A recent, horrific incident in northeast China has been making the rounds in the U.S. news cycle. The official Chinese government response to the incident holds at least one major lesson for Americans in China. It’s a roundabout path, but I hope an interesting one.

Speaking of contracts and hétong, how exactly are they different? The differences have been the source of endless trouble in relationships between Chinese and Western organizations, with Westerners leveling accusations of dishonesty at the Chinese, and the Chinese chiding Westerners for their inflexibility.

If you want the take-home message of this post, just read the last paragraph. If you want the dirty details, read on. The question at the end of the last post looks innocent enough: Are there human rights in China? Given everything we discussed about how language works, though, it seems we’re treading on very [...]

Shifting gears today from the psychological to the linguistic. It’s hard to talk about the importance of words without sounding trite — a testament to the privileged place of language in our human-ness. The problem is that we can get ourselves into trouble if we’re not clear about what we mean by “word.”

Here are the Chinese versions of the research questions: Car scenario: 李家有三个人:爸爸,妈妈,和十七岁的男孩子李四。爸爸妈妈两个人每个星期都各工作四十个小时,领一样的工资。现在妈妈想买一辆新汽车,把旧汽车给李四开。但是爸爸认为现在的车还可以再开几年,买新车等于是浪费钱。你觉得爸爸,妈妈,和李四会说什么?最后他们会决定怎么做?你会支持哪一边? Surprise Arrest: 假如有一个公民,什么罪都没有犯,在逛街的时候被警察逮捕。警察不告诉他为什么被逮捕,就把他锁在监狱里,一直到三天以后才放他走。你觉得这个人会怎么想?他会如何反应?采取什么行动? Tax Hike: 如果政府没有得到人民的同意,就自行决定把所得税增加一倍,你觉得这样对不对?人民会有什么反应?采取什么样的行动?你觉得人民应该如何回应这样的状况?

More scenarios to think through today. First: Suppose a citizen is walking down the street one day when the police arrest him. They don’t tell him why; they simply arrest him and keep him locked up for three days before letting him go. He has done nothing illegal. What will this person think? What will [...]

Conversations between Colette and me these days — as I imagine is the case for lots of couples — often center around our family’s finances.  Got me thinking about some research I did a few years back. Consider, if you will, this scenario: The Smiths are a three-person family living in the United States:  Mom, [...]