(9) People from English-speaking countries turn around their rings constantly to show nervousness or uneasiness. Now people from Taiwan and Hong Kong also have this gesture. But if people in the mainland of China act like this, they will be regarded they are showing off richness. It is clear to see the same gesture with different meanings in different cultures, and people from different cultures will express same meaning by different gestures. So it is necessary for us to know the cultural difference to avoid misunderstanding.
4.3 Postures
“Posture is a matter of how people sit, walk, stand and move.”[12]同[8]p65 What kind of posture people use also can reflect the cultural differences between east and west. “Hewes pointed out culture mostly determined what kind of postures people use and the meaning and emotion they suggested.”[13]同[7]p35
(10) According to Chinese tradition, people who are sitting have right to take charge of others: Monarch sits and officer stands; father sits and son stands; leader sits and employee stands and so on. So the younger give the old a seat to show respect. But in America and Britain, people who are in charge of others have tendency to stand. They will make use of the height of space to indicate the high status. People who have high status choose to sit when they are conversing with you, which mean they want to create harmonious and equal atmosphere and lessen space. So adults will bend down when they are talking to children. “Froyd once said “ No one can really keep secret. If he does not talk and keep silent, he will talk with his fingers. In a whole, part of his body will sell him out.”[14]同[5]p36 In fact, this statement refers that people’s postures, attitude and other body language can deliver more hidden information. People may control their facial expressions successfully and appear calm. But they do not realize that his nervousness and eagerness have let out from his body language. Their feet may be stamping on the floor. Madness is the emotion that may let out from our feet and legs.
(11) When we are quarrelling with others, our feet will be nervous and trembling unconsciously. And females will make some teasing postures with their legs. And postures can also reflect people’s attitude towards their communicators. The research indicated: males communicate with the person they don’t like, whether they are relaxed or nervous determined by whether their communicators are threatening or not. In this experiment, females will express dislike with very relaxing postures. Postures will be the clue of the internal relationship of a group. For example,
(12) Guests are quarrelling because of dispute; we can make out the two quarrelling parts by their postures. People who agree with them will put their legs on the other legs. And people who are against will stretch out their legs straight. And some neutral people will hold arms. Somebody suddenly changes his/her postures, which may mean he disagrees with the person who is speaking or he/she is changing his/her mind. For example,