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35 J. Conflict Resol. 3 (1991)

handle is hein.journals/jcfltr35 and id is 1 raw text is: Community Mediation in the People's Republic of China JAMES A. WALL, Jr. MICHAEL BLUM University ofMissouri This study investigated the mediations of ninety-seven community mediators in the People's Republic of China. The mediators' reports on two mediations each-one successful and one unsuccessful- indicated the frequency with which they use twenty-seven mediation techniques. In addition, their information revealed the strategies- assist, procedural, educate, and external reliance - they employ in their mediations. It was found that Chinese mediators utilize the same techniques and strategies in successful versus nonsuccessful mediations; yet, their techniques and strategies differ in couple (husband-wife) as opposed to noncouple disputes. it means to halve, to be in the middle. Derived from the Latin word mediare, mediation has come to signify more than dividing disputed items into equal parts. Over the years mediators have set up negotiations, separated parties, advised them, offered proposals, served as sounding boards, pro- tected the disputants and . . . the list could continue for pages. Mediators have applied their techniques to a wide variety of disputes. In this country, we continually and increasingly rely upon mediation to resolve international (e.g., Touval 1982; Young 1972), industrial (e.g., Kochan and Jick 1978; Kolb 1983) marital (e.g., Haynes 1981), community (e.g., Salem 1982), and judicial (Wall and Rude 1987) disputes. As mediation has been elaborated and applied to a variety of disputes, it has come to be viewed from a Western perspective; that is, we consider the Western mediation process to be universal. For example, we typically think of mediation as a process in which a neutral third party uses logic and emo- tional appeasement to help disputants reach a mutually acceptable resolution. However, it seems feasible, if not probable, that mediation in Eastern cultures differs significantly from that in our society. And given our increased JOURNAL OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION. Vol. 35 No. 1, March 1991 3-20 0 1991 Sage Publications. Inc. 3 from the SAGE Social Science Collections. All Rights Reserved.