In my trip to Rwanda, the most interesting complain that I heard from my Rwandan friends are about Chinese facial expression: different from European Americans (EA), Chinese people have “poker-face” and people can never tell their feelings from their faces. Unfortunately, what he complained are true. Chinese traditional culture considers that people who want to be noble men should show neither joy nor anger. Apparently, the understandings on “poker-face” are different. Diverse cultures form various understandings and facial expressions.

In theory, facial expression is a fundamental element in human social interaction. People’s facial expressions responding to emotions differ from culture to culture, with the exception of expressions to sensory stimuli like smells (Camras, Bakeman, Chen, Norris, Thomas, 2006). There is a significant difference between facial expression of Chinese and EA resulted in cultures. The individualism and indulgence dimensions in Geert Hofstede’s study can explain the differences as follows. This research paper will introduce the three most significant facial expression differences between Chinese and EA. Then it will explain the cultural issues underlying these differences with the help Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory. An interesting finding about the fundamental reason later will be addressed.

These have been interesting studies in scholars’ facial expression researches. Chinese respondents express emotions primarily through eyes while EA respondents reveal through eyebrows and mouths (Jack, Caldara, Schyns, 2012); Compared to EA respondents, Chinese respondents rarely express interest-excitement and disgust-revulsion facial expressions (Chan, 1985). Chinese respondents facial expression of anger-rage is more easily identifiable than the one expressed by EA respondents (Chan, 1985).

Chinese are more reserved and calm when excited or disappointed. They use eyes to express emotions while the EA respondents use eyebrows and mouth. Facial expressions represent internal representations, which demonstrate emotional signals influenced by diverse cultures (Jack et al., 2012). According to Hofstede (2016), the United States culture is strongly individualistic and Chinese culture is more collectivist. EA people are aware of “I”, would love to express personal feelings, and advocate the “right of privacy”. On the contrary, Chinese culture, a collectivist culture, advocates “we” and harmony (Hofstede, 2016). Respondents who belong to Chinese culture fall under “stress on belonging”. Moreover, as Confucius said, gentlemen should be able to control emotions and maintain gravity. Being able to control emotions and reveal neither joy nor anger is one of the characters of noble men in Chinese concepts. Therefore, EA respondents are likely to express emotions with explicit and incidental facial expressions by moving eyebrows and mouth. Chinese respondents influenced by the harmony and collectivism culture tend to express emotions with implicit and controlled facial expressions especially when expressing excitement and revulsion.

Though Chinese respondents can control mild emotions well, they are less reserved in strong negative emotions, such as anger. According to Hofstede (2016), people in restraint culture are “less likely to remember positive emotions” and fewer of them think that they are happy. They even consider leisure is not important. On the contrary, people with high indulgence, the EA respondents, value leisure more highly, like to remember positive emotions, and believe themselves to be happy. Think of it this way. Positive emotions and more sensitive in feeling happy can balance strong negative emotions. Besides, fewer restrictions allow people in less restraint culture express strong negative emotions freely. Therefore, it is possible for people who live in less restraint culture and more sensitive about positive emotions to weaken strong negative emotions. Thus, as the researches reveal, Chinese respondents are more likely to become irate and influenced by negative emotions while EA respondents respond to anger in a milder way.

Carmas (2006) provided another interesting possible explanation—mom. EA mothers express more positive emotions than Chinese mothers (Carmas, 2006). Chinese mothers are outstanding in aggravation and strictness (Carmas, 2006). Therefore, as revealed in the study, Chinese mothers’ aggravation and strictness result in less smiling and more negative mistrust (Carmas, 2006). Combining this finding with Freud’s psychic determinism theory, no doubt the oppressive feeling and stress influenced by Chinese mothers’ aggravation and strictness contribute to Chinese respondents’ rare facial expressions in response to excitement and revulsion as well as their high levels of anger and restrained feelings. Mothers are the first and the most intimate teachers. By influencing individuals, mothers create human history, and influence diversity in cultures.

While we think of facial expressions as innate and natural, they are clearly culturally determined. With a greater understanding of intercultural competence and people’s facial expressions, intercultural communication can be conducted much more smoothly and effectively. However, people should not stereotype the general understanding of Chinese facial expression since Chinese people’s backgrounds are varied from gender, ethnicity, region, social and economic status, and generation.

References

Camras, L.A., Bakeman, R., Chen, Y. Norris, K., & Thomas, R. (2006). Culture, Ethnicity, and Children’s Facial Expressions: A Study of European American, Mainland Chinese, Chinese American, and Adopted Chinese Girls. Emotion, 6(1), 103-114. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.6.1.103

Chan, D. W. (1985). Perception and Judgment Of Facial Expressions Among The Chinese. International Journal of Psychology, 20(6), 681.

Jack, R.E., Caldara, R., & Schyns, P.G. (2012). Internal Representations Reveal Cultural Diversity in Expectations of Facial Expressions of Emotion. Journal of Experimental Psychology,141, 1, 19–25. https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/xge-141-1-19.pdf

National Culture. (n.d.) In the Hofstede Center. Retrieved from http://geert-hofstede.com/national-culture.html

My presentation on narrative story is a mess with a nervous start and a blank out period in the middle. Thee conclusion part is not as bad as I imagined where I tried to be objective and neutral on intercultural communication.

I think the most challenging or exciting part of the presentation is the body part when I tried to explain my perspective on Chinatown and tried to convince my audience that what I said was true. I was worried about the confusion my speech might bring to my audience because it is a complicated issue mixing with national emotions and historical backgrounds. My expression may also confuse my audience as well because my logic and grammar. However, I felt much better when I saw Leticia’s comment under my post, in which she said that she had the same feeling in her trip to Seattle Chinatown. Then I noticed that I am not the only mandarin speaker noticing this problem and feeling alienated and offended in Chinatown. I felt surprised when the guy lingered from door to door for several times. However, thanks to his interruption, I performed in a much natural way because I stuck much to the structure and gave up the focus on details. Moreover, I am not sure wether I convey information to audience or not because it is a complicated issue based a lot on national emotion and cultural issues. There are a lot of conflicts because of cultural and social difference in China and people from other countries can hardly get the point without immersing in Chinese culture. Due to my blank out in the middle, I don’t think I am professional enough. I need more preparation on narrative story presentation in the future.

However, this is an interesting topic because it is a very cultural based issue. It is a real issue that people who are not Chinese may not think of it if I didn’t mention it in my presentation. My audience can also think of their experience in their ethnic towns in the U.S. I opened my presentation by asking questions to my audience to grab their attention. I hoped they could think of their experience in their ethnic towns in the U.S. My thesis was conveyed clearly but I think that I was thinking of it when I delivered the speech because I look confused. My presentation map is quite clear as well. I divided my body part of the presentation into three parts: how my Chinatown experience was; why people in San Francisco’s Chinatown react to me in an impolite attitude; why I felt alienated in San Francisco’s Chinatown based on my experience. Besides, I believed I have the credibility to share my opinion as well because I am a Chinese born and growing up in Beijing and I know the cultural background very well.

Generally speaking, the organization and structure of my narrative story presentation is vey clear. I think that I am good at structure and relatively weak at telling stories and conveying details. I always feel confused whenI talked about details. I have a relatively memorable conclusion and came back to the tolerance issue again. I think my audience can have better understanding on the tolerance issue after learning my experience in the San Francisco’s Chinatown, my research on San Francisco’s history, and my self-reflection combined with my cultural identity. Generally speaking, the transitions between paragraphs are clear. But I got lost after I said “China has developed a lot”.

I need to raise my volume in the future presentations and train myself with had gestures. Moreover, I need some pause i  my presentation. Fast speed, low volume, and  no pause made me sound soft and less convincing. My eyes stuck at one place in a period of time and then moved to another spot. I need to move my eyes constantly in a natural way. I stood in the front with less movement which is good and I didn’t use a lot of “um”. I was nervous at the beginning so that I repeated words several times. I think I used more time than I expected which should be controlled within 5 minutes and a half.

All in all, this presentation is messy but generally speaking it conveys the main idea in an appropriate way. It also arouse people’s thinking and got some agreement from other mandarin speaker. I need to work on narrative story and presentation on narrative story. Thanks for the supports from my professor and classmates. I got power and energy from your eyes when I made eye contacts with you in my presentation.

After finishing my summer program, I could not wait to go to Chinatown in San Francisco to experience my long-lost culture and Chinese food. However, while going through the Stockton Tunnel, I saw a China I had never seen. The watery sunshine rested on the walls in blurred and desultory gleam. Streets were narrow, steep and empty with homeless people begging for money. Words on billboards were written in traditional Chinese characters with a typesetting and style from the 1920s. Grocers stood at street corners selling southern vegetables and fruits. Grandmas sat on vegetable piles chatting with customers in fluent Cantonese that I could hardly understand. I went into a supermarket decorated with dust to buy snacks and juice. Everything went well until I started talking with the cashier in Mandarin with a strong Beijing accent. She opened her eyes wide in mock disbelief and then narrowed her eyes scornfully at me. I tried several more times at grocery stores, restaurants, and newsstands and observed what happened to other Mandarin-speaking customers when they started talking. Storeowners, employees and even other Cantonese customers reacted the same way. It seemed that they were so surprised to see a Mandarin-speaking customer. “They are rude,” a Mandarin-speaking fellow standing next to me whispered. With no doubt, they were. But why had they reacted this way?

To explain why Cantonese-speaking sellers treated Mandarin-speaking customer in a rude way, it is necessary to mention stereotypes against Mandarin-speaking people and cultural perspective Cantonese-speaking people embrace. Normally, people speaking mandarin, especially with northern accent, are considered as mainlanders. Mainlanders always receive negative feedback when they travel all around the world, due to inappropriate behaviors and cultural misunderstanding conducted and kept by some mainland tourists. Though those people who behave inappropriately and create cultural misunderstanding are not the majority of tourist population, they represent the mainland and the mainland’s culture. Thus, they contribute to the forming of stereotypes against mainland people, who innocently considered as people lacking civic virtue, morality and quality. Moreover, most people speaking Cantonese are from Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau, and foreign countries such as Malaysia and Singapore. Some Chinese immigrants in foreign countries are Cantonese speakers as well. The Cantonese-speaking populations have cultural protectionism on tradition, language, food, life style, and other features that can distinguish them from other culture groups. However, exposed to mainland’s tolerant and open culture, Cantonese-speaking people in Guangzhou don’t have problem in the interaction with people from other provinces. However, because of cultural misunderstanding, less knowledge of the mainland, and stereotype, people in Hong Kong always have conflicts with their country fellows from the mainland. Therefore, Hong Kong receives negative feedbacks as a tourism destination from most of the mainland visitors. While talking with my friends studying overseas, I realize that I am not the only person feel alienated in Chinatown as a Mandarin speaker in Chinatown overseas dominated by Cantonese-speaking immigrants. As we concluded, stereotypes and cultural protectionism can be factors contributing to Cantonese-speaking sellers unfriendly attitude.

Different from people from Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau, and other places in the world that are congested with Cantonese-speaking people, San Francisco Chinatown has its own historical and cultural background. People there view themselves as Sanfranciscan and Chinese American growing up in special regional culture. San Francisco Chinatown is created by racism. Intense anti-Chinese attacks and the Exclusion Act of 1882 make Chinese immigrants dwelling together and create barriers to their assimilation to American culture. Moreover, Chinese immigrants can hardly live and work outside Chinatown due to housing and labor discrimination. After hundred-year-long “isolation”, San Francisco Chinatown develops unique culture differentiating it from American, Chinese, and even original Cantonese culture. People in San Francisco Chinatown may have even less knowledge than Hong Kong people on the mainland China. As I learn, some people in San Francisco Chinatown are monolingual Cantonese speakers. With no doubt, based on their stereotypes, cultural protectionism, even less knowledge on China, and national identity, Cantonese-speaking sellers in San Francisco Chinatown treat Mandarin-speaking customers as aliens in a rude way.

However, does the Cantonese-speaking sellers’ attitude the only reason result to my unpleased experience in San Francisco Chinatown? Same like Cantonese-speaking people in San Francisco Chinatown, pride in Beijing culture and less knowledge in San Francisco Chinatown history and culture made me feel uncomfortable when communicated with them and have bias on Cantonese-speaking sellers there. Moreover, wrong expectation on Chinese Americans made my feeling even worse. Born and growing up in Beijing, I am proud of my Beijing culture. Beijing is the beloved hometown for all Beijingers. Beijing is capital city of China for more than 800 hundred years having a unique temperament which results in its combination of royal and folk culture. Beijing is a developed international city having convenient transportation network, living condition, and leisure living style. Climbing to the top of the hill behind the Forbidden City, you can see a nice blend of traditional and modern. Lush poplar trees surround traditional courtyard houses. Hutongs, alleys in Beijing, divide the city into a chessboard. Hutongs extend to wide roads decorated by modern buildings designed by famous architects around the world. Wherever they live, courtyard houses or modern apartments, people treat each other friendly and treat foreigners with hospitality. Morality and civic virtue are highly valued in Beijing culture. Inclusiveness and virtue, two voted Beijing spirits, provide an environment where everyone can live with dignity and respect from others. Therefore, when the pride I have as a Beijinger and the prejudice the Cantonese-speaking sellers clash together, conflicts occur. I even thought and reacted in a self-defensive way while encountering the Cantonese speakers in San Francisco Chinatown. Languages we used were tools that distinguished us. Cultures and concepts behind languages were what created conflicts and misunderstanding. Before the first time I went to San Francisco Chinatown, I had no idea of its history and culture. Same like some Chinese people, I viewed Chinese Americans as my fellow citizens sharing same culture. However, I was just self-assertion and wrongly considered that those Chinese Americans would treat me with hospitality as meeting compatriots. Thus, my experience and feeling of the Chinatown in San Francisco became even worse.

Exposed to MIIS’s diverse culture and accessing to intercultural competence classes, I gradually learn how to think in the position of other cultures and actively study on other cultures. The secret is to develop tolerance and patience. Therefore, we can have openness to other cultures and languages. At the same time, we can have much better experience while being in a foreign culture. I went to San Francisco to see the Chinese New Year Parade last weekend. Preparing for my trip, I downloaded application teaching Cantonese in my phone and did research on San Francisco’s history and its Chinatown’s history. When I was in San Francisco this time, though I still received Cantonese speakers’ prejudice, I tried to understand their hardship and reasons behind their attitude. I found that I became less likely to be irritated and influenced. At the same time, I thought much highly of the tolerance among people.