Chinese sociologist Fei Xiaotong comes to the conclusion that Western-based society theories are not suitable for China. He depicts Chinese relationships as circles: when one throws a stone into water, circles appear: the closer to the stone, the clearer the circle and the higher the loyalty between the people in the circle. This leads to insider-outsider ethics where people will apply different standards in contacts with insiders and with outsiders.

Relationships are therefore long-term. Loyalty is always at stake. Introducing one party to another places you as the intermediary in the position of a ‘guarantee’. Introducing someone who turns out to be unreliable means you lose face and it can harm your own relationships. This goes a lot deeper in China than in individual-oriented societies in the West.

Face and ‘face strategies’ like ‘giving face’, ‘avoidance of losing face’, or ‘negotiating face’ are everyday issues for the Chinese. ‘Indirect communication’ linked to ‘face strategies’ is often confusing for Westerners. Westerners might not even be aware of the fact that they blow up opportunities simply because of the way they communicate or the attitude they display.

Communicational issues strongly influence intercultural cooperation. This involves language, body language, but also communication patterns. ‘Indirect communication’, widely used in China, leads to misunderstandings for Westerners. ‘Direct communication’ from Westerners is often perceived as arrogant or even aggressive in China. All these aspects have influence on leadership, conflict management, time management, work ethics, and so on.

Michael Bond and a group of Chinese scientists at the University of Hong Kong, known as the Chinese Culture Connection, developed a ‘Chinese Value Survey’ to study work ethics in China. Scholar Peng Shiyong related the ‘Chinese Value Survey’ to Geert Hofstede’s theoretical conception and came to the conclusion that ‘Confucian dynamism’ does not correlate to any of Hofstede’s dimensions. Gao Ge and Ting-Toomey explain the dynamics of Chinese relationships based on Chinese concepts.

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