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This image shows the cover of Understanding Intercultural
Communication
Understanding Intercultural
Communication
Third Edition

Stella Ting-Toomey
California State University, Fullerton

Leeva C. Chung
University of San Diego

New York Oxford

Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the
University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by
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© 2022, 2012, 2005 by Oxford University Press

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should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address
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You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same
condition on any acquirer.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Ting-Toomey, Stella, author. | Chung, Leeva C., 1965- author.
Title: Understanding intercultural communication / Stella Ting-Toomey and Leeva
C. Chung.
Description: Third edition. | New York : Oxford University Press, 2022. | Includes
index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021004717 (print) | LCCN 2021004718 (ebook) | ISBN
9780190297442 (paperback) | ISBN 9780197573952 (epub) | ISBN
9780190297466 (pdf)
Subjects: LCSH: Culture shock. | Language and culture. | Cross-cultural
orientation.
Classification: LCC GN345.6 .T57 2022 (print) | LCC GN345.6 (ebook) | DDC
303.48/2—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021004717
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021004718

Printing number: 987654321

Printed by LSC Communications Inc., United States of America

Created on: 30 June 2021 at 11:00 p.m.

Dedication to our Beloved
Parents

Stella Ting-Toomey
California State University, Fullerton

Leeva C. Chung
University of San Diego

獻給我最摯愛的父母親

To my resilient parents: Ting Chun Yen and Wang Shu Chin, this
book is dedicated to you. For all your love, sacrifices, graceful
spirit, and a lifetime of hard work—I thank you for teaching me
caring, other-centeredness, and adaptability wherever I go. I love
you and appreciate your “letting go” of me at a young age and
letting me come to America and study. Whatever I’ve accomplished,
I’m an extension of your love and gentle grace.

丁允珠

—Stella Ting-Toomey Wun Chu

This book is dedicated to my artistic and visionary parents, Chung

Dai Tau and Pang Tak Wai—who taught me to use my voice, live
life with creative energy, trust intuition, stand tall no matter the
uncertainty, and be happy. Each day, I am grateful and simply
thankful to be your third daughter.

程麗華

—Leeva C. Chung (Ching) Lai Wah

Preface

Stella Ting-Toomey
California State University, Fullerton

Leeva C. Chung
University of San Diego

This text, Understanding Intercultural Communication, Third

Edition (UIC3), is written for you to increase your appreciation,
knowledge, and skills about intercultural communication. With
increased globalization, technology, and demographic changes in the
United States, it is inevitable that you will be communicating with
people who are culturally different—whether face to face or through
social media. Developing constructive, quality, intercultural
relationships makes life enriching and exciting for yourself and those
around you.

This is an introductory book designed for undergraduate students,

teachers, and practitioners searching for a user-friendly textbook on
the fundamentals of intercultural communication. With the lens of
flexible intercultural communication, we thread through an
abundance of intercultural material with a very practical theme.

UIC3 emphasizes a perspective that integrates intersectional identity

complexity with a strong values orientation in shaping intercultural
contact. We address contemporary issues such as the important roles
and effects of technology in our everyday intercultural lives. This
edition captures the struggles and challenges that we confront in this
fast-paced, ever-changing world and how we deal with “unfamiliar
selves” within us and the “unfamiliar others” surrounding us.

This book is distinctive because of its well-balanced focus on both

global/intercultural communication issues and U.S. domestic
diversity issues. Our pedagogical approach to this book emphasizes a
student-empowering philosophy that invites curiosity and
motivation to learn more about intercultural communication.
Through a tight integration of culture-sensitive knowledge, attitude
checkpoints, and doable communication skills, we hope both
students and teachers find this book enjoyable to read, easy to digest,
and also practical to implement.
“News” and New Special
Features in the Third Edition
What are the changes or “news” in this UIC3? Based on the
thoughtful feedback of students, instructors, reviewers, researchers,
practitioners, and our own experience using this text for intercultural
training and teaching in the United States, Mexico, Canada, France,
Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, South Africa, China, Hong Kong,
Japan, and South Korea, we now identify the top-twenty changes
or selected highlights. In this innovative third edition, we have

• called attention throughout the text to the important role of

technology in affecting intercultural communication message
exchange and meaning construction processes;
• added “Learning Objectives” for students in each chapter for
focus and clarity;

• relabeled some of the chapters’ headings and subheadings to

reflect how identity complexity drives the process of our
contemporary intercultural encounters;

• added new opening stories (a favorite of many of the students

and teachers) in several chapters;
• emphasized the importance of adaptability and creativity in
cultivating intercultural communication flexibility in this
 globally turbulent, changing time;

• in UIC3 Chapter 1 (Why): significantly updated Chapter 1 to

include new reasons to study intercultural communication,
such as adapting to the “new norm” of family formation, global
health care issues, and personal empowerment and social
advocacy;

• in Chapter 2 (What): reemphasized the importance of grasping

the staircase model to develop intercultural communication
flexibility more deeply and with agility;

• in Chapter 3 (Values): added more global examples and

included the new uncertainty-oriented personality type versus
the certainty-oriented personality type to pair with the weak
uncertainty avoidance and strong uncertainty avoidance value
spectrum;

• in Chapter 4 (Identity): engaged in a major update on

acculturation processes among immigrants and their struggles,
group membership and identity affiliation issues, multiracial
and biracial identity formation patterns, and intergroup
adaptive strategies;

• in Chapter 5 (Culture Shock): introduced new concepts, such as

global workplace transferees and global mobility families, third
culture kids/global nomads, international tourism issues, and
the perpetual question for many of us: “Where is home?” New
international and U.S. students’ voices were added to illustrate
the W-shaped adjustment model;
• in Chapter 6 (Verbal): added a new grid model on verbal
 conversational style that integrates the verbal variation of
direct and indirect style and compact and verbose style, infused
the chapter with new gendered and social media language to
illustrate technology-based communication and
misunderstandings, highlighted human language as an optimal
instrument for human creativity and imaginative potential;

• in Chapter 7 (Nonverbal): redesigned the chapter from a

functional perspective and aligned the different forms (e.g.,
facial expressions and tone of voice) of nonverbal
communication across cultures and along various functions,
such as expressing emotions and attitudes and regulating
conversation with diverse hand gestures—which often lead to
intercultural misunderstandings;
• in Chapter 8 (Bias): imbued Chapter 8 with many of the recent
Black Lives Matter (BLM) stories and examples and elaborated
on concepts such as power, privilege, and microaggressions;
included recommendations for doable concrete intergroup
strategies to reduce prejudice and racism in our everyday
diversity lives;

• in Chapter 9 (Conflict): explained conflict face-negotiation

theory (FNT) in more depth and included the background story
of how Stella created the conflict FNT; discussed the different
cultural conflict lenses and face concern facets; emphasized the
skillsets needed (i.e., facework management, mindful listening,
mindful reframing, and adaptive code-switching) to promote
competent conflict communication practice;
• in Chapter 10 (Intimate): examined the various stages of online
 dating attraction and relationship development and also took a
closer look at intercultural and interfaith intimate relationship
ebbs and flows; proposed a set of specific guidelines in
facilitating the development of a secure bicultural or
multicultural identity in self or others in our close network;

• in Chapter 11 (Global Identity): updated the entire Chapter 11

and explored topics such as “glocal” living through the lens of
television streaming, video gaming, and the appeal of
influencers; did a deep dive into digital multitrack
communicators and monotrack communicators, considering
how they can learn to adapt and get along;

• in the final chapter, Chapter 12 (Ethics): incorporated the

concepts of universalistic and particularistic decision-making
cultural tendencies; reinforced the skillsets that we mentioned
from Chapters 2–11 as a metaphorical backpack we can carry
with us at all times as we cross cultural boundaries; offered
very specific ethical inquiry questions to guide students toward
making mindful decisions and moving toward being a self-
empowering change catalyst on campus, in the community, or
in the larger sociocultural world in which they live;

• throughout Chapters 1–12: added an abundance of

contemporary intercultural stories, news clips, and real-life
diversity experiences to connect and resonate with the
students; and we encourage them to share their stories and
identity struggles, challenges, resilience, and triumphs;
• updated and included numerous special features that offer
students opportunities to increase their self-awareness, engage
 in deeper reflection on the concepts and principles taught, and
understand how they apply in individuals’ intercultural
experiences (see next section, “A Fusion Outlook,” for details);

• for each chapter in this third edition, we created meaningful

endpoint discussion and practical application questions for
students and teachers to generate productive dialogue about
flexible (or inflexible) intercultural communication practice as
lifelong learners of all things intercultural.
Between the UIC2 (2nd ed.) and
UIC3: A Fusion Outlook
Based on the enthusiastic feedback from students, teachers, and
intercultural practitioners, we are keenly aware of all the special
features you loved in the second edition. Consider the following as a
GPS or a compass to help you to find your favorite features under the
“new labels” in UIC3:

• QuikTrendz [= former Jeopardy Box]: Almost all QuikTrendz

have been updated to reflect the latest demographics, social
media, language trends, nonverbal trends, etc.;

• QuikClip [= former blog.post]: Many of the QuikClip stories

are new, mixed with UIC2 stories that many students and
instructors found compelling and useful for class discussion
and dialogue;

• QuikChat [= former L-chat]: We sharpened the realistic tone

of intercultural verbal and nonverbal misunderstandings or
conflict interactions and reinforced the importance of
understanding low-context and high-context collisions in the
diverse workplace and classroom interactions;
• QuikChoice [= former my.blog]: Retained all your favorite
survey assessment tools on the various concepts across
different chapters and with the twin goals of (a) increasing your
 cultural and personal self-awareness quotient, and (b)
generating a deeper dialogue and listening session between you
and your classmates or newfound friends;
• QuikPoll [= former hit-or-miss]: Retained some from UIC2
and created or modified some items especially in relating to
global identity topics;

• QuikPix [= former blog.pic]: A fusion category, retaining some

of your favorite images from UIC2 and adding plenty of new
and fresh pics for UIC3;

• Intercultural Reality Check: Doables [same as UIC2

label]: No change to this title, although we have updated the
practical skills-based recommendations included in this
feature;
• Discussion and Practical Application Questions: A
newly created section for this third edition;

• Tables and Figures: Retained almost all from UIC2 and

added one new figure in Chapter 6 (Verbal) and modified and
updated some wordings on several tables;
• Supplementary Instructional Resources: We offer a trio
of rich resources to help instructors to plan their intercultural
lessons ahead of time and teach mindfully:
1. The carefully curated (password-protected) Instructor’s
Manual contains numerous Interactive Learning
exercises including step-by-step instructions and
debriefing questions; Intercultural Teaching Challenges
and Tips in which we offer our answers to common
 questions and guidance on situations that may challenge
an intercultural communication instructor; a full UIC3
Test Bank, including various forms of multiple choice and
essay questions; plus detailed chapter outlines;
discussion questions designed for both classroom and
online; recommended online resources, class handouts,
and more.
2. The updated, beautifully designed PowerPoint slides
highlight the key topics and concepts in each chapter;
these slides are editable so that instructors can create
further individualized lesson plans to connect with their
particular student population.
3. The informative and accessible online Interactive
Student Study Guide, available to both instructors and
students, includes a variety of chapter-by-chapter
outlines and self-guided quizzes to reinforce learning;
recommended online resources to enhance
appreciation for the concepts taught; and
“Intercultural Tours,” which offer intercultural
stories and scenarios along with probing questions for
students to make tighter connections between conceptual
learning and real-life application.
Writing this Third Edition:
Three Assumptions
Three initial assumptions guided the development of the third
edition. First, the recurring topic is intercultural communication
flexibility. We believe that in this fast-paced, technological world,
change is the “new norm.” Students need to train themselves to
develop a flexible mindset, strong communication skills, and the
capacity to adapt to the constantly changing global world—whether
in their career choice, friendship development, or any future dreams.
Through our advocacy for a self-empowered learning process, at each
step in our chapter writing, we try to encourage students to take
risks, to experiment, and to be fearless regardless of detours,
struggles, or roadblocks to practicing competent intercultural
communication.

Second, we want students to actually enjoy learning various concepts

of intercultural communication . We intentionally integrated
carefully chosen international case studies and real-life personal
stories to highlight various intercultural concepts. We wanted to
signal to students that there is no “perfect” way to do flexible
intercultural communication in the 21st century. Instead, it is taking
the initiative: The first step toward developing a new intercultural
sensibility and wakefulness is to place yourself mindfully in
authentic connection with globally and culturally distinctive others.
Third, we promised each other to maintain a sense of humor writing
this book despite life’s tragedies and curveballs coming our way—as a
way of celebrating our 30+ year friendship on a continuous and
lighthearted basis. As we approach the end of this humorously
monumental writing journey together, we kept our promise with
much laughter, joy, and exhilaration! Yippee!
Book Design and Organization
This book is organized in three sections. In the first section (Chapters
1−4), we lay the foundational framework and concepts of
intercultural communication. The reasons for studying intercultural
communication and practicing flexible intercultural skills are
articulated. In this third edition, we emphasize the importance of
paying extraordinary attention to intersecting identity complexity
perspectives and its potential implication for adaptive and creative
intercultural communication connections.

In the second section (Chapters 5−7), we emphasize the process of

crossing cultural boundaries and the dynamic process of
intercultural verbal and nonverbal exchange encounters. Topics such
as developmental culture shock, language functions, and diverse
cultural verbal styles, as well as fun topics such as nonverbal space
violations and cross-cultural hand gestures, are discussed and
accompanied with lively intercultural examples.

In the third section (Chapters 8−12), we focus on intercultural-

interpersonal relationships. Important factors such as ESP-P-P (i.e.,
ethnocentrism, stereotypes, prejudice, and power-privilege) are
discussed in depth. Practical knowledge and skills to manage
intercultural conflict flexibly are proposed. Many animated conflict
QuikChat conversation examples are used to illustrate workplace and
intimate relationship collisions. The contemporary topic of a
morphing global-local identity is addressed. We also discuss the
impact of technology and pop culture and its effect on our shifting
value patterns. Finally, we round out the book with a cornerstone
theme: becoming an ethical and flexible intercultural communicator.

Throughout this book, personal stories, poems, news cases, QuikPix

images, fun quizzes, global trend statistics, ethical dilemmas, and
practical skill “doables” are offered to empower students to engage in
active learning and to master the foundational concepts of
intercultural communication. At the same time, we believe it is
important that first-time students have an accurate and enjoyable
basic text to learn about intercultural communication. We want
students to finish strong, to leave with a special appreciation for the
mindful effort and the artful skills it takes to communicate across
cultures adaptively and creatively. We want them to resonate with
the complex identity struggles in various forms as expressed by the
diverse voices of multiple individuals in many of the special feature
stories and to know the steps needed to become an ally.

As you turn the page and begin to read this text, it is our hope that
we succeeded in motivating students and teachers to discover and
explore together an unfamiliar world and some unfamiliar words; the
slippery slope and the diverse terrain; the vulnerable faces; and
multivocal stories and voices that come alive and are waiting to be
affirmed and listened to—from within and beyond the classroom
instructional setting. Let’s get started.
About the Authors

Stella Ting-Toomey
California State University, Fullerton

Leeva C. Chung
University of San Diego
Dr. Stella Ting-Toomey, PhD, is Professor of Human
Communication Studies at California State University (CSU),
Fullerton. Her teaching passions include intercultural
communication theory and training and interpersonal conflict
management. She is the author or editor of 18 scholarly books. Her
recent books include Communicating Across Cultures, Second
Edition (with Tenzin Dorjee; Guilford Press); and the edited volume,
The Sage Handbook of Conflict Communication, Second Edition
(with John G. Oetzel; Sage). She has also published more than 130
research articles and chapters in prestigious communication journals
and handbooks. Dr. Ting-Toomey has delivered major keynote
speeches on mindful intercultural communication in the United
States and internationally. She has also conducted a variety of
intercultural conflict competence training workshops for
corporations and nonprofit institutes. She is the 2008 recipient of
the 23 campus-wide CSU Wang Family Excellence Award, and the
2007–2008 recipient of the CSU-Fullerton Outstanding Professor
Award in recognition of superlative teaching, research, and service.
Dr. Ting-Toomey’s sojourning and immigrant experience—as an
international student departing from Hong Kong and arriving at
Iowa City, and from Iowa City to Seattle, and then from Seattle
onward to New Brunswick, Tempe, and Fullerton—together with her
daily contact with culturally diverse students, enriched her teaching
and writing journey as reflected in this coauthored text,
Understanding Intercultural Communication, Third Edition. Stella
is a fervent Netflix K-drama fan, and she also plays the piano for fun
and enjoyment.
Dr. Leeva C. Chung is Professor at the University of San Diego
(USD). She received her PhD at the University of Oklahoma in 1998.
At USD, she teaches in the Department of Communication Studies
and is the recipient of numerous teaching and mentoring awards on
campus. The City of San Diego proclaimed December 16, 2015, as
“Dr. Leeva Chung Day” for her global engagement and active
involvement with her students in the community. In addition to
teaching abroad, Leeva teaches a variety of communication courses
including global teams. Her research interests include cultural,
ethnic, and global identity; aging across cultures; and pop culture.
Her recent publications include a book chapter in Cross-Cultural
Psychology: A Contemporary Reader. Leeva has published articles
for the American Academy for Colleges and Universities and in the
Journal for Intercultural Communication Research, International
Journal of Intercultural Relations, and Communication Research
Reports. In the San Diego community, she serves as a founding
member of the San Diego Asian Film Foundation Festival. Leeva is
proud to be a native San Franciscan.
Acknowledgments

If it takes a village to write a book and an entire symphony to make

beautiful music, then crafting Understanding Intercultural
Communication, Third Edition, has been an orchestrated
celebration. We are grateful to the many individuals who encouraged
and motivated us to bring this work to fruition. First and foremost,
we want to thank our many students who have contributed their
voices and shared their intercultural experiences with us. Without
their unique voices, this book would have been too abstract. We also
want to thank our colleagues and our respective departments at the
California State University at Fullerton (CSUF) and the University of
San Diego (USD) for providing a supportive environment in which to
conduct our writing.

Second, we want to thank John Challice, former Vice President and

Publisher at Oxford University Press, for his patience and good
humor in waiting for the birth of this third edition. We thank Steve
Helba, Executive Editor of the Communication Series at Oxford
University Press, for his timely support and confidence on the
important contribution of this book on intercultural communication
flexibility. A big warm THANK YOU to Alyssa Quinones, Lisa Ball,
Linda Westerhoff, Ken Hassman, and the entire production staff at
Oxford for their professional help and their determination to make
this book the “shining star” in the intercultural market. A special big
“shout-out” goes to Deanna Hegle—for her meticulous copyediting
and going the extra mile to provide thoughtful suggestions and
discerning input. We also want to thank our reviewers for their
precious time, dedicated effort, astute comments, and incisive
suggestions to improve this revision and updates: Marie Arcidiacono,
Los Medanos College; Jennifer Basquiat, College of Southern
Nevada; James Cianciola, Truman State University; Jeffrey L.
Courtright, Illinois State University; Sheila Cuffy, Purdue University
Fort Wayne; Thomas Damp, Central New Mexico Community
College; Kennith Darensbourg, Northern Virginia Community
College; Dan Fellner, Arizona State University; Joan Gibbons-
Anderson, Riverside City College; Hailey Gillen, Weber State
University; Rebecca Johnston-Gilbert, Franklin University; Kelly
Jones, Pitt Community College; Rachel Reznik, Elmhurst
University; Karen E. Schlag, University of Texas at Austin; Rebecca
Wolniewicz, Southwestern College; and Kallia O. Wright, Illinois
College.

We are continuously thankful for the informal feedback and random

conversations with intercultural scholars, instructors, practitioners,
and students who contributed useful insights that guided this
revision.

On an individual level, our deepest gratitude and appreciation goes

to ALEX FLECKY: your calm and poised demeanor when all things
go chaotic, your razor-sharp eye reviewing and proofreading each
chapter, and your exceptional logistical-design skills in keeping track
of all the special features in the text are astounding to marvel. Each
time we witnessed your superhuman organizational skills, we were in
awe! We appreciate the generosity of your time and professional
dedication; and we value your graceful friendship, warm caring, and
sustained reassuring kindness especially in walking this writing
journey from the First Edition of UIC to the Third Edition—you are
truly AMAZING and PHENOMENAL! Thank you for moving us
forward on the Third Edition to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

To our own special design team—Katie Knoell, Paul Turounet, and

Alex Bryan—the incredible skills you graciously provided for the
book took this edition to the next level; the beautiful cover, the
evocative images in different chapters, and the eye-catching
PowerPoints reflect our core vision for the book. To Katie Knoell, we
thank you for executing our vision and making it come to life with
this amazing book cover. To Paul Turounet, thank you for sharing
your haunting images with us. To Alex Bryan, your PPT design skills
took the vision to the next level, we are appreciative, and thank you.
We also remember the late Ngao Mamuya for his clutch assistance
and feedback with figures. You are missed.

We also extend our warm appreciation to Ariana Cravalho and Peter

Lee, who helped us in preparing the tables and figures in the third
edition. To Ariana, we thank you for your poise in friendship and
calm and caring help in all things big and small; to Peter, we thank
you for your steadfast friendship and continuous professional
lifetime support. A big “shout out” to Tammy Tran in assisting us in
preparing the voluminous reference section of this third edition
textbook. Tammy, thank you for always maintaining a positive
attitude in performing every reference task and cheering us forward
with uplifting enthusiasm. To Sabrina Caravello, your impeccable
timing, vibrant spark, and creative vision have inspired us to take the
interactive student study guide to a new level.

In addition, we extend our heartfelt thanks to Janet Bennett, the

Executive Director of the Intercultural Communication Institute, and
all the Portland-Summer Institute of Intercultural Communication
(SIIC) Workshop faculty, students, interns, and staff for providing us
with a nurturing environment to dialogue about all things
intercultural for the past 25+ years. We miss our intensive “summer
camp” experience and the sacred time and space of every summer
getting together and enjoying the many becoming-in-being
moments. Thank you, Janet, for nurturing and growing the
intercultural field with your full-hearted energy and gracious, selfless
spirit.

As we wrap up this third edition, foremost in our mind are the late
Dr. William (Bill) Gudykunst and the late Dr. Richard (Rich)
Wiseman of CSUF—two top-tier intercultural scholars and dedicated
teachers with their own distinctive instructional styles in the
teaching of intercultural communication effectiveness. We hope to
pass on some of their passionate intercultural spirit and legacy in
this text. We miss them and think about them every day as we walk
through life without hearing their encouraging words and supportive
smiles, and witnessing Bill’s pondering-meditative gesture and
Rich’s booming, energized voice in the hallway.

We want to take this opportunity to individually acknowledge the

warm support of our phenomenal students, friends, and families.
F S : I extend my sincere appreciation to many of my
undergraduate and graduate students who let me experiment and
test many of the ideas in this book. Your thirst for learning and your
hunger for creative teaching tools prompted me to become a more
risk-taking instructor with each step or dance I performed in the
classroom setting. In discovering your passion, commitment, and
awakening, I’ve also uncovered my own joy, passion, and allure for
creativity in the intercultural teaching arena. On an everyday basis,
your curious energy for learning and your willingness to stretch
make me a better teacher every step of the way. I also want to extend
my warm appreciations to my two department chairs and colleagues,
Dr. Gary Ruud and Dr. Jon Bruschke, for their committed support
for my scholarly and research activities. A big acknowledgement to
CSU-Fullerton Sabbatical Leave Committee in granting me a Fall
semester research sabbatical leave so that I can complete this
weighty writing project in a timely manner.

I also want to thank the following individuals for their delightful

support and rays of light at different phases of the development of
this book: Susy Amador, Noorie Baig, Annette Bow, Maria Chan-
Sew, K. Jeanine Congalton, Ariana Cravalho, Alice Ding, Tenzin
Dorjee, Don Flecky, Ge Gao, Jean Hotta, Angela Hoppe-Nagao,
Leslie Klukas, Atsuko Kurogi, Peter Lee, Arielle Leonard, Jenifer
Montgomery, Sam Nguyen, Laura Martinez, John Oetzel, Shari
Selnick, Tammy Tran, Miki Yamashita, Ruifang Zhang, Jacqueline
Yu, and Qin Zhang. To Susy, thank you for being such a supportive
family friend—I appreciate your kitty-loving kind heart and the
always timely extension of encouragement. To Jeanine, thank you for
all your caregiving graciousness throughout this pandemic year—
thank you for delivering fresh veggies from the farmer’s market every
Tuesday, and dropping by my house with home-cooked chicken soup
and more; I value our CSUF lifetime friendship and your sharp
critical thinking mind. To Tenzin, I treasure your peaceful
friendship, supportive prayers, and poised demeanor, and I miss our
intellectual chats on all things intergroup and intercultural. To
Annette, thank you for your radiant warmth and empathetic support
throughout our years together in the HCOM department.

In this special space, I also want to thank my Ting family members in

Hong Kong and Vancouver: my 94-year-old Mom, Ting-Wang Shu
Chin, and my three brothers—Tom, Henry, and Victor. To my Mom,
you are the most beautiful and graceful woman warrior in my life
and your tenacious spirit continues to guide me through some
frenzied times. In addition, I know my late Dad, Ting Chun Yen,
continues to watch over me and protect me from high above. To my
three brothers—Tom, Henry, and Victor—I value your unswerving
support and constant text messaging on all things revolving around
Mom’s mood, health, three meals, and well-being. I thank my big-
hearted brothers on whom I can always lean for support and
comfort; I’m truly blessed to be your “little sister.”

Last but not least, I want to thank my two precious U.S. family
members—Charles Toomey and Adrian Toomey—for their
remarkable acceptance of my life-long professorial journey in
teaching, researching, mentoring, and servicing. To my husband
Charles—I appreciate your grit, strength, explorer’s spirit, and your
gentle-caring-kind soul. To my son Adrian—I take pride in your
becoming an incredibly effective and dynamic college teacher and
teaching your favorite topics on intercultural and interpersonal
communication. To both Charles and Adrian, you are both indeed
the “wind under my wings” to help me to soar higher in my personal
and professional flights, and without ever the need to look back with
uncertainty. I thank you for your loving presence in my life, and on
being whom I call my “comfy at rest home.”

I would be remiss if I did not say something about my professional

relationship with Leeva, and, more important, our lifetime
friendship. It has been 30+ years since I first met Leeva in my
interpersonal graduate seminar class. We started off in a mentor–
mentee relationship. Witnessing Leeva’s professional maturation has
been one of my life’s true blessings. My second blessing was to work
on the text three times now with her. Although the writing of this
book has been an exhausting undertaking, it is also a breathtaking
experience due to Leeva’s light-hearted and agile spirit. When I truly
needed the LOL moments, Leeva would text me in a timely manner
and sent amusing stories to make me laugh or be bemused. When I
could not “let go” of a chapter, she would push for closure and for
moving on with the next action step or maybe throw in some needed
food break reminders. Leeva, thank you for your lifetime of creative
energy and inspiration. I appreciate your risk-taking improvisational
rhythms. I value your authentic good heart in taking care of your
family, friends, and students around you. And I treasure you for
staying true to yourself despite it not being an easy path to navigate.
In the spirit of celebrating our 30 years of diamond friendship, I’m
glad our book will be coming out this year to mark our warm
friendship, and with rejuvenation and hope in our hearts.
F L : No doubt about it. Without my undergraduate
students—past and present, here and abroad, F2F and on zoom—I
would have zero motivation, incentive, and inspiration to write. You
are all my x-factor and I count my blessings, no cap. Your ability to
continuously challenge me, laugh with me, and your unrelenting
desire to find the hidden gems uncovering the magic of intercultural
communication are the reasons why I still love teaching.

I recognize the significance of this third edition with humility and

gratitude. If spirits do indeed watch over us, then I am indebted to
my Grandmothers, So Jun and May K, my Dad, and Ngao. I extend
my deepest and heartfelt appreciation to the following individuals for
their unique and exceptional contributions at various developmental
and psychological phases: Michel Boudrias, Emily Baxt, Alex Bryan,
Sabrina Caravello, Joyce Chan, Ling Chen, Bill Cross, Mark Haynes,
Minh-Ha Hoang, Daniel McArdle-Jaimes, Leeann Kim, Young Yun
Kim, Chad Knoell, Mamuyas, Lei, the Petersons, Pauline B. Powell,
Min Matson, the Senels, Sherwood Smith, Thiagi, Paul Thompson,
Paul Turounet, Farley Waylon, Alicia P. Whalen, Yurie and Dave
Wratchford, the A. Rafik Mohamed, and our past SIIC participants
and interns.

I give special thanks to my longstanding and supportive advocates

@USD: Williamson, Roger, Carole, Kristin, and Noelle. Thank you
and a t-rex lohi52 greg for carving out space, encouragement, and
your (historical) perspective . To my #rockstars—Haeme, Gina,
and McCroskey—love you tons. To Keige, Keean, Justin, and P—am
blessed + proud to be your Samyi! Finally … to my fierce sistahs who
unconditionally protect, support, and love me. How we managed to
stay grounded is still a head-scratcher but we Keeps. It. Real! I know
I’m never too far from home.

To wrap up, in 1989, I met Stella at my first communication

conference. As she presented her top paper on, of all things, Face-
Negotiation Theory, I was blown away. I decided to take a risk and
unexpectedly step into academia and I never looked back. True to
her name, Stella is my North Star, the one who shines a bright light
through life’s vicissitudes with faith and support. For all my
academic accomplishments, you, Stella, are a reflection within them.
I am truly blessed to have this yuan (relational karma) connection
with the GOAT mentor, role model, co-facilitator, and above all
cherished friend—embodying the definition of compassion, wisdom,
empathy, and flow.

R V : To all our students, teachers, families, friends,

and colleagues, you are all the reasons we passionately sustained the
writing and completion of UIC, Third Edition. We cast off this book
with exhilaration and elation, and we hope that the knowledge and
skillsets in this text give you the essential tools to become a more
adaptive intercultural communicator with dynamic flexibility. As
partners taking joy in our friendship and energized by our
collaboration, we wish you an awe-inspiring journey of intercultural
discovery and magical detours.

Stella and Leeva

P ART I
F UND A M EN T A L CONCEPTS IN
I NTE R C UL T U R AL
C OMM U N IC A T I ON

Stella Ting-Toomey
California State University, Fullerton

Leeva C. Chung
University of San Diego
C HAP T E R 1
Why Study Intercultural
Communication?

Stella Ting-Toomey
California State University, Fullerton

Leeva C. Chung
University of San Diego
CHAPTER 1
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 1, you should be able to
1. Discuss six practical reasons to study
intercultural communication and offer specific
examples for how the knowledge and skills you
will gain can benefit you and others in diverse
intercultural encounter situations.
2. Define the major characteristics of culture and
use the iceberg metaphor to illustrate the three
levels of the cultural knowledge required to
fully understand a culture.
3. Embark on your intercultural learning journey
with curiosity and move forward attentively to
learn about cultural others’ beliefs and value
patterns, communication styles, and intersecting
identity complexity issues.
Chapter 1 Highlights
• Six Practical Reasons to Study Intercultural
Communication
• The Impact of Technology on Everyday Intercultural
Communication
• The Global and Domestic Diversity Workforce
• The “New Norm”: Nontraditional Interpersonal
Relationships (Relationship Development, Families, and
Identity Complexity)
• Global Health Care Concerns and Opportunities
• Personal Empowerment, Social Advocacy, and Social
Justice
• Inclusivity Reason: Increasing Self-Awareness and Other-
Sensitivity

• Culture: A Learned Meaning System

• Surface-Level Culture: Artifacts and Pop Culture
• Intermediate-Level Culture: Symbols, Meanings, and
Norms
• Deep-Level Culture: Traditions, Beliefs, and Values

• Updating Your (Virtual) Intercultural Passport

• Discussion and Practical Application Questions
In our everyday life, we have evolved into finger
scrolling and texting humans. We can physically
travel across international borders or find ways
on our screen to explore the world around us.
When immigrant and minority group members become
the largest working-class group in 2032 (Wilson,
2016), along with the soaring aging population,
practicing intercultural communication
flexibility is especially essential in our global
world.
Flexible intercultural communication is
about managing cultural differences creatively
and adaptively across a wide range of situations.
This has never been more apparent and important
than now. In 2020, we witnessed in real time the
profound effect Covid-19 has had on this global
world in a dramatic, life-altering manner. This
devastating virus reminds us that change is
inevitable and can happen in an instant—whether
we like it or not, or if we are prepared or not.
Our ability to adapt and adjust forces us to look
within and reflect on what is important. How we
have responded differently, from country to
country, is more a matter of culture, in addition
to politics, social class, personality style, and
the economy, to name a few. The underlying values
of a culture (e.g., individual rights vs. group
consideration) shape communication expectations
and attitudes. Our ability to define a
communication problem or approach the
communication process itself varies across
cultures, ethnic group membership, individuals,
and situations.
With such layered complexity facing domestic
and global issues, we need to practice
intercultural communication sensitivity when
interacting with culturally different others.
This chapter examines the reasons why we should
understand intercultural communication in a
diverse set of contexts. In this chapter, we
developed three sections. First, we offer six
practical reasons why we should invest our
attention in the study of intercultural
communication. Next, we define the major
characteristics of culture. We end by summarizing
this first chapter and updating your virtual
intercultural passport, continuing you on your
intercultural journey.
Six Practical Reasons to Study
Intercultural Communication
We are ready. Somewhere, every day, we are ready for the breaking
story, the update, and the next new “thing” that quickly captures our
attention for that minute in our town, city, village, state, or another
country across the globe. In the 21st century, technology has driven
our global economy and transportation systems; and combined with
immigration policies, this makes us all an intersecting community.
We share increased connective space and contact with culturally and
ethnically different individuals.

In the global workforce, people bring a set of (un)conscious cultural

work habits and skillsets that make us feel uncomfortable. For
example, cultural strangers may approach problem-solving tasks or
nonverbal emotional expressions differently. They may develop
friendships and romantic relationships with different expectations
and timing. They may have different communication desires, end
goals, and needs during an intercultural encounter. We are (virtual)
global travelers, constantly moving across borders, into and out of a
country or an identity community. Neighborhoods and communities
are changing. In what was once a homogeneous community, we may
now find more diversity and cultural values in flux.
The study of intercultural communication is about the study of
communication that involves, at least in part, cultural group
membership differences. It is about acquiring the necessary
knowledge and dynamic skills to manage such differences
appropriately and effectively. In addition, it is about developing a
creative mindset to see things from a different angle without rigid
prejudgment. It is about being intentional, integrating cultural-
sensitive knowledge with nimble and adaptive communication
practice. There are so many practical reasons for studying
intercultural communication that we had difficulty choosing. We
narrowed it down to offer six practical reasons: understanding the
impact of technology on communication; comprehending diverse
global and diverse workplace trends; valuing the “new norm” of
nontraditional interpersonal relationships; navigating multicultural
health care concerns; asserting personal empowerment and engaging
in social justice advocacy; and increasing self-awareness and other-
sensitivity in our everyday family, friendship, neighborhood,
classroom, workplace, and virtual relationship settings.

The Impact of Technology on

Everyday Intercultural
Communication
As both global and virtual citizens, a large chunk of our time spent at
home or in the office is online. The Internet is our hub—the channel
that offers us a wide-open space to communicate globally and
domestically, entertain us, inform us, and connect us with
individuals with varying degrees of closeness. Technology has a grip
on our life, in ways that have made life more efficient and …
problematic. Understanding the impact of technology on every
aspect of our lives will allow us to use communication productively
and flexibly—to engage in increased awareness, enhanced dialogue,
and collaboration among the local culture and global consumers. The
impact of technology has influenced our lives in two specific ways:
360-degree presence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the ways we
connect virtually.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 Then, as she wriggled her annoyance, the laughter in the heart of him
materialized.

"My dear, I am incapable, at the moment, of taking anything seriously

except the fact that you have come back to me. Which is a matter rather for
rejoicing than for imprecations. If I seem to pass off this occurrence as
unimportant, it is only because it is so over-shadowed by the importance of
the realization that I exist again for you."

"I have never imagined you existed for anyone else," she protested
indignantly. "Another time you'll know that when it looks as if I were
thinking of someone else it's really that I am concentrating extra hard on
something connected with your happiness."

"I'll remember," Cyprian promised, slightly catching his breath.

* * * * * *

They had dismissed Digby Maur and his picture too airily. His suffering
was intense enough to cause his hatred of Cyprian to reflect again on Ferlie.

Everybody in the Club could see that he and Mrs. Clifford no longer
held sweet converse together nor walked in that House of Rimmon as
friends. Its numerous unmystical members openly rejoiced that Sterne had,
at last, put his foot down.

The iron entered into Digby Maur's soul. His was not the nature to forgo
visions of public revenge. Ferlie was involved in them because, although he
had unjustifiably presumed upon her frank comradeship to the extent of
insulting her, his desire, outweighing the elements of purer passion which
she had primarily awakened in him, was an emotion more likely to breed
wounded resentment than humble submission, on the well-deserved
withdrawal of its star.

Ferlie, though secretly confessing herself blame-worthy, realized too

thoroughly by now that dynamite, in proximity with a match-box however
innocently decorated, is not a reliable combination, and, having once
capitulated to Cyprian's judgment, could be safely trusted to abide by it.
 Hence, even an armed truce was out of the question. She welcomed
with relief the news that Digby had taken casual leave and gone to
Rangoon.

"It shows he has accepted the position and means to be sensible," she
told Cyprian. "When he returns we can meet as club-acquaintances and it
will be forgotten that we ever appeared to be anything more."

"Burma does not forget," he said cloudily, and she understood that he
had learnt that lesson bitterly enough.

She might have been less sanguine of a happy ending to her own affair
if she had connected with Maur's departure a detailed announcement in the
Rangoon papers of a forthcoming Art Exhibition, on a large scale, and for
which contributions were invited in the form of original sketches, paintings,
leather-work, pottery and all the usual articles universally acknowledged,
on such occasions, a joy for ever.

Shrewdly positive that he possessed a work of Art worth exhibiting, and

a golden opportunity of advertising his hitherto unexploited talent, Digby
Maur had well-timed his leave. All individuals occupying the local seats of
the Mighty would be present; besides, at this height of the Season, many
outside visitors.

There must follow comment and inquiries as to the identity of the artist
who had produced "Imprisoned Flames."

He was right. There were visitors, and, among them, a millionaire on a

private steam-yacht and his personal physician; a young man with an
inquisitive expression, reddish hair and a loud happy voice which he
dogmatically raised upon matters which the Elderly and Unenterprising had
long elected to approach with caution.

In due course the new-comers found themselves conducted by the

residents, to the Art Show, where the chief item was already admitted to be
a unique painting which most people only remembered as the Girl and the
Gul Mohurs, though the artist had baptized it more erotically.
 Said Peter to his neighbour, after a cursory glance, "Why, that's my
sister!"

Several people turned, and, amongst them, a hovering Anglo-Burman,

referred to in hushed tones as the artist.

Colonel Maddock put up his eye-glass with an astounded, "Bless my

soul! It is Ferlie. Where on earth did the little minx have it done?"

"It's damned good," said Peter. "Probably it is Cyprian's. I'd like to have
a copy. When we run them to earth we will ask them why they never told us
it was here."

The Colonel and Peter never discussed the fugitives.

Aunt B., mistrusting the frailty of human flesh, had not mentioned the
relationship under which they were masquerading. They might have already
dropped it in anticipation of the divorce to which in common sense they
must finally succumb. Better, she thought, to let Ferlie tell her own tale to
Peter. She had not foreseen that Ferlie would delay too long in replying to
Peter's letter, on the basis that least said on paper soonest mended.

So Peter and the Colonel only knew that the two were together and that
Ferlie's name was Mrs. Clifford to stave off the world's curiosity.

Digby Maur was already lionized, and, being Digby Maur, his head
already felt a little light.

He longed for Ferlie and Cyprian to hear of his triumph at first hand,
and appreciated, with a tinge of malice, that the daily papers would afford
Cyprian a resentful shock over the publicity bestowed upon the painting of
Ferlie.

He decided to find means of introducing himself to explain that the

picture was not for sale.

The opportunity occurred sooner than he expected, by way of a lady

who had once known the man reputed to be Digby Maur's father, and who
felt sorry for the quasi-European son, and glad of his success. She had met
the Colonel, and, aware of the respect in which the Banks held him, thought
to put the young artist in touch with a possible order for Burmese sketches.
Finding herself near Peter she manœuvred the two opposite one another and
was about to explain that Digby was the artist of "that red painting," when a
friend jostled against her in the crowd and engaged her in conversation.
Peter and Digby, barely introduced, were left face to face.

"I must say you have not even a family resemblance to your brother,"
hazarded Digby.

"Which is not surprising," and Peter eyed him with interest, "seeing that
I have no brother."

Maur recalled the Club conclusion of Cyprian's relationship to Ferlie.

"I should have said your half-brother, Mr. Sterne."

"Oh, you've met old Cyprian? No, he is not even my half-brother,

though people used to take him for an uncle. He is just an old family friend.
But if you have met him you may know my kiddie-sister. She is staying
with him in Burma at present."

A sudden unhealthy pallor left his companion's face putty-coloured.

"I didn't catch your name," Peter was saying when Digby recovered his
breath. "Mine's Carmichael. My sister is a Mrs. Clifford."

He slightly over-emphasized the unfamiliar title.

The eyes scrutinizing him narrowed.

"I have had the honour of painting Mrs. Clifford."

"By Jove! Then it was you——" Peter studied him afresh and stopped,
faintly uneasy. This man must know Ferlie quite well. What on earth had
made him suppose Cyprian his brother—or hers? Better not inquire, lest he
should put his foot on some unexplained situation. He drifted into
enthusiastic comment on the portrait and escaped to warn Colonel Maddock
of the artist's identity. He had been prepared for an equivocal attitude from
the narrow-minded, who might criticize Ferlie's staying with a friend of
Cyprian's calibre. Odd of Cyprian to rush her off like that to Burma. The
uncle part could be overdone. Aunt B. had said they were living in the wilds
and seeing no one, so it had appeared not to matter. He had assumed them
lost to both hemispheres till Ferlie should become stronger after her
troubles and able to make some satisfactory arrangement with Clifford.

She should have confided in her mother, or her only brother long ago.
Of course he saw that she could not be left to the care of a chap who, from
Aunt B.'s hints, was little better than a maniac on one point, however sane
he might be on all others. Like the Vane woman, he would probably end in
a Home, unless—and Peter eagerly recalled certain experiments he had
been requested to make in Ruth Levine's flat and on the efficacy of which
he was now awaiting her final verdict. He was so "keen" on insanity and if
his ideas consolidated into success there seemed no limit to his horizon.

His gaze into space grew abstracted and he dismissed Maur's inquiry
with a shrug. People always took for granted that old Cyprian was some
sort of a relation: this fellow had obviously noticed that Ferlie did not use
the prefix "Uncle," and had assumed the rest.

Rum chap, Cyprian. A queer friend for her to have stuck to all these
years. He really must hint to her, though, that she could not, in any country,
pay an indefinite visit to a man friend, however elderly, without asking for
the acidulated comments of catty women and coarse-minded men.

By the time he found the Colonel that gentleman had already been
presented to Maur; who had made hay to some purpose; having decided to
try another tack and assume Cyprian something different from a brother,
this time.

"Yes, I have had the great privilege of painting Mrs. Clifford, sir. Do
you happen to be acquainted with her husband?"

The Colonel was grateful for the lead. He thought Peter had suggested
that Ferlie was posing as a widow. Much better to have admitted separation,
since, at this distance, awkward questions could not be answered anyway.
 "I have met him and have no desire to meet him again. You can take it
from me, Mr. Maur, that she was altogether wise in insisting that they
should live their lives apart. As for your picture of her I should have much
pleasure..." etc., etc.

He certainly thought he must have done Ferlie a good turn if this man
should be a talker. The chances were now people would get to know the
husband was impossible. He blandly concentrated on the picture.

"This one is not for sale," Digby assured him. "But if I can persuade
Mrs. Clifford to sit again—and I think that will be possible—I should be
happy to execute you a fresh order, though I never reproduce. I wonder if a
bank of our red lilies and the hint of a gold pagoda-roof in the middle
distance, reflected in water—you have visited the lakes?"

Maddock eventually gave the order for another portrait, subject to

Ferlie's acquiescence.

"We shall be hoping to arrange a meeting soon. Must run up to

Mandalay first."

However, after an interview with Peter, they both came to the

conclusion that Ferlie should not have left her nearest friends so much in
the dark as to her tactics.

"Aunt B. declared that she was calling herself a widow," said Peter,
"hence the 'Mrs. Clifford.' It was easier to avoid publicity and the interest of
the folk who covet their neighbour's peace of mind. The 'brother' mistake is
fishy preceding his attitude to you. We must pick our way if we don't want
to get Ferlie's name handed round with the ice-cream at every official show
going. When we see her I shall put it to her straight."

Digby Maur's leave at an end, Government House had shaken him

warmly by the hand. He had gained for himself a reputation, and the power
to shatter one.
 CHAPTER XV

"Ferlie," said Cyprian, one morning, pushing back his chair from the
breakfast-table, "are you feeling all right?"

"Feeling all—what do you mean?"

"You're not, then?"

Her smile was uncertain.

"Don't be silly! Why should I be feeling wrong?"

"That's just what I have been asking myself for more than a week. The
Hot Weather is not nearly upon us yet."

"I'm quite well," she insisted listlessly.

"Then, what is the matter?"

"Nothing."

"Oh!"

"Cyprian, don't tease," and her unnerved vexation contained, he

imagined, a hint of alarm; "there is nothing the matter. Though I see you are
determined to believe that a lie."

"It is one," he replied, opening the newspaper.

She resorted to a stormy exit.

What else could she do when he was right? It seemed sometimes a great
deal too high, the price she was paying to preserve their flawless peace. At
least, it had been flawless until Digby Maur returned from Rangoon, but not
to fall easily into his niche as a casual acquaintance.
 She wondered, when she sat staring at him on the river-bank below the
garden with its wild, concealing foliage, why she had never before thought
of comparing his eyes to a snake's.

He painted on, grimly speechless, but when they travelled over her,
devoid of expression, coldly alive, she could have fled in panic. And she
had got to see the thing out or everyone would learn that Cyprian had
brought her here under false colours and that, somewhere in England, dwelt
her husband, complacently aware of their flight.

The scandal would force Cyprian to resign, to whom public criticism of

his private affairs, even in simple matters, was real torture. For him, through
her, to be obliged to retire on an inadequate pension in a tempest of slander
was unthinkable.

Why had she been such a fool as to shrink from confiding, by letter, in
Peter?

It had seemed immaterial whether she did so or not, considering that, in

Rangoon, one could safely assume nobody had heard of her existence, and
he and the Colonel were not contemplating a long stay anywhere.

Peter at present, she knew, made a remorselessly logical Catholic with

no time for visions unsanctioned by the Pope. Order and discipline
everywhere, if you please, for Peter, once as thoroughly lawless as he now
showed himself law-ridden. But Peter was an extremist in everything. He
had really little use for the non-fanatic who hesitates to sacrifice, at any
rate, his neighbour's Life and Limb, for his opinions. But, while he had
made his submission to Rome in calm, wholehearted conviction, which
might or might not, in another ten years, be followed by as calm and
wholehearted a recantation, annulled in its turn by a general clear-up of his
whole life and a death-bed repentance—"for, though it may be a darned
uncomfortable religion to live in, it's the only tidy one to die in," had ever,
like Charles Stuart, maintained Peter—Ferlie had crept through the gate as a
battered ship creeps gratefully into an unexpectedly discovered harbour,
anchorless, after the storm.
 She had found there warmth and healing and a kind of companionship
among the angels that only very sensitive worshippers of abstract holiness
know. The Unseen Hosts were to her lone spirit so really present at the altar
steps that she could no longer consider the most deserted church empty.
Doctrinally, she was unsound. Authority had recognized the bewildered
pulsing of a heart too bruised for searching examination, and admitted her
with far less circumspection than they accorded Peter of the minutely
inquiring habit of mind.

The Peters are well known later to deny; not so the Ferlies.

By reason of that very loyal complex in her was Ferlie passively

chained to the Force from which she had once drawn strength, since there
could be no severing of her fetters without a severance also from those who
had comforted her in affliction. How mean to accept the sweets and deny
the obligations incurred! To question only the rules which affected her
personal desires!

That Force had stood by her in her darkness: therefore she must stand
by it now that she walked in sunshine.

Yet, Cyprian was wondering whether she would outthrow superstition

when happiness set in, and she was sure that, if so, he would soon persuade
himself, for her sake, that, though divorce in itself might be an evil thing, in
their case it became a necessary good. Clifford could be trusted to make
things easy; he to whom all women were merely, Woman.

The doors would swing wide on very little pressure (... Et ne nos
inducas in tentationem).

Since, white-faced and petrified, she had undertaken to deceive

Cyprian, and steal by secret ways and unworthy evasions into Digby Maur's
garden, yielding him the triumph of another picture in return for his
promised silence, she had conversed with him only in monosyllables and,
since he earnestly desired to complete the commission which might set him
on the road to future recognition, he had borne her self-absorbed misery
without making any attempt to counteract it or effect a reconcilation. His
feelings towards her at that time were an irreconcilable mixture of angry
desire and aching remorse.

The picture completed, it was his intention to make a final effort to re-
arouse her forfeited pity. If she should throw up the sponge before he were
ready he determined to stick at nothing which should force her and that
canting Sterne to eat the dust of the same humiliation they had publicly
heaped upon him.

He was incapable of believing that they were not lovers in the term's
worst accepted sense. And what man has done man can do, and the woman
who takes one step in that direction will take another, he promised himself.

Ferlie, nervous of Cyprian's penetration in the matter, attacked Digby

one afternoon, when the work was about half finished.

"I don't think you quite understand," she said, "the strain this deception
is putting upon me. Cyprian is inventing reasons in his own mind for my
looking so ill. But I simply can't sleep."

"Tell him then."

"Do you really imagine that he would allow you to finish this, if I did?"

"In that case I should distinctly advise you not to tell him."

"Oh, you are a cad!" she burst out. "What man, worthy of the name,
would take advantage of a private confidence inadvertently yielded, to
further his own ends?"

"You forget," he said, "your Cyprian never, from the beginning, would
admit that I was worthy of the name. Do you happen to know the terms in
which he forbade me your company?"

"Whatever he said he was right."

"Why not, therefore, resign yourself to the worst where my actions are
under discussion?"
 "We had an agreement before T consented to this course," she reminded
him. "I suppose you will not forget it."

"I denied any intention of employing tactics which had already failed to
make you see my side." There was a sneer in his voice. "I have,
nevertheless, abided by the word of a—no, I'll spare you. You started this
conversation, not I."

She relapsed into hopeless silence.

"Do you think I have not suffered too?" he asked, more humanely.
"Once, you would have noticed that I am hardly looking as if my own
nights were undisturbed."

Then, as she answered nothing, "You had better ask Sterne where he
intends to bring up his son that no stigma shall attach to his name in future
as he seems persuaded it does to mine."

"You could save yours if you wished," she said, in tired tones. "It is
what we are that matters, not what other people think we are."

"You may not be the hypocrite you seem. But as for your reputed
brother ..."

"I think, if I were you, I'd leave it at that," Ferlie told him, so
significantly that he paused and passed the rest of the sentence off with an
unpleasant laugh.

"I don't understand exactly what you remind me of," was his next
opening. "Have you, in England, any legends referring to the spirits of
trees? We, in Burma, people our mountains and rivers and trees with 'nats,'
which are powerfully angelic or demoniac spirits, but the tree-nats are the
most popular, I think. I might have painted you as my conception of a Gul
Mohur Nat, but, then, you would have had to stand nude among the
shadows—hardly visible, but still nude, with the dull golden reflections of
the flowers upon your pale skin."

Ferlie looked back steadily into the hard brightness of his eyes.
 The attitude of purely English Club members might be, in part,
responsible for the character-development here of weak expansiveness into
bitter withdrawal, and natural animal passion to the impotent rage of
unnatural excesses which lent him a spurious sense of power.

The real power on this occasion lay in her own self-control, and she
knew it.

She spoke impersonally. "There is a story of the first Old Master to

paint from the nude. It is not a story that appeals to me, somehow. The
model and the artist regarded the occasion so sacred as to warrant their joint
attendance at Mass first. Myself, I feel that they should never have realized
the suggestion of lust, in anything so aloof as Art, enough to anticipate its
interference."

She astonished and disconcerted him where he had hoped to disconcert

her.

"You would, therefore, have raised no objection?" rather lamely.

"I should assuredly have refused—you. There is a form of Art, which

only artists of a higher evolution than you are fit to practise. My objection
would not have been founded on any idea that the human body must be
concealed to all for the sake of those who misread its allegorical beauty."

He unscrewed a fresh tube with savagely nervous fingers, and

descended to cheap reviling.

"Sterne, I gather, is one of the fortunately evolved specimens who do

not misread the allegory and are, hence, privileged without the artist's
excuse."

"Your thoughts just bore me," said Ferlie flatly. "I can see them passing
across your face and they are ugly enough to mar any work you attempt.
And, underneath all my angry disgust, I am sorry for you. If you came
across a wounded snake what would you do?"
 The palette crashed to the ground as he took a pace forward, clenching
his stained hands.

"Put it out of its pain," he said.

A faint shadow of that hypnotic power, which Peter had so long

suspected and, finally, developed in himself, supported her.

"If you are, as I believe you to be, a true artist under your skin," and she
kept very still, "you will practise the restraint which should enable you to
put your picture before your—passions. I have stood long enough for to-
day."

She turned swiftly and retreated through the trees; nor did he attempt to
call her back.

* * * * * *

Towards the end of the week Cyprian, who had left Ferlie at the Club
surrounded by a new batch of English papers, and ridden out, himself, to an
inspection connected with his work at some distance, returned late in the
afternoon, to find her missing.

"Your sister, Mr. Sterne? No. She only stayed at the Club about a
quarter of an hour."

Someone had seen her walking towards the river-path.

"Then I'll go home that way, skirting the hill," said Cyprian. "The
servant met me with a telegram for her, having been to the bungalow and
found her out."

He rode slowly off, flicking at the flies with his crop. Once on the
narrow path above the bank he let the horse pick its own way. The back
compounds of one or two bungalows, set far apart, straggled to the bushy
slope above the water, but the vicinity of the river was too feverish in the
evening to be popular, and it struck Cyprian as particularly unwise of Ferlie
to choose this spot for a walk, in her present languid state of health.
 He made up his mind to tackle her outright when they got home and
insist upon knowing what was worrying her. He had taken refuge in
patience, but she sometimes needed rousing by sharper methods.

There might have arrived a letter from Peter criticizing what Cyprian
felt to be none of that gentleman's business. As an only brother, and older
than Ferlie, it was possible that Peter's scruples had outweighed his
discretion. Cyprian, having overcome his own, was not prepared for re-
discussion of the situation with anybody. To have and to hold, whatever the
future brought to either of them. He would plough the furrow now to the
very end.

As he registered this resolve afresh, he heard voices ahead, but their

owners were hidden behind a natural crescent of thick undergrowth which
somebody had attempted, in the past, to train as a rude hedge. Above the
tumble of scattered bushes appeared the ragged outline of a garden, flanked
by two huge Gul Mohurs.

Cyprian recognized them as those which stood in Digby Maur's

compound, reflecting with satisfaction that the latter had remained largely
invisible since his return from leave.

The ruin of decaying vegetation on the dank path muffled the sound of
his horse's hoofs and he had passed within a few yards of the foliage
concealing the speakers when the identity of one was revealed to him.

"I told you yesterday that you make me pity you, in spite of myself,"
Ferlie was saying excitedly. "I am speaking cold sense when I repeat that it
will be impossible for me to hide much longer from Cyprian that I am not
spending my afternoons at the Club. I actually had to go there to-day to
avoid questions before he went out into the district."

"Well, it's no use," Digby Maur's huskily uneven tones replied. "You're
great on 'control' and all that, and the means you employ to get here do not
concern me. You will continue to come for as long as I need you, because
you can't help yourself; and I am not nearly finished with you yet."
 Cyprian, on this statement, became entirely primitive man, and did not
wait to consider the metamorphosis. He dismounted, crashed through the
interlacing branches, and found himself standing between Ferlie and the
individual who had made this astounding claim on her time.

The air was pregnant with the labouring emotions of a drama as old as
the world.

Digby Maur recovered first from the intrusion, for, aware that he now
had his back to the wall he was, also, reliant on the sharpness of his teeth.
Sterne was the kind of man to sell his soul in avoiding a scandal should
such a drastic price be required of him.

"Good evening," he said. "These are my grounds and you will be ready
to admit that even my humble home is my castle?"

For answer, the intruder stepped forward and slashed him across the
face with the riding-crop.

The insolently poised figure reeled backwards as Cyprian spoke to

Ferlie.

"The horse is here. I am going to put you up on it and lead it home. You
don't look fit to walk."

Without a word she went with him down the slope. She would have
refused his help in mounting only that he lifted her bodily and set her
sideways on the saddle, putting the reins between her nerveless fingers.

The dull thudding progress of the horse was out of time with her
quickening pulses.... Something in the life of Cyprian and herself was over,
and of the new phase which loomed ahead she was afraid.

Arrived at the house she motioned him away and slipped unaided to the
ground. He tossed the reins to a servant and followed her up the path to his
office. She sank into a chair and sat motionless resting her chin in her
palms, dimly aware that he had passed into his dressing-room. She heard
the splutter of a syphon, and immediately he returned to push a weak
mixture towards her. "Drink it up," he ordered in matter-of-fact tones. "And
then, just when you're ready, Ferlie, you can begin."

So he had not forgotten his promise. Cyprian never made the same
mistake twice. It took a long while for her to tell him, and during the whole
recital he refrained from interruption. When she ended he drew a deep
breath and stretched out a hand through the gathering dusk to lay it over
hers in the old protective way.

"I have this to say," he told her. "We are through with any childish
arguments concerning one another's rights. You have taken no irrevocable
vows to obey me—in fact, I believe the word has lately been deleted from
the orthodox marriage service, has it not?—but our united brains must be
clear upon the point that two cannot walk together unless they are agreed,
and, as it is impossible for two human souls of widely different impulses to
agree identically upon the treatment of every problem they may be called
upon to solve, it is necessary that in final decisions one should yield
precedence to the other. In visionary matters beyond my ken I am willing to
sit at your feet. Over practical matters and the verdicts that affect our
material welfare, I claim precedence, Ferlie. You gave it to me when you
gave yourself into my keeping at Black Towers. I am responsible for you;
not you for me. Are you satisfied for this to be so?"

It was not in her power to speak, but she bowed her weary puzzled head
over his hand and rested it there. He laid his free one upon her hair and
continued speaking, while he absently smoothed the ruffled "bob."

"Yes? Well, in the circumstances, you had no shadow of right to take the
law into your own hands and act deliberately against my wishes, just
because my trust in you was too complete for me to conceive the possibility
of such a thing. If that trust between us is to remain solid, our problems, in
the future, will have to be shared. Neither must spare the other for a
mistaken sense of self-sacrifice. You would not hide your joys from me—
why, then, your sorrows? Again, I ask you: are you satisfied that I am
right?"

"You know," said Ferlie's muffled tones. "You know...."

 "Do I? Then I am going to extract a promise from you, here and now,
that you will be fair with me, as I have been fair with you. Did I lie to you
after the return of Hla Byu into our joint lives? Did I leave you and
withdraw to fight my battle alone when she drowned herself? I wonder
whether the earthly years make a difference, Ferlie, after all? I wonder
whether you are capable of understanding what love means to a man who
has lived nearly half a century without it, and who suddenly finds himself
face to face with its illimitable mysteries? Surely, you will admit the fact
that, since my probation has been double yours, I have earned the inevitable
right to lead before I follow?"

Even then she did not stir under the strengthening touch of his sensitive
fingers.

"Lead on," she said....

CHAPTER XVI

Said the Most Important Lady, she always knew that there was
something queer about it. "Looks as if the whole of his ultimate objections
to Mr. Maur were rooted in the fact that he knew Maur would probably let it
out."

"But how did Maur himself find it out?"

"Probably the girl told him."

"Sounds hardly possible. Why should she?"

"My dear! He is not a young man exactly and she was obviously
attracted by Maur. Hence these stripes!"

"Have you seen his face?"

 "The men are rather inclined to doubt Maur's version."

"My dear! The men! She'd have had them all in tow if she hadn't
suddenly concentrated upon Maur and disgusted everybody. Men are wax
when it comes to a red head and a white skin. Children!"

"But what does Maur exactly say?"

"Apparently Sterne saw green over the portrait-sittings and insulted

him. Maur referred him to his own little indiscretion and all parties began to
snarl about their rights. The girl appears to have played the part of passive
resister to both sides. That Type of Woman.... Well, Sterne lost his temper
and hit Maur unawares when he was quite defenceless, and then the girl
rushed between them and gave away the true relationship. From what one
gathers, she was infatuated with Maur—got him to paint her twice over for
an excuse to be with him—and, while he remained under the impression
that she was Sterne's widowed sister, he admits to having considered the
possibilities of matrimony. His discovery of what she really was—you
know they say the husband divorced her and is still alive?—startled him
into confessing that his feelings had altered in one respect.

"There was nothing for it then but for her to go home with Sterne; and
Maur can hardly be blamed for doing his duty by this credulous Station
which has also been suffering under the delusion that all was square and
above-board."

"For the sake of the natives alone, one's got to be so down upon That
Sort of Thing in this country."

"All the same," drawled the more tolerant voice of Somebody's

Husband, "I don't see how anybody has suffered particularly except the
Eternal Triangle. I've always considered Sterne a jolly decent fellow, and
Mrs. Clifford not nearly so red-haired as Maur has probably painted her."

"Well, I think the whole business is fishy. There's something horrid

about a household, in any case, which brazenly maintains that kind of
Burmese child; and John is probably the co-respondent's son of the divorce
case. The co-respondent can't be Sterne or, surely, he'd have married her.
Probably the real man bunked after marrying her, and Sterne, aware that his
own past would not bear too close a scrutiny, took pity on her and..."

"Aren't we getting on a little fast, Dolly? It makes a good story, I'll

admit, but we couldn't hold to it in the face of a summons for libel, and you
know you want to send the boys to Winchester."

In the bar one heard a good bit of low chuckling.

"And Diogenes wearing the air of a Trappist monk through the whole
joke!"

"All the same, when it comes to bringing a woman of that stamp into a
respectable God-fearing district, and introducing her to its wives and
daughters under false pretences, it's a bit thick."

"Of course he'll have to go."

"Good God, yes! He'll have to go."

"And I shouldn't be sorry to kick out Digby Maur along with him."

"Oh, Maur! His doings cut no ice. But, somehow, we have looked upon
Sterne as a creature with principles, and I, for one, am sorry for this smash-
up."

"Personally, I was dashed keen on the little lady."

"Well, none of the crowd were better than they should be. Still, I am
glad that someone has whacked Maur. I can't quite believe in his injured
innocence. If he didn't deserve a licking for this he's simply asked for it
elsewhere, for many moons. But I hate a rotten show of this sort in any
Station. I wish Sterne would hurry up and get out. But wherever they go in
Burma now, people can hardly be expected to call."

* * * * * *

Yes, most decidedly Cyprian would have to go. The children

complicated matters, particularly Thu Daw. Otherwise, things were made
easier by Peter's telegram which Cyprian had forgotten to give Ferlie until
the morning after that interview in Digby Maur's garden.

It was a long telegram explaining that Maddock had been invited to

betake himself, and party, on a visit to the Andaman Islands, where an old
friend of his was acting as Chief Commissioner.

"Bring John and come self Cyprian if possible," ended the telegram.

"It's so like Peter to prepay the reply in order to give me no time to

think," said Ferlie. "Do we go, Cyprian?"

That they should separate she did not contemplate for a moment. But he
glanced at Thu Daw before raising questioning eyes to her.

She picked up the gurgling golden-skinned atom and smiled at him over
its head.

"Why! We have no choice in the matter."

"I haven't, my dear, but you..."

"Have none either, then," said Ferlie.

He had sent in his resignation.

"And from now on," he said inconsequently, "it is to be the truth?"

"Why not?" she asked. "Can anything hurt us so long as we are

together?"

His answering smile was very wistful.

"I had great ideas of protecting and caring for the woman I loved when I
was twenty-eight," he said.

"And I had great ideas of protecting the man I loved when I was seven,"
said Ferlie.