Gestures according to power relation
Dead gestures are gestures which
have existed in ancient times and which are not used or understandable
today. Like verbal language, the gesture has birth and death.
Every gesture is born based on a specific cultural background.
For example, China is a country with many nationalities. Among
them, the 'Hanna' nationality, with over 90% population, is the
biggest one. In the past centuries, 'Hanna' was conquered by
other nationalities. In that peroid, the living custom of Chinese
people was influenced by the ruling class. For example, in Qing
Danasty, Chinese people had special, in modern eyes, strange ways
of expressing meaning which were influenced of the "Mang"
nationality (the ruling class at that time). When men of similar
social status sent greetings to each other, they used the following
gesture, 
, but when
noble women met or sent greetings to each other, they use gestures
like this one 
;
. The following picture shows how to meet the emperor
This gesture, called 'koutou', is
complicated and has strict regulations. It consists of three steps:
i) right sleeve brushing the left arm from top to the fingers,
ii) left sleeve brushing the right arm from top to the fingers,
iii) bend down, one knee on the floor,
right hand on the back and left hand hitting the floor.
People had to complete series of
actions to say "yes" and listen the imperial edict,
no mistakes were permitted, otherwise people would be punished.
When women met the emperor, they should show pleasant feelings
on their faces in order to please the emperor. The gestures mentioned
above were very popular during the "Qing Dynasty" among
the officials and nobles, but not very popular among the common
people. In present, all of them have died, because the kingdom
was overthrowed and the ruling class was changed. These gestures
disappeared quickly. We can only see them in movies, but the descendants
of "Mang" in Beijing are proud and glad to talk about
their great history .
In 1970s (the culture revolution),
China was under the leadership of Mao, people used series of
gestures and emotions to show their loyalty to him and their
confidence in the revolution. Please, see the following two pictures
"I am loyal to Chairman Mao!"
"I am a true revolutionary!"
The language is changing,
but also some gestures are changing in the process. Today they
are like souvenirs, representing the past culture. However, some
old gestures, as well as some archaic words and expression, are
still used today, such as the gesture equal to the expression
"Thank you for serving me!". This gesture appeared during
the Qing Dynasty when Emperor Qianlong visited South China with
civil clothes, that is, in secret of the common people. During
the visit, the emperor served tea to his officers, but since they
were in public they couldn't use the 'koutou' gesture illustrated
above and that is why they invented a more discreet gesture of
showing respect and subordination
Contemporary gestures are gestures
which are currently used gestures in one social community. Since
china is a very large country there are significant linguistic
and cultural differences between the distant regions. Most typical
is the distinction between north and south China. However, most
studies have been concentrated on analyzing differences in verbal
communication, habits and traditions but not on differences and
similarities between gestures. Thus we will distinguish between
two main regional types of gestures: gestures from the north
and gestures from the south.
Furthermore, there are different
things we want to express and do with gestures. We will distinguish
between: gestures of emotion, on one side, which we will define
as emotive nonverbal acts, thus echoing the definition
of speech acts, such as promise, agreement and gestures of counting,
on the other.
greetings
When you meet your professor you
should lower your head and bend slightly to show respect. The
same posture is used when a young man is greeting an old man.
Shaking hands is not used between
people of radically different status, as the previous two cases,
but between socially equal people, friends or businessman.
This gesture is used in informal
situations, when you reach an agreement with somebody else. In
China, it is not only a gesture, but also a good wish. Each of
you hopes the agreement will be long.
If you put your right hand on the
position of the heart means it "sincere promise" but
since a promise is a promise only if it is sincere (Searle, What
is a speech act?, in (ed.) Davis, S.,Pragmatics. A Reader.
Oxford University Press, N.Y/Oxford, 1991, pp. 254-265.) The ancient
Chinese thought that the calculating functions and the memory
of human beings are based in the heart, thus this gesture is a
typical iconic metaphor.
This gesture represents a feeling
of self-satisfaction. It is usually used by women when they feel
satisfied and don't want other people to know it. Typical for
the Chinese culture as a whole is that Chinese women express their
feelings in a more introvert or discreet manner.
In China, when you don't know how
to express your gratitude to somebody, may be gesture 1 will be
helpful, you don't need to say a single word, but everyone knows
that you are expressing your thankfulness. But when you gesticulate
like 2 especially on festivals, all the people you gesticulate
to will be very happy, because you wish them good fortune.
In China, when being served, it will
be very polite to make a gesture to express your feeling of thankfulness,
but you should do it in different way if you are in the different
areas of China. In North China, you should do like that like in
1, but in South China, you should do 'the koutou' gesture (desribed
also as a dead gesture above). It is especially important in
public occasions.
hesitation
This gesture symbolizes confrontation
with difficult problems and attempts to solve them, in other way,
it means hesitation.
insulting
When people show gestures like this
one, that means that they look down upon somebody. And when you
use one of your fingers to scrape your face looking at somebody,
in fact, the corresponding verbal expression may be said to be
"Shame on you!"
If someone insults you, but you don't
want to fight with him, the following gesture may express your
irritation. It means "Damn you!", but if you make this
gesture first, it means "If you have guts, come and take
me!".
Chinese people have particular gestures
for counting. They can be different in different parts of China.
The gestures for 1,2,3 and 5 are
similar to the corresponding European gestures. The rest are as follows:
The description above include only
general and typical gestures in China. One shouldn't forget that,
China is a large country with long history. We can not cover all
of the gestures in this short paper but if somebody is interested
of contributing to this page she/he is very welcome to contact
us. We will be glad if you can learn something about China or
get an inspiration to experience it.
.
Here the fingers move up and down continuously, thus, metaphorically
depicting repeated bowing, not with heads down to the ground but
with fingers to the table. From that time, the gesture was spread
generation by generation. Being conscious of the meaning of this
gesture may be very important in certain intercultural contexts
since the same sequence of finger movements on the table express
nervousness and impatience in many European and Western countries.
"Thank you!"
"I wish you good fortune!"
Nord Chinese gesture for "Thank you for serving me!"
South Chinese gesture for "Thank you for serving me!"
South Chinese Gesture for 4.
North Chinese gesture for 4.
Gesture for 6.
South Chinese gesture for 7.
North Chinese gesture for 7.
Gesture for 8.
Gesture for 9.
Gesture for 10.
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