This collection of Culture Smart guidebooks introduces listeners to China, Japan, and India.
Each guidebook includes concise chapters on the local customs, traditions, and values of the country's inhabitants and, crucially, the key historical and cultural events that have shaped them. There are sections on social and business etiquette, tips on communication, both verbal and non-verbal, and advice on how to be a good guest.
The guidebook on China is written by Indre Balcikonyte-Huang and Kathy Flower. The guidebook on Japan is written by Paul Norbury. The guidebook on India is written by Becky Stephen.
For thousands of years, the Chinese believed that they had created a perfect social system based on Confucian values and tempered by the Mandate of Heaven. Dynasties came and went, but the essence of being Chinese remained essentially unchanged until the twentieth century. Since then, change has taken place in Chinese society at an unprecedented speed: the country experienced the turmoil of civil war and revolution and then emerged on to the world stage as a global superpower. This book aims to put these changes into a historical context, explain deep-seated cultural attitudes, and guide listeners through a maze of unfamiliar social situations, in order to help them discover the pragmatism, genius, warmth, and humanity of this extraordinary people.
The spectacular Beijing Olympics of 2008 signaled China's arrival as a superpower on the world stage. The global economic crisis that followed in 2008-9 saw it become banker to the West, poised to eclipse the United States. This new edition of Kathy Flower's bestselling Culture Smart! China has been revised and updated by the author to take on board the transformation in China's fortunes and the changing face of Chinese society. This edition of Culture Smart! China is the indispensable visitors' guide to the complexities of a rapidly changing world power whose ancient culture and traditions owe little to the West.
The spectacular Beijing Olympics of 2008 signaled China's arrival as a superpower on the world stage. The global economic crisis that followed in 2008-9 saw it become banker to the West, poised to eclipse the United States. This new edition of Kathy Flower's bestselling Culture Smart! China has been revised and updated by the author to take on board the transformation in China's fortunes and the changing face of Chinese society. This edition of Culture Smart! China is the indispensable visitors' guide to the complexities of a rapidly changing world power whose ancient culture and traditions owe little to the West.
