Abstract:
Nowadays, with the continuous development of economy and culture, the international exchanges have become increasingly frequent. There is an old saying “to watch the weather outside and the face inside,” which is very beneficial to intercultural communication. As an important part of non-verbal communication, body language also plays a crucial role in intercultural communication. However, by different cultural traditions body languages are not exactly the same. They are restricted by culture and meanwhile have unique cultural connotation. In order to succeed in the intercultural communication, we should have a correct understanding of the cultural differences and similarities between body languages in different cultures. This paper, on the basis of some examples concerning gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, postures and space, attempts to make a comparison between body languages in different cultures. It also aims at enumerating the cultural differences and similarities of body language, putting forward the principles that should be followed in intercultural communication, and making an effective contribution to cultural communication.

Key words: intercultural communication; body language; cultural differences; cultural similarities; principles
                          
摘 要：
随着经济文化的不断发展，国际交流活动日益频繁。俗话说：“出门看天色，进门看脸色”。作为非语言交际中的重要组成部分，体态语在跨文化交际中起着举足轻重的作用。然而，不同文化习俗下的体态语并不是完全相同的。它们由文化制约并拥有独特的文化内涵。为了在跨文化交际中能够成功的进行交流，我们应该正确认识不同文化下的体态语之间的差异性，同时也必须承认世界各国的体态语与语言和文化一样，也有相似之处。本文从手势语，面部表情，目光语，身体姿势和空间距离等方面对不同文化下的体态语进行对比。其目的在于通过列举体态语的文化差异与共性，提出交际中应遵循的原则，从而有效促进跨文化交流，避免误解的产生。

关键词：跨文化交际；体态语；文化差异；相似之处；遵循原则

1 Introduction
There are two kinds of communication existing in the human society. They are verbal communication and non-verbal communication. The non-verbal communicative behavior refers to the process that people use the natural characteristics of body to transfer information and express specific thoughts and ideas. It includes body language, object language and context language. Body language, of the three kinds of non-verbal communication, is the most important part in communication both home and abroad. With the rapid economic and cultural development in the latest decades, intercultural communication is becoming a fashionable trend in international affairs, and meanwhile, body language in intercultural communication is inevitably a hot topic among people and scholars of various fields.