It's All Chinese to Me: An Overview of Culture & Etiquette in China Paperback – October 10, 2009

This book shines best in discussing interpersonal interaction and decently introduces many useful concepts. Those who spend a few dollars on this before spending some time in China will have spent their money well. Understanding social interaction is very useful in successfully navigating China.This book is a quick and dirty introduction to social interaction in China. It is easily finished in an hour or three. The graphics provide an accurate feel for the topics discussed. Good humor is present.The book is written from the viewpoint of a Westerner considering contemporary Chinese behavior through the lens of cultural heritage. Thus, one weak point is the self-admitted one of generalization. For instance, describing the counterfeit baby formula scandal--or other occurrences in China--through cultural heritage (said to be Confucian in vs. out) falls far short of the situation on the ground and much less useful than considering the scandal through the lens of business history and development. That said, considering the contributions of cultural heritage to such scenarios is surely worthwhile.A related weak point is due to the Westerner stereotypical view of facts. For instance, referring to 900 million in poverty--not the case. Also the book conforms to the Western propaganda-driven assertion of a massacre in Tiananmen Square. See below for detail*. For a book proposing to explain Chinese behavior, the failure to depart from the Westernized stereotyping of China is a black eye. Luckily, this largely affects brief side topics which do not affect the great value provided by the book's focus on social interaction.Related to this is the failure to put facts in context--for instance protests and death sentences. The PRC has about four people for every one person in the US. This means that the number of people put to death per 100,000--the standard international measure--in China is actually quite similar to that in the US. Now, I don't like capital punishment, but be statistically accurate when discussing it. In a similar manner, one might expect there to be four times as many protests in China than in the US for the simple reason of the population being four times as large.In all, getting this book is a great first step in saving a lot of grief--e.g. lost business or job or confrontation--as well as enriching the China experience for someone who will spend significant time there.*What follows is a discussion of the Tiananmen Square Incident.The book's allusion to "the Tiananmen Square Massacre" relies on traditional Western propaganda. There was no massacre in the square, the students left peacefully in recognition of the shift in government acceptance of protest. As some propaganda-driven individual will invariably scream about this, I'll clarify the matter:First :: The protest was not confined to Beijing square. At the time in China, significant protests were simultaneously occurring across the entire nation. Not only students were protesting, everyone protesting protested for different reasons in different areas across the nation. Students just have more time on their hands and are more adorable than other types of protesters.Second :: The People's Liberation Army (PLA) was not trained to deal with rioting--it was trained to fight wars. The PLA not only lacked training in dealing with social unrest, it was not equipped with riot gear such as tear gas, bean bag guns, rubber bullets, face shields and riot armor. In the aftermath of China's experiment in democratic expression, the government began a program of equipping the police and PLA with riot gear and training them to deal with protests. The excellent result of this training is that, today, protests are appropriately dealt with peacefully on an ongoing basis.Third :: As in all political situations, not all elements interacting at the time were driven by the same motives. There were the students who were largely peaceful demonstrators attempting to engage the government in dialogue. And there were those who wanted other things. One faction of protesters believed in obtaining their desires through violent means. As the PLA advanced into Beijing, it faced blockades and violence. City buses were set on fire by the violent element. Tanks and troop carriers were set on fire via Molotov cocktails--with troops inside. Troops died as the PLA advanced. Although mostly throwing deadly stones and Molotov cocktails, some of the violent were armed with guns.Even in the square itself, some carried guns--even a machine gun (captured from the fairly benign troops?). One of the student leaders, Liu Xiaobo, smashed them in rejection of violence on national TV.Given the lack of riot gear and training, combined with the violent opposition on entry to Beijing, the PLA might be viewed as having shown great restraint in obtaining order in the capital. Those citizens who died, almost entirely died via the PLA's advance into the city--not in the square. The numbers of dead quoted are often exaggerated and upper estimates quoted instead of the range of possibility.Objectively, some dead should be expected given troop regulars seeing their comrades killed and maimed by large rocks and fire and not being trained or equipped to deal with this scary situation. Also remember, the troops were outnumbered by the citizens in the street (mostly just going about life or onlookers).In light of all this chaos across the nation, it is understandable that the conservatives gained the political upper hand in the central government and obtained(forced?) Deng Xiaoping's approval of a cabinet overall--leading to the incident in Beijing. The rule of law is a prerequisite for prosperity.

It’s All Chinese to Me was published in 2009 as a general introduction to Chinese culture and etiquette. It’s meant to be a quick, funny read, not an in-depth study. Overall, I think it’s a great place to start for first time travelers and adoptive parents who have never visited China. It’s a decent “survival guide” and gives a fair account in many instances. I do feel that some of the comments in the book were condescending and painted the Chinese in a bad light. I am also typically very defensive of China’s people and culture though. It’s a land and people I’ve fallen in love with, and is the birthplace of two of my children. But having said that, I have personally experienced or seen several of the “peculiarities” that were addressed. I generally accept that they are part of Chinese culture, just as I do the same for American culture. I’ve visited China three times and will hopefully go back many, many times in the future. Each time, it becomes more of a comfortable second home to me, despite (or even because of) the differences.For those who haven’t experienced China yet, this book offers many worthwhile nuggets of information. It begins with a (very) brief over-overview of Chinese history, political issues, and their impacts on society. While doing so, I’ll admit that it doesn’t offer the most positive interpretation of the government, and even discusses the one-child policy in some depth. I’m glad the authors choose to write about these issues, but wonder if the wording could have been different in some instances. The book also discusses China’s rich culture, traditions, and symbols. I loved this part, but do wish they had shared the Chinese hanzi and pinyin so I could learn them.Additionally, the authors lightly share about the three major influences in Chinese thought: Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. They touch on the widespread impact all three philosophies have had on society in history and present day. Also, the social concepts of gu'nxì and miànzi are discussed. I did not know there were terms for these ideas, but I certainly recognized the descriptions and identified with them. The book also addresses many “peculiarities” of Chinese society that were familiar to me. I won’t share which ones I recognized, but just know that a lot of them are right on the money. Business etiquette is also mentioned at the end of the book, but I admit I only skimmed that section.The book is a very quick read, which makes it pretty attractive to a busy mom of 4. I finished it over two days only reading a little bit here and there. I would definitely recommend reading through it if you will be traveling to China soon and don’t know anything about the cultural differences or nuances of their society. I think it’s always wise to learn at least a little about the country you will be visiting. If you’ve already been to China, you can probably skip this book because most of the concepts will be familiar to you.This review was also posted to my blog at LivingOutHisLove dot com.

This is a great book for people wanting an introduction to Chinese culture and practices. Having lived in China for extended periods of time I found nothing I felt was very far from how I would have described it.Not as deep as some other books but it also doesn't take a week to read, a good thing for many people.The authors didn't gloss over some of the negative things (from a westerner's viewpoint) about China which are important if you want to fully understand the culture you are experiencing. Additionally, they did a good job of avoiding taking an overly western viewpoint and being critical of everything Chinese. I feel they provided a balanced view.Solid piece of work. For what it is (an overview) I give it 5 stars and will recommend it to all my students traveling to China.

This book gave some amazing cultural insights into China and the Chinese people. I discussed (and confirmed) many of the talking points from this book with my Chinese teacher (a Chinese native) and learned very much about the Chinese culture. My only complaint about this book (and hence, the only reason it doesn't have 5 stars) is it was somewhat short. It had great content but very much left me wanting for more!!!

A great overview of cultural issues and quite accurate (I can testify to that as a long-time resident). Very helpful read if you plan to come for a prolonged stay in the country.

This book is an invaluable resource for people wanting to learn more about the Chinese. With a leisure trip scheduled to go visit China we did not want to be surprised or look like fish out of water when visiting! The book is easy to understand and gives you many valuable tips for what to do and what NOT to do when visiting China. I highly recommend this book for anyone intending to go!

There are a plethora of introductory books on how to get along and acclimatise to China and to adjust to chinese culture. This book is one of the best, comprehensive and easy to read with amusing cartoon-like illustrations throughout. I have lived in China for seven months now and I am using the book with my (adult) English classes to discuss culture shock and cultural differences.The book covers (in no particular order)business etiquette, dating, family life, living, eating, and almost all the idiosyncracies which one meets with here. I was sometimes curious as to whether the authors were in fact permanent chinese residents as they not only have an intimate knowledge of this country but will often put across the chinese view point - rare in many of the other introductions to China. Highly recommended - don't buy it in China, by the way, where it costs twice as much as on Amazon!

I have just come back from a Business trip and despite this book being slightly out of date in regards to the area of China I visited, it was worth the money and time reading.Would recommend this read to anyone who is going for both business and pleasure.The insights it gives helped me in many ways.

Maybe I was expecting too much, I am seeing a girl from Hong Kong and bought this book to understand her culture more. I feel it did not really help all that much points where raised but so briefly covered no explanation is really given, rather an overall insight into Chinese tradition. Good book but no real information learned.

per chi vuole approfondire la cultura Cinese dal punto di vista delle differenza e delle discrepanze, in maniera leggera e scorrevole.

Well written and clear.