Differences in Politeness between Chinese and English-speaking Cultures

As a social phenomenon,politeness is a universal feature of language. But it also has a cultural feature. The paper reviews the pragmatic studies of politeness carried out by the Western and the Chinese scholars. From the point of view of history and culture, the paper makes a contrastive study and analysis concerning politeness between Chinese and English-speaking cultures. Understanding the differences can avoid the pragmatic failures and achieve success in cross-cultural communication. For English learners, it can also help develop and improve their pragmatic competence.