Abstract  Time exists in each corner of the world and each culture. Different conceptions and attitudes in each culture are so different, which leads to the differences in temporal concept. Differences in social patterns, historical backgrounds, religious beliefs, values and other perse aspects between Chinese and American culture have great influence on concept of time. Thus it is unavoidable that some misunderstandings and conflicts will happen in intercultural communication, especially in business negotiations. This thesis attempts to make a contrastive study on temporal concept between China and America, and analyzes its influence on business negotiation by quoting cases so as to find out the solutions of cultural conflicts and consequently improve the ability of intercultural communication. 61655

Key words: temporal concept; business negotiation; cultural conflicts;  intercultural communication

摘要时间存在于世界各个角落、各种文化中。不同文化对时间的观念和态度不尽相同，这便形成了时间观差异。中美文化在社会模式、历史背景、宗教信仰、价值观念等各方面的差异，都对其时间观念有所影响，因而在跨文化交际中尤其是在商务谈判过程中免不了有些误解与冲突。本文试图通过对比分析中美时间观念差异，并结合具体谈判案例探讨这些差异对商务谈判的影响，以此找出文化冲突的解决措施并提高我们的跨文化交际能力。

毕业论文关键词：时间观；商务谈判；文化冲突；跨文化交际

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. Differences in Temporal Concept Between China and America 3

3.1 Differences in Time Orientations 3

3.2 Differences in Time Patterns 5

3.3 Differences in Time Systems 6

4. The Influence of Different Temporal Concept on Business Negotiations 7

4.1 Contradictions before Negotiation 7

4.2 Contradictions during Negotiation 9

4.3 Contradictions after Negotiation 11

5. Solutions to Contradictions Caused by Different Temporal Concept 12

6. Conclusion 13

Works Cited 15

1. Introduction 

Time is an important dimension of our life. Temporal concept refers to the inpidual perception and utilization of time, which is a silent language that we could not touch. And we unconsciously learn about concept of time in our daily life. Different people in each culture have different concept of time. Concept of time are mainly embodied in two important dimensions that viewing time as a rare resource, or on the other hand viewing time as an infinite resource. Some culture views it as a rare resource, and it could fleet. Thus we should make the most of time as possible as we can in our life; otherwise, we could not do meaningful things in limited life. Such cognition has an influence on people’s behaviors in each culture. Another culture views it as an infinite resource. In other words, we don’t need to deliberately control and master time. Hand over our own life to destiny, and then we can have a casual, comfortable life. Americans and Chinese reach a consensus on the former opinion. Thus it can be seen that time conception in different cultures has their own unique patterns. People of different cultures, their social practice and historical geographical environment are so different that their values, world view, outlook on life are not the same. As a result, the meaning of time people endowed and the method of using time are also not consistent. As American anthropologist Hall stated, “Time is manipulated less consciously, it is subject to less distortion than the spoken language. It can shout the truth where words lie.”(Hall, 1959: 1)