Politeness and Cultural DifferenceOutlineThesis statement: This paper focuses on a study of politeness in its manifestations in Chinese and Western cultures observe different maxims of the politeness principle.Previous Studies of PolitenessA.definition of politenessB.pragmatic studies of politeness by Western and Chinese scholars.C.importance of Politeness in our daily life.Chinese and Westernobservation of different maxism of politenessA.GreetingB.Offering and invitingC.Giving and receiving complimentsD.an apology. Politeness and social civilizationA.violization of principle of politenessB.politeness behavior and respect for othersAbstractThis paper focuses on a study of politeness in its manifestations in Chinese and Western cultures. It gives the readers a general idea of some pragmatic studies of politeness previously carried out by Western and Chinese scholars, and it gives several comparisons of current practices between Chinese and Western ways of expressing politeness in different situations，include Greeting，Offering and inviting，Giving and receiving compliments and an apology. In brief, the findings in this paper support the view that politeness in its various manifestations is culture specific to a great extent. By understanding cultural differences, many misunderstandings and miscommunications can be avoided.摘要这篇文章主要研究礼貌文化在东西方文化中的不同，它给了读者曾经东美方学者的一些基本的观点和一些当前的中美文化在不同情景下的比较，包括问候、提出和接受邀请、接受称赞和称赞别人以及向别人道歉的礼仪。总之，这些都在一定程度上证明了礼貌观念的不同是因为文化的差异。通过理解了文化的不同，许多的错误的理解和交流我们就可以避免了。Politeness and Cultural DifferenceThis thesis attempts to study politeness in its manifestations in Chinese and Western cultures. What is politeness, then? In Oxford Advanced learners English-Chinese Dictionary, POLITE is defined as “1. Having or showing that one has good manners and consideration for other people; 2. (typical) of a superior class in society; refined.In modern Chinese, the equivalent of politeness, limao, is believed to have evolved in history from the notion of li. The notion of li originated in the ancient Chinese philosopher and thinker Confucius (B.C. 551-479), who lived at a time when the slavery system had disintegrated and there were constant wars between feudal states, the former aristocratic social hierarchy was shattered and chaos reigned over the land. To remedy the situation Confucius advocated the restoration of li, which referred to the social hierarchy and order of the slave society of the Zhou Dynasty (dating back to 1100 B.C.). To Confucius, it was the model of an ideal society. To restore li, it was necessary to zhengming (to rectify names), i.e. to put each individual in his place according to his social position. Confucius set much store by zhengming because he thought, if names were not properly rectified, speech cannot be used appropriately, nothing can be achieved; if nothing is achieved, li can not be restored and consequently social order and hierarchy cannot be maintained. The notion of li advocated by Confucius was interpreted, as social appropriacy regards to ones social status by way of self-denigrating and other-respecting. It has ever since become an essential feature of the Chinese notion of politeness and has remained at the core of politeness in the Chinese culture (He Zhaoxiong, 1995).The pragmatic studies of politeness by Western scholars are mainly based on Brown and Levinson (Liu, Yunqing ,1987). Sociolinguists Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson identified two kinds of politeness, deriving from Erving Goffmans concept of face:Negative politeness: Making a request less infringing, such as If you dont mind. or If it isnt too much trouble.; respects a persons right to act freely. In other words, deference. There is a greater use of indirect speech acts. Positive politeness: Seeks to establish a positive relationship between parties; respects a persons need to be liked and understood. Direct speech acts, swearing and flouting Grices maxims can be considered aspects of positive politeness. Because they show an awareness that the relationship is strong enough to cope with what would normally be considered impolite. they articulate an awareness of the other persons values, which fulfils the persons desire to be accepted. (Goffman.E,1959) This invetigation is a cross-cultural account of politeness phenomena by way of examining how politeness is used. On the basis of the theoretical framework of linguistic politeness, this study shows one of the approaches of linguistic politeness. There are Brown and Levinsons approach, Leechs approach and Lakoffs approach. Leech maintains that his model is descriptive and many researchers found it useful in accounting for linguistic politeness in their data. He also argues that Brown and Levinsons model is a production model, which has attracted a large amount of attention. Because it purports to explain the occurrenc