Chinese Culture Assignment
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Assignment Chinese
Culture
Comparison between China & West
HAFIZ SABIR ALI
4/4/13
Student ID :2012280128
April 4, 2013
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Table of Contents
1.
Introduction to China ......................................................................................................................................................................... 3
2.
China’s Geography ............................................................................................................................................................................. 3
3.
Comparison of Chinese with western world ...................................................................................................................................... 4
3.1.
Comparison of basic etiquettes ............................................................................................................................................... 4
3.1.1.
Origin of Chinese Etiquette ................................................................................................................................................. 4
3.1.2.
Origin of the Western Etiquette ......................................................................................................................................... 4
3.1.3.
Impact of Culture on Etiquette ........................................................................................................................................... 4
3.1.4.
Modes of Social Interaction ................................................................................................................................................ 4
3.1.5.
Different Social Customs..................................................................................................................................................... 5
4.
Differences in Etiquette between China and West ............................................................................................................................ 5
4.1.
Behavior in Daily Life .......................................................................................................................................................... 5
4.2.
Dining.................................................................................................................................................................................. 6
4.3.
Invitations ........................................................................................................................................................................... 6
4.4.
Marriage ............................................................................................................................................................................. 6
4.5.
Dressing .............................................................................................................................................................................. 7
3.
The Different Diet Cultures between China and West .................................................................................................................. 7
3.1.
Differences of Diet Concept ..................................................................................................................................................... 7
3.2.
The Rational Western Diet Concept......................................................................................................................................... 8
3.3.
The Aesthetic Chinese Diet Concept ........................................................................................................................................ 8
3.4.
Differences of Cooking Materials ............................................................................................................................................. 9
3.5.
Variety of Chinese Materials .................................................................................................................................................... 9
4.
Cross-cultural challenges when doing business in China ............................................................................................................ 10
4.1.
Impact of Cultural Differences on Cooperative Strategies ..................................................................................................... 10
4.2.
Impact of Cultural Differences on Conflict Management ...................................................................................................... 10
4.3.
Impact of Cultural Differences on Decision-making ............................................................................................................... 11
5.
The different attitudes toward dogs in West and in China: ........................................................................................................ 12
5.1.
The ideas of dogs in West and in China ...................................................................................................................................... 12
5.2.
Cultural differences reflected in dogs in West and in China: ...................................................................................................... 12
5.2.1.
The idioms with dogs ................................................................................................................................................... 12
5.2.2.
The proverbs with dogs ............................................................................................................................................... 14
5.2.3.
The jokes stories with dogs ......................................................................................................................................... 15
5.2.4.
The names of dogs ....................................................................................................................................................... 15
6.
Differences between Chinese and Western Superstitions .......................................................................................................... 16
6.1.
Origin of Superstition ............................................................................................................................................................. 16
6.2.
Origins of Superstitions/Religion ........................................................................................................................................... 16
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6.3.
Tornadoes .............................................................................................................................................................................. 16
6.4.
Act of the Gods ...................................................................................................................................................................... 16
6.5.
2008 Earthquake in China ...................................................................................................................................................... 16
6.6.
Chinese versus Western Superstitions ................................................................................................................................... 16
6.7.
Unlucky Number 4 ................................................................................................................................................................. 17
6.8.
Unlucky Number 13 ............................................................................................................................................................... 17
6.9.
Triskaidekaphobia, or fear of the number 13. ....................................................................................................................... 17
6.10.
Warding off Evil Spirits...................................................................................................................................................... 17
6.11.
Halloween ......................................................................................................................................................................... 17
6.12.
Spring Couplets ................................................................................................................................................................. 17
6.13.
Peach Wood as an Amulet to Dispel Evil Spirits ................................................................................................................ 18
6.14.
The Door Gods .................................................................................................................................................................. 18
6.15.
The Horseshoe .................................................................................................................................................................. 18
6.16.
The Ba Gua Mirror ............................................................................................................................................................ 18
6.17.
Wind Chimes ..................................................................................................................................................................... 18
6.18.
Garlic................................................................................................................................................................................. 18
6.19.
Count Dracula ................................................................................................................................................................... 19
6.20.
The Seventh Son of the Seventh Son ................................................................................................................................ 19
7.
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................................................. 19
8.
References .................................................................................................................................................................................. 20
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China and its Culture
1. Introduction to China
China officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a sovereign state located in East Asia. It is the
world's most populous country, with a population of over 1.35 billion. The PRC is a single-party
state governed by the Communist Party, with its seat of government in the capital city of Beijing. It
exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four direct-controlled
municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special
administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). The PRC also claims Taiwan – which is controlled by
the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity – as its 23rd province, a claim controversial due to
the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese Civil War.
Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometers, China is the world's second-largest country by land
area and the third or fourth-largest by total area, depending on the definition of total area. China's
landscape is vast and diverse, with forest steppes and the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts occupying the
arid north and northwest near Mongolia and Central Asia, and subtropical forests prevalent in the wetter
south near Southeast Asia. The terrain of western China is rugged and elevated, with
the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separating China from South and Central
Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third- and sixth-longest in the world, have their sources in
the Tibetan Plateau and continue to the densely populated eastern seaboard. China's coastline along the
Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers (9,000 mi) long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East and South
China Seas.
2. China’s Geography
The third largest country in the world (after Russia and Canada) and slightly larger than the United States
(see the overlapped maps of China and the United States at http://www.chinapage.org/map/map.html),
China is much bigger than its east and southeast Asian neighbors. Unlike the United States, which enjoys
coasts on both sides of the north American continent, China has a coastline only on its east side, and the
western part of China is covered with mountainous plateaus reaching as high as 3,000 feet above sea level.
The highest peak, Mount Everest, could be as high as 29,029 feet. Only less than half of Chinese land is
arable land, in the east, so the majority of the Chinese population concentrates on the eastern coast or
nearby. Unlike most mountain ranges in the U.S. that go north—south, the Chinese mountain ranges
largely go northeast—southwest, creating very different climates in different regions. Thus when it pours
in north China, south China can be suffering from a severe drought, or vice versa.
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3. Comparison of Chinese with western world
3.1. Comparison of basic etiquettes
3.1.1. Origin of Chinese Etiquette
In China, etiquette is equal to courtesy and ceremony. The essence of etiquette is the way of coping
with people and the belief in ghosts and spirits. People think that everything is controlled by the ghosts
which cannot be seen. Therefore, the etiquette is originated from the belief in ghosts and spirits, as well
as a special form of belief in ghosts and spirits. China is a state of etiquette. Back to five thousand years
ago, etiquette used to be the center of traditional culture. Up to now, the etiquette has been really
reformed. Thus it becomes norms of modern civilization. Chinese etiquette plays a "quasi-legal" role in
Chinese culture. The origins of Etiquette can be traced back to the early time of human beings. That is to
say, at the very beginning of the history of the Chinese nation, etiquette was generated along with the
human activities and with primitive religions. Etiquette is the system to deal with the three relationships
among the people, God and the ghosts. Actuality, etiquette can be divided into two main parts, one is
politics, and the other is life. Chinese legal system was created during the establishment and
implementation of the etiquette. The essence of etiquette is the method how to cope with people and
the belief in ghosts and spirits.
3.1.2. Origin of the Western Etiquette
In the Western countries, the word ‘etiquette’ used to stand for "keep off the grass". Louis XIV’s
gardener noticed that the aristocrats were walking through his gardens and then he put up signs
(etiquette) to warn them off. The dukes and duchesses walked right past these signs. Due to this obvious
disregard, the king of Versailles commanded that no individual should be to go beyond the bounds of the
etiquettes. The meaning of etiquette would later contain the ticket to court functions that lists the
instructions on which a person would stand and what was to be done. Etiquette, like language, has evolved,
but it still means “keep off the grass” literally. Until the 1960s, the importance of good manners was taught
beyond question, but with the liberated 70s, it had a decrease in the popularity of teaching appropriate
etiquette. In 2004, the traditional values have been emphasized on. Proper etiquette and protocol have
given children and adults an important tool that provides not only a competitive edge, but a sense of
confidence.
3.1.3. Impact of Culture on Etiquette
Chinese and the Westerners have different culture. Chinese etiquette and the Western etiquette are
affected by these cultural differences deeply.
3.1.4. Modes of Social Interaction
Chinese cultures and the Western cultures have attached great importance to interpersonal
relationship. However, they were clearly different in exchanging ideas. Chinese are very sociable and
hospitable, which contained in relationships, being not seemed to be maintained. It is required to
understand the age, occupation, income, marital status, children and other issues about others. The
Westerners generally do not like that. Chinese always ask the price of goods which is bought by others
directly. In the Chinese people’s eyes, the price is just for items or level. In the eyes of Westerners, if you
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do the same thing, it may be thought that you want to inquiry the other’s economic conditions. It is also
the privacy of the Westerners which should not be asked directly. If you want to know the price in details,
you can only acclaim the achievement of the goods. In such circumstances, Westerners will tell you
whether it is cheap or expensive in general, but they normally do not tell you the precise price. Chinese
like to ask "where are you going?" when they meet others. This is only a form of calling in China. And if it
occurs in the United States, it might make others feel embarrassed, because it belongs to other’s privacy
you should not interfere in. Moreover, the distance of the interaction between people can be divided into
four types. There are close distance, individual distance, social distance and public distance. The kind of
Chinese people relatively belongs to close distance. We often see two Chinese girls walking on the street
arm-in-arm which is rare to see in the West. The Westerners think that the Chinese are too close. On the
contrary, the Chinese feel that the Westerners are very cold, arrogant, indifferent with others, and
unfriendly. If Chinese people find that there is a thrum in one’s clothes, they will naturally pick it off.
However, it is a bad behavior in the Westerners’ eyes. When Chinese meet a friend who wears very pretty
clothes, he will fondle the clothes before asking price or texture. The Westerners will not do that, on the
contrary, they always directly praise their friends and beautiful clothes.
3.1.5. Different Social Customs
In Chinese culture, we usually respect men highly, which was mainly affected by the feudal system.
Chinese culture pays more attentions on gender equality in modern society. But in some situations man
is still superior to women. Women are still subjected to discrimination. In Europe and the United States
as well as other Western countries, respecting on women is their custom. Lady First has become one of
the main principles of communication in the Western countries. No matter in public places or in other
places, men should take care of women, for instance, when lady want to shake hands, then man can be
followed; in a dinner man has to let lady sit down firstly; lady orders dishes firstly, lady enters room firstly,
and lady firstly enters elevators. The Western etiquette is gradually changing into integration and unity
and becoming more international.
Moreover, as one of the special representatives of the Eastern countries in coping with generational
relations, Chinese people always treat the elders respectively and honorably. For example, many Chinese
people are considered that the person who takes care of elders is a good person. During the New Year
and any other important holidays, the elders will have fun with their children together more than usual.
In Western countries, people advocate self-reliance, so the connection between parents and adult
children are decreasing gradually. Therefore, it makes many elders feel lonely and with a sense of
depression in the Western countries
4. Differences in Etiquette between China and West
4.1. Behavior in Daily Life
Cultural differences in etiquette between western countries and China can be found in many aspects of
daily communication, including addressing, greeting and parting, compliments, apologies, thanks and so
on.
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4.2. Dining
Table manners differ a lot between China and the West probably because of the different dining
tools and menus. Most easterners always use chopsticks, or sometimes they even get rice straightly with
hands as Indians do. The thin and long chopsticks cannot be used as knives to cut food. We hold our food,
meat or vegetable, with the chopsticks, send them to the mouths, bite off a part of it and keep the other
part on the chopsticks. That’s the usual way we eat. We are also used to holding up our bowls when we
have rice or soup. For example, Japanese hold bowls to have soup without spoons. But all these habits
are considered as the rude habits in the Western countries.
In the West, bowls and plates cannot be kept on the dinner table. Food should be cut by knives in order
to fit into the mouths. At the same time, your mouth cannot touch the plates or bowls. Therefore, the
regular process is like this. You cut your food on the plate with fork and knife, send the food cube into the
mouth with fork and return back nothing but the fork alone.
Chinese and western all pay attention to formal dinner for the activities of the order of seats arrangement.
Chinese traditionally prefer the old fashioned square table for eight people. The seat on the portal is
previous; on both sides are partial seats. when entertain guests, the senior guest of honor or high status
people sit seat of previous, host hostess and accompany guests sit seat of following, the rest of the guest
sit partial seats in order. Westerners treat guests with long tables, host and hostess sit at both ends of the
long table, and then the men and women guest of honor and the general guest are arranged in order to
sit seat. In China, since ancient times most of us respect to the left, when the banquet, distinguished
guests will be arranged in the seat of honor on the left, the others will take seats in proper order. However,
in the west, people respect to the right, in the banquet, intervals between men and women, and even
married couples are also separated with each other, the seat took by female guests is slightly higher than
the male guests’. The male guests always help the female guests on his right to open the chair to show
the respect to the female.
4.3. Invitations
In western culture, especially in Britain and America, it is very important to consult the time before
you invite someone to have a banquet or take part in social activities. In America, inviting someone means
you are borrowing time of others because they value their time preciously. However, in China, people like
to be an uninvited guest. You will be thought unfriendly if you cannot accept an unexpected guest very
well.
4.4. Marriage
There are many procedures in Chinese marriage custom. The book propriety and ceremony, which records
earliest wedding ceremony, says that marriage includes six etiquettes, they are proposing, asking the
name, asking for fortune, sending engaged presents to the girl's family, discussing the date of marriage
and meeting the bride. While in western marriage, there are just four procedures. They are proposal,
changing surnames, choosing the day and holding the wedding. Because of the different cultural origins,
religions, marriage concepts and geographies, there are many differences between the two kinds of
marriage customs. In Chinese marriage custom, the matchmaker functions all the time in the traditional
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culture and young people have no right to choose whom they want to marry and women are not equal to
the men in their family. By contrast, in western marriage custom, the priest functions and the youths have
legal right to choose whom they want to marry and men and women are equal in their family. The two
sides have something in common, and they have been maintained for thousands of years. But in recent
years (especially after the founding of modern China), people have tendency to dispose some of the
details and advocate simplified marriage procedures and wedding ceremonies.
4.5. Dressing
In the China’s long history, the costume is different in each ancient dynasty, the diversity reflects in
the pattern assortment of dress in various dynasties. Because of Confucianism as a dominant position in
ancient China, the Chinese form of the dress has also been deeply marked by the Confucian brand. The
Chinese traditional clothing always stands for magnanimous and profound culture, which as the main
feature of Chinese clothing in that Confucian emphasizes etiquette. On the whole, because of the vast
territory, diverse custom of each area, and different dress habits, the ancient Chinese costume is basically
the product of fusion of costumes feature in various nationalities of China. For example: cheongsam is the
typical dress symbol of traditional Chinese female, it is not only adjust to the features of harmonious in
Chinese art ,but also combine with the decoration technique of oriental characteristics, its unique charm
lies in its cultural connotation.
Nevertheless, the westerners emphasize on the separation of the subjective world and objective
world, and they clearly propose that subjective stand for people themselves and objective for objects. In
their thoughts, people and objects are always opposed, not to be confused. So that they are accustomed
to observing the world and exploring the law of nature in rational thought. At the same time, they form
the practice of pursuing the law of nature to obtain the truth. Thus the westerners usually use a sort of
rational or scientific attitude towards clothing. Dress is often seen as an integral part of body art in the
west, they stress the three dimensional effect on the costume, therefore it is so called "soft sculpture".
For example, Western men usually wear a conservative suit, a white shirt and a tie in formal social
occasions. They like black; therefore they generally wear black leather shoes. Western ladies wear the
dress on formal occasions. In western countries, especially in the United States, ordinarily people like to
wear casual clothes, such as T-shirt and jeans. But British is the most exquisite on the wear, they lay too
much stress on the fashion of "gentleman" and "lady" in social intercourse. At a dinner party, men wear
tuxedoes and hats, handheld civilization sticks or umbrellas in their hands, which is their standard costume.
While the women prefer the dark dress or elegant dress or dignified black clothing.
3.
The Different Diet Cultures between China and West
3.1.
Differences of Diet Concept
The first difference between China and West is the concept difference. Western diet tends to be scientific
and rational, while Chinese diet is artistic and sentimental. During different eras of diet development, the
two tendencies have only one purpose------solving the problem of hunger, but after the development of
diet culture, such tendencies are concentrated on different purposes: the first one focuses on the nutrition,
principle and philosophy.
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3.2.
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The Rational Western Diet Concept
The concept of western is a rational one, when they are eating; basically they understand the diet from
the nutrition. They regard the nutrition as the high rule of the diet.2 Whatever the color, taste, shape,
fragrant of the food is how, the nutrition must have the priority. Basically enjoyment is not an important
place in the diet, so they don’t pursue the taste overlade. Therefore the western diet is so simple and
actually.
The concept of western diet is related to the whole philosophy system of the western world. In the
western people’s diet culture, metaphysical traces can be found everywhere. Western-style food is
characterized with the original taste with the cooking methods of roasting or to frying. The process of
every material is obvious. Generally, they put the materials by themselves
and don’t seem as Chinese
food. Western-style food lays stress on tableware, cooking materials, food service, food raw materials,
and the mixture of color. Although the comparison of the color is clear, the tastes of many materials in
food are not reconciled. Western view is that: eating is to meet the basic physical requirements with
nutrition as the key factor.
3.3.
The Aesthetic Chinese Diet Concept
Chinese concept is an aesthetic one. The Chinese diet takes the delicacy as first standard. Chinese people
always believe eating is the god and the taste is in the first place. Chinese mainly emplacing the taste, and
try every possible means to create real taste of foods; but the western people are slow in catch up with
the Chinese. The characteristics of Chinese people are mainly demonstrated. In different seasons, the rich
and varied, styles are paid attention to in cooking3.The food culture of Chinese people is mainly for the
taste, but little for the nutrition and the meaning of good taste always beyond description. This shows
that the diet which Chinese people pursued is “artistic conception” which is abstrusely. Because in China,
the artistic conception is the center of all the arts, the diet culture is not exception 4. The beauty of the
artistic conception for the eating can make people associate it with the nice things; it can work up people’s
glamorous association. In the year of 1918, Dr. Sun Zhongshan completed his collection “Strategies of
Constructing countries”5 in which he points out the “psychological construction”6; he believes that
Chinese cooking skill is a kind of art, like Chinese painting and calligraphy, Chinese cooking skills has the
history of more than 2,000 years of aiming at excellence. That alone can indicate the profound Chinese
culture.
Chinese diet has its own unique charm; the key is its taste. The process of Chinese cooking is complicated.
Boiling is let the food cooked, and mix the five tastes together. Chinese cooking focuses on the beauty of
the mixture, which is the incisive point of the Chinese cooking art. The shape and the color of the dishes
are the outside things, but the taste is the appearance. Paying attention to the internal but not adorning
the appearance, the internal taste of the dishes is exhibited in the shape and color of the dishes, which
are the most important performance and the aesthetic diet concept of Chinese.
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According to Chinese culture, diet is linked with the arts, expressing the philosophy of life, and it is our life
in miniature. It contains many truths. It is not only a physical activity; but also a process, a way of ceremony.
The aesthetic pursuit of Chinese diet obviously overpowers the rational; this diet concept is accorded with
the philosophy thinking of the Chinese custom. By way of the representative of the Eastern philosophical,
the obvious characteristics are the macroscopically, intuitionist and faintness. The goals of Chinese dishes
are suitable and delicious, all for the good taste of the dishes. The changes in the degree decide the
success of Chinese dishes. This embodies the fruitful, dialectic of Chinese philology: the suitable and
delicious taste at the firstly according to the variation of season, from summer to autumn it being bland,
from winter to spring it being full-bodied and changing with the time, place and person.
In view of the diet concept, the difference of the diet views makes the western diet tend to be more
scientific and rational, and the Chinese diet is full of art. Western treatment of diet is just as a kind of way
“feed up first, and then does what you should do”. Only as a measure the attitude to eating is more casual,
therefore the western people seldom focus on the taste and flavors of the food. Chinese people treat
eating as a joy of life, eating is not only for doing something, but also for enjoying something. By contrast,
the key point of the western diet just focuses on the spread of the realistic use of the original diet; Chinese
focuses on the preference of the diet, they make diet a kind of art, which is full of creative and imaginative
factors.
3.4.
Differences of Cooking Materials
Diet in a nation is closely related to the environments and customs. 7The people’s diet life cannot do
without the living environment. The living environment not only regulate the resource of the food which
is possible to obtain, but also has deep affection on the method of obtaining and consumption. The change
of the living environment and internal factors finally change in the styles of diet culture8. The Chinese diet
structure is mainly composed of the grain—starch, while the western structure mostly consists of meat,
protein.
3.5.
Variety of Chinese Materials
That is to say, Chinese cooking materials are very complex, and very difficult to form the system. But it
forms the system after all. Chinese culture has great strength. Chinese food culture is divided into three
different systems, namely the north, southwest and southeast. This is also one of the three major
derivative division, they form the Chinese diet culture which has the feature and the whole shape in the
every area. If there is a book called the "Chinese menu", it may not no smaller than the "Encyclopedia".
This feature is decided by the strong strength of Chinese civilization and the vast land which is clouded by
Chinese civilization. Of course, it is decided by the geographical location which it locates---The East.
According to the search made by the western botanists, there are more than 6,000 kinds of vegetables
which Chinese people eat9; it is six times as many as western food. In fact, in Chinese food, the Margie
food is the normal food, Chinese people eat meat only in festival or when the level of the living is become
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increasing. So in ancient times there had the adage ---- “vegetable eating”, vegetable eating has the
magisterial place. Chinese people regard the vegetables as the main food; it is closely related to Buddhism.
They regard the animals as “living beings”, but the plants are the “living beings”, and so, Chinese people
insist on eating plants.
4.
Cross-cultural challenges when doing business in China
4.1.
Impact of Cultural Differences on Cooperative Strategies
Because entrepreneurs mature within a societal context, their attitudes toward cooperation are likely to
be influenced by the underlying values of their society (Weaver, 2000). As discussed, USA is strong in
individualism and medium masculine. They rely on their own view to determine what they should do.
They tend to work alone and are reluctant to cooperate because their individualism and masculine culture
view cooperation in general as a sign of weakness and place a high value on independence and control.
China is strong in collectivism and medium feminism. The Chinese depend more on groups or institutions
to determine what they should do and emphasize loyalty to the group. They are more likely to cooperate
with others to avoid risks and reduce responsibilities. Their value systems appreciate duty to the group
and harmony among its members while pursuing personal goals is viewed rather negatively in China.
In addition, in the process of cooperation, Americans place greater importance on contractual safeguards
than the Chinese. They believe that contracts can ensure that their partners' tendencies to focus on
individual goals and aspirations do not interfere with their own individual goals and aspirations. But the
Chinese don't consider contracts as seriously as the Americans. They think there will always be changes
and the contracts can be reasonably modified according to changes. Instead, they tend to pay more
attention to relationships than contracts. The two phenomena seem to be consistent with Weaver's
findings. In his study of a group of seven-nation entrepreneurs about their attitudes toward cooperative
strategies, he found that entrepreneurs from societies that are masculine and
individualistic have a
lower appreciation for cooperative strategies as compared to entrepreneurs from societies that are
feminine and collectivist in nature. He also found that entrepreneurs from individualistic societies placed
greater importance on contractual safeguards for maintaining effective cooperation than did those from
collective cultures.
4.2.
Impact of Cultural Differences on Conflict Management
The Chinese and Americans tend to resolve conflicts in different ways. Since the Chinese come from a
strong collectivism and medium feminine society in which harmony and personal relationship are
emphasized, they will try to use indirect ways to avoid direct and open conflict. When they face conflict,
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they prefer to use authority to suppress it, or settle things in private. They prefer to resolve conflict
through negotiation and compromise. Individualistic and medium masculine American managers are used
to confronting problems directly and bringing things out in the open. To resolve differences, American
managers will prefer to use tactics that involve directly confronting others with rational arguments, factual
evidence, and suggested solutions (Ting-Toomey, 1985). It is also consistent with the pragmatic shortterm orientation and moderately low power distance in USA. Chinese managers use those tactics less than
American managers, because using the tactics will provoke overt disagreement, which is considered highly
undesirable.
In addition, American managers are reluctant to invest the time and effort required to enlist the help of
other people (Yukl, Falbe, and Youn, 1993), when they have conflicts or problems with another party. In
contrast, the strong collective orientation and uncertainty avoidance values in China encourage Chinese
managers to use indirect forms of influence that involve the assistance of a third party (Bond, 1991).
To deal with a difficult or controversial request, indirect forms of influence are preferred by Chinese
managers to avoid losing face and damaging guanxi. When their Western partners propose to use direct
and open ways to deal with the conflict, they may feel embarrassed. On the other hand, Western partners
may get totally confused by the roundabout way the Chinese use to solve seemingly simple problems. The
different ways that Chinese and American managers resolve conflicts seem to find support from Weaver's
finding that feminine societies prefer to resolve conflict through negotiation and compromise (Weaver,
2000).
4.3.
Impact of Cultural Differences on Decision-making
Risk-taking/Risk-avoiding
Chinese and American managers differ greatly in the attitudes toward risks when they make decisions for
their different values in uncertainty avoidance. High uncertainty--avoidance Chinese managers usually
lack the adventurous spirit and the sense of risks. They dare not make immediate decisions if they feel the
circumstance is uncertain, which may deprive them of the opportunity to compete in the market. In most
cases, they would like to make comparatively safer and less risky decisions at the expense of the business
opportunity. In contrast, low uncertainty-avoidance American managers are more likely to consider risks
as natural and are volunteer to take the risks, especially in terms of developing new products, open a new
market and applying new technology.
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5.
12
The different attitudes toward dogs in West and in China:
5.1.
The ideas of dogs in West and in China
The world’s First Official Olympic Mascot. Guten tag! That means “good day “in German. He is waldi the
dachshuund, Mascot of the 1972. Munich Olypic games. Waldi was the first official Olympic Mascot and
preceded by the unofficial “scluss”, who is appeared four years earlier in Grenoble winter game 1968.
Waldi’s head and tail are light blue, and he was produced in various forms and sizes so that Olympic fans
and TV-goers could take “waldi”home for themselves. This example is a very good one to explain that the
western people love dogs very much. Dogs can be taken to be Official Olympic Mascot.
With China’s entry into the WTO and the Olympic Game will be held in 2008. However, the Olympic
Mascots in 2008 are impossible dogs. In fact, they has been fixed. BeiBei is the fish, JingJing is the panda,
HuanHuan is the Olympic flame, YingYing is the Tibetan antelope and NiNi is the swallow.
There aren’t any dogs that would be Beijing Olympic Mascots. Because dog isn’t a lucky animal in China.
In China, dogs are always considered as house-keeper. They eat bad, sleep bad and are always beaten by
their masters. So it is undoubtedly that Western people and Chinese people have a different attitudes
toward on dogs. The different attitudes toward dogs between China and West just result from different
cultural background.
Different countries have different cultures, and the differences are reflected in many aspects. Dogs
become the reflection and manifestation of one country’s culture in people’s social contract, such as
religions, belief custom and so on. And it includes the principle and moral that people should obey in daily
life. Dogs formed in the process of the deposition of culture and social contact. So every nation have their
own culture which created with the spirit of this. And the country’s cultural background and properties
decide the country’s cultural development. In the same way, culture’s differences reflect nations’
properties. So in the following, we will take China, British and America as the representation of western,
to look at some cultural differences.
5.2. Cultural differences reflected in dogs in West and in China:
5.2.1. The idioms with dogs
Idiom is an important part of the language and culture of a society. They are often hard to
understand and hard to use correctly. They are almost impossible to understand from the meaning of
the individual words. And with English idioms, even the same words may have different meaning. So,
first of all, we should learn not to look down on the idioms. Just because they are made up of such
simple and easy words. We should look up the dictionary if we are not sure of the meaning. If we keep
trying and keep at it long enough we’ll make out and things will turn out well in the end. It is thus clear
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that difficulties in reading cannot be completely so ivy by one’s language knowledge, because works of
people cannot be separated from the people’s cultural tradition. So, in teaching, reading we may can’t
explain grammatical easily as well as expound cultural background knowledge. In translation. Even the
very simple expression cannot be dealt with without any consideration of specific context and customs.
We‘ll take the word “dog” as an example.
To English-speaking people, the dogs don’t carry the same association. As it does to Chinese. The
dogs are considered to be derogatory. For example, “癞皮狗, 麦家之犬, 走狗, 狗急跳墙, 狗头军师, 狗
屁不通, 狗腿子, 狗熊, 狗血喷头, 狗仗人势” etc., which are often used to describe disgusting people.
But dog in English, especially in idioms, is commendatory term. If we translate dog into Chinese “狗”
without exception, we may make frustration, or even conflicts. For example:
1). you are, indeed, a lucky dog.
2). every dog has his day.
3). Last night my father came home dog-tired.
4). He is a running dog.
Because some learners are not well aware of the cultural differences, they take it for granted that the
three sentences should be translated into the following:
1). 你真是一条幸运的狗。
2). 每条狗都有自己的节日。
3). 昨晚我爸爸回到家中像狗一样累。
4). 他是一条走狗。
In fact, the right translation versions are as following:
1). 你真是个幸运儿。
2). 人人皆有得意之日。
3). 昨晚我父亲回到家非常累。
4). 他是个活泼乱跳的家伙。
In idioms, understanding the meanings, cultural background knowledge and the cultural
differences are important. This is why the idioms, especial the idioms with dogs reflect the cultural
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differences. In West, there are many idioms about dogs, but they aren’t derogatory sense. For
example, you can call your friends old dogs. If you say someone like dog, which is a pleasant thing.
Some important people are often called top dogs (重要的人). We can call the lively person to be
gay / jolly dog (快活的人). Love me, love my dog (爱屋及乌). Work like a dog (拼命干活). It rains
cats and dogs (倾盘大雨).
In China, however, there are many phrases are hostile to dogs. For example, 狗嘴吐不出象牙,
(translated into English is a filthy mouth cannot utter decent language). 胆 大 包 天 ( means
monstrous audacity ). 狗急跳墙( means a cornered beast will do something desperate ). 狗屁不
通( means mere trash and so on. We can see from the example above, in Chinese phrases, with the
character “狗”，however, when we translate these phrases into English, there is not any word
“dog”. According to the Chinese meaning and English meaning on idioms with dogs, the idioms’
meaning differ from country to country. In fact, this is decided by cultural differences, or we can
say, the idioms about dog’s differences reflect cultural differences, and people attitudes toward
dogs differently reflect cultural differences.
5.2.2. The proverbs with dogs
The proverbs with dogs are different in West and in China. Proverbs are short well-known sayings that
state general truth or advice. Proverb is a kind of form reflecting a country’s culture. Culture is different
so that the proverb is also different. For example
1） If there are no dogs in heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went
2） The dogs are not our whole lives, they make our lives whole.
3） The average dog is nicer person than the average person.
4） A dog is the only one on earth that love you more than love himself.
We can translate these sentence into Chinese as the following:
1）
2）
3）
4）
如果天堂没有狗,那么我死后就到狗所去的地方。
狗不是我们生活的全部,但是它们使我们的生活得到全部。
普通的狗比普通的人更伟大。
狗是这世上唯一爱你比爱它自己更多的东西。
Look at these proverbs above, we can find all person pronouns “they, himself, one, person” are used
instead of “it and dogs”. These sentences express the Western people’s love to dogs. Great importance
to dogs.
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In China, there are also many proverbs about dogs, however, these proverbs abuse dogs and low
to dogs. For example, 狗眼看人低, 狗改不了吃屎, 狗肉上不了秤, 狗急跳墙, 狗嘴吐不出象牙. These
proverbs with the Chinese characters “狗”are used to express something unpleasant. There are hardly
proverbs about dog’s express good things in China. Furthermore, in Chinese characters, pronouns “它 or
它们”are used instead of “他 or 他们 and 她 or 她们”. Through comparison with the English proverbs
and Chinese proverbs, the cultural differences are embodies obviously.
5.2.3. The jokes stories with dogs
There are many jokes about dogs are different in west and in China. The following is main about
English-speaking countries’ jokes stories. They are classic cultural differences:
（1）.



He Can Not Read
I have lost my dog.
Why don’t put an advertisement in the paper.
Don’t be daft---He cannot read.
（2）
His Mother Wants Him to Be Doctor
A guy walks into a bar with a small dog. The bartender says, “Get out of here with that dog!” The guy
says, “But this isn’t just any dog.” The bartender replies, “Well, if he can play that piano, you both can
stay... And have a drink on the house. So the guy sits the dog on the piano stool and the dog starts
playing. Ragtime, Mozart...and the bartender and patrons are enjoying the music. Suddenly, a bigger
dog runs in and grabs the small dog by the scoff of the neck, and drags him out. The bartender asks the
guy, “What was that all about?” The guy replies, “Oh, that was his mother, she wanted him to be
doctor.”
These two jokes stories above use “he and his”. It also use personalization. The dog lost, if in China,
people won’t worry about their dogs, there are any things server for them. However, in West, the dog
lost, they feel their friends lost, they will worry about them and find then around even put
advertisement on newspaper. The two kinds of attitudes difference toward dogs reflect the cultural
differences between West and China.
5.2.4. The names of dogs
The dogs names are often given by people .In West countries, the dogs’ names are given their masters.
Their masters will give them beautiful names. Many dogs are often given the names of people. Such as
Smith, Jack, lorry, Lucy, Lily and so on.
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However, in China, people cannot do that, and people in China name the dog’s only purpose of
convenience. So they name the dogs usually according to their color, such as 小白, 小黄, 小花, 小灰, 小
黑 and so on. People don’t take them serious. These aspects reflect the cultural differences between
West and China.
6.
Differences between Chinese and Western Superstitions
Superstition: an irrational belief arising from ignorance or fear
6.1.
Origin of Superstition
•
The origin of superstition is to be found in early man's effort to explain Nature and his own
existence; in the desire to propitiate Fate and invite Fortune; in the wish to avoid evils he could
not understand and in the unavoidable attempt to pry into the future.
•
What do you think a prehistoric human would have thought when he/she saw a tornado for the
first time?
6.2.
Origins of Superstitions/Religion
•
Such an experience may have moved prehistoric humans to a wishful belief, a superstition in the
hope of avoiding a force they feared and could not understand.
• The philosopher, David Hume, believed that the seeds of religion are to be found in the human
attempt to understand and appease the super-human force that causes natural disasters.
6.3.
Tornadoes
•
Tornadoes are the deadliest of natural wonders -- mysterious, violent, perverse, and awesome.
We still don't know exactly how they form or why they tend to rotate only in one direction, and
we're lucky to get a half-hour warning of where and when they're going to hit.
• Not surprisingly, many superstitions hover around this strange pheromone.
6.4.
Act of the Gods
•
•
Some people believe that natural disasters are an act of God, designed to punish sinners.
The earthquake in Haiti was caused, according to Robertson, because of a pact Haitians made
with the devil.
• The immorality of Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones (1749) prompted the Bishop of London to claim
that the two earthquakes that shook the capital after the novel was published were a sign of
God's wrath.
6.5.
2008 Earthquake in China
•
•
•
Although the earthquake occurred on Buddha’s birthday, May 12th, Buddhists believe that
Buddha has no power to create or stop such disasters.
6.6.
Chinese versus Western Superstitions
In general, Chinese Superstitions are very different from Western ones and these differences
reflect in the culture.
Take, for example, superstitions about unlucky numbers:
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6.7.
17
Unlucky Number 4
•
Number 4(四; pinyin sì) is considered an unlucky number in Chinese because it is nearly
homophonous to the word "death" (死 pinyin is).
• Chinese people avoid celebrating events on or making important plans during dates that contain
the number ‘4’,
• In East Asia, some buildings do not have a 4th floor.
• In Hong Kong, some high-rise residential buildings omit all floor numbers with "4", e.g. 4, 14, 24,
34 and all 40–49 floors, in addition to not having a 13th floor. As a result, a building whose
highest floor is number 50 may actually have only 35 physical floors.
6.8.
Unlucky Number 13
•
Notice how the elevator-list in the Hong Kong building has no ’13th floor’. This is due to the
western influence there which holds that the number 13 is an unlucky one.
• Most buildings in the Western world do not have a ’13th floor’.
6.9.
Triskaidekaphobia, or fear of the number 13.
•
•
•
Where does triskaidekaphobia originate from?
Many reasons for this fear have been suggested:
The number 12 is sometimes considered the number of completeness (12 months of the year,
12 signs of the zodiac, 12 hours of the clock, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 Apostles of Jesus, 12 gods of
Olympus, etc.). Adding one more to make it 13 breaks this completeness.
Friday 13th is often associated with evil happenings
6.10.
Warding off Evil Spirits
•
During spring festival the Chinese detonate firecrackers, bottle rockets and various other
noisemakers for hours on end, night after night to ward off bad spirits and welcome in a
prosperous New Year.
• Likewise, fireworks are set off during weddings and other celebrations in China to chase away
any angry spirits that might try to ‘crash’ the party.
Spring Festival Fire-works
6.11.
Halloween
•
The Celtic festival of Samhain (Halloween), derived from the Old Irsh Samuin meaning
"summer's end". Samhain was the first and the most important of the four quarter days in the
medieval Irish and Scottish calendar and, falling on the last day of autumn, it was a time for
stock-taking and preparation for the cold winter months ahead.
• There was also a sense that this was the time of year when the physical and supernatural
worlds were closest and magical things could happen. To ward off these spirits, the Gaels built
huge, symbolically regenerative bonfires and invoked the help of the gods through animal and
perhaps even human sacrifice.
6.12. Spring Couplets
•
•
On the Chinese New Year, families in China decorate their front doors with poetic couplets of
calligraphy: vertical scrolls of characters on red paper whose texts seek good luck and praise
nature, expressing the feeling of life's renewal and the return of spring.
It is said that spring couplets originated from "peach wood charms," door gods painted on wood
charms in earlier times to keep away ghosts and evil spirits. During the Five Dynasties (907-960),
the Emperor Meng Chang inscribed an inspired couplet on a peach slat, beginning a custom that
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gradually evolved into today's popular custom of displaying spring couplets.
6.13. Peach Wood as an Amulet to Dispel Evil Spirits
•
According to an ancient Chinese text, "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" (shanhaijing 山海经),
there was a very large peach tree on Dushuo Mountain (dushuoshan 度朔山) whose branches
formed an archway through which evil spirits could pass between the spirit world and the
earth. The Emperor of Heaven (tiandi 天帝) was concerned that the evil spirits might harm the
people on earth and so he assigned two brothers, Shen Tu (神荼) and Yu Lei (郁垒), to guard the
passageway. If the evil spirits caused any harm, the two brothers were instructed to tie them up
and feed them to the tigers which lived at the base of the mountain.
In honor of the two brothers' bravery, they became known as the “Door Gods" and a tradition
gradually developed to engrave their portraits in peach wood which were then hung on gates
and doors for protection from evil influences.
This tradition further evolved during the Song Dynasty when the peach wood Door God charms
(taofu 桃符) were replaced by spring couplets (chunlian 春联) which are auspicious verses
written on red paper and hung above and at the sides of doors and gates.
6.14. The Door Gods
•
The door gods: this is a Chinese decorative cloth placed on each side of an entrance to a temple,
home or business that is believed to keep evil spirits from entering. They always come in pairs
and should be placed facing each other.
Western ways to protect your home from evil spirits
6.15.
•
The Horseshoe
Possibly the most famous of these charms is the horseshoe. Believed to repel witches from
entering your house, as well as to bring good luck to all who pass, the horseshoe must be hung
above your front door and may either be nailed facing up or down.
6.16. The Ba Gua Mirror
•
The Ba Gua mirror, which originated in China, is a popular symbol in Feng shui. By
placing one above the entrance to your main door, you are welcoming harmony and
creating good fortune for all those that enter.
• Aside from welcoming harmony into your house and creating good fortune, the Ba Gua
mirror is also a charm to counteract negative Qi of a spiritual nature, such as evil entities
- so they may not enter your home.
6.17. Wind Chimes
•
•
6.18.
Wind chimes are believed to scare away the bad spirits. Plus, they sound lovely!
Modern wind chimes have their origins in Indian wind bells, which were later introduced
to China, where they were eventually used to protect homes.
Garlic
•
And then there is the garlic. This may well be the most common protection hung on
doors in many different parts of the world, for protection against a mythical creature
known in even the most remote locations on the planet: the vampire. Garlic repels
vampires; everybody knows that.
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6.19.
19
Count Dracula
In China, dogs are believed to have the unique ability to see ghosts.
6.20.
The Seventh Son of the Seventh Son
•
•
In western superstition, the seventh son of a seventh son is able to see ghosts or spirits.
The seventh son must come from an unbroken line with no female children born
between, and be, in turn, born to such a seventh son.
• In Ireland, the seventh son of a seventh son is gifted as a healer, especially for healing
skin diseases by touch.
• In the UK, it is believed that the seventh son of a seventh will be born a werewolf or
with magic powers.
• In the US, a seventh son of a seventh son, born in the month of February, with a caul on
his head, can discern everything that lies in the depths and interior of the globe." Such a
person is useful in the discovering of oil.
Yet, other people claim to have seen ghosts.
7.
Conclusion
What can we do to treat the culture gap? Now we have seen that there exists such a huge gap
between eastern and western culture. Then what should we do to face this gap in the gradually globalizing
world?
Firstly, we cannot deny any of the cultures. Every nation has its own characteristics and it’s mainly
through its culture that we first begin to know the nation and its characteristics. So we cannot say that
this culture or custom is right and that is wrong. Equal respecting should be attached to every culture in
the world, even to those that are not in existence any more.
Next, we should get to learn how to coordinate the different cultures. We say the world is becoming
smaller and smaller. More foreigners come and go every day. When it is in the same country, the same
city, the same neighborhood, the cultural collision is expected to be more serious. So we should try to
avoid this happening. One important thing is to get some basic knowledge about the other cultures so as
not to misunderstand some actions or habits of the foreigners.
When the above two is done, we can start to communicate. I mean we can take in some strong
points from the foreign cultures. Though there doesn’t exist correctness in terms of culture, it does have
the terms of more advanced or more suitable for the world nowadays. Of course, we cannot throw away
our own culture and accept another one totally. Every culture is a treasure to the history of the Earth, so
we should only pick out those we lack to perfect our own.
Different cultures add the most colorful element to the world of 21st century. The cultural gap
should not be the obstacle to the civilization of human being. It ought to be the motivation of our going
farther.
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