Personal Space: The Chinese tend to be comfortable standing just over an arm’s length from one another. When meeting strangers, this distance will be farther. Physical Contact: The Chinese generally do not touch people that are strangers to them unless it is unavoidable (i.e., in a crowd).

Cultures share some commonalities. Women preferred more personal space from strangers than men in almost all of the countries studied. People living in warmer places tended to keep less distance than those in colder climes. And the older you are, the farther away you stand.

The totality of these personal boundaries constitute the so-called ‘cultural space’. The extent of the personal boundaries that can or cannot be crossed in social situations greatly varies from culture to culture. Maintaining an appropriate amount of space is a crucial aspect of non-verbal communications.

Personal space or proxemics, a form of non-verbal communication, is the space surrounding each person. Zones: Broadly, the four distinct zones are: Intimate (0-2 ft.), Personal (2-4 ft), Social (4-12 ft.) and Public (more than 12 ft.).

In places like Qatar and Saudi Arabia, men and women are forbidden from interacting, let alone touching. Where It’s Offensive: India, Morocco, Africa, the Middle East. What’s Offensive: Many cultures still prefer to eat using traditional methods—their hands.

Making eye contact in China is a sure fire way to make enemies, not friends. The Chinese people view eye contact as a necessary tool, but not in the same way that other cultures do. In China, people make eye contact when they are angry. It is meant to challenge the other person and is a sign of disrespect.

Personal Space: When interacting with people they are familiar with, Filipinos tend to prefer standing at an arm’s length from one another. However, in public areas like a market or subway, personal space is often limited and pushing is common.

You probably won’t be surprised to learn that personal space varies from culture to culture. In Saudi Arabia, for example, if a stranger moves close to you to converse, you might find yourself unconsciously backing away (as in the case of Kramer and the close talker).

Interpersonal distance. Hall described the interpersonal distances of humans (the relative distances between people) in four distinct zones: (1) intimate space, (2) personal space, (3) social space, and (4) public space.

Proxemics theory – originally developed by Hall (1966) – is the study of the various ways people understand and use space in a cultural context. Hall argued different cultures create different ways of “seeing space”, with the most familiar and easily accessible example for our purpose being the idea of personal space.

From personal observation, it seems Latin American cultures and Mediterranean cultures tend to be more physically affectionate (e.g. kiss on the cheek to greet, more “touchy-feely”, hugs, etc.) when compared to Northern Europeans or East Asians.

Unlike some other types of physical contact, a hug can be practiced publicly and privately without stigma in many countries, religions and cultures, within families, and also across age and gender lines, but is generally an indication that people are familiar with each other.

Suddenly you are outside of your “comfort zone”. Proxemics, the study of how human beings react and behave with regard to personal space, tell us that cultures all vary in their measurement of personal space, but some of them will make you more uncomfortable than others.

Hence, cultural norms play a huge role in determining the dynamics of personal space between two individuals. To fully understand the subtle differences in the proxemics around the world, one must understand the dynamics of personal space across various cultures.

To understand the scope of variation in proxemics across various cultures and countries, Edward Hall classified cultures into two main categories, namely contact and non-contact culture. These categories refer to the amount of physical touching permitted socially between any two individuals in any given culture.

Unlike in western culture where personal space is not an issue, Chinese personal space and touching are keenly observed by Chinese people. Therefore, if you notice your Chinese friend feeling uncomfortable around you, try going through personal space Chinese culture guidelines to know the problem.