140 replies to this topic

[Mok]

What are the major differences between chinese and western culture?

I'll list down a few differences:

West:

1. Western culture is based on individualism rather than on mass (collectivism). For instance, in the US, you always talk about individual rights, instead of placing the whole society above your own self. This is clearly different in China where a country, society or family are placed above your own self.

2. Western culture is adventurous and exploration based. Westerners like to discover new things, invention and expand outwards. For instance, bungee jumping is considered adventurous and common in western culture, but you will probably find no-one doing such a thing in China.

3. Western culture is based on science, which attempts to resolve people and nature's relationship.

4. West uses law to resolve people and people's relationship. You can never find 'law' well-established in China. For 2000 years, China is a land that's based on human relationship rather than law.

5. West uses 'god' and religion to resolve human and spiritualism relationship. In case of problems with your own self, you just pray to god.

6. A culture that expands and develop outwards.
Chinese Culture:

1. A culture based on masses (collectivism). People placed country and family above your own self.

2. A culture that is based on humanism and people

3. To resolve the relationship betwen man and nature, the chinese attempts to fuse the human and 'heaven' as one. (天人和一)

4. To resolve people and people's relationship, chinese uses ethics and tolerance (中恕之道)

5. To resolve human and spiritualism, chinese emphasizes internal cultivation (修身养性)

6. A focus on balance and mean. By 'mean', it means 'middle way'. You don't go into extremism. Peace is always honoured.

7. Pay homage to heaven and earth, as well as bearing a remembrance to the homeland. (敬仰天地,思乡怀土) This was accorded to the fact that chinese had been a farming civilization and therefore will be more prone to remember their land.

8. A culture that expands internally rather than outwards.
Some of the disadvantage of old chinese culture:

1. Debase women and chauvanistic

2. An over-emphasis on past history instead of present (lacks pragmatism)
Can you list some more differences? Any comments and contributions are appreciated.

Hey General, guess you've highlighted all the major differences. Minor ones, I have to think about it.

And I must say I am surprised you didn't note the fact that Westerners can be incredibly, crassly ignorant about the world around them, and be arrogant and overbearing about that to boot. I don't believe it is a generalisation when I say that alot of the corporate West's interest in the East is selfish, exploitative, and self-serving.

[Bryan]

No, that wasn't a generalisation.

And I must say I am surprised you didn't note the fact that Westerners can be incredibly, crassly ignorant about the world around them, and be arrogant and overbearing about that to boot.

This might not be included as a difference, though, as it is not exlusive at all to the West.

[TMPikachu]

Westerners (exept the French) will think eating lots of normal things are disgusting (what's more normal than sushi? fish meat, that's it), then go chug down their high fructose corn syrup+food coloring made from crushed bugs carbonated drink day after day.
Now, is this America:Chinese culture contrast? That's what it seems to be heading towards. France is a little different from USA, which differs a bit from Spain, etc.

[Borjigin Ayurbarwada]

"And I must say I am surprised you didn't note the fact that Westerners can be incredibly, crassly ignorant about the world around them, and be arrogant and overbearing about that to boot."

If you haven't realized the Chinese are even more ignorant. Not only are their western history mediocre at best, they have virtually no understanding of any other place.

[Norseman]

Westerners (exept the French) will think eating lots of normal things are disgusting (what's more normal than sushi? fish meat, that's it), then go chug down their high fructose corn syrup+food coloring made from crushed bugs carbonated drink day after day.
Now, is this America:Chinese culture contrast? That's what it seems to be heading towards. France is a little different from USA, which differs a bit from Spain, etc.

There is a girl in my class who loves sushi and thinks it is one of the best food in the world.Also i have never heard of westerners thinking sushi is disqusting.

[Bryan]

Westerners (exept the French) will think eating lots of normal things are disgusting (what's more normal than sushi? fish meat, that's it), then go chug down their high fructose corn syrup+food coloring made from crushed bugs carbonated drink day after day.
Now, is this America:Chinese culture contrast? That's what it seems to be heading towards. France is a little different from USA, which differs a bit from Spain, etc.

Not all Westerners are like that, and there are some French that think that those "normal things" are disgusting as well.

As to whether this is an America:China culture contrast, threads comparing the East and the West generally evolve (or devolve) until the focus revolves around two countries. More often than not, the Western country will almost always end up being America, and the Eastern country really depends on the makeup of the forum, though on average, it ends up as China.

[lobster]

Well, I live in Canada, so I'll compare with Canadians.

Anyways, one thing though. I feel that westerners think about rights firsts. Chinese will think about responsibility. (OK I'm talking about an average person, not one specific).

Just look at the constant argues/strikes/pressure groups that's we've seen through modern Western history. All people/groups are yelling for their rights. We have homosexuals here who are yelling for marriage rights - they want to have the same legal rights, protection and recognition as couples just like heterosexuals. Everything is "I want my rights". I'm not saying this is wrong, but just an observation.

In China, we talk about respinsibility. How I could serve my parents, siblings, family, wife, friends, community, city, nation...... One of my friends always complains about doing too much housework at home. Yet he still does it day to day, because he feels he belongs to the family and should give back. This is a very high virtue.

Anyways, this is what I think. Which brings me to thinking that the west always yanks about independence, esp. other people's. But we think of the country as a family.

There is one more aspect. The west is always selling/pushing/forcing/you-name-it-ing their ideas to others. For one thing they always say democracy is good and must spread it to every corner of the world (GW Bush). It's seems to me that this behavious stems from Christianity. They are to spread the gospel to the end of this world. But in China, well it's good if you follow our ways, but if not, we couldn't care less and we could still be friends. Just look at the so many minority groups (56?) who live in China now. It's about respect for others.

[General_Zhaoyun]

To highlight the major difference between Western Culture and Chinese Culture, I'll give you two examples:

As said, western culture has always favoured individualism above family or society whereas for chinese, it's different way around with family/society above your individual self (i.e. collectivism)

Example 1:

Western Names: First Name is put in front of Family Name (indicating your individual self is more important) e.g. John Cray ('John' is first name, 'Cray' is Family Name)

Chinese Names: Family Name is put in front of First Name (indicating Family is more important) e.g. Zhou Jielun ("Zhou" is Family Name, "Jielun" is first name)

Examples 2:

Western Address: Street Name is put in front first, followed by City and then Country
e.g. 54, East Coast Avenue, Seattle, USA (this indicates individual 'street' or 'house' is more important than a city, and a country)

Chinese Address: city comes first followed by street...
常熟市银河路9号, 中华人民共和国 (Changsu City, Yinghe Street 9, PRC)

[lobster]

For the name, it depends on what country. Some of my eastern European friends told me that in some European language family names come first just like Chinese.

[General_Zhaoyun]

"West uses law to resolve people and people's relationship. You can never find 'law' well-established in China. For 2000 years, China is a land that's based on human relationship rather than law. "

No, the imperial codes of China was just as developed as the Roman civil code, and medieval Chinese code much more organized. Even during Qing times, Chinese code was just as organized, only harsher. Even modern day Chinese code have more influence from traditional Chinese law than those of Roman.
There is nothing inherant about cultures, they change over time and develop. Western culture actually had a very low regard for women compared to Japan. Equality for Woman is a development in Human science, nothing inherant of culture.
Nor was western culture based on science, that again is a human developement, Ancient Roman and Greeks did not have science just like China.

Last why are we comparing "China" with West when East Asia should be more appropriate.

The imperial codes and laws in China maybe well-developed, but do the people follow the law? We've seen so many cases of corruption, bribery..and cases where law is forgo considering family, society etc. China is a land where people relates to one-another through human relation and emotion. For instance, in court, if you sue your father for breaking a crime, you are branded as 'unfilial'.. although you still follow the law, as a result, most family just forgo this, and do not sue their father..
It's a country where family and 'face' are more important than your own self.
The "ren qin 人情" (humanism) is of grave importance in China as compared to the west. In many cases, humanism is even greater than law itself, just take the case of court affairs where son 'sue' his father (chances are chinese society will brand the son as 'unfilial'.. the best example where humanism has so much influence).

[lobster]

This "humanism" could be good or bad. It makes relationship warm, but also a nice ground to breed corruption.

[General_Zhaoyun]

i worked in a chinese restaurant. IN order to be seen as INTELLIGENT, you MUST do something physically to show it.
If one of the other waiters notice a plate which hasnt been collected, he will scold you and make you feel inferior. "why didnt you collect that plate? if the customers have finished, collect it!" blah blah blah.

Not "intelligence" but 'hardworking' work attitude that is expected in chinese restaurant and work. I don't think they are 'scolding' you to make you feel inferior, it's just the cultural difference that makes you feel inferior and 'shock'. The thing is that those are probably the things that are 'expected' to be done by a waiter in a chinese restaurant, and if you do not perform them, then your boss will be angry. If you're not working, then you may be branded as "lazy".

"Obedience" (i.e. obeying to your boss's command) is somehow expected in east-asian work attitude (not just chinese, but also Japanese and korean). This is something that most westerners cannot get used to, because westerners have been educated to have the individualism self (i.e. you will start to think 'why should i obey someone' when I can do it myself properly). Chinese, on the other hand, works in the interest of the entire 'community' (i.e. the whole restaurant). That's why when your boss is 'scolding' you, he is not particular about you, but just that your 'not collecting the plate' is affecting the entire restaurant. He's thinking about the entire restaurant.

A chinese restaurant functions differently from a western restaurant.

IT DOESNT OCCUR to them that when you walked past that table at the time, the customer hadnt finished that plate. They just finished it moments later when he happned to pass.

When  a new waiter starts, the older waiters have a field day teaching the new comer how to serve etc. They would teach them as if they were teaching a child.

Well.. it's the typical chinese 'tradition' where the master (the old teacher) will teach the young (newbie) his skills (how to serve). The young newbie has to respect the teacher. In chinese society, "Age" does Matter, and chances are if you encounter someone older than you, you're expected to respect him/her, even though you may be 'better' than him/her. "Humbleness" is an personal ethic highly priced in the chinese world. And if you're very knowledgeable or talented, you're expected to be humble, and not arrogant.

Guess what, my father still teaches me how to be a 'person' (i.e. a gentlemen by confucius standard) even though I'm so grown up today.

This functions very differently in western society, where a person has been taught to have individual creativity and work was based on individual performance...so much so if you're personally very talented, you will have the potential to be valued. This is one reason why the west is a more 'free' society, which is very good and productive.
In the west, 'an individual who's bright and clever' is always priced

However, in many western nations, respecting the teacher and having a good relation with the teacher somehow disappeared after you left school. This is not so in chinese society, where the student still maintain a good relation with teacher even after you leave school.

and if you do not follow exactly how they wipe and clean cutlery or hold a plate, then you are stupid and dumb.

No.. this is not true, the cultural difference is making you interpret wrongly.
From what I understand, if you do not follow exactly how they wipe, you are not 'obeying' to their teaching and trying to 'act smart'.

westerners let you work at your own pace and understand that everyone will develop their own style. As long as you dont do anything too outrageous which might offend customers, its fine.

they dont start scolding you just because they happened to have seen an empty glass on the table or two forks which havent been washed.

This is true, esp. in western society where the individualism was always valued and a personal creativity and freedom was emphasized, and work was based on individual performance. These are values systems highly priced in western society, but not much in eastern society where work was not based on individual performance but on whether the whole company (the mass) is doing well (collectivism), how you relate to people (humanism), how you respect your elders etc.

Your boss is probably too particular and impatient. The cultural difference is also making you not getting used to the working environment in a chinese environment.