Chinese Etiquette – “li”

Throughout most of China’s long history, the relationship between people in all classes were based on carefully prescribed forms of behaviour that covered virtually every aspect of conduct – to such a degree that learning and proper etiquette was one of the major facets of life. The higher one was on the social ladder, the more meticulous and demanding were the rules of etiquette.

The Chinese word for etiquette, li, which originally meant “to sacrifice”, refers to the fact that following legally sanctioned etiquette required extraordinary sacrifices, not to mention detailed knowledge of hundreds of correct forms of behaviour. Training in this highly prescribed way of living was so thorough, so pervasive, that people were judged first, last, and sometimes always on how closely they followed these rules of behaviour. Etiquette came to be equated not only with learning in general, but also with culture and morality – even nationality and nationalism.

The Chinese eventually came to believe that their behaviour was the only correct etiquette in the universe, that all who did not follow the same meticulous rules of conduct were uncivilized barbarians. Of course the rules of etiquette in China today are no longer enforced by harsh feudal sanctions and they have been considerably relaxed, but they still remain very important. There are still formalities, particularly in business and formal situations that are ingrained in the behaviour of the Chinese.

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