【正文】 When Americans are asking for a free ride, they stretch out their thumb. If an American turn around his rings constantly, he may feel nervous or we focus on Hong Kong and Taiwan, people from these two areas also do so. While that is quite different from people in the mainland of China, which means that people are showing off richness. From the preceding examples, it is plane to see that the same gesture has different meanings in different cultures, and different people tend to use different actions to convey information. So it is necessary for us to know the cultural difference to avoid misunderstanding. Touch The most mon touch behavior is hands shaking and hugs. China belongs to the lowcontract culture, so is the US. In China, people greet with each other with head nodding, smile, Thesis, 20xx, Tianjin University of Technology amp。 Education 16 expressions than the Americans do. They think the more exaggerated the better. American people regard this as dishonest. V. Conclusion To conclude, body language is really a plicated field of research. This paper discussed the differences of body language in crosscultural munication by paring the body languages of the United States and China and providing just justification for both. Body language has three major functions: assisting, substituting and expressing or hiding emotional feelings. The meaning of the body language is indicated by a whole range of actions, including distance between conversationalists, facial expression, eye contact, physical contact, gesture and so on. Body language is culturally bound. American culture values casualness and individualism while Chinese culture highlights formality and collectivism. This culture difference has brought about different embodiments in Chinese and American body languages. Since body language is culturally bound, insufficient knowledge of body behavior of another culture may handicap the crossculture munication while a good mastery of body language can deepen the mutual understanding. For this reason, we should put even more emphasis on body language when we learn one language. In that way, you will feel better and easier to talk with local people. What‘s more, Thesis, 20xx, Tianjin University of Technology amp。Bacon, 1986 Qiu Lifang. Body Language. 20xx1030. Randall Harrison. An Introduction to Nonverbal Co。 Education 18 Notes: 1Hu Wenzhong, Aspects of Intercultural Communication (Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Researching Press, 1999)132 2Bi jiwan, Intercultural nonverbal munication(Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Researching Press, 20xx)143 Thesis, 20xx, Tianjin University of Technology amp。 when it is the time to look at them, how long we can look at, they all imply Thesis, 20xx, Tianjin University of Technology amp。 Education 12 Posture According to Chinese tradition, people who are taking charge of others have right to choose where they want to sit: often the monarch sits and officers will stand behind。 Education 10 talk, it is a good manner to stand close to his friend. But for Englishspeakers, they always keep a distance because they don‘t like to be close to another. Every culture in the world owns its special body language. These different kinds of body language are useful and helpful, especially people who have different cultural backgrounds municate with each other. Sometimes we cannot make us understood or we cannot understand the others, at that time,we can make it easier by using some gestures. As we all know that shaking hands always means ―greetings‖. Sometimes, we can express ourselves by these universal gestures instead of the words. Like coin has two sides, However, sometimes the body language may also result in some misunderstanding and dilemmas unexpectedly because of culture diversity. Different culture has its different way to send and understand message. Nodding one39。 Education 6 nonverbal munication. Different facial expressions such as smiles, yawns, frowns and winking can have extremely different consequences. People‘s mood and attitude can be distinguished easily by facial expressions. Facial expressions are also different according to the different cultures. Reasonably, Chinese people wele their friends with a big smile. On the contrary, native Americans will burst into tears in the same situation. Facial expression is a mon but very useful body language, and one should understand better how to apply it properly to achieve effective munication with others. Facial expressions are innate and universal. Therefore, the expressions for happiness, sadness, disgust, fear, anger, and surprise (the six basic emotions) are recognized by most culture groups as the same meaning. However, some variations may also exist. Some facial expressions and their types of interpretations may vary from one culture to another culture. Eye contact It is wellknown that eyes are the windows of the soul. In the other word, people‘s minds could be read through their eyes. Keeping a certain eye contact with others during a munication is very important. We can feel the emotion from people‘s eyes, because eyes are the most effective way to show one‘s real wish in mind, such as guilt, excitement, fear, indifference and so on. The changes of one‘s mood, attitude and Thesis, 20xx, Tianjin University of Technology amp。 Education 2 regard body language as an equivalent to nonverbal munication. Different people have their own ways to municate according to culture and society diversity. Therefore, the meaning of the same body language can be very different wi