There are many stereotypes about Chinese people. Some of them relies on real facts but mostly stereotypes are product of not understanding the peculiarities of Chinese people mind set, culture and traditions. To efficiently serve Chinese guests, it would help if the staff in the hospitality sector, while trying to avoid stereotyping, is familiar with their main characteristics. We will try to make a profile of Chinese mentality in order to explain their behaviour abroad. Still, no one can speak generally about all the Chinese people you will meet. “It’s never a good idea to make sweeping generalizations about Chinese travellers from different generations, cities and regions, and with different levels of travel experience” (Parulis-Cook 2018). This profile is based on various studies and represents the basic features of average Chinese travellers.

3.1 Chinese mentality

Chinese mentality has four very important characteristics:

1. Chinese culture is high-context culture
2. The concept of “not losing your face”
3. Chinese people are strongly superstitious
4. Chinese people don’t share the same understanding of privacy with the western people

In 1959 the anthropologist Edward T. Hall introduced the concept of high and low context cultures. It’ s a specific model in cross-cultural communication that explains the impact of non-verbal communication in different cultures (for more information: Hall 1959). In high context culture what you say may be completely different from what is the implicit message. To understand the message, you must share the same cultural context with the speaker. It’s important for the hospitality staff to recognize the “clues” to Chinese people’s real feelings and messages.

The concept of “not losing your face” is essential for Chinese culture. That means Chinese people are constantly afraid of being considered rude, incompetent or incapable of doing something. Their preoccupation with saving face and politeness means they will seldom give a direct “no” or negative response, even when they do not agree with you. They will not say directly that they can’t understand what you say. Therefore, focus on hints of hesitation. Listen closely to what they say, but also pay attention to what they don’t say and double-check your understanding.

According to various studies Chinese people are strongly superstitious. “From ancient times, Chinese superstitions cannot be distinguished from traditions and cultural beliefs, even if laws are imposed to ban them” (Gehan 2015: 80).

There are a lot of superstitions connected with numbers, colours and homonyms of “lucky” or “unlucky” words. Superstitions affect Chinese people daily life and marketplace. The role of superstitions is considered important not only in relationships but even in such rational fields as business, price ending, advertising etc. (for more information – Simmons & Schindler 2003).

The key to the superstition lies in the tonal nature of Chinese in which one pronunciation can have many meanings depending on which tone is used.

In his book Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition, Stuart Vyse regards that superstitions “provide a sense of control over the uncontrollable.” (Vyse 1997: 160) Knowing the basic superstitions will help the hospitality stuff to better understand Chinese visitor’s behaviour and to know how to make them feel comfortable.

Some superstitions mentioned most often that are relevant to the context are given below:

• the unlucky number four (it is believed it could bring bad luck because it is a homonym of the word for “death”).

This one is the basic superstition of Chinese culture. Hospitality staff needs to be aware of this fact and to keep in mind that Chinese guest may ask for changing theirs room if it is on fourth floor or the room number contain 4.

• the lucky number eight (it is the luckiest Chinese number because it sounds like the word for “wealth”. 88 is considered particularly lucky because it symbolized the “double happiness” characters);

If you want to make Chinese people buying particular item on subconscious level, you can consider price ending with 8 (in contrary of Western tradition of price ending with 99). In China “prices ending with the number eight are very common as there is a belief that this number brings luck and symbolizes prosperity” (Gehan 2015: 81).

• the unlucky white and black colours (Chinese people associate both with funerals);
• the lucky red colour (it’ s associated with life and can bring you happiness. It is considered the most beautiful and lucky colour);
• the building should not face the North (it is believed it could bring bad to the family);
• don’t give them branded umbrella as compliment from the house (the word for “umbrella” sounds similar to the word for “separate”);
• don’t give them branded green hat as compliment from the house (in Chinese, to “wear a green hat” means “to be cuckolded”);
• don’t give them branded clock as compliment from the house (the phrase “to give a clock” sounds similar to the phrase “to prepare for the end”);
• don’t give them a pear as compliment from the house (the word “pear” sounds similar to the word for “depart” or “leave”).

Chinese people even adopted some Western superstitions:

• black cat crossing your path (it is believed it could bring bad luck, you can avoid it if you walk backward for three steps);
• the number 13 (it is believed it could bring bad luck).

Chinese people don’t share the same understanding of privacy with the western people. They can ask questions, considered to be too personal or awkward. Actually, it’s not a matter of curiosity or low socialized skills, it’s their way to show solicitude. It is culturally appropriated to ask questions about one’s daily routine, health or current occupation. Questions like “Did you have your lunch?”, “Why you are not sleeping yet?”, “Are you going somewhere?” are not expected to be answered. It is just a form of greetings.

Besides the characteristics mentioned above, it will be helpful to know more about Chinese cultural values.

Social phycologist G. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions can provide an insight into Chinese cultural values (in percentage). The following table (Hofstede Insights) illustrates the results.

According to the graph the most significant values are Power distance and Long term orientation. Chinese people feel comfortable following the leader (mostly he/she is the tour guide or the most experienced traveller) and rely on him/ her to organize everything and to be a “mediator” between the group members and the locals. Hospitality staff must recognize who is “in charge” in order to facilitate their own job.

For Chinese people the concept of stability is very important.

The lowest value is Individualism. Chinese people strongly bonded to their family, friends or partners. They will have a meal together, will chose the same entertainment and will expect to have a shared place for gathering.

If they feel comfortable and welcomed, they will recommend the place to their social network.