News Archive

The athletes are ready to go to Beijing - but are the spectators?  Thanks to a new course offered by The University of Western Australia's Confucius Institute, people planning to visit China, either for the Olympics or on business and holiday trips, can be better prepared.

The three-hour course provides visitors with the basics of language, good manners, sight-seeing and shopping tips and even advice on eating out, including how to handle chop-sticks.

Course presenter Vada Ng said if visitors were aware of the many minor cultural differences their stay in China could be more enjoyable.

Even giving and receiving business cards was different, with an emphasis placed on using both hands in exchanges, again out of politeness.

"Chinese people are very polite and it is not in our culture to say no, unless we can do it in a roundabout way, so we tend to say yes to be polite, although we might not mean it in an affirmative way," Ms Ng said.

In China, a business card was seen as a tool and the person who received it would study it for information about title and position, she said.

Simple greetings, queries about price, and numbers are some of the aspects of language that will be taught using the ‘pinyin' system of reproducing Chinese sounds with the English alphabet.

Ordering food in restaurants, and tipping, will also be discussed.

The course will be held at the Confucius Institute at 5.30pm on Friday, July 18 and at 5.30pm on Saturday, July 19. The course costs $98 per person.

Media references

Confucius Institute  (+61 8) 6488 6888
Simone Hewett / Sally-Ann Jones (+61 8) 6488 7977
(UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 4) 20 790 097 / (+61 4) 20 790 098