Wealthy Chinese Going to Good-manners Schools

Before you read: some questions to help you think about the topic and the words you might need.

What do you consider good and bad manners?

Do you think this is different internationally or across cultures?

With 190 billionaires and more than two million millionaires, China is just behind the US in number of high-net-worth individuals, according to research from Forbes magazine and Boston Consulting Group. But the manners have not kept pace with the wealth, until now.

Media and even the Chinese president have been critical of how some Chinese travelers have acted on trips. On a September trip to the Maldives, Chinese President Xi Jinping suggested Chinese citizens be a bit more well-behaved when traveling abroad.

Much of the Chinese wealth has grown quickly, at the same speed with China’s newly expanding economy and increasing business opportunities. Some who find themselves newly wealthy have little knowledge or training in how to behave in international business or social events.

Many of the new wealthy class of Chinese are learning etiquette. At private schools wealthy Chinese are learning things such as table manners, luxury brand pronunciation. The courses are mostly about how to behave in an international environment.

The problem began because China was so isolated 30 years ago. The sudden increase in wealth has happened in a very short time. This change has created a lot of pressure on individuals.

As a result, some businesspeople may appear uncouth and blunt to their western or Asian counterparts. Finesse, on the other hand, can smooth many business situations. Simply knowing how to be comfortable with a knife and fork can be the difference between a deal and no deal.

Clients who attend etiquette courses in China include government officials, children enrolled in overseas schools, Miss China beauty applicants, wives looking to entertain important guests and those who enjoy traveling abroad.

There is a huge demand all along the spectrum, the early clients were mostly drivers of luxury cars who wanted to dress like someone wealthy, and now clients are those from middle-class customers wanting to have a high class look and experience. In just a few years, there has been a real change in clients. More and more Chinese are travelling. They see the advantage of having an international edge.

One private school charges 20,000 yuan ($3,243) per group of 10 for an afternoon session.

With more than 100 million Chinese travelling in 2014, misbehaviors have made media headlines worldwide. Among the worst: defacing an Egyptian sculpture, throwing boiling water on a flight attendant and going to the toilet in public outside.

While some of what is thought of as rude by Westerners comes from culture— the notion of public space and privacy is very different in China — other bad manners go back to the Cultural Revolution when all that was seen as sophistication was considered bourgeois and severely punished.

When people are struggling to get food they are not thinking about private space.

Things that are considered rude internationally such as pushing, line jumping, speaking loudly or picking your nose in public — is common behavior for the majority of Chinese. But as China opens up and becomes more part of the world, awareness is growing among the population on how they are being seen overseas.

To move away from this reputation, many of the new elite are seeking class at etiquette schools. At the same time, they are looking to good manners as a new form of status symbol.

The Chinese understand that their position as the most powerful country in the world puts them in a situation where they need to learn about other cultures and behaviors so as to improve political and business relationships.

Before, status was about owning a big car.  Now the rich are looking for something else to make the difference. And that difference can be how to behave like someone who has wealth, education, and class.

 Try to guess the meaning of the words in bold and match them with their closest meaning from the choices in the right. Some of the answers are very close and have similar meaning. The meaning of these words is how they are used in the reading. Some of these words have different meanings in the dictionary depending on how they are used.

 The answers are below the table.