Beyond the Chinese Face

Are the Chinese people unique? How can we compare the Chinese with other groups? Are the Chinese more concerned with "face" than other people? How can we explain the relative academic success of immigrant Chinese students? What is the impact of learning an ideographic script on the Chinese people's way of thinking and perceiving? Are the Chinese more or less family centered than other national groups? How can we understand Chinese negotiating techniques? Questions such as these have long fascinated people with an interest in China. In this book Michael Bond, a western psychologist, draws on nearly twenty years' experience of studying the Chinese people to provide insights which will be valuable to westerners and Chinese alike. Clear, concise, and free from jargon or technical language, this is the book for anyone who wants to understand Chinese people, whether for day-to-day social interaction, teaching, counseling, or for business dealings.
"Clever and persuasive....As an initial reference book it is invaluable." --The Times Literary Supplement

"A highly readable, engaging book that is full of practical insights into the Chinese people. It reveals the author's extensive experience and wisdom. He has distilled the best empirical research into relevant and useful information about the Chinese. It should be noted that he has accomplished this with an unusual balance between methodological rigor and common sense....I found [it] to be a very practical and useful book. I highly recommend it to scholars and individuals interested in understanding the Chinese psyche. In providing insight into the psychology of the Chinese, it will go a long way to making obsolete the stereotype of them as a very inscrutable' people." --China Review International

Some warnings about studying the Chinese scientifically; Socializing the Chinese child; How Chinese think; The social actor in Chinese society; Social behaviour; Chinese organizational life; Psychopathology, Chinese style; Modernization and the loss of Chineseness; Afterword