Crisis communication in context: Cultural and political influences underpinning Chinese public relations practice

Yi-Hui Christine Huang; Fang Wu; Yang Cheng

doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2015.11.015

Crisis communication in context: Cultural and political influences underpinning Chinese public relations practice

Public Relat Rev. 2016 Mar;42(1):201-213. doi: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2015.11.015. Epub 2015 Dec 10.

Authors

Yi-Hui Christine Huang¹, Fang Wu¹, Yang Cheng²

Affiliations

¹ School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong.
² Missouri School of Journalism, 140-E Walter Williams Hall, Missouri School of Journalism, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.

Abstract

This study analyzes academic journal articles in order to depict the features of Chinese crisis communication in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The findings revealed the following features of crisis communication in Chinese societies: collectivistic culture, nationalism, rationalism, face-giving/saving, striving for the "golden mean," the preference for passive communicative strategies, and the avoidance of extreme strategies. Nevertheless, the differences in political systems-the ubiquitous intervention by authoritarian government on the Mainland, the mistrust of government in post-handover Hong Kong, and the relatively mature democratic polity in Taiwan all lead to unique crisis communication practices.

Keywords: China; Crisis communication; Culture; Hong Kong; Political system; Taiwan.