On April 5, 2022, the Confucius Institute at Yeditepe University held an online lecture on Zoom called "Intercultural Exchange with Chinese." The lecture was given by Professor Zu Xiaomei, a professor at Nankai University. More than 20 people, including Ebru Ilter Acarcay, the Turkish Director of the Confucius Institute at Yeditepe University, Zhang Huijing, the Chinese Director, Li Weili, the Deputy Director, and teachers and students from our school and other schools attended the lecture.

First of all, Professor Zu Xiaomei took her own experience as the starting point and pointed out that understanding a country's cultural values is the basis for good intercultural communication.

                                                                   

 

Afterward, Professor Zu Xiaomei explained the meaning and characteristics of "culture." She used vivid examples from daily life, ancient Chinese sayings, and traditional Chinese stories to help students understand abstract Chinese cultural values and the differences between Chinese and other cultural values. Based on these differences, Professor Zu Xiaomei proposed six aspects of intercultural communication with Chinese people, including "meet and greet," "gift-giving," "eye contact and body contact," and "response to compliments."

Finally, during the free question and answer session, Professor Zu Xiaomei and the students discussed the changes in the cultural values of the new generation of young people in China and Turkey.

At the end of the lecture, Li Weili, Deputy Director of the Confucius Institute at Yeditepe University, pointed out that students often do not understand certain behaviors and practices of Chinese people due to cultural differences between China and Turkey. This lecture analyzes these differences to help students better understand Chinese culture and facilitate effective intercultural communication.