Cultural miscommunication leads to distorted perceptions between Americans and the Chinese and ultimately affects relations on a large-scale level.

During the two-day National Press Club conference in Washington earlier this week, scholars and professionals from both sides were of the same opinion that inadequate cross-cultural dialogue is partly responsible for the U.S.-China cultural gap.

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For instance, the word dragon in China is associated with royalty, benevolence and auspiciousness. Conversely, Americans relate to the word in a negative way and sees it as something vicious and evil, explains Xia Jixuan, vice president for international broadcast agency China Radio International.

So Americans are baffled when the Chinese proudly claim themselves descendants of the dragon, Xia added.

President of U.S.-based New York Radio Group Alan Pendleton noted the subtle difference on how Americans and Chinese approach negotiations.

While Americans negotiate primarily to reach a consensus where specific obligations and responsibilities are laid out and assigned to each party, the Chinese see it with less rigidity and more as a means for modification of a contract.

From an economic standpoint, the disparity is even more visible.

As is opposite from the usual perception, Chinese companies who provide labor for mass production of goods for foreign firms like Apple take home very little profit, said former China head for American Public Media's "Marketplace" Scott Tong.

"The reality in America is that Apple to many Americans represents Americans' ignorance of the global economy," he added, noting another misconception that goods made in China are of poor quality.

Additionally, CCTV America senior consultant Jim Laurie notes China's weakness in self-promotion in spite of its "wonderful stuff" and pointed out U.S. practice of marketing everything and anything under the sun.

And while U.S. media covers a broader range than its Chinese counterpart, the former tends to be saturated with easy angles as opposed to in-depth ones, said Scott Talan of American University's School of Communication.

Talan shared he had recently turned down an interview with a U.S. publication that hoped to have him say controversial and provocative remarks on the Hong Kong situation.

Despite this, he disputed the notion that American media negatively distorts reports on China. He said that most of the stories he seen on Beijing are non-political and favorable.

However, Xia warned that most news from the U.S. is still unbalanced.

Most of the information Americans get on China are from their own media, he said.

TagsChina-U.S. relations, cultural gap, National Press Club