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Hofstede’s Value Dimensions （Hofstede）
In order to better understand China’s culture in both business and in everyday social life, it helps to look through China’s Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Hofstede’s dimensions include; power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, pragmatism, and goal orientation.
To start, China has a very large power distance with a score of eighty. Unlike America, people that hold power, such as bosses or those of great wealth, will not interact with those who are considered to be on the lower end of society. This also applies to men and their hierarchy over women, which only recently has begun to become more balanced.
In the category of individualism, China had a low score of twenty. This makes China a group oriented culture, and means that most of their decisions will be based on what would best benefit their own inner circle. In America, we consider employing close friends or family members to be a “conflict of interest”. However, this belief is completely opposite in China, and it seems to be the social norm.
China is considered to be a masculine society, with a score of sixty-six. To be a masculine society is considered to be success oriented and driven, making everything a contest. Chinese family members are known to choose work over family in order to become a success. They will work long hours, and travel long distances from home if the pay is better in a different location. Even children compete on a yearly basis in order to have the best exam scores, and the ranking system in their schools is a lot more important than it is in America.
When it comes to adaptability the Chinese are considered to be masters. With a score of thirty on the uncertainty avoidance scale,...
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...good deal that best benefits them. Again, body language is important and one should never show any sign of anger or frustration
Works Cited
• China Highlights．[Online][Cited: 21 April 2014．]http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/transportation/．
• China Travel Discovery．[Online][Cited: 21 April 2014．]http://www.chinatraveldiscovery.com/china-life/．
• Kwintessential．[Online][Cited: 21 April 2014．]http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/etiquette/doing-business-china.html．
• The Canada Trade Commissioner Service．[Online][Cited: 21 April 2014．]http://www.tradecommissioner.gc.ca/eng/document.jsp?did=107932．
• The Chinese Language．[Online][Cited: 21 April 2014．]chinalanguage.com．
• The Hofstede Centre．[Online][Cited: 2014 April 2014．]http://geert-hofstede.com/china.html．
• Travel China Guide．[Online][Cited: 21 April 2014．]http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/religion/．
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