Cultural psychology of Chinese culture

The cultural psychology of the Han nationality is gradually formed after thousands of years of accumulation. Although the import of various modern cultural thoughts has greatly impacted this traditional cultural psychology in the past hundred years, its influence is still deeply rooted. This forms the unique pragmatic features of Chinese in people's verbal communication.

First of all, the feudal society based on agricultural natural economy ruled China for thousands of years. This feudal patriarchal society has created two characteristics in national psychology: one is to attach great importance to blood relationship, and the other is to emphasize class differences. Therefore, a prominent feature in verbal communication is to pay attention to the use of kinship terms and strictly distinguish between seniority and inferiority.

In the west, we can see the younger generation calling their elders by their first names, which is not allowed in the communication between China people. When talking with the elders among relatives, you must use appellation, which is a sign of courtesy and education. Moreover, kinship terms, as a kind of honorific, are widely used by non-relative speakers, such as uncles, grandmothers and aunts. They are regarded as a sign of respect and intimacy for each other.

The patriarchal concept has been transferred to social interpersonal relationships and become a hierarchical concept. For thousands of years, feudal society has always advocated the order of the young and the old, and the order of respect and inferiority. Therefore, when people talk with people with official positions, they always have the habit of being commensurate with their positions, which was considered as a kind of honorific title in ancient times. In communication, in order to raise each other's status, they often lower themselves, so there are a number of modest names relative to honorifics, such as your surname-my surname, your family-my humble family, my good brother-my stupid brother, my masterpiece-my humble work, my humble opinion-my humble opinion.

Secondly, it emphasizes the harmony of interpersonal relationships, the sociality of people, the constraints of society and groups on individuals, and the group rather than individuals and personalities. This is also related to the patriarchal clan system in feudal society, which is in sharp contrast with the self-centered modern west, which emphasizes independent personality and individuality and praises personal achievements and honors. Because of this, in order to emphasize the intimacy of interpersonal relationship, China people often use kinship terms to address non-relative speakers; China people often greet each other's private lives after meeting, such as "Have you eaten?" I'm not really worried that you will starve. It's just that I'm very concerned and affectionate.

As for asking how much money you earn, how old you are, whether you have a partner or how many children you have, in China's view, it is also a manifestation of close interpersonal relationship and emotional contact, which is the so-called oriental human touch, while in Westerners' view, it is suspected of interfering with others' "privacy".

The conservative tradition of Han nationality on sex and gender issues has also caused language differences between men and women in verbal communication. Generally speaking, male language is straightforward and casual, while female language is subtle and solemn. It is far more common for men to use sex-related words to swear than for women. Because the traditional concept also thinks that it is uncivilized for men to use these words, but it seems to be widely understood, while the use of women is very indecent, and it seems natural to be criticized by public opinion.