CCBC do hue linh

上海财经大学 2019-2020 学年第 学期 《中国文化与商务沟通》课程 Chinese Culture and Business Communication 课程代码 Course code：213510 期末考核论文 Course Assessment Essay 姓名 Student name: Do Hue Linh 日期Date： 2019 / 12 / 03 / year/month/day Table of Contents Introduction Overview of Confucianism Confucianism in Vietnam Confucianism-related differences between Vietnamese and Chinese culture Collectivism Role of females Simplicity versus extremity Influences of cultural differences on business communication in China and Vietnam 10 Face-saving 11 Indirect communication 11 Language style 12 Communication mentality 13 Conclusion 14 References 14 Introduction “There is no better arena for observing a culture in action than business” (Hooker, 2012, p 389) The rationale behind the statement is possibly the fact that business cannot lack human interactions for communication and information exchange What matters here is the influences of cultural differences on message transmission, leading to a diversity of communication styles, even in closely-related cultures Therefore, the essay is penned with a view to scrutinizing cultural differences along with their impacts on business communication, taking Vietnamese and Chinese culture as the research subjects The scope of the essay would be limited to Confucianism due to its deep influences on both of the analyzed countries Despite geographically standing under the umbrella of Southeast Asian countries, Vietnam culturally leans towards East Asian culture sphere in which Confucianism has long occupied a pivotal role as the cultural basis for social norms (Li, 2011; Kang, 2014; N T Nguyen, 2015; Huang & Chang, 2017) This inclination is not attributed to the overseas Chinese community (human ties) like the case of Singapore or Malaysia (Kong & Mani, 1997; Zhuang, 2006; Paoliello, 2010; Lynn-Sze, Yusof & Ahmad, 2014), yet it is Vietnamese culture itself (culture ties) that has obtained some features of Chinese culture with Confucianism as the backbone (Liu, 2007; Nguyen, 2016) (here is to emphasize culture comparison instead of country comparison, which is often interchangeable) For that reason, Vietnamese culture, on the surface, is normally perceived as quite close to Chinese culture However, never ever are two cultures an exact replica of each other, the differences exist This essay aims to discover those variations, focusing on several specific aspects of Confucianism, which is regarded as one of the building bridges between Vietnamese and Chinese culture Based on the dissimilarities, I would meticulously examine their impacts on how businesspersons from two countries communicate The rest of the essay is organized as follows Initially it provides a brief overview of Confucius and Confucianism Then there comes a discussion on the Confucianism-related differences between Vietnamese and Chinese culture, followed by the influences of such differences on business communication in two countries The last section is reserved for conclusion with some final thoughts Overview of Confucianism One leading academic, De Bary (1960, p 19), when commenting on the Chinese culture from the Western perspective echoes a popular sentiment writing that “If we were to characterize in one word the Chinese way of life for the last two thousand years, the word could be Confucian” Deducible from the sentence, it is barely an overstatement to say that Confucianism forms the bedrock of Chinese culture Further, being a key to open the door to such an giant culture implies the immensity, as well as the complexity of Confucianism I would argue that it is a life-long learning, or even a pain to dig deep into this ancient religion-based philosophy - here I use the term ‘religion-based’ acccording to Berling (1982) The Analects (Lunyu) translated by Legge (1893) records the words of Yan Yuan (Yan Hui) showing the admiration for the Master (Confucius)’s doctrines, silmutaneously the virtually unlimited depth of Confucianism: I looked up to them [Confucius’ doctrines], and they seemed to become more high; I tried to penetrate them, and they seemed to become more firm; I looked at them before me, and suddenly they seemed to be behind [ ] When I wish to give over the study of his doctrines, I cannot so, and having exerted all my ability, there seems something to stand right up before me; but though I wish to follow and lay hold of it, I really find no way to so (p 24) Still one of the most favorable students of Confucius did heave such a long sigh, so I as a layperson just would wish to sketch out a very general pictue of Confucianism in this essay, paying my humble tribute to Confucius and Confucianism I would start first with some basic details about Confucius (Kongzi), followed by literary core Then there comes some core ethical concepts and key elements relevant to the scope of the essay Those basic features lay the foundation for the discussions in subsequent parts Confucius (551-479 BC) is, first and foremost, a great thinker, an educator, the first teacher in China and founder of Confucianism The Latinized name ‘Confucius’ originates from his Mandarin name ‘Kong Fuzi’ (孔夫子), yet his birth name is Kong Qiu, alias Zhongni He was born in the state of Lu (Shandong province today) and lived in the end of Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) This is the time when the tribal slave-holding state of the Chou Dynasty was falling down, facing a period of turbulence (Yang, 1974) Personally, living in an age with such a lot of epochal changes and collapse of previously established political and moral order might significantly contribute to the foundation and development of Confucianism, more generally other schools of thoughts, since a primitive society during upheaval more desperately than ever necessitates a way (道), a philosophy or belief to establish a right new order Li (2011) confirms that the period when Confucianism took shape was the most creative and productive time for Chinese philosophy, paving the way for Chinese intellectual traditions Considering the literary core of Confucianism, the Five Classics and The Four Books are regarded as canonical textbooks, although most of which were not written by Confucius The Five Classics used to be the basis of studies of Confucianism Some of them are believed, albeit with different strong disputes, to be compiled and edited by Confucius (Yao, 2000) The set includes the Classic of Poetry (Shijing), the Classic of History (Shugjing), the Classic of Rites (Lijing), the Classic of Changes (Yijing), and the Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu) The Four Books, collected by Zhu Xi in the Song Dynasty, consist of the Great Learning (Daxue), the Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong), the Analects (Lunyu) and Mencius (Mengzi) Probably the Analects is the most effective book to transfer the ideas of Confucius (Feng, 1958) The book is a collection of Confucius’s scattered sayings recorded by some of his disciples and their students Remarkably, in Beijing Olympics 2008, the opening ceremony started with a famous saying from the very first chapter of the Analects “Is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters?” to welcome friends from all over the world (Lee & Yoon, 2017) Some other quotes from the Analects were also employed, for instance “All within the four seas will be his brothers” (Leibold, 2010) Chosen for such a momentous event to the whole modern China, the values of the Analects and Confucianism are undoubtedly not limited as an ancient textbook of a philosophy or prisoned by time or changes, but transmit Chinese heart and soul for over two thousand years till present The theory and practice of Confucianism has been built on morality, which then develops to various codes of moral life and pattern of behaviors (Yao, 2000) The morality, I believe, is provided with a mere reflection by the five core virtues: ren 仁 (benevolence), yi 义 (righteousness), li 礼 (propriety), zhi 智 (wisdom), and xin 信 (sincerity) Who possesses all the characteristics is considered to be a junzi 君子 (a gentleman, an exemplary person) that Confucius hoped to create through the application of the teachings (Littlejohn, 2017) Apart from those five core concepts, there are still some virtues usually mentioned, for example zhong 忠 (loyalty), xiao 孝(filial piety), lian 廉 (integrity) and chi 耻 (shame) It is ren and li that form the kernel of Confucius’ doctrine about humanity (Jones, 2000; Li, 2007) Ren in the Confucian virtues is derived from ren 人 (person) and er 二 (two), implying that the coexistence between two (or more) people should involve a behavioral choice In reply to the question of Fan Chi about ren, Confucius suggests that it is equal to airen 爱人 (“It is to love all men”), and the love here is universal The crux of ren should start right from the love for parents (xiao 孝), as Confucius says: “Filial piety and fraternal submission! - are they not the root of all benevolent actions?” The massive stream of ren flows through the Analects and covers the Confucian doctrines, yet probably one of the most famous sayings is “not to to others as you would not wish done to yourself” (己所不欲，勿施於人) In a speech at Cairo University in 2009 U.S President Barack Obama stated that “There is also one rule that lies at the heart of every religion – that we unto others as we would have them unto us” (Gbotokuma, 2011) The speech in Cairo actually aimed to establish a new beginning with the Muslim world, which, at that time, bore a grudge against America after the Bush administration’s response to the 9/11 attacks (Allen, 2009) I not know whether the President exactly means by ‘every religion’, or if he knows its origin, but I believe that the humankind conveyed in the saying, more generally the concept of ren has erased the distances among different religions, time and borders and still held true after thousands of years 人而不仁，如礼何 (“If a man be without the virtues proper to humanity, what has he to with the rites of propriety?”) The saying of Confucius links ren with li, pointing out their inextricable connection If ren concerns the humankind, li forms the set of rituals, traditions and norms in social life that a human should follow, like grammar in a language according to Li (2007) Perhaps burial rituals and ancestral worship rituals are regarded as the most important, since they are associated with the spiritual values and emotions, most directly through the love for parents (孝) When Meng Yi asked what filial piety was, Confucius answered: “[…] That parents, when alive, be served according to propriety [li]; that, when dead, they should be buried according to propriety [li]; and that they should be sacrificed to according to propriety [li]" Furthermore, li serves as a means for preserving social order, stability and harmony, as Confucius says: “In practicing the rules of propriety [li], a natural ease [harmony] is to be prized” （礼之用，和为贵） It is necessary to note here that harmony is central to Confucianism, primarily indicating the unity between Heaven and humanity (Yao, 2000; Li, 2006) The idea of harmony can also be inferred from the aforementioned adage “not to to others as you would not wish done to yourself” If a man develops the consciousness about the notion, he might live in a harmonious state with peace and order Markedly all the Confucian doctrines are intimately related towards building the framework of a junzi, the man with perfect virtues Last but not least I would draw a basic description of the five human relations (wulun 五伦) in Confucianism, including father-son, elder brother-younger brother, husband-wife, elder friendyounger friend, and ruler-subject With filial piety as the foundation for all, the distinctive virtues are, respectively, affection, proper order, attention to separate functions, good faiths and righteousness (Chan, 1967) Apart from friend-friend, all of them are obedience relationships between superior and subordinate to construct a hierarchical structure In addition, the beginning of the relations is marked with family, then developed outwards Havens (2013, p 36) observes that this order suggests “transforming the world after the family, and transforming the self while transforming others” To some extent the importance role of family in the Confucian society is signified (three out of five relation are family-associated) Moreover, what I would point out here is the dominance of men over women in the human relations of Confucianism The image of women appears once only as a subordinate (wife), somehow implying an old patriarchal society in the history of Confucianism However, the relationships still manifest themselves today in the managerial practices of the modern Chinese (Rarick, 2007) Confucianism in Vietnam Confucian doctrines and institutions are historically recorded to be introduced to Vietnam as early as the Former Han Dynasty (Yao, 2000) For two thousand years of dissemination in Vietnam, Confucianism had gone through ups and downs with the eventful complicated history, sometimes filled with wars and conflicts Confucian repertoire was at the peak during two such periods as Later Le Dynasty (1428 - 1527) and Nguyen Dynasty Early Period (1802 - 1883) (Ly, 2015) Interestingly, the former is the most prosperous peaceful imperial dynasty in Vietnam while the latter marks the ending point of Vietnamese feudalism (fengjian 封 建 ) Phan (1998), a distinguished scholar in Vietnam regards peace as an absolute prerequisite for a successful cultural exchange He further argues that over one thousand years of Chinese colonization did not exert a considerable cultural (Confucian) impact on Vietnam as much as when the country enjoyed the time of affluence without bilateral conflicts during the aforementioned periods In the late 19th century, Confucianism gradually became powerless and faded due to the debilitating recession of Nguyen Dynasty and the aggression by the French The last imperial examination in Vietnam was organized in 1919 (Nguyen, 2007), and it was also the last one among all ‘Confucian’ countries (Liu, 2007) Additionally, Vietnam adopted Latin script as the modern writing system to replace ‘Southern characters’ (Chu Nom 字喃), which is based on the standard set of classical Chinese characters However, the imprints Confucianism left on Vietnam and Vietnamese culture are indelible until today, ranging from literature, politics, customs, traditions, and arts to religions As a matter of fact, Confucianism predominantly influenced the upper social strata, yet the lower ones saw little of its image Moreover, Buddhism and Taoism, particularly the former, affect Vietnamese culture with, obviously, different degrees compared to China, and Western values can also be observed (Nguyen, 2016) Thus, Confucianism has been mixed and blended in a very Vietnamese way Kelley (2006, p 316) refers to this phenomenon as “the fact that under conquest dynasties certain cultural practices in China changed while they were upheld in lands like Vietnam and Korea” He also employs the term ‘Sini-cization’ to describe “the appropriation of the Confucian and other reper-toires by people like the Vietnamese and Koreans” Despite the alterations, Confucianism in Vietnam still keeps the core concepts and ideologies as mentioned Phan (1998) adds that Confucianism in Vietnam, the impacted country and China, the country of origin may have quite the same phenomena, yet be different in nature The dissimilarities in form of culture would be scrutinized in more detail in the following section Confucianism-related differences between Vietnamese and Chinese culture Whoever studies the history and culture of Vietnam is able to realize the constant presence of China, mostly involved in Vietnam’s resistance to its gigantic northern neighbor, which contemporaneously gave rise to the profound cultural influences of the latter on the former According to Warner (2013), the long-standing historical links between two countries have been built up by, first and foremost, the Confucian inheritance, then Western imperialist impacts, Marxist Leninist/Soviet overlays and over the past decades economic opening-up reforms (China in 1978 and Vietnam in 1986) From the Western perspectives, here I take Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions as measurement, Vietnam and China are somewhat similar to each other as the standard assumptions for East Asian cultures In particular, two countries earn exactly the same scores for individualism (indicating both are collectivist) and uncertainty avoidance; in terms of power distance, long term orientation and indulgence, they are, albeit with slightly different scores, categorized into same country groups (the only exception is masculinity) (Hofstede Insights, 2019) Lying next to such a giant, sharing a long continuous line of history with cultural similarities, and especially experiencing a millennium of Chinese colonization, is the country just another Chinese version? Definitely no Vietnam and Vietnamese cultural identity have still survived and developed its unique features without being completely assimilated Had it not been for the cultural differences, selective choices and adjustment, the story might have been changed Obviously the theory and practices of Confucianism in Vietnam could not keep the absolute originality, hence caused cultural differences between two countries or vice versa To describe this phenomenon Phan (1998) employs a physical terminology ‘refraction’, which refers to the changing direction of light or radio waves when they go through water, air, glass, etc at an angle He argues that Confucianism is the light, and Vietnamese culture is the water, and the angle created when light goes through water is just the cultural differences we can observe It is the reflection, not the mirror; it may look similar, yet the inside is different The rest of this part is written with a view to producing evidence for this argument It focuses on three cultural differences related to Confucianism between Vietnam and China: collectivism, role of females and simplicity versus extremity Collectivism Collectivism in East Asian culture can be traced back to Confucianism as the philosophical basis (Wang & Liu, 2010) For instance, the junzi in Confucianism with numerous precious virtues bears the social and national responsibilities Vietnam and China are no exception In general, two countries can be both collective in the way that “individuals are subordinate to the goals of the collective” and “view the self as interdependent within groups and consider duties and obligations as important determinants of social behaviors” (Kwan, 2009, p 967) However, I argue that specifically Vietnamese culture expresses collectivism via community values, while Chinese culture emphasizes on family values I would use three virtues zhong (loyalty), xiao (filial piety) and ren (benevolence) as the constructs to support the opinion Regarding zhong, Confucius says in the Analects that “ministers should serve their prince with faithfulness [zhong]” (臣事君以忠) The Chinese are also acquainted with the idiom 忠君爱国, meaning patriotic and loyal to the throne The loyalty here is reserved for ‘jun’ (throne), who can be the superior leading the country, or just anyone feeding the people, such as parents and husbands That people are loyal to the superior causes their love for the country (Xin, 2012) For this reason, I assume that there is no direct relationship between zhong and nation in Chinese culture, yet it is an indirect flow through family and/or leader Sun Yat Sen in his Three Principles (三民主 义)confirms that China just has 家族主义(family-ism) and 宗族主义 (clan-ism) but no 国族主 义(nation-ism, I use this word to distinguish it from nationalism - 民族主义) (Jiang, 2012) However, the virtue zhong in Vietnam has a different meaning which is loyal to the nation, hence to the throne In Vietnamese culture, nation is independent from clans and families, which more specifically means emperors did not possess the whole country but lead the battles against invaders and create prosperity for people (Phan, 1998) In history, the periods when Vietnam faced the threat of invasion usually marked the transfers of dynasties (Ly, Tran and Later Le Dynasty for example) Notwithstanding the changes, the country (Dai Viet) at that time had never been named differently Vietnam did not take the name of the Dynasty as the country name like China (Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, etc.) Zhong in Vietnamese culture, therefore, directly links to faithfulness to the nation In terms of xiao, this virtue in Chinese culture concerns solely the filial piety to parents, from feeding, obeying, respecting to sacrificing and it remains an indispensable pillar of Chinese family structure until today (Cui & You, 2018) As for Vietnamese culture, apart from this meaning, xiao has been developed into two layers of meaning: tieu hieu (小孝 small) and dai hieu (大孝 big) The former conveys the same message as the original xiao whilst the latter refers to the filial piety to the community and nation (hieu voi dan 以孝对民) (Chu, 2010) If faced with choice, the big takes priority over the small It is reasonable to infer that Vietnamese culture values the filial piety to the community more highly than to the family, adding a new expression for the virtue xiao from China, hence differentiating two seemingly similar cultures Ren is another virtue that should not be missed when it comes to cultural differences between two countries Ren (benevolence, humanity) in Chinese culture originates from Confucianism, which is a metaphysical conception constructed by all the other virtues – “being honest, sincere, wise, courageous, practicing filial piety, and sympathy toward others” (Rainey, 2010, p 34) In contrast, the virtue ren in Vietnam is a more concrete term demonstrating the sacrifice for the community as Nguyen Trai (1428/2012), a Vietnamese illustrious Confucian scholar, writes that the benevolence has its root in securing the community life (仁义之举，要在安民) Centuries after its birth, the saying has still lain in the heart of the Vietnamese ‘ren’ On the other hand, a man with the same virtue ren as in China would be described as ren de (仁德) in Vietnamese culture to differ from that in the scope of community (Phan 1998) Role of females In the previous section, I have briefly reviewed the five human relations in Confucianism as a hierarchical system with a mere presence of women Actually, females used to be placed at the bottom of the Confucian society in which the family was the paradigmatic arena of social relations, as Fairbank and Goldman (2006, p 18) refers it to “a microcosm, the state in miniature” In this miniature, women (wives) were viewed as inferior to men (husbands) while boys were perceived as more privileged than girls (Sung, 2013) Specifically, Fairbank et al (2006) state that women used to have no economic independence with labor solely absorbed in household tasks; even forceful women needed to control families by indirection instead of fiat Vietnamese women in the ancient society basically had quite the same experiences Nonetheless, they took the roles of economic management in their families such as purchases, deals and transactions, whereas, it was with great reluctance if men had to assume such responsibilities (Lam, 2000) In addition, women were even the breadwinner in some families, as Tu Xuong, a Vietnamese poet in the 19th century humorously depicts his wife as feeding the whole family with five children and one husband (Kieu, 2002) The Vietnamese women also appear in the history as the national heroes with flattering words, for example Hai Ba Trung and Ba Trieu who leaded the resistance against foreign domination Wu Zetian, the first female emperor of China, albeit with remarkable political leadership, is famous for being among the cruelest rulers in China, but it is likely that male Confucian officials encountering deep discrimination against strong ambitious women exaggerated this aspect of Wu’s life (Lee, 2015) Of course this is just a rough comparison, but I believe it somehow shows the cultural differences between the views on women Today the positions of women in both countries have witnessed positive changes, yet the traditional culture still affects in some ways and to a certain extent Simplicity versus extremity I argue that the culture of Vietnam indicates something idyllic, rustic and simple while the culture of China gravitates towards extremity – what is absolute, colossal and awe-inspiring Three factors would be employed as supporting evidence, namely writing system, architecture and cuisines Apropos of Chinese characters, the very first obvious impression crossing human mind is its visual complexity There are such a number of different strict rules and regulations involving in the writing system with thousands of characters, not to mention four different script types that the characters can follow (Li, 2009) Undoubtedly it is an enormous challenge to acquire this writing system; be that as it may, the Chinese, a fifth of the world population, have preserved their writing for thousands of years and popularized it to become an art – calligraphy This is a clear reflection of the submissiveness to regulations, as well as the surprisingly absolute homogeneity of the Chinese culture In the past Vietnam used to base its writing system on the standard Chinese characters, yet the Latinized letters, which are much friendlier to the populace, have taken the playfield in modern days In fact, Chinese characters are also Romanized by Pinyin scheme that was highly expected to evolve into a full-fledged independent writing system existing alongside or even to replace the complex old one, but it turns out just to be used for the purpose of annotation and teaching instead (Liu, 2010) The difference in the choice of writing system is, definitely, impacted by numerous cultural and national factors, though it drops a hint of cultures’ characteristics and preferences With regard to architecture, China has been filled with a number of magnificent constructions The Great Wall took millennia to build and became the world’s largest military structure The Forbidden City is recorded as the largest collection of conserved ancient wooden structures Tiananmen Square is among the largest squares in the world Of the top ten tallest buildings in the world, half of the skyscrapers belong to China (Brown, 2019) Chinese culture truly forms an impression of full extent and sheer majesty Meanwhile, hardly can such huge-scale constructions be found in Vietnam The attractiveness of Vietnamese architecture is usually viewed from the angles of uniqueness, mixture of styles or historic symbol instead of architectural scales (Logan & Nguyen, 2004; H M Nguyen, 2013) Cuisine determines the last factor in this part Chinese cooking style has a reputation for its meticulous fussy process emphasizing on sophisticated flavor and unique texture (Li & Hsieh, 2004) Additionally, Chinese foods carry extremely elegant and graceful names that transmit literary and romantic, poetic and fancy meanings (Tian, Tian, Zhao & Wan, 2018) Vietnamese cuisine, on the other hand, aims to maintain original flavors, and the dishes are called straightly by ingredients (Pham, 2017) The simplicity and extremity could be attributed to the difference in masculinity of Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions that I have mentioned before While China is considered to be a Masculine society, Vietnam falls into the category of Feminine countries (Hofstede Insights, 2019) Basically masculinity are success oriented and driven, and motivated by the desire to be ultimate, whereas, femininity lays the emphasis on sympathy and quality of life instead of striving to stand out from the crowd (Hofstede, 2011) Influences of cultural differences on business communication in China and Vietnam Business communication is a specialized branch of communication with actually no basic difference between two terms (Haase, 2013) To put it another way, business communication possesses the same characteristics of communication to apply to a professional economically performing environment Since the process of communicating involves exchanging views, ideas, opinions and any other type of information, it reflects the thinking of participants which strongly indicates their social and cultural backgrounds (Hartley & Bruckmann, 2002; Nabi, Foysol & Adnan, 2017) Therefore, the very likelihood is that cultural differences exert an overwhelming influence on cross-border communication The greater cultural distance between two countries, the more difficult it is for them to communicate (Hartley et al., 2002; Maude, 2016) As stated before, Vietnamese and Chinese culture, due to the long-standing historical link and the dramatic effects of Confucianism, bear a close resemblance to each other on the surface Thus, it is quite normal to come across similar terms used to describe business communication in two cultures, for example face saving, high context (indirect speaking) and relationship (guanxi) (Zhu, 2000; Tian, Song & Tian, 2012; Fang, 2014; Ly-Le, 2015; T K Nguyen, 2015; Katz, 2006; Weng, 2017) However, the nature of the expressions are different and should be viewed separately instead of being put in one homogenous basket (McHugh, 1999) As challenging and perplexing to recognize the differences as it seems, they have several influences on business 10 communication in Vietnam and China This section analyzes those impacts by discovering the variations on apparently similar ways by which two cultures communicate in business There are four elements of business communication covered, including face-saving, indirect communication, language style, and communication mentality Face-saving Presumably ‘Asian’ businesspersons, in particular from cultures heavily influenced by Confucian ideology, are extremely sensitive to protecting and enhancing face, which is a result of the importance in maintaining harmony and social networks in a collectivist hierarchical system (Cardon & Scott, 2003; Truong, Hallinger & Sanga, 2016) It is always advisable that business practitioners should pay attention to face-saving during conversation if they aim to establish and endure cooperation relationships (Dong & Lee, 2007; Katz, 2006) The conceptualization of ‘face’ in Vietnam and China is basically similar, which can be divided into two layers The first one, ‘social role face’, exhibits the image in social judgments and is related to a sense of shame other than guilt, whereas, the second one, ‘identity face’, represents positive reputations, qualities and achievements (Haugh & Hinze, 2003; Pham, 2014) Despite the theoretical commonality, face-saving in practice sees a slight differentiation between two cultures A study by Tao (2017) points out that Chinese people not consider politeness to be for saving face, or using honorific expressions has to with saving face A courteous manner is allegedly more connected to a code of ethics She also argues that young Chinese business people nowadays who are significantly affected by individualism from Western cultures would gravitate more towards their ‘identity face’, meaning they prefer to show off their ‘self’ and take more care of maintaining their own face On the other hand, Vietnamese people commonly link politeness to face-saving According to Nguyen and Ho (2013), a lack of consideration for face can be evaluated through impoliteness, which is usually equal to directness in speaking Moreover, that Vietnamese people keep their face is predominantly driven by social roles and they treat it as both an individual and collective possession in rather a balanced way (Pham, 2014) In fact, those variations are relatively diminutive, yet as for business communication the attention to detail and tactics should be paid in order to show respect and behave accordingly Indirect communication Indirect communication is viewed as a corollary of the emphasis on facesaving and harmony (Shim, Kim & Martin, 2008) This style of communication is academically called high-context, opposed to low-context communication Cultures belonging to the highcontext group transmit their thinking through implicit contexts, i.e gestures, silence or tone of voice What matters more to them is the way messages are delivered Low-context cultures, in contrast, express opinions through explicit verbal messages and pay more attention to the content 11 of their saying (Nam, 2015) Vietnam and China, like a number of Confucianism-related countries, are classified as high-context (Nishimura, Nevgi & Tella, 2008; Usunier & Roulin, 2010; Kittler, Rygl & Mackinnon, 2011) However, the degree of indirectness in business communication of two cultures is totally not an exact copy of each other If Chinese people are described as relying heavily on indirect communication (Chen & Starosta, 1997; Li, 2011), Vietnamese people are just generally observed as indirect verbal communicators (T V H Nguyen, 2013), in other words have a lower level of indirectness than the Chinese Furthermore, that feelings are usually expressed quite genuinely and honestly in Vietnamese culture can somehow create the perception of frankly speaking (Evason, 2016) There are also numerous Vietnamese pronouns based on hierarchies and social relations to convey the meaning and attitudes of speakers When translated into other languages such as Chinese or English, they disappear along with the indirect meanings, possibly leaving a blunt approach to communication This issue hardly exists when interpreting Chinese conversations Besides, McHugh (1999) discovers an interesting difference between two cultures when they take part in an unfavorable conversation topic with unfamiliar counterparts Chinese people indicate the highest propensity of avoidance The majority of respondents would talk around the topic, giving the feeling of beating around the bush rather than replying to it directly As for the Vietnamese, they display a preference for silent reaction that signifies neither verbal nor nonverbal actions would be approaching As a result, the real message behind the silence should count on the estimate of the interlocutor It is possible to infer from the findings that two cultures differentiate their indirectness in speaking through the levels of indirectness and the ways of expression Language style Language is an indispensable element of conversation In the context of business, communication (in both oral and written forms) is expected to follow a professional formal style (Malyuga, 2012) But style is distinctiveness and can vary cross-culturally; so is formality (Irvine, 2001) Impacted by the aforementioned simplicity and extremity, some characteristics in the styles of language in Vietnam and China can be detected as bellows Considering name addressing and greeting, businesspersons in China are called by a combination of their family name and position in company This formal style clearly reflects the importance of social hierarchy in traditional China, as well as the essential role of personal values to the modern Chinese on the grounds that from their perspective, position is the mirror of social class and achievements (Pho, 2009) On the contrary, Vietnamese people not have the habit of calling the others by surname but use first name, which can bring a closer and less formal atmosphere They 12 prefer to be addressed using such titles as Doctor (Dr), Mister (Mr) or Mistress (Mrs) instead of occupational titles (Goldman, 2009) What is noteworthy as well is the fact that Vietnamese people, in an attempt to speak modestly, tend to avoid using overly colorful vocabulary (Evason, 2016) In contrast, Chinese written style is normally recorded as florid and ornate, mainly due to the belief that Chinese Confucian scholars liked to use this technique (Nakamura, 1981) Of course in professional conversations, particularly in modern days, the language style has dramatically changed, but the tradition has still affected it, resulting in a more formal and elaborative style compared to that of Vietnam Communication mentality To thoroughly understand business communication requires some knowledge about the cultures’ psychological mentality that lies behind the formation of words and sayings, as cultural influences reach human mindset first, then communication (Gizatova, Ivanova & Snarskaya, 2016; Popescu, 2012; Lehman, Chiu & Schaller, 2004) Therefore, I argue that Vietnam and China have two different mindsets in business communication, which appear both directly and indirectly in their ways of doing business Tran (2006), a famous culture researcher in Vietnam points out that Vietnamese people love to socialize and communicate, yet simultaneously tend to be fairly shy under unacquainted circumstances On the other hand, the majority virtually mix personal and collective tasks and lean towards relations Sometimes a conversation can be joyful and positive but ineffective and work may last longer than estimated (Nguyen, 2012) Conversely, the Chinese are seen as more active with clearly defined goals Their business counterparts are treated with not only ordinary formal meetings but also drinks and meals during the day, as well as sightseeing (Nguyen, 2012) Vietnamese companies also take quite the same actions as those, but the frequency is not as dense as Chinese ones Another illustration of communication is drawn indirectly through the business mentality Concerning Vietnam, people are famous for being hardworking and creative, yet they are relatively easily satisfied Take some startups as an example Over the past few years the country has provided a startup-friendly ecosystem with numerous potential projects (Trinh, 2019) Nonetheless, owners of successful businesses have a tendency to sell their brand after achieving a certain satisfactory level of success The largest app for food review and delivery service in Vietnam, Foody.vn, was acquired by a Singaporean firm (Liz, 2018) One of the most popular Vietnamese coffee chain, Highlands Coffee, is half owned by a corporation from the Philippines (Pena, 2012) Undoubtedly Vietnamese people have an entrepreneurial spirit with many a local brand, yet what is lack is big thinking This is quite contrary to China with reportedly being the world’s biggest hub for unicorns (He, 2019) This difference in mentality, which can be traced back to the masculinity and femininity stated before, affects the style of communication in business, 13 i.e Chinese businesspersons may prefer to be involved in goal-oriented and large-scale projects, while the counterparts should be more active when communicating with Vietnamese partners Conclusion Confucius was born over 2500 years ago, yet the values and influences of Confucian philosophy has left cross-border lasting imprints until today Various studies have been conducted with regard to different Confucian topics, some of which are included to the essay as the foundation: the background of Confucius, core literary, core virtues and five human relations It is undeniable that the impacts of Confucianism has pulled Vietnam, a Southeast Asian country, into the Sino-sphere together with China, Japan and Korea, to name but a few Its mixture with specific Vietnamese cultural features has slightly altered some Confucian notions, causing the cultural differences between Vietnam and China – the country of origin The main variations addressed in the essay are collectivism (through three virtues: zhong, xiao and ren), role of females and simplicity vs extremity These cultural differences give rise to the dissimilarities of business communication between two countries, which are face-saving, indirect communication, language style, and communication mentality There are still a number of distinctions, 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