DIFFERENCESIN STYLESAND ETIQUETTESOF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS NEGOCIATIONS BETWEEN CHINAANDTHE UNITED STATES

ABSTRACT：Culture is the basic element in intercultural communication. The cultural differences betweenChina and the United States mainly lie in verbal and nonverbal communication, and so on. In interculturalbusiness communications, people should take necessary measurements actively to achieve effective purpose. Atpresent, the business conducted between the two countries grows rapidly and business negotiations areconducted more and more frequently. The United States is the largest economic entity, and is also the biggestbusiness partner of China. Business negotiation plays an important role in their business interaction. Because thecultural differences have direct influence on every aspect of the negotiation, to evaluate the action, ideas, andcustom of people from another culture with one’s own assumption may cause culture conflicts. Both the Chineseand the Americans should enhance the awareness of cultural differences, try to understand the differences inverbal, nonverbal communication and negotiating styles, and make preparations for successful negotiations. Interms of verbal communication, the culture impact on negotiation mainly lies in the difference of wordconnotations and figurative meaning in different culture. In nonverbal communication, the differentunderstandings of such behaviors: gesture, facial expression and eye contact can also influence the result ofnegotiation. As to negotiation styles, we can see that Chinese and American negotiators have different attitudestoward interpersonal relationship, different decision-making patterns, different time concepts and differentattitudes toward confrontations. Considering the above differences, we put forward some proposal from theperspective of cross-cultural communication for the negotiators from both China and the United States.

KEYWORDS: China & USA；business negotiation；style and etiquette；difference；