Futurologists predict that soon Asians will take over the world. It's high time to get a little polished in dealing with them. One of our presidents associated with the Japanese in "pain and hope". Another - insulted the living emperor Akihito. At least none of them puked the host, and yet such stories also happened at the highest level of world politics ...
1. Be on time!
In the Far East - and especially in Japan - even the slightest delay is felt like a hard cheek. President Lech Kaczyński became convinced of this when - through no fault of his own - he was late to Tokyo for an audience with Emperor Akihito. The meeting has been canceled. Officially, however, due to the monarch's inferior well-being, it was clear to everyone that this was just an excuse. The emperor simply took offense at Kaczyński in the world. The president had to be content with talking to the Japanese prime minister.
A few months later. Emperor Akihito and his wife Michiko make their way to the Honolulu National Memorial Cemetery in the pouring rain (Official photo of the U.S. Marine Corps by Lance Cpl. Achilles Tsantarliotis, Public Domain).
Even more so, it is not appropriate to cancel scheduled visits overnight. In 2013, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban decided at the last minute to fly to Brussels instead of Beijing. This caused a rage among the Chinese, who felt insulted.
2. Avoid Bushu-sur
There is an exception to the rule of non-cancellation of meetings - serious health problems. This may be perceived as an affront. Certainly, however, it is smaller than that committed by the sick US President George Bush senior. Let us give the floor to Łukasz Walewski, who describes the events of 1992:
During an official party at the home of Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa attended by 135 other diplomats suffering from intestinal flu Bush vomited right on the lap of the host sitting next to him and then passed out for a while.
After the footage of the incident made its way to the US media, a man claiming to be the presidential physician called CNN. He announced that Bush had just died in front of him. The joker's fake message was verified at the last minute before being broadcast. The whole mishap went down in history under the Japanese name Bushu-suru.
3. What for people?
In the Far East, it is worth choosing clothes in subdued, dark colors. The example of our prime minister, Aleksandra Miller, should certainly not be followed. In 2002, to meet the Emperor of Japan, she wore a pink and white dress with the words "romance", "pink", "love" and "sexy" . It's hard to say what the emperor, who knows English well, thought about her…
Bush senior would not make a good impression with this way of sitting in China ... (Source:White House Photo Office, public domain).
It is also better not to follow in the footsteps of Bush senior who, during his visit to China, showed the leader of that country, Deng Xiaoping, the US and Chinese flags on his shoes. He didn't even think that instead of gaining his partner's approval, he had offended him deeply. In China, the rates are heavily tabooed.
4. Say hello nice!
Physical contact with any Far Eastern partner is risky. It is absolutely forbidden to pat or kiss the interlocutor. You also have to be careful when shaking hands, as Bill Gates found out. During his visit to South Korea, as Łukasz Walewski writes in "Przywitaj się z Królowej . Blunders, bloopers, faux pas and other stories ":
greeting President Park Geun-hye in 2013 with his right hand, he ostentatiously kept his other hand in his pants pocket. The press hailed the event as a "handshake that bruised the entire nation" . This is because in Korea having a hand in your pocket when greeting you is completely disrespectful.
Perhaps it is worth taking a few lessons of good manners from the Chinese?
Chewing gum is an equally effective means of cooling the relationship. Barack Obama allowed himself to do so when he welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping. The behavior of the US president was also read as evidence of disrespect. And by the way - the elementary lack of culture.
5. So much noise about business cards
During a trade visit to the Far East, it is absolutely necessary to remember about business cards. Especially since they were common in China long before Louis XIV introduced them to European salons in the 17th century.
Prawn or… the perfect metaphor of a communist? (source:public domain).
The business card is bowed down, holding it with both hands. If we hear a Chinese reading our name while sucking air through his teeth, he really respects us.
6. Don't touch!
Chivalry towards women can lead you astray. During a firework display at the APEC summit in Beijing, Vladimir Putin noticed that China's first lady Peng Liyuan was freezing. So he threw his own warm scarf over her shoulders. The woman accepted it with a smile, but immediately handed it over to the staff. This is because for Chinese people touching someone else's wife is highly tactless. Even this episode was removed from the TV broadcast.
7. Think first, then say
Far East languages are distant from European ones. Even if you know the host's dialect well, you can spoil the meaning of the sentence by wrong pronunciation. Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister of Australia, who has spent many years in China, once said in Mandarin: China and Australia enjoy simultaneous orgasms in their relationship .
Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner definitely did not behave diplomatically in China… (photo:Presidencia de la Nación Argentina, license CC BY 2.0).
The blunder became so loud that the Chinese later greeted him with the words: Ah, that's you .
Our president, Lech Wałęsa, speaking Polish, also did not avoid a mishap. During his speech in Japan, he proved to the audience that communists are like radishes - only red on the outside. There was one problem with this brilliant comparison - the Japanese only know white-skinned radishes. The point was saved by a brilliant translator who changed the comparison to: communists are like shrimps .
It is also a bad idea to ridicule the way the hosts speak. The President of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, during her visit to China, instead of tightening economic cooperation, joked about the Chinese pronunciation of the letter "r". Her post on Twitter about lyżu and lopie caused a real storm in Argentina.
French President François Hollande must have suffered from a serious jet lag to confuse the Chinese for the Japanese… (photo:Matthieu Riegler, license CC BY 3.0).
Beijing did not comment on this. Probably because Twitter in China is censored ...
8. Don't confuse the Chinese with the Japanese
Although from our point of view China and Japan are close countries, their inhabitants do not think so. The two nations differ on many cultural issues, they are separated by thousands of kilometers and open territorial disputes.
Therefore, when French President François Hollande mistakenly addressed the Chinese people during his visit to Tokyo, the diplomatic clash was avoided only thanks to the presence of the interpreter. However, the French heard the words of their leader and reproached him for a long time.
9. Leave the red poppies in Monte Cassino
Planning a visit to China on November 11 is also not a good idea. British Prime Minister David Cameron found out about it in 2010. Following the tradition of the Memorial Day, he and his associates put maki in the lapels of their jackets to commemorate the British soldiers who died in the wars. Unfortunately, the Chinese interpreted this symbol quite differently - as an allusion to the opium wars of the mid-19th century.
Ko Wen-je's gift from Susan Kramer certainly did not help to strengthen British-Taiwanese relations ... (photo:zhenghu feng, license CC BY 2.0).
In China, it is remembered as a time of defeat, degradation and dependence on the West. As the British officially refused to take the flowers out of the buttonholes, the photos of the joint toast were corrected. Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, who thus distanced himself from the behavior of his guests, was removed from them.
10. Tick-so bad
As Łukasz Walewski writes in "Say hello to the queen ...", the Chinese say that a gift is a trivial thing, but feelings connected with it are intense. Contrary to these words, the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom count on valuable and large-size gifts.
It is absolutely forbidden to give them items packed in pairs as a gift - this is the Chinese equivalent of the unlucky thirteen. A similar faux pas there are watches - according to superstition, such a gift means that we count down the time until the recipient's death. Unfortunately, the British Minister of Transport, Baroness Susan Kramer, did not know this when she presented the Mayor of Taipei Ko Wen-je with a watch ...
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When going to the Far East, you must first of all be aware of cultural differences… and think. Even simple gestures can be misinterpreted, so it's better to consult experienced diplomats first. And if a faux pas happens well, we can at least console ourselves that we are in no way inferior to the world's greatest leaders…
Sources:
Basic:
Łukasz Walewski, Say hello to the Queen. Blunders, bloopers, faux pas and other stories, Ed. SQN 2015.
Secondary:
- Kim Munhak, Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, Ed. Oriental Flowers 2010.
- Katarzyna Pawłowska-Salińska, The perfectionists are most afraid to speak, interview with dr. Witold Skowroński, accessed on 2015-10-29.
- J. C. Yang, Xenophob's Handbook The Chinese, Ed. Adamantan 2011.