesichen Literatur. Die 3000 järige Entwicklung der poetischen, erzählenden und philosophisch-religiösen Literatur chinas von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart, München/Wien, 1990 Stevens Keith, Chinese Mythological Gods, Oxford University Press, 2001 Sun Bo, Fan Xiaohua, The Pocket Interpreter for Business Trip in China, China Esperanto Press, Beijing, 1996 Sun Zhenxin, Shufa zhuanke, Shanghai haobao chubanshe 孙振新, 书法篆刻, 上海画报出版社, 1995 Tan Huay Peng, What’s in a Chinese Character 趣味汉字, New World Press 新世界出版社, Beijing, 1998 Thierry Francois, ‘Empire and Minority in China’ in Gerard Chaliand, ed. Minority Peoples in the Age of Nation-States, London, Pluto Press, 1989 Wang Ban, The Sublime Figure of History. Aesthetics and Politics in TwentiethCentury China. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, 1997 Waley, Arthur, The Way and its Power. Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching and Its Place in Chinese Thought, Grove Press, New York, 1958 Wen Jie 闻洁, 英汉汉英MBA词汇, 企业管理出版社, 北京, 1999 Wiedenhof Jeroen, Grammatica van het Mandarijn, Bulaaq, Amsterdam, 2004 Wilkinson Endymion, Chinese History: A Manual, Revised and Enlarged, Harvard University Asia Center for Harvard-Yanching Institute, Cambridge, London, 2000

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Wu Che-fu, De geschiedenis van het Chinese boek, Dutch version Koos Kuiper, Garant, Leuven, Apeldoorn, 1993 Wu Doreen, ed., Discourses of Cultural China in the Globalizing Age, Hong Kong University Press, 2008 Wu Hung, Transience. Chinese Experimental Art at the End of the Twentieth Century, University of Chicago Press, 2005 Wu Zhongwei, Dangdai Zhongwen, Contemporary Chinese, Huayu jiaoxue chubanshe, Beijing, 2003 Yan Rick, “To Reach China’s Consumers, Adapt to Guo Qing”, Harvard Business Review on Doing Business in China, Harvard Business School Press, 2004 Yang Bojun, Waley Arthur, Lún Yǔ, The Analects. Hunan People’s Publishing House, Foreign Language Press, 1999 Yong Ho, Beginner’s Chinese, Hippocrene Books, New York, 1997 Yong Ho, Aspects of Discourse Structure in Mandarin Chinese, Mellen University Press, Lewiston, NY, 1993 Yu Dan, Yu Dan “Lun Yu” Xin De, Beijing Zhonghua Shuju, 2007 于丹, 于丹“论语” 心得, 中华书局, 北京 2007 Zhang Sheri, Understanding Modern China Through its Language and Culture, Asia Communications Quebec, 2006 Zhou Daguang, Chinese Matchbox Covers, Foreign Language Press, Beijing, 1989 Zhou Wei, 周卫, 六体书点唐宋词甘二首, 吴建贤等六人书, 上海书画出版社, 上海, 1982 Publication from the Foreign Language Press in Beijing: Chinese Characters. Unsimplified, Simplified plus Pīnyīn Romanization, Chinese Language Library, Beijing, 1985 “认同”还是虚构?——结构、解构的中国梦再剖析 http://www.cp.com.cn/emd/17/newsdetail.cfm?iCntno=845

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Index A

Advertisement Law 207

Alphabet 22, 32, 34, 104, 109

B

Chinese characters 37, 39, 44–48, 50–55, 89, 109, 112–114, 185–188, 198 Chinese language, features 23

Bamboo books 49, 51, 113, 198

Circle 41, 84, 92, 98, 155

Bell Daniel 66, 73

Class Struggle 122, 128

Bird’s Nest 127

Classics 72, 114, 119

Barthes Roland 28, 59

Classifiers 27, 28

Big Seal 51

Classical Chinese 42, 55, 121, 169

Bird script 185

Colloquial language 42, 85, 121, 169

Bond Michael Harris 65 Bōpomōfo 33

Boroditsky Lera 59 Boas Franz 59

Branding 158, 165, 190, 202

C

Calendar 73, 84, 85

Calligraphy 96–101, 187 Cang Jie 48 CPPCC 55

Chan Kara 129

Chan Fanny 129 Chen Duxiu 121

Comparative forms 27

Confucianism 61–70, 72, 73, 81, 119, 121, 122, 171, 176, 205

Confucius Institute 111, 112, 115, 129 Corporate 16, 17, 45, 63, 76, 87, 108, 118, 148, 167, 168 Corporate vocabulary 45 Copyright 206, 208

Counter discourse 133

Cultural Revolution 66, 112, 122, 123, 130, 158, 160, 179

Customer 159, 167, 174, 176, 177, 185, 202, 203, 211, 213

Cheung Maggy 195

Chinese Culture Connection 65

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D

H

De Saussure Ferdinand 28

Hanban 112

Darwin Charles 121

Deng Xiaoping 13, 72, 99, 100, 113, 164 Dialect 32, 104, 108

Hakka 127

Han Dynasty 48, 86, 96, 118, 119 Harbsmeier Christoph 86

Directions 17, 30, 31, 59, 60, 75

Harmony 61, 62, 68, 69, 76, 92, 108, 113, 119, 121, 129, 138, 146, 165, 168, 170, 171, 192

Du Fu 169

Hong Kong 31, 52, 65, 108, 109, 126, 195

E

Hu Shi 121

Dictionary 14, 15, 35, 109

DPP Democratic Progressive Party 114

Education 42, 44, 58, 73, 78, 96, 104, 107, 108, 111, 121 Environment 13, 135, 140, 207

F

Festivals 73, 85

Fei Xiaotong 109

Foucault Michel 59

G

Gao Ge 68, 176

Grammar 17, 22–25, 27, 104, Grammatical particles 23, 43 Grass script 51, 185

Griffioen Sander 84, 86

Great Leap Forward 122 Guanxi 65, 109

Guomindang 114

Hofstede Geert 65

Hu Jintao 72, 124, 125, 144 hùkǒu 78

Huxley Aldous 120 Hypotaxis 24

I

Idkah Mosque 107

Internet 14, 33, 109, 134, 176, 200

J

Jiang Zemin 72, 99, 101

K

Kang Xi 45

Kant Immanuel 121 Kashgar 124, 125

L

Lei Feng 193

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Leung Tony 195

Modern Chinese 42, 43, 121

Li Bai 169

Montesquieu 121, 205

Lhasa 123

Li Yuchun 200 Li script 51

Liang Shuming 121 Lin Gang 113

Lin Yutang 55, 58

Lingua franca 104

Linguistic 17, 59, 60, 84, 114

Logo 165, 166, 168, 170, 185, 186, 196, 198, 202, 208, 210 Lu Xun 121

M

Ma Yingjiu 115 Macau 108

Mandarin 33, 104, 105, 107, 108 Mao Xuhui 97

Modernization 80, 133, 213

N

National Common Language Law 105, 107 Nationalism 42, 133 Newton Isaac 120

Nietzsche Friedrich 121 Numbers 9, 76, 89, 178 Number plates 31

O

Olympic games 22, 75, 76, 81, 127, 129, 130, 137–139, 142, 177, 191, 194, 198, 200 Opium War 121

Oracle 49, 51, 86, 113, 197

Mao Zedong 52, 72, 79, 99, 100, 104, 112, 121, 122, 124, 126– 128, 130, 132, 205

P

May Fourth Movement 42, 121

Planned economy 79, 158, 163, 213

Marketing 110, 158, 176, 183, 185 Mencius 66 Miao 127

Monkey King 196 Mill Stuart 120

Minorities 107, 127

Pan Qinglin 55 Parataxis 24

Peirce Charles Sander 28 Pictogram 34–36, 39, 50

pīnyīn 18, 19, 33, 46, 53, 109 Place names 30, 31

Model script 51, 52

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Promotion 142, 144, 158–160, 162, 163, 174, 175, 178, 181, 183, 190, 194, 198, 202, 203, 206, 207, 210, 211

Pronunciation 13, 22, 23, 32, 33, 35, 37, 38, 39, 46, 110, 214 Pudong 127

Q

Qin Dynasty 51

R

Radical 22, 29, 35, 37–40, 67, 68, 69 Role model 61, 62, 63, 72, 113, 119, 122, 123, 131, 139, 193, 194

S

Sapir Edward 59

Schopenhauer Arthur 121 Shang Dynasty 51 Sima Qian 86

Simplified characters 35, 52–55, 113, 114, 123 Spencer Lloyd 120 Smith Adam 120

Song Dynasty 119

Strategy 16, 111, 118, 148, 149, 154, 197 Sun Zhenxin 98

Symbolism 76, 202

T

Taiwan 33, 45, 52, 53, 55, 108, 113, 114, 115

Taoism 65, 67, 74, 75, 171, 210 Tiananmen 66, 81, 199 Tibet 104, 107, 127 Time terms 85, 87

Ting-Toomey 68, 176

Tone (language) 13, 32, 33, 46, 53, 110 Tortoise shell 49, 197 Traffic rules 145, 147

Transcription 18, 32, 33, 53, 109 Translation 14, 15, 44, 45, 46, 167, 214, 216 Trias Politica 205 Typography 185

U

UNESCO 114 Urumqi 108

W

Wade-Giles 33 Wang Gan 55

Wang Xizhi 52

Wang Xianzhi 52

Wei Jingsheng 133 Wen Jiabao 72

Whorf Benjamin Lee 59

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Whorf-Sapir hypothesis 59 Wiedenhof Jeroen 32, 33

World Trade Organization 159

World Expo Shanghai 138, 139

X

Xinjiang 107, 108, 134 Xu Bing 188, 189, 190 Xunzi 66

Y

Yao Ming 193, 194

Yong Ho 23, 24, 26, 60 Yu Dan 65, 66

Z

Zhou Dynasty 119 Zhu Yunxia 164

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