Beijing April 11, 2006: An intercultural seminar was held by AFS Intercultural Programs On April 11th at Jianguo Garden Hotel in Beijing, China to welcome AFS President Tachi Cazal’s visit. More than 50 people including professionals and experts in the intercultural realm, AFS returnees and volunteers and expatriates, and teachers and students interested in intercultural learning attended the seminar and participated in the discussions on the educational impact of international exchange on high school students.

Speakers included AFS President Tachi Cazal, an AFS alumnus from Paraguay to the USA; Professor Wayne L. Edwards, former AFS Chairman of the Board of Trustees who is presently the head School of Educational Studies of Massey University in New Zealand; and Mr. Edward W. Smith, the director of Beijing Consulting Group in Beijing and an AFS alumnus from Australia to China. Opening addresses were given by Mr. Cao Wenchun, Deputy Director of Oriental Comprehensive Research Institute on Public Administration of Development of Development Research Center of State Council and Mr. Anthony Tong, an AFS Hong Kong SAR (HKSAR) board member and the former Deputy Secretary of Education of HKSAR. Special guest Ms Chen Xuefeng, UNICEF education officer in Beijing also attended the event. Intercultural competence and international understanding are seen as abilities of growing importance for individuals and organizations in the process of globalization. Empirical research shows that intercultural competence can be better cultivated among children around the ages of 14 to 19. AFS Intercultural Programs, the leader of intercultural learning and exchange in the world, is devoted to creating more such opportunities for children and young adults to increase their abilities of intercultural communication and international understanding so that they might come back to make contributions to the social harmony and development of their own country. AFS has operated programs in China in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, implementing these with China Education Association for International Exchange and others in China for more than twenty years. AFS plans to expand its program offerings and increase participant volume significantly in next three years.

Independent third-party research has proven that as an educational process, AFS intercultural programs offerings help participants open their eyes to the world and cultivate abilities for interactions with different cultures. AFS program participants also develop a realistic knowledge of their host culture, significantly improve their language abilities, and raise their overall intercultural competence particularly in independent problem-solving and general social interaction. Studies have also demonstrated that through intercultural exchange, the cultural and national identities of the participants are in fact strengthened, while at the same time, more realistic, confident and tolerant attitudes towards differences in and outside of the home culture are formed.

AFS Intercultural Programs, as the world’s leading non-profit and volunteer-driven organization in intercultural learning and exchange, dedicates itself to build a more just and peaceful world through intercultural exchanges. Through the years, AFS has developed an efficient and trustable world-wide system combining the professional expertise of staff facilitators and a well-trained volunteer support base to reinforce the intercultural experience and to provide young participants with safe and valuable intercultural involvement opportunities.

Source: News Release by AFS International

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review published an article entitled U.S. Businessmen Get Chinese Culture Lesson (by A.J. Panian TRIBUNE REVIEW Monday, March 27, 2006), which tells about U.S. businessmen get Chinese culture lesson. It spells out some of the typical cultural phenomenon in modern Chinese culture, which could be some interesting references to get to know more about Chinese cultural patterns.

Did you know 666 is a popular Chinese number?

The Chinese love the number ’six’ because their word for ’six’ rhymes with their word for ’smooth’, said Sha Zhao, principal of Asia Synergy LLC, Pittsburgh, a provider of market entry liaisons to the South Asia country. Many people have e-mails with 666 in them because that’s considered a good, good number there. However, a Chinese bride won’t hold her wedding on a date with the numeral 4 or, for that matter, accept four gifts from one of her guests. ‘Four’ is a bad number in China because it has a similar pronunciation as the word for death in Chinese, Zhao said. These are just little things people may not realize.

Those little things could trip up American business people trying to leave a good impression on their Chinese counterparts in the 4,000-year-old culture, Zhao said. The Chinese consider their business cards to be like their faces, so you don’t want to write anything on the card or shove it in your back pocket in front of them, Zhao said. That’s slightly insulting, and that instantly makes you not as strong a business partner.

Preventing such oversights is Zhao’s mission when prepping clients for trips like the upcoming China trade mission in May offered by St. Vincent College.

Through intercultural training in proper business etiquette, Zhao schools her clients on the often-subtle social beliefs and customs held so dear there. She also serves as a helpful guide on the trip itself.

As a liaison, I want to help bridge the East and West as they buy and sell to each other and promote a better business culture understanding between the two, Zhao said.

Such an understanding can’t be reached over the phone or through e-mail in China, nor can a business deal be completed that way. Both are much more likely to occur over glasses of wine, at the dinner table or even in a karaoke bar.

Relationship-building there is so important, Zhao said. You need to become their buddies and earn their trust before you can do business with them.

If that happens, Zhao said, a Chinese company owner may choose to buy a product at a higher price from a American seller they like before considering a cheaper offer for the same product from an untrustworthy patron.

They’re not looking for your brochure, said Frank C. Dlubak of Dlubak Corp. They want to look at you, have a drink with you, they want to look inside of you and see if you’re for real. It’s not how much money you have, it’s whether you are a good person first and whether you are willing to be their partner.

In addition, Americans wishing to buy Chinese products must follow the country’s customs for negotiation and display some background knowledge regarding product value, Zhao said.

(The Chinese) will offer an American something at a higher price than it’s worth to see if you try to negotiate the price down because they value one’s ability to do that, Zhao said.

Americans also must be prepared for what can be an arduous process when trying to nail down a business deal there.

You have to be prepared for a lot of back-and-forth, Zhao said.

But if the priority is placed first on friendship, the possibility of a pact has more promise. In China, it’s more important to have a commitment from the heart than it is to have one on paper, Zhao said.

Some key points believed to be essential for successful intercultural communications:

• Open Mindedness
• Sense of Humor
• Ability to Cope with Failure
• Communicativeness
• Flexibility and Adaptability
• Curiosity
• Positive and Realistic Expectations
• Tolerance for Differences and Ambiguities
• Positive Regard for Others