UNDERSTANDING CHINESE CULTURE AND COMMUNICATION: THE YIN YANG APPROACH
Tony Fang
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2017-1.1-148-166
Abstract:

In the article the author shares his findings on understanding the uniqueness of Chinese culture. Understanding Chinese culture demands and deserves an innovative approach which helps us to shed light on Chinese culture’s “millions of truth”. And this approach is Yin Yang philosophy. The Yin Yang philosophy suggests that there exists neither absolute black nor absolute white; every universal phenomenon embraces paradox and change. Culture is perceived as possessing inherently paradoxical value orientations, thereby enabling it to embrace opposite traits of any given cultural dimension. Through the examination of eight pairs of paradoxical values in business and social contexts, the authors have argued that Chinese culture has undergone significant change. However, “change” occurs not in terms of old values being replaced by new values but rather that contradictory values coexisting more and more visibly in today’s Chinese society. The article analyses the modern communication characteristics.