Nowadays, with the rapid development of economy as well as science and technology, the world is becoming smaller and smaller, and the communication between people from different countries with different cultural backgrounds is increasing (Efron 19), especially that between people from China and the UK. Certainly, there are many previous studies made by scholars on body language. However, most of their studies focus on the differences of body language between China and western countries. Therefore, this paper mainly emphasizes on differences of body language including postures, gestures, facial expressions, eye contact and distance in conversation in Chinese and English culture. Because every culture has its special body language, it is essential to learn body language in different cultures which can improve our communication skills and abilities and help us study foreign language and avoid intercultural communication.
This paper main contains five parts. The first part is a brief introduction of body language; the second part discusses the definition of body language and its relation with culture. The third part presents function and importance of it. The fourth part is an important one, which focuses on differences of body language in Chinese and English cultural backgrounds and its reasons. The fifth part comes to a conclusion of the whole part.

II. Body Language

2.1 Definition of Body Language
When people talk with others, they make themselves understood not only through words, but also through body language. Whether they realize it or not, they send messages to others also with facial expressions, eye contact and body movements. When people talk with others, they make themselves understood not only through words, but also through body language. Whether they realize it or not, they send messages to others also with facial expressions, eye contact and body movements. We call it “body language”, which is a kind of nonverbal communication. 从体态语看中英文化差异(2):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_11064.html