Losing face is serious business, it's no joke!

After reading the article titled, “The Cult of Face”, I realized just how crucial and impactful the concept of “face” was in the Chinese culture.

To recap, the article compares the West and China based on how they perceive the concept of face. According to the West, face is how one views him or herself – more individual-based – opposed to China, where face means how others would view oneself. It describes actions, which are common or “the norm” in the West, to be losing face if performed in China. For example, to Westerners, raising a question would seem common at meetings; however, in China it is seen as “uncultured, overbearing, and rude”. Ultimately, the way Westerners do business, is definitely not how the Chinese do business.

My attention was further drawn when “truth” was added into the discussion. As stated in the article, being truthful – regardless of the shortcomings – automatically gains respect in the West. In China, on the other hand, this is a different story. The truth can be disguised with a lie, when the intention is to save one’s face.

“In fact, it’s perfectly acceptable to tell a lie—even a bald-faced one—if it serves to protect face. China’s culture of shame doesn’t think of lies in terms of “right” and “wrong.” Instead, the goal of Chinese truth is often to protect the face of an individual, group, or even nation.”

After reading this article, I learned a lot more about the Chinese culture (on top of learning more about “saving face”, of course). From the above statement, which further explains the acceptability of telling a lie to save face, it also explains the concept of “shame” in China. What I didn’t know was that, the basis of being truthful revolves more around saving face than it is around being “right” or “wrong”.

“The Cult of Face” really opened my eyes to the importance of understanding another’s culture before doing business with them. At the end of the article, there are extremely helpful hints for giving or losing face situations – a must-read for conducting business in China. One of the points, under losing face situations, mentions “calling someone out on a lie”. Now, this is another area where the West differs from China. In the West, as the article states, “we don’t like to be bull-sh*tted” and therefore, will call one out on it! Keep in mind; however, this is an example to losing face in China!

This article proves just how different one culture can be from another. We are not all the same. What’s a big deal to you may be meaningless to someone else and vice versa. For that reason it’s crucial to understand these minor, yet impactful, actions because it could definitely make or break a relationship.

Reference: http://www.china-mike.com/chinese-culture/understanding-chinese-mind/cult-of-face/

Culture breeds character, diversity shapes communication.

I grew up knowing that people are different. Being one of the very few students from the city in my high school, I noticed how little kids already started labeling each other "suburban" or "urban". Afterwards having spent most of my adolescent life in international dormitories, from Shanghai to Hong Kong, from Hong Kong to North American, from North America to Europe, the two words "culture" and "diversity" no longer stop at being definitions on my Sociology textbooks. In my mind, they take forms in stories, pictures, travel journals, body languages, tears, dances, hugs, and even the smell of morning grass I enjoyed when staying at my friend's farm in Scotland.

I didn't realize there even exists culture differences between mainland China and Hong Kong until I actually lived in this mysterious little SAR (Special Administrative Region). I was surprised to witness how its civic culture brings out the city's organized social pace, how its family culture forms the adults' attitudes towards love, how its business culture stores everyone's confidence in performing fair and square, etc.

If say I already experienced a Chinese culture shock when moving from mainland to Hong Kong, then my multiple Asian and western culture shocks definitely broadened my entire world of cultural perception. I was amazed by the similarities between me and the Japanese and Korean, every understanding smile that we had simultaneously when facing a western dilemma reminds me of the Asian cultural roots that we share. I loved the moments when my dutch friends joking about the Germans and could even rap about the two countries' differences without a breath.

So many cultures are described with characters, while at the same time they gave us our very own characters. We walk around without knowing exactly what those characters actually mean. However, when we encounter each other, something called "diversity" starts to make us become aware of who we really are.

Difference exists when there are dissimilarities, it is often a neutral and factual concept being independent from human relationships. Diversity, however, exists not only when there are dissimilarities, but also when there are implications to give such 'diversity' further meanings. Put aside the political debates between the two terminologies, diversity is considered more emotionally involved and associated more with the aesthetic and social perspectives.

Practically grew up in international dorms, I was constantly amused by communications result from diversity in cultures. Completely aware of the different characters that we each has to offer, everyone tend to more openly express confusions or appreciation regarding others' values and opinions, or even question themselves! Stereotypes usually work in the first and create communication platforms for diversity. Conversations and debates exchange for a nice sense of understanding with both one-selves and others. With no doubt, diversity brought us more reasons to believe in this world's broadness and tolerance, as well as a more powerful motivation in continue to learn about the culturally unknowns.

Today, I am still walking in between cultures to experience their characters while forming my own. And I believe for a very very long time, the diversities that happening around us would not stop generating wonderful communications for this big lovely world.

Sensu Grows Stronger!

The New Year is off to a great start for all of us here at Sensu!

I would like to take the chance to introduce Amanda Chen, Sensu's newest addition. Amanda will play a critical role in driving Sensu's research capabilities, including the development of our proprietary model used to better understand ethnic Chinese consumers from all walks of life. Stay tuned as we are really excited to share our findings with you!

Here is a little bit more about Amanda:

Born and raised in Shanghai, Amanda pursues education and work experience all over the world. Besides undertaking most of her undergraduate study in Hong Kong and volunteering extensively in rural areas of China, she spreads her footprints all the way from Asia to the US, Canada, Australia, Norway, England, and many more countries during her travel. Equipped by academic training in Statistics, Sociology and Urban Development, Amanda extends her cultural sensitivity through participating in a variety of activities and work projects in different cultural contexts. From debating in the classroom of Harvard University to handling delicate ancient art crafts at Hampton Court Palace in England, from selling brownies for international students organization in Norway to daily working in suit at a prominent bank’s headquarter in Australia … Amanda now finally settles down in Toronto – to reflect on her identity as an inbetweener of cultures and engage in the multicultural marketing conversation for better communications.

Welcome Amanda!

Ethnic Marketing is Blooming!

The noticeable (and stats proven) rise of minorities in Canada is definitely sparking opportunities for ethnic marketers. Businesses can no longer mass advertise to consumers… they must have different campaigns for specific consumers and in this case, ethnicity is key.

One important point to consider however, marketers cannot just simply stop at ethnicity – there is a further break down within this segmentation process. As Tony Hernandez, director of the Centre for the Study of Commercial Activity at Ryerson University, states:

“A deeper issue with marketers is they fail to understand generational differences call for different ad strategies. The newcomer requires different treatment from the established family or the Canadian-born children of immigrants.”

Each ethnicity will require a different approach, but within these ethnicities, there requires an even more specific approach. With the differences in generations, it is up to expert ethnic marketers to efficiently target these segments.

Gautam Nath, a partner at Monsoon Communications, also states in the article that the South Asian and Chinese markets are stereotyped. What I would like to know is… who are the ones stereotyping these markets? They must not be of either ethnicity… or so I’m hoping. Ultimately, the ones that know most about these cultures are, in most cases, the ones with the same ethnic backgrounds.

With that said, in regards to the Chinese market… this is exactly where Sensu comes in handy.

Reference: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/globe-to/ethnic-marketers-capitalize-on-gtas-shifting-demographics/article2250484/page1/