ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Guo-Ming Chen portrays two faces of communication in Chinese culture. He thematizes harmony, one of the core Chinese cultural values, to paint a picture of the first face. According to him, in order to achieve harmony, Chinese people would (1) follow the principles of jen (benevolence), yi (righteousness), and li (rite/courtesy), (2) properly adjust to shi (temporal contingencies), wei (spatial contingencies), and ji (the first imperceptible beginning of movement), and (3) strategically exercise guanxi (interrelation), mientze (face), and power. This harmony-oriented communication can also be understood in light of other Chinese cultural concepts such as mientze (face), guanxi (interrelation), yuan (destined relations), keqi (politeness), bao (reciprocity), feng shui, and zhan bu (divination). Chen then moves on to paint a picture of the second face, which is the dark side of Chinese communication, that appears when harmony cannot be upheld. According to him, for instance, the Chinese are not so much concerned with the rules of keqi and li when they are communicating with out-group members. The Chinese also developed a system of sophisticated compliance-gaining strategies based on military actions, which allows an individual to control, manipulate, or take advantage of others.
