What are the 10 differences between Chinese and foreign cultures?

1. The East is a farming culture that focuses more on the past, emphasizes tradition and inheritance, and believes that people should return to their roots after falling leaves; the West is a nomadic culture that focuses more on the future, emphasizes progress and conquest, and believes that people should be at home all over the world.

So the Mongolians, Jurchens and the West, who are mainly nomadic cultures, have conquered the New World more in history, while the Han people, who are mainly agricultural cultures, have been conquered. Clues can also be seen in film and television works. The West is far more interested in science fiction films that show the future world than the East; while the East, especially China, is far more interested in historical dramas that look back on the past than the West.

2. The way of thinking of Westerners is more field-independent, more focused on the subject, and less affected by background information; the way of thinking of Easterners is more field-dependent and easily affected by environmental background information.

It also has something to do with the living environment. Easterners prefer to live together, and the boundaries between people are not very clear; while Westerners live more independently and scattered, and the boundaries between people are clear.

3. Individualism/collectivism culture.

The former is more Western and the latter is more Eastern. Therefore, Westerners’ fairy tales are all about personal heroes such as Iron Man and Spider-Man; while Chinese fairy tales such as Journey to the West, The Legend of the Gods, and the Three Kingdoms all focus on hierarchical relationships. Sun Wukong, who is a little more personal hero, was also bullied miserably by Tathagata and tried to kill the dragon. The prince's Nezha must commit suicide to apologize!

Moreover, Westerners prefer to start with "I" when expressing their opinions, which only represents themselves and not others; while Easterners like to start with "we" and are used to representing others. In meetings and classes, Westerners are more willing and dare to express their opinions, even if they have only a little knowledge, while Easterners prefer to observe the environment. Even if they know the answer and no one raises their hand to answer, I will not raise my hand.

In politics, the differences are even more obvious. The East tends to have collective or national interests rather than individual interests. When necessary, individuals need to sacrifice for the country, and it is more difficult to tolerate different opinions and is more inclined to "united as one." " and "One word"; while the West is relatively more inclined to put personal interests before national and collective interests, and is relatively more respectful and accepting of different opinions on the same thing.

4. There are differences in the sense of distance from power: the East emphasizes authority more, while the West emphasizes equality.

The East, especially China, likes to compare the motherland to the mother and the government to the parents, emphasizing obedience, and the leadership's perspective is extremely important; in the West, except for God, all living beings are equal, and even children are not the parents'. This can be seen from the plots of TV dramas. Chinese historical dramas often see yamen sedans clearing the way, officers and soldiers shouting at passers-by to get out of the way, and courtiers calling themselves "slaves" and other scenes of groveling. Western historical dramas rarely feature wretched depictions of servants. Housekeepers and slaves all hold their chests high and their heads raised, as seen in "Downton Abbey".

5. Personal space/privacy: The West pays more attention to personal space and privacy, while the East pays less attention to it.

The West places more emphasis on having an independent space. No one, not even parents, can cross it without their own permission. The East, on the other hand, lacks space boundaries and emphasizes not distinguishing between you and me. In addition, in the East, especially China, even if people are not very close to each other, it is easy to ask about marriage, work, and income. In the West, such questions are a great offense to individuals, but in China The education of the younger generation is more consistent with that of the West, and they are relatively more privacy-conscious.

6. One-way timeline and multi-way timeline.

The former is more Western, emphasizing talking to only one person at a time and only dealing with one thing; the latter is more Eastern, preferring to talk to multiple people at the same time, or do multiple things. If you are checking in at the DMV (vehicle management office), hotel front desk, or shopping mall counter, never interrupt when someone is asking. No matter how urgent your matter is, the staff will not pay attention to you. He/she must finish what they are doing. Let's take care of other things.

7. Feminine/masculine.

The overall aesthetic of the East is neutral, while the West emphasizes masculinity. Therefore, the East favors literature and the West favors martial arts. Celebrities with androgynous appearances, such as a large number of Korean stars, as well as Tfboys, Lu Han and others, have many fans. This phenomenon occurs more in East Asia.

8. Confucian dynamics.

The East is more Confucian culture, emphasizing moderation, believing that human nature is inherently good, and emphasizing morality; the West is more Christian culture, emphasizing the distinction between good and evil, believing that human nature is inherently evil, and emphasizing rules. Therefore, from the past to the present, China has been more pursuing a "benevolent monarch", while the West does not trust people and pursues systems and supervision. In addition, the East emphasizes tolerance, taking a long-term view to catch big fish, saving, and enduring hardship now for the future or the happiness of the next generation; the West emphasizes living in the present and not wronging the present self.

9. Avoid uncertainty.

The West rejects ambiguity and thinks more logically and evidence-based, so modern science, including modern medicine, was born in the West; China likes not to explain everything clearly and likes to leave blanks, so the Chinese people’s way of thinking is not the same. Too heavy on logic. Moreover, the more vague a Chinese master speaks, the more competent others think he is; Chinese medicine is so unevidence-based, yet it has many followers; the Chinese say: let’s have dinner together another day. Most of the time it is polite, and Westerners should never ask what day it is seriously.

10. The East emphasizes fatalism and emphasizes the Eight Diagrams of the Book of Changes, Feng Shui, and the Return of Fallen Leaves; the West emphasizes free will, I think, therefore I am, and everyone has unlimited possibilities.