Despite the growing variety and volume of relationships between Taiwan and China proper, the Taiwanese are at least one and maybe two generations ahead of mainland Chinese in their evolution into free-thinking, free-speaking, free-spending practitioners of market economies.

In Taiwan, the Confucian-oriented beliefs and attitudes that sustained Chinese civilization for more than two thousand years have been watered down and mixed with a melange of Western values and consumption habits. This has created a new East-West hybrid culture that is, no doubt, a portent of what will eventually happen in mainland China as well.

The emerging Taiwan Chinese are not likely to retain any of the cultural aspectes of traditional China that interfere with individualism, independence, the pursuit of profits or any attempt to give full vent to these new and previously alien concepts.

The only aspects of China's traditional culture that the Taiwan Chinese are likely to keep are those that contribute directly to their newfound goals. Since immorality and distrust are ever present, family ties, all the way down to third and fourth cousins, are a valuable asses in business and will remain an essential part of the Taiwan-Chinese character.

Virtually absolute rule by the top person in an organization, with practically no delegation of authority, will also remain a common characteristic of Taiwan Chinese business because it will be a long time before founders or owners can develop the confidence and trust necessary to do business any other way.

The refined tastes in art, food, clothing, and sexual pleasures have been an integral part of upper-class Chinese culture for millennia. Since they contribute to, rather than detract from, success in business, they too will remain a part of the new Taiwan Chinese world.

As far as the post-1970 Taiwan Chinese are concerned, the very bedrock of the Confucian way has turned into dust. It consisted of blind obedience to government officials and paying respect to people and institution that did not deserve it.

Hereafter, the continuity of the Taiwan Chinese family will not be guaranteed by worshipping and sacrificing oneself to the past, but by achieving the survival power and options that come with having wealth.

Excerpted from Chinese Etiquette and Ethics in Business, by Boye Lafayette De Mente Excerpted from Korean Etiquette and Ethics in Business, by Boye Lafayette De Mente Kuala Lumpur Malaysia at 15:19 PM