Intercultural Communication Institute

SIIC 2009 Description

11 | China: A Critical-Culture Briefing

What if China Succeeds? What is really going on now inside China? Why do Chinese do so much so differently from us? How can we teach, train, and manage Chinese effectively?

Designed for
Educators, corporate managers, diplomats, social service personnel, and intercultural trainers. China is challenging all of us.

Objectives
Participants will have the opportunity to:

Clarify the big picture: conditions, opportunities, and major trends in China today
Discover the underlying reasons why Chinese think, learn, act, and interact in the way they do
Plan, specifically, how to work most effectively with Chinese students, employees, counterparts, and colleagues
Gain deeper insight into themselves and their own cultures. (This is special insight, which a real encounter with Chinese culture can create.)

Learning Activities
Participants will have the opportunity to:

Presentations (thought-provoking, participative, illustrated) on fundamental realities of China today
Real-life stories of faculty member’s work with Chinese and Westerners in China
In-depth discussions of the issues of greatest concern to Chinese and Westerners
Case studies of challenging situations in different kinds of relationships and organizations
A glimpse into the 20 best books on China. Subjects include history, philosophy, religion, political system, intercultural communication, daily life, alternative futures for China, and culture-revealing biographies and novels.

Faculty: George Renwick

Dr. George Renwick has been traveling on assignments to China from one to four times every year since 1982. He has worked with 25 organizations in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Beijing, Tianjin, and Qinhuangdao. On most of his assignments, he serves as an advisor and coach to senior Chinese and Western executives. In addition, he conducts intensive seminars and briefings for employees at all levels in a variety of organizations in China. He has written perhaps 50 confidential studies, reports, and letters to senior executives on Chinese-Western interaction. Prior to his coaching and consulting practice, George was a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the director of the Summer School at New Asia College. While in Hong Kong he lived with a Chinese family.