The Difference Cultural Characteristics between Chinese and American.doc

The Difference Cultural Characteristics between Chinese and AmericanI. Introduction1.1 DefinitionCulture is a shared, learned, interrelated set of symbols, which unite and identify members of society. (Terpstra and David, 1991)1.2 The Range of Culture(1) Values and beliefs (moral and religious beliefs)(2) Communication (spoken and written language, body language) (3) Norms of behavior (4) Customs (5) Arts, music, dance, sport1.3 The Characteristics of Culture(1) Learned. Process of learning one's culture is called enculturation.(2) Shared. By the members of a society. No "culture of one."(3) Patterned. Petructed through a constant process of social interaction. (4) Symbolic. Culture, language and thought are based on symbols and symbolic meanings. (5) Arbitrary. Not based on "natural laws" external to humans, but created by humans according to the "whims" of the society. Example: standards of beauty. (6) Internalized. Habitual. Taken-for-granted. Perceived as "natural."II. The Difference Cultural Characteristics between Chinese and American2.1 High -Context vs. Low- ContextChinese culture belongs to high-context culture, while American culture belongs to low- context culture. The people from these two different cultures have obvious different communication way. Chinese people, who come from high context culture much go unsaid and depend on the relationship between the speaks, each is able to interpret body language and” read between the lines". However, American people, who come from low-context culture speak clearly and directly and come straight to the point and say exactly what the mean. Therefore, when Chinese people are communicating with American people, Chinese people perceive American people too talkative, too obvious and redundant. On the contrary, American people perceive Chinese people non-disclosing and mysterious. Hence, the people who come from these two different countries should realize the different communication ways between each other in order to communicate effectively.2.2 Value: Chinese value vs. American valueValues are a societys ideas about what is good or bad, right or wrong. It determines how individuals will probably respond in any given circumstances. Chinese culture is guided by the value of Confucianism. Confucian ethic is usually depicted as a set of values in which loyalty, hierarchy and obedience to superiors who are paramount, and the individual is subordinate to the group. American culture is guided by western value which based on individualism formed a logic foundation for individual freedoms in society, entailing both economic political freedoms. These freedoms are the basis of the western value systems that underline the market economy. These two values are passed from generation to generation and change slowly, it is hard to say which value is better, but the values are kept in the people from different countries, and influence everything they are doing as well as guide them to do the appropriate things in the daily life.2.3 Mode of SpeakingIn the process of communication, American people are more used to expressing their affirmative and confirmed opinion or thoughts. However, Chinese people prefer to avoid the resolute and decisive answer. In other words, American speak more directly while Chinese speak indirectly. For instance, in the United States, if a man loves a woman, he always say:I love youdirectly to his lover to express his affection for her. But Chinese seldom say:I love youto his lover directly. If he loves a woman, he will do a lot of things for her to obtain her heart and express his love for her. Another example, if a Chinese want to borrow from his friend, he always mention other thing for a long time, and have not mentioned that he plans to borrow money until the end so as to avoid too be offensive and abrupt; while if an American want to borrow money from his friend, he will get to the point directly and he is lack of money recently and would like to borrow some money.2.4 Individualism vs. Collectivism Individualism refers to the tendency of people to immediate look after themselves and their family, so neglect the needs of society. Collectivism extent to which individuals perceive themselves dependent, more collectivist and more integrated into groups. People see themselves as integrated into in-groups. Generally speaking, American people are more individualistic, while Chinese people are more collectivistic. To some extent, the individualistic people tent to show their personalities in public to distinguish them from others, because they believe they are the unique ones in the world, they should behave or dress differently and uniquely. Nevertheless, the collectivistic people prone to follow others, and make them belong to a specific group and gain the sense of belonging. For example, in China, if some people say that the food in that restaurant is pretty good; people will follow others footstep and rush to that restaurant without their own judgments. They believe it is important for them to follow, and catch up with others footsteps.2.5 Introversion vs. ExtroversionCompetitively, American people tend to be extroverted; while Chinese people prone to be introverted. For example, in a party, American always like to know new friends, and they feel easeful and excited communicating with strangers; but Chinese like to look for old friends and have fun with them. If they are unfortunate that they have found old friends in the party, they maybe hide in a corner in silence drinking or doing other things by himself and herself.2.6 Principle vs. Relationship American stress rules and principles while Chinese stress relationship in a corporation. For instance, if a manage make a mistake or break the rule of company in the United States, the boss will punish him or her no matter how close their relationship, because they believe that relationship is one thing, rule is another thing, they should make decision according to the rules. However, Chinese people attach importance to relationship very much, in some cases; relationship can beat down rules and principles. So if that sort of thing happen in China, the boss is likely to forgive him or her and say I give your face this time but dont make the same mistake next time. Forfacemeans a lot to Chinese people.2.7 High Power Distance vs. Low Power DistanceThe power distance between boss and employee is different. In the United States, employee has more freedom to negotiate with boss than the employee in a Chinese corporation. For example, in China, if an employee is taking vocation, and his boss give him a call and demand him back to do business, he will be back right away in most circumstances. Because the boss has the absolute power to control him, if he dont come back he might be fired. But if that sort of thing happens in an American employee, he will negotiate with his boss, because vocation is very important for American, and he do not hope anyone to destroy it, boss is no exception. Conclusion Chinese and American people live in the different cultural environment, and lead to a great amount of cultural differences between the two countries. In order to communicate each other well, the people from these two countries should strengthen communication to acknowledge each other well and avoid the misunderstandings in between due to the cultural disparities. The more the cross-cultural communication carries on, the more misunderstandings would be avoided and reduced. In doing so, the world would be more harmony and peaceful. In short, it is essential and vital to communicate among countries for creating a more wonderful world country.