综合英语学期论文

The cultural differences between the U.S. and China

By XuYi

Culture, including material culture and spiritual culture, is the psychological heritage of a nation in long history. The differences of people’s actions and thoughts, in fact, are the differences in culture. So, we need to understand the cultural differences if we want to learn the differences between them.

When talking about the cultural differences, I would like to take John McCain as an example. He joined the U.S. army and went to Viet-Nam with the military. Unfortunately he was caught by the enemies. In his word, \"It is the patriotism that made me overcome the war camp life.\" and he was warmly welcomed as heroes by American people when coming back.

In China, it is totally unbelievable. From the very beginning of the founded of the new China, people are taught that they should contribute everything, even lives, to the country. And a man, who died from a flood for saving a piece of timber, is highly praised during the Cultural Revolution. Even LaiNing, a boy tried to put out the forest fire and died from that, were described as hero in the children's textbooks in the last century.”Sacrifice for the country\" is a phrase widely used.

However, in the Westerners' eyes, life ranks first for always. It is partly because of the Development of Capitalism. But in my opinion, human being came through so many difficulties and become who they are now, so intelligent and developed, mainly because that they can adapt to the environment and protect themselves.\" Being afraid of death\" is a human nature and it should be admitted and protected.

But with the development of our socialism market economy, this kind of thought is widely recognized by the Chinese people. We can not hear \"Sacrifice for the country\" anywhere except in the military. This, in my opinion, is the development of the civic awareness.

Another difference between the two countries exists in the media. In America, most of the news from the media is criticizing the government. Not only about the policies of the government or the president, but also, for example, even the accent of the political leaders. In America the \"freedom\" is truly realized. But here in the mainland, we can hardly see the critical news. Even if we see one, it is always about one official conceal a fact and a higher officer order that he should be severely punished or something like that.

When talking about the causing of the specific cultural differences between America and China, I think there are four main reasons.

Firstly, the tradition of the Chinese culture and the modernity of the American Culture. As we all know, china has a long history with over 5000 years and the United States of America was founded in 1776.The difference in the length of history reflects in all the other aspects. On one hand, the long history brings the colorful resources of all kinds. On the other hand, it brings bad attributes for the Chinese culture. However, Americans live their lives in the scientific ways, following the world fashion and creating their own culture. Though short history, they make themselves outstanding around the globe.

Secondly, the political nature of the Chinese culture and the plurality of the American culture. For the 2000 years, it is difficult to rule such a big country. Chaos brings death and peace makes developing. We Chinese should live in a stable environment thus we can develop our culture. However, America is a highly developed country that in it there are science, technology and economic management in the culture suited with the development of the economy.

Thirdly, the Confucianism in china and the Christian Culture in the U.S. China is a country where Confucianism is the mainstream. The Confucianism focuses on the family relationship and lineage. There are two characters in the ancient family relationship. One is the respect for the seniority. That is, children should respect their parents and parents should train their children. And the other is that respecting developed into the society thus we remain faithful to friends. We treat our friend like brothers and sisters in the family. However, Americans believe in God. \"All man are created equal\" .Family is the place where parents feed their children. Even the children make mistakes; parents should not beat them. Or they will be punished by law.

Finally, the humanity in Chinese culture and the scientificity in American culture. The Confucianism is the mainstream in Chinese culture And the Confucianism focus on morality. And morality, together with the poem, contributes to the humanity in Chinese culture. However, Americans carry on the scientific thoughts from the Europeans and make their culture rational. Americans love science, believe in strength and speak to the world with the advanced technology and developed economy.

Learning the cultural differences makes both of the countries understand each other. It can help us communicate well and increase contacts between us. Thus we can learn from each other and make both of us develop in the right way.

“Know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred Battles without defeat.” United States of American is not china’s enemy. But we are competitors. If

china wants to become a developed country and makes its people wealthy and advanced, we Chinese must learn from the U.S. Learn from their successes and failures. And, of course, learning the cultural differences is the basic step. Thus, china will stand proudly in the family of nations within middle of this century.