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1、Differences between Chinese Cultures and Western CulturesAs the technology of communication and transportation developed rapidly, more and more contact with the West is unavoidable. Finding out the differences may help us come to a better understanding of Western and Chinese culture.Here are ten typ
2、ical and generalized differences between Chinese cultures and Western cultures.Firstly, Western culture emphasizes self-reliance and Chinese culture trends towards helping each other. Westerns believe that people should rely on themselves. They also expect others to do the same. On the contrary, Chi
3、nese are taught to help others from their childhoods (Though there are some moral troubles in the society recently). The essential difference is that Westerners view help as voluntary and Chinese may take it for responsibility. Thus Westerners may only help people in emergency case and in which they
4、 really need help. Secondly, Western culture and Chinese culture have different opinion on rights of individuals. Westerners generally feel that the rights of individuals should not sacrifice for the collective and they should have the right to decide for themselves whether sacrifice. On the contrar
5、y, Chinese might despise the rights of individuals, especially in the ancient time. In the ancient China, people have no right of individual. Their rights are controlled by the “group leaders”, such as officials and emperors. Sometimes, they even did not know how “leaders” did about their rights.Thi
6、rdly, there is difference in rank and power between Western culture and Chinese culture. You may find that Westerners generally less respect the elder than Chinese. Because Westerners insist that people are equal. However, respecting elder and high-rank persons is the tradition in China. Therefore,
7、Western societies may try to limit the power of government officials. In China, officials and the elders are much respected; at least we are expected to respect them.Fourthly, in Westerners minds, there is a clear distinction between public and private. In other words, Westerners have little “human
8、feeling” which Chinese have a lot. In China, the high-ranking persons will prefer the persons who have better relationship with. The private feeling will affect the public affair. Nevertheless, public affair have little business with private friendship or relationship in the West. It means that “you
9、 are the best friend of the manager” help little about “the manager is going to fire you for some reasons of company”.Fifthly, Chinese and Westerners have different communication styles. Westerners seldom beat around the bush as they express their ideas very directly. This kind of communication styl
10、e is called “low context” because people are easy to get what is the whole idea of the speaker. On the contrary, Chinese tend to communicate in an indirect and subtle way. This kind communication style is called “high context” because people need to gain information from many aspect, such as body la
11、nguage, where the speaker is talking and so on.Sixthly, Western culture is “loose” culture and Chinese culture is “tight” culture. “Loose”? “Tight”? What do they mean? The loose and the tight describe the conformity. Westerners may tend to tolerate what people do in improper way. This accounts for t
12、he high crime rate in the West in a respect. In contrast, there are more restriction on people in China. There is a clear consensus as for what is and is not acceptable act. Seventhly, the family ties which Chinese attach importance to are looser in Western countries. For example, in China people ar
13、e expected to take care of their old parents. In most families, people keep a good contact with their old parents and in some families, people and their old parents live together. However you may be disabled to find an English word means “the love between family members”. In the West, the elders do
14、not live together with their sons and daughters. They are mostly self-reliant in almost all respects.Eighthly, there is difference between Western culture and Chinese culture about the distinctions of in/out-group. Chinese treat outsides and members of their in-group differently and the difference i
15、s greater than Westerners. If you are in the in-group of Westerners, you may find the group members are not very “warm-hearted”. In contrast, the members in the Chinese in-group will stick together much more. This is also a difference caused by “human feeling”.Ninthly, Westerners and Chinese deal wi
16、th conflict in different way. As we all know that since the ancient times, Chinas prevailing philosophy has been one that preaches peace is most precious, harmony without uniformity. So, Chinese will express their idea in a acceptable way. We may speak indirectly and even lie for the peace. On the contrary, Westerners still express indirectly in spite of whether their way is acceptable. Because they believe disagreement, competition and even conflict are good things
