Chinese Culture

International business requires a deep level of industry insight but also a keen understanding of the cultural differences that impact how business is done. If you’re an American working in China or Japan for the first time, you may not realize the way each culture thinks and reasons is quite different from your own, which can lead to frequent misunderstandings. You may be unaware, for example, that Americans reason in a linear manner, Chinese in a lateral manner, and Japanese intuitively.

The Easiest and Fastest Way to Learn Mandarin Chinese With Pimsleur you’ll become conversational in Mandarin Chinese — to understand and be understood — quickly and effectively. You’ll learn vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation together through conversation. And our scientifically...

You booked the flight to China. Now the panic sets in — will you cause offense at dinner, or get stranded because your card won't work and every app is blocked? Here's the truth nobody tells you before your first trip to mainland China: it's not the language barrier that trips up Western travelers. It's the invisible stuff — the unwritten social rules around face and relationships, and the very real fact that China runs on a cashless, app-based ecosystem that assumes you already have WeChat Pay set up and know how to get online past the Great Firewall. Lin Mei grew up in Shanghai fluent...

Planning a Trip to China? This Book Answers the Questions You Didn't Know You Had. 🏮 Is it okay to talk politics in China? 🏠 Why is everyone obsessed with buying property? 📱 What apps do I need to survive daily life? Whether you're a tourist, business traveler, exchange student, or just China-curious, Unpacking China: 50 Essential Q&As For First-Time Visitors is your no-nonsense, culturally smart companion—full of real answers to the awkward, weird, or sensitive questions people often hesitate to ask. Written by Yuanpu Huang, a seasoned entrepreneur and bestselling author who’s...

The Wisdom of Confucius: Exploring the Teachings that Shaped Chinese Philosophy and Culture takes readers on a journey into the timeless insights of one of history’s greatest thinkers. More than two thousand years after his death, the teachings of Confucius continue to influence how people think about ethics, leadership, education, and social harmony. This book offers a clear and engaging introduction to his most important ideas, making them accessible to modern readers while preserving their depth and significance. Inside, you will discover: The life and historical context of Confucius, ...

As a major political event and a crucial turning point in the history of the People's Republic of China, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) marked the zenith as well as the nadir of Mao Zedong's ultra-leftist politics. Reacting in part to the Soviet Union's "revisionism" that he regarded as a threat to the future of socialism, Mao mobilized the masses in a battle against what he called "bourgeois" forces within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This 10-year-long class struggle on a massive scale devastated traditional Chinese culture as well as the nation's economy.

With her delightfully evocative prose, Xu Xiaobin presents us with a collection of stories crawling with fraught power dynamics, strange events, and unsettling images. Not only does she write about women, but the worlds around them, the fears that dog them, and the histories that haunt them. Xu's entangled plots sneak up on the reader and make a lasting impression, from the blind singing sensation with a calculating mother, to the scornful aunt of an aging Miss Asia winner, to the young woman who becomes consumed by filth in the dilapidated house of her in-laws. Each of these mournful ...

Newbery and Caldecott honoree and New York Times bestselling author Grace Lin delivers a groundbreaking, lushly illustrated, and beautifully written book that explores the whimsical myths and stories behind your favorite American Chinese food. From fried dumplings to fortune cookies, here are...

Twelve-year-old Ji-li Jiang has brains, friends, and a bright future. Then Mao Zedong launches China’s infamous Cultural Revolution. Soon school is suspended and students are getting caught up in the fervor of Mao’s extreme politics. When Ji-li’s family is accused of capitalist crimes, all of her beautiful dreams burst like soap bubbles. Because Ji-li’s grandfather was a landlord, her family is harassed and humiliated. Their home is searched, and they live in constant fear. Nonetheless, Ji-li remains loyal to her beloved Chairman Mao....

Van Norden’s Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy is evidently of increasing importance in balancing our 21st century view of philosophy in general. It is to Van Norden’s regret, that when ‘philosophy’ is discussed or taught, it is almost always in the context of ‘Western...

There is an ancient Chinese proverb that states, "Two tigers cannot share the same mountain." However, in East Asia, there are three tigers on that mountain: China, Japan, and Korea, and they have a long history of turmoil and tension with each other. In his latest entertaining and thought-provoking narrative travelogue, Michael Booth sets out to discover how deep, really, the enmity is between these three "tiger" nations and what prevents them from making peace.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD A “haunting, magical, and absolutely impossible to forget” (The Boston Globe) novel about the unique friendship between two women in nineteenth-century China, from the acclaimed author of Shanghai Girls “A marvel of imagination...

For thousands of years, the Chinese believed that they had created a perfect social system based on Confucian values and tempered by the Mandate of Heaven. Dynasties came and went, but the essence of being Chinese remained essentially unchanged until the 20th century. Since then, change has taken place in Chinese society at an unprecedented speed: the country experienced the turmoil of civil war and revolution and then emerged on to the world stage as a global superpower. 

You've been invited to a Chinese dinner and you're not sure what to do. Imagine being able to sit at the table with confidence and not worry about making any mistakes. This guide will provide all the information that you need in order to master Chinese formal dining etiquette. It includes everything from where to sit, gaining face, drinking, using chopsticks, mistakes to avoid, smoking, tea and much more! You’ll be able to impress your hosts by following these simple guidelines on proper behavior at a formal dinner. Purchase this guide today before your next event. If you are invited to a...

Wealth without pleasure. Life without meaning. And a philosopher who takes contracts very literally. Kin-Fo has everything—a massive fortune, a beautiful fiancée, every luxury 19th-century Shanghai can provide. Yet he feels nothing. No joy, no sorrow, no desire, no fear. Material abundance has produced only profound boredom, an ennui so complete that existence itself seems pointless. When news arrives (false, it will turn out) that his fortune is lost, Kin-Fo sees opportunity. He has recently taken out a large life insurance policy naming his beloved Lé-ou as beneficiary. If he dies ...

Seeing China through the windows of a tourist bus does not tell the real story of China. Even history books, travel logs and news reports can be misleading. While serving as a foreign expert and English teacher at several prestigious universities in China, my students kept personal journals as part of their writing assignments. I was stunned by what I read. For example, one young lady wrote, “Until I went away to school, my father beat me every day of my life because I wasn’t born a boy.” Not surprising, she took a boy’s name as her English name. Chinese culture has placed enormous ...

Deep in the cliffs of China's Wuyi Mountains grows a tea so rare that a few grams from its original mother trees once sold for more than gold. Da Hong Pao — "Big Red Robe" — carries a legend of imperial gratitude, a terroir found nowhere else on Earth, and a centuries-old charcoal-roasting craft passed down through generations of tea masters. This book takes you from the founding myth of the scholar and the red robe, through the geology and cultivars that give Wuyi rock tea its distinctive mineral "rock rhyme," to the modern business of growing, grading, and selling one of the world's ...

An intimate and revelatory account of two generations of students in China’s heartland, by an author who has observed the country’s tumultuous changes over the past quarter century More than two decades after teaching English during the early part of China’s economic boom, an experience...

Acclaimed author Jade Song (Chlorine) returns with her latest literary exploration: a lyrical, poignant, and heartfelt novel about the meaning of love, friendship, debt, depression, and death in New York City—a coming-of-age for a new generation, in the vein of Sally Rooney and Ottessa...

Unearth the Stories of Where Gods Walked the Earth and Legends Were Born This book is your all-access pass to the stories that forged a civilization. Get ready to witness the dawn of ancient Chinese thought! This curated volume captures the essence of what mattered for thousands of years: family, honor, destiny, and the deep mystery of the natural world. Inside, you'll finally discover: Cosmic Origins: Learn how the Dragon, Phoenix, Turtle, and Fiery Beast literally shaped the mountains and rivers of the world. Epic Romance: The tragic fate of the goddess who fell in love with a mortal, ...