China in Focus #19: Peaches, Plums and the Challenge of Cross-Cultural Communication

September 24, 2015 | 2:46 pm
Gregory Kulacki
China Project Manager

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Chinese President Xi Jinping likes to use Chinese idioms in his public remarks. While speaking to a select group of U.S. luminaries in Seattle on the first day of a state visit to the United States, President Xi dropped the following Chinese gem on his non-Chinese speaking audience: 桃李不言, 下自成蹊.

His translators rendered the idiom into English as “peaches and plums do not talk, yet a path is formed beneath them.” The topic of the speech was, not surprisingly, the state of U.S.—China relations, so the idiom was generally understood, as heard in English, as a generic comment on cooperation. That’s understandable given it was followed by the following sentence: “These worthy fruits of cooperation across the Pacific Ocean speak eloquently to the vitality and potential of China-U.S. relations.” Right before using the idiom Xi ran through a list of areas where the United States and China were able to work together for the common good, such as the 2008 financial crisis, the Iran negotiations and the fight against Ebola. These are the “worthy fruits” of U.S.—China relations.

In this morning’s Facebook feed I ran across a discussion between a pair of U.S. China watchers about what the “peaches and plums” idiom actually meant, and whether there was some sort of deeper meaning behind it. One discussant thought it referred to “soft power” or “attraction.” The other followed with “the basis of great power relations, so to speak.”

Actually, Xi was using the idiom not to illuminate something about the relationship itself, but to say something about the quality or character of individual state behavior—China’s behavior in particular.

A Chinese idiom dictionary explains.

“Although peach tress and plum trees don’t know how to speak, because their flowers and fruits are beautiful, they attract people to come, so beneath the tress there will naturally be a path. The metaphor is that as long as your behavior is noble, there is no need to brag to be respected by people.”

In other words, the Chinese President seems to be subtly chastising his audience for complaining that China does not do enough to support the collective good. President Obama has made that accusation on a number of occasions during his presidency. Xi seems to be responding to that, noting that the fruits of Chinese efforts to cooperate with the United States in the maintenance of the international system—the “worthy fruits” he just listed—should be obvious to everyone.

We’ve used this blog, on a number of occasions, to remind readers interested in U.S.—China relations about the critical impact of culture and language. Misunderstanding and misperception are routinely underestimated factors inhibiting effective cross-cultural communication. It is not possible for me to know for certain what President Xi meant. Perhaps he reinterprets idioms, as U.S. presidents are known to do. The late, great Yogi Berra would certainly understand.

But Xi’s peaches and plums moment is another useful reminder that the role of language and culture in U.S.—China relations deserves more careful attention.

 

About the author

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Gregory Kulacki is a Senior Analyst and the China Project Manager for the Global Security Program of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). He is also a Visiting Fellow at the Research Center for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons (RECNA) at Nagasaki University. He works on improving cross-cultural communication between the United States of America, China and Japan on nuclear weapons and related security issues. Prior to joining UCS in 2002, Dr. Kulacki was the Director of External Studies at Pitzer College, an Associate Professor of Government at Green Mountain College and the China Director for the Council on International Educational Exchange. Gregory completed his doctorate in government and politics at the University of Maryland College Park.