Thanks for reading; I hope it helps. In this post I mentioned non-verbal communication and “face” concerns as two factors that make it seem to Westerners that Chinese often lie. Those are two big ones, but there are others as well, especially when it concerns bosses/leaders, and the sharing of information. Chinese-style leadership and the relationship between boss and employee, both in practice and in its ideal, is quite different from Western style leadership. There are lots of reasons for this. Also, information often isn’t as freely shared here as we (Westerners) would like. There’re lots of reasons for this as well. I can’t go into them all here (maybe one day if I ever figure it all out!) but if you want an accessible, short intro to these issues, I’d recommend “The Chinese Have a Word For It” by Boyé Lafayette De Mente. It’s not perfect, but each chapter is only about two pages on a self-contained topic/aspect of Chinese culture. Several of them talk about how bosses treat their employees and how people handle information, and how these things conflict with typical Western expectations.

Maybe you can shed some light also on another pet frustration. People never seem to give us any information, or if they do, it will be a one-line email which leaves us guessing about its meaning. This happens both when we request information and when they are “volunteering information”. Any ideas of whether this is typical, and any ideas why?

I also agree that Western nations are often overly tolerant in certain areas, to their/our own cultural detriment.