Etiquette Guide to China - by Boye Lafayette De Mente (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This essential guide to Chinese etiquette will make embarrassing social blunders a thing of the past!

Whether you're traveling to China for business or pleasure, whether your stay will be long or short, your visit will be more pleasurable and productive if you understand your host culture and how to work within it.

This updated and expanded edition of the best-selling Chinese etiquette guide on the market addresses not just the puzzling protocols relating to name cards, bowing or shaking hands, bathrooms and public baths--but also what to do when entertaining Chinese dinner guests, attending a Chinese tea ceremony, taking the subway, and much more!

It also provides the latest etiquette in mobile phone manners, texting, social media and other forms of digital communication. The glossary at the back of the book has been revised to include the latest technology-related words and expressions used in China today. Two new chapters address the changing role of foreigners in the workplace and the contemporary business style and etiquette used by the younger generation of Chinese who are now increasingly cosmopolitan--but still very Chinese!

Etiquette Guide to China includes everything you need to know to be a successful, courteous traveler:

• Hand gestures and body language
• How to address the Chinese
• Dining and restaurant manners
• Gift giving and celebration in China
• Entering into and understanding business relationships
• How to behave in professional situations
• Dealing with China's political culture
• The Chinese way of negotiating

Review Quotes

"Before the incoming administration's trade reps sit down with their counterparts in Beijing--or Washington--they might want to glance at this breezy, 191-page, CliffsNotes-type take on understanding contemporary Chinese culture, mores and manners." --Virginian Pilot

"If you're headed to China either for business or pleasure, it's a good idea to read up on the customs." --JohnnyJet.com

"Mind your manners when traveling with this essential guide to the social customs of China. Etiquette Guide to China: Know the Rules That Make the Difference! is geared more to business travelers and offers tips for banquet customs, talking politics, drinking and avoiding humor in business situations among many other guidelines to help you avoid putting your foot in it." --Travel Channel

"Though the book obviously calls itself an etiquette guide, I view it as more a cultural guide, and because so much of it dealt with China business culture, I found it very helpful. This is a great book (indeed, an almost necessary book) for anyone new or relatively new to doing business in China. It also makes for an excellent refresher for China veterans." --China Law Blog

About the Author

Boye Lafayette De Mente worked for several years as an editor of newspapers and magazines in Tokyo. He has written more than 30 books on Japan's language and culture, including Japan's Cultural Code Words: 233 Key Terms That Explain the Attitudes and Behavior of the Japanese, Japan Unmasked: The Character & Culture of the Japanese, and Business Guide to Japan: A Quick Guide to Opening Doors & Closing Deals.

Patrick Wallace has lived and worked in Asia for more than thirty years as a student, NGO volunteer, teacher, businessman, and finally as an academic editor for Oxford University Press, Shanghai, China. His books include Exploring Xinjiang: An American Family's Journey to the West. He now works as a freelance writer from his home in rural Japan.