跨文化出境旅游中中西文化冲突及原因探究

Chapter One Introduction

1.1 Need for the Study
In recent years, tourism has become an important industry which is undergoing rapidgrowth on a global scale. According to the Annual Report of China Outbound TourismDevelopment 2014 published by China Tourism Academy in 2014, the constant rapidgrowth of China’s economy greatly supported the rapid development of outbound tourismin 2013 which reached its peak both in the scale and expenses. In this year, the number ofpeople who travelled abroad has added up to 98,190,000, increased by 18.0%. As to thescale, at present, our outbound tourism market has already been 1.2 times bigger than theoutbound tourism market of USA and 3.5 times bigger than the outbound tourism market ofJapan, which means that China has become the biggest outbound tourism market in theworld. However, outbound tourism creates the need to communicate with people of variouscultural backgrounds. Hu Wenzhong (1999) points out in his book A Sketch of InterculturalCommunication “Contacts between foreign visitors and us are an interculturalcommunication”. Intercultural communication is increasingly notable at present, and it isbecoming a character of our times. On the one hand, Chinese want to open their horizonand to see exotic views. So different cultural backgrounds become a big attract for theChinese to experience. On the other hand, the nature and core of outbound tourism is aface-to-face intercultural communication and different cultural backgrounds can also resultin cultural conflicts. As the living standards of Chinese reach a higher level, an increasingnumber of people choose to have a tour abroad. Foreigners are willing to welcome Chinesebecause tourism can bring great fortune to the destination countries. But they sometimescan not understand the way Chinese behave when travelling in their countries.The author realizes that it is the culture differences between China and westerncountries that lead to most of the phenomena which can be called culture conflicts. TheChinese tourists do not understand the foreign countries’ honored culture and just do whatthey think acceptable by Chinese culture. So the author decides to do such a study from theperspective of interculture to testify that the culture differences play a vital role in theconflicts of Chinese outbound tourism. Also relevant recommendations are also put forwardaccordingly.
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1.2 Structure of thesis
The thesis is divided into the following chapters:Chapter one is an introduction. It consists of the need of the study, structure of thethesis and research approaches of the thesis. The need of the study elaborates why theauthor wants to conduct such a study. And the structure of the thesis introduces the outlineof the thesis. The thesis utilizes both qualitative and quantitative methods to help elaboratewhat the author tries to study.Chapter two is literature review. In this part, the author reviews the study onintercultural and intercultural tourism both in China and abroad. It turns out to the fact thatfew studies focus on the cultural conflicts in intercultural outbound tourism in detail.Chapter three is theoretical foundations. It consists of basic concepts, theories andbasic concepts of culture, tourism, intercultural communication, intercultural outboundtourism as well as intercultural communication theories. Hofstede’s value dimensions andHall’s high-context and low-context will be introduced.The next chapter is to analyze the cultural conflicts when Chinese are in outboundtourism. By interviewing outbound tourists and referring to literature, it inferred thatChinese tourists are still in conflict with westerners in terms of the conflicts items. Then,questionnaires are distributed to testify the conclusion. What is also found out is manyculture differences that contribute to the conflicts, especially from the perspective ofcontext culture, cultural values, cultural thinking patterns, traditional social norms andreligion cultures. Next recommendations are put forward to deal with the culture conflicts,that is, to improve their intercultural awareness, to realize that cultural differences do existwhen travelling abroad and travel agencies should strengthen the training and guidance topublicize the western cultures and customs.The last chapter is a conclusion which deals with the major findings of the study,limitations of the thesis, and recommendations for further researches.
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Chapter Two Literature Review

2.1 Relevant Studies Abroad
Edward T. Hall first put forward the term “intercultural communication” in The SilentLanguage (Hall, 1959), the appearance of which prompted the study of interculturalcommunication and set up a concrete base for the further researches. Then Edward T. Hallpublished his another work The Hidden Dimension (Hall, 1969). The work was based onhis own experience working in the foreign service. High-context and low-context cultureswere thereby put forward in his two books to deal with the fact that how communicationinformation is transmitted.In the 1960s, the number of literature on intercultural communication has beenincreasing. For example, books like Culture and Communication (Oliver, 1962) and ThePsychology of Human Communication (Parry, 1967) were published. These works helpedresearchers to testify how the pervious ideas developed in the study of interculturalcommunication.In 1975, the first textbook on intercultural communication An Introduction toIntercultural Communication by Conden and Yousef (1975) was published and thensubsequent books were followed. The research on intercultural communication hasdeveloped quickly.By the time of early 1980s, many scholars, for example Gudykunst has started to studyconcepts and theories on intercultural communication quickly with great pains (Gudykunst,1993). In 1988, Witkin classified patterns of thinking into field-dependence style whichwas characterized by integrated thinking pattern and represented by the people in theeastern world, and field-independence style which was characterized by analytical thinkingpattern and represented by people from the western world.
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2.2 Relevant Studies in China
Intercultural communication research was introduced into China in the 1980s by someEnglish teachers. Then rapid development was achieved years by years.Hu Wenzhong and Du Xuezeng, in 1998, conducted a study on the cultural differencesbetween China and English speaking countries. They put their emphasis on the differentcultural customs and indicated that awareness of the cultural differences existing in Chineseand western customs is necessary for intercultural communication.Gao Yihong (2000) mentioned that successful intercultural communication processmainly relied on the similarities and differences of the two different cultures. Similaritiesare essential background for successful intercultural communication between peoples andcultures. On the contrary, differences in cultures would bring obstacles to interculturalcommunication. All in all, she studied the differences between linguistics and cultures byemploying lots of examples on a macro level.Then in 2004, Zhang Congyi also conducted a research on Chinese and westerncultures. In his research, he contrasted and studied the subject-object system, physical-psychological system and temporal-spatial system of these two cultures. Besides, he stillconducted researches on the Chinese and western cultures and arts and studied the historicaldevelopment, present state, styles and features of different cultures (Zhang Congyi, 2004).
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Chapter Three Theoretical Foundations ...... 7
3.1 Intercultural Communication... 7
3.2 Intercultural Outbound Tourism ... 9
3.2.1 Definition ...... 9
3.2.2 Cultural Conflicts in Intercultural Outbound Tourism ....... 9
3.3 Theories of Intercultural Communication ...... 10
3.3.1 Hall’s High-context Culture and Low-context Culture.....10
3.3.2 Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions....10
3.3.3 Nonverbal Communication ....... 11
Chapter Four Studies of Sino-Western Cultural Conflicts and Causes in InterculturalOutbound Tourism ...... 14
4.1 Potential Manifestations of Cultural Conflicts .... 14
4.2 Data Analysis and Results ..... 17
4.2.1 Data Analysis ... 17
4.2.2 Research Results ... 21
4.3 Causes of Cultural Conflicts in Outbound Tourism ...... 22
4.4 Recommendations for Outbound Tourism Development... 33
Chapter Five Conclusion ....... 36
5.1 Major Findings of the Study ....... 36
5.2 Limitations of the Research ... 36
5.3 Recommendations for Further Researches ..... 37

Chapter Four Studies of Sino-Western Cultural Conflicts andCauses in Intercultural Outbound Tourism

4.1 Potential Manifestations of Cultural Conflicts
In intercultural tourism communication, cultural conflicts are common examples,which require us to understand and respect each other in a very different way of thinking,habits and behavior in the process of associating with people of different cultures as muchas possible to avoid culture conflicts.In fact, people often regard the way that they are familiar with or are accustomed to asthe best or the most suitable way to deal with things. The behavior which put their ownculture above another culture must be sure to weaken their intercultural competence, whichbecomes the obstacles of the intercultural communication. The cultural conflicts aremanifested in many aspects and according to the interview to 20 colleagues and reviewliterature, the author concludes five of the most possible and important conflicts that alwaysoccurred in outbound tourism.

Conclusion

In this chapter, we come to the ending part of the thesis, including main findings of thestudy, limitations of the thesis as well as the recommendations for further research.First, Chinese outbound tourism is a typical type of intercultural tourism. Interculturalcommunication is intersected in the whole outbound tourism process. Theories ofintercultural communication are important tools to analyze the outbound tourist’s behavior.Second, Chinese outbound tourism belongs to the intercultural outbound tourism ofemerging developing countries. With the improvement of living standards, an increasingnumber of people tend to travel abroad. When outbound tourism takes place, both positiveconsequences and negative consequences occur. Positive consequences include culturalsurprises, cultural imitation and cultural integration. While negative consequence mainlyrefers to cultural conflicts.Last but not least, based on the data collected by questionnaires and interview to myinternship colleague as well as various written papers and literature, the thesis gave adescription of the most evident conflicts in outbound tourism and studied the causes of thecultural conflicts between China and West by using of intercultural communication theories.The study has shown that the cultures between China and western countries are different,and according to the original interview and literature, conflicts are still often seen in thefollowing five aspects, namely in privacy, time concepts, diet practices, politeness formula,service encounter. But due to the data we collected above, younger age people arebecoming the mainstream of the outbound tourists, they have improved their value or mindsomehow and make improvements in their performance for example concerning with timeconcepts and politeness formula.
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References (omitted)