Overview
The CD provides some useful basic information related to mainland Chinese culture and Chinese business subculture.The program organizes this information in a well defined way for users of all ages doing business in or just wanting to travel to China.It is also a learning tool for students who want to brush up on their practical knowledge of Chinese culture.The CD-ROM's quick lookup by topics and subtopics and cross-search feature also make it practical and easy to use.Users will find the program to be very interesting and educational.Figure 1 shows the program's main menu.
Figure 1 Main Menu
The information in the program is especially useful for people without background knowledge about China.The program organizes cultural business information into seven main topics.
· Country in Profile
· Essential Expressions
· Protocols for Travelers
· Protocols for Business
· Principles in Business
· Our Program
· Travel Tips
Protocols for Travelers and Protocols for Business share the same content.
Figure 2 shows the menu for the Business Protocols.
Figure 2 Menu for Protocols for Business
The graphics in the main menu and the submenus are vivid and quite informative.Users are presented with relevant pictures when entering different topics that facilitate their understanding.
The program has three viewing areas.At the top left is the picture area，at the bottom left the index area，and to the right the text.（See Figure 4 below）The design is user friendly，and most of the areas work well.Users are able to access all the information on the CD-ROM by clicking with the mouse.
The program explains Chinese culture clearly from linguistic，discourse，and pragmatic points of view on topics ranging from how to make first contacts with Chinese people to how to sign a contract with Chinese businesses.It presents information on body language，ways of achieving mutual trust and understanding，avoiding taboos in conversation，sitting at a banquet or meeting，and negotiating.
The program also combines text with colorful and animated images as well as sound.It not only provides business and cultural information but also basic expressions for conducting business or engaging in cultural communication in the country（18 types of utterances used in different contexts）.In order to help users to master these survival expressions，audio files（in Mandarin Chinese）and movies are attached to written texts.The multimedia annotations allow users to hear how to pronounce these fundamental expressions and when to use them.
It is well known that Chinese culture is very different from that of western countries in terms of race，religion，ideology，values，and language.These elements constitute a special type of culture-specific mechanisms which require outsiders to handle communication in China with special care.Chinese society exhibits phenomena difficult for westerners to understand.Western travelers may feel very uncomfortable with，or even annoyed by，these very simple phenomena.For example，westerners may become upset when someone asks if they are married or how much their income is in their first meeting with a Chinese person.Asking such questions is a common（although now changing）practice for ordinary Chinese in their daily communication.If westerners understand basic Chinese cultural stereotypes，they will not feel offended but can in fact use these opportunities to learn more about their Chinese counterparts.