Chinese and Western cultural differences to explore the sense of

Western and Chinese etiquette culture etiquette, is the rules of communication between people, is a language and a tool. Because of the important root of the formation of etiquette - religious beliefs - different, so that the world's people who believe in different religions to comply with the different etiquette. China is one of the four ancient civilizations, and the Chinese nation is the only civilization and nation that has been passed down for thousands of years. Chinese etiquette, which began in the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties and flourished in the Tang and Song dynasties, has gradually formed a system through continuous development and change. Western society, the successor of several ancient civilizations, had been echoing China in the East. After the darkness of the Middle Ages, it eventually ushered in the Renaissance and gave birth to capitalism and modern civilization, producing modern technology and culture. China and the West have very different ceremonial cultures.

With the increasing pace of China's reform and opening up, increasing cross-border communication, the differences between Chinese and Western etiquette and culture is more and more obvious, the impact of such differences can not be ignored, in the Chinese and Western etiquette has not been a perfect blend of the former, we need to understand the differences in these etiquette.

One, the difference in communication language

Daily greetings, the Chinese people mostly use "Have you eaten?" "Where?" and so on, which reflects a sense of intimacy between people. But for Westerners, this kind of greeting will make the other person feel sudden, awkward, and even unhappy, because Westerners will interpret this kind of questioning as a kind of "cross-examination", and feel that the other person is inquiring about their private life. In the West, everyday greetings are greeted with a simple "Hello" or, depending on the time of day, with "Good morning!" "Good afternoon!" "Good evening!" That's all. The British, on the other hand, would say, "It's a nice day!"

In Chinese, only people who are familiar with each other can call each other by their first names. But in the West, "calling someone by their first name" has a much wider scope than in Chinese. In the West, the common use of "Mr." and "Mrs." to address strangers who do not know their names, the teenage or twenty-something women can be called "Miss", married women can be called "Ms." or "Ms.". For women in their teens or twenties, they can be addressed as "Miss", and married women can be addressed as "Ms." or "Mrs.". Among family members, they can generally call each other by their first names or nicknames, regardless of their seniority. At home, you can call your father and mother by their first names. All male elders can be called "uncle" and all female elders can be called "auntie". This is not possible in China, where you have to distinguish between the generations, the old and the young, or you will be considered impolite.

There are many different ways to say goodbye in Chinese and Western languages. For example, when saying goodbye to a patient, Chinese people often say, "Drink more boiled water," "Wear more clothes," "Get some rest," and so on, to show their care for the patient. But Westerners will never say things like "drink more water" because it is considered to be dictating. For example, they would say, "Take care" or "I hope you get well soon".

The difference in dining etiquette

The Chinese have a saying that "Food is the God of the people", which shows the status of food in the minds of the Chinese people, so the Chinese people regard eating as the most important thing. Chinese cuisine focuses on dishes color, aroma, taste, shape, meaning all, even more than the focus on nutrition, as long as the delicious and to look good, nutrition, on the contrary, seems unimportant. Western diet is more concerned about nutrition and absorption, is a scientific concept of diet. Westerners pay more attention to the nutrition of food and ignore the color, aroma, taste, shape and meaning of how the food, their diet is mostly for survival and health, does not seem to pay attention to the enjoyment of taste.

In terms of dining atmosphere, Chinese people like to be lively during meals, with many people gathered around eating and drinking, laughing and joking, creating a lively and warm dining atmosphere. Unless it is in a very formal banquet, Chinese people do not have any very special etiquette at the table. Westerners, on the other hand, like to have a quiet and elegant environment when they eat, and they believe that they must pay attention to their manners when they are at the table, and must not lose their etiquette, for example, they must not make any unpleasant noises when they are eating.

Western and Chinese banquet etiquette is also unique. In China, from ancient times to the present day, most of the left as the honor, in the banquet guests, the status of the very noble guests to be arranged in the left of the upper seat, and then arranged in turn. In the West is to the right as the honor, men and women spaced out and seated, couples are also separated and seated, female guests seat than the male guests seat is slightly higher than the men to be located on their right to pull open the chair for the female guests, in order to show respect for the lady. In addition, Westerners should sit upright when eating, and consider it rude to bend over, bow their heads, and eat with their mouths, but this is exactly the way Chinese people usually eat. When eating Western food, the host does not advocate a big drink, the Chinese table wine is a must, to wine to cheer up, sometimes in order to show respect for each other, drinking is a cup and a glass of wine.

Three, the difference in dress etiquette

Western men in formal social occasions usually wear conservative style suits, white shirts, ties. They like black, so they usually wear black shoes. Western women wear dress suits on formal occasions. It is also customary for women to wear earrings when going out. In western countries, especially in the United States, people usually like to wear casual clothes, such as T-shirts with jeans.

Today's Chinese dress is becoming more and more westernized, and the traditional Zhongshan suit, cheongsam, etc. have been withdrawn from the stage of history. In formal occasions, men and women dress in the same way as in the West. In the usual city life, but will see a lot of people wearing tank tops, shorts, slippers and other ungentlemanly dress.

Etiquette is a kind of culture, is a culture that has vertical inheritance and horizontal borrowing and integration. As the world globalization continues to accelerate the pace of economic and cultural high-speed collision and integration of the background, a large number of Western culture into China, China's traditional etiquette is also constantly by the impact of Western etiquette culture. How to protect the traditional etiquette of the Chinese nation and remove its dregs, and make a reasonable and effective integration with the Western etiquette has become a topic that people constantly think and discuss. More and more people realize that Chinese and Western etiquette and culture will penetrate each other and develop continuously.

Take catering as an example. Nowadays, foreign fast food and western food take up a large proportion in China's food market, and more and more people begin to try and accept these foreign foods. McDonald's almost represents a cultural fashion, and has become the symbol of American culture in the field of catering. At the same time, the aristocratic culture of France and the gentleman culture of England also flooded into China with food. With the exchange of Chinese and Western food culture, not only brought cakes, bread, cocktails and other Western dishes, but also brought some advanced Western production technology and dietary methods. All these have injected new vitality into the ancient Chinese food culture. Of course, the influence of our long and splendid food culture overseas is also growing, and a large number of Chinese restaurants have appeared in almost all parts of the world, and Chinese food has become increasingly popular and loved by people from all over the world. For example, Peking duck has become a local delicacy in the hearts of foreigners.

But in the process of fusion of Chinese and Western etiquette and culture, the Chinese people are blindly enthusiastic about the West, unconsciously fall into two misunderstandings: First, it is to take the Western etiquette to replace the traditional etiquette of our Chinese people. Etiquette is the most representative thing of a nation. For example, among young people, the tendency to hold foreign-style weddings, to celebrate Western festivals, and so on, is a tendency that should not be ignored. Western etiquette just as folklore knowledge to understand what is not wrong, if the tendency to over-ambitious, the loss of national self-esteem, the nation's traditional etiquette will also be submerged. Secondly, the focus of etiquette education is concentrated on the operational level, such as how many degrees of bowing, handshake to stop for a few seconds and so on. It is not impossible to talk about these issues, but if they are only superficial, etiquette becomes empty formalism.

It is undeniable that today's internationally accepted etiquette is basically Western etiquette. The reason for this phenomenon is not merely the power of the West, but the deeper reason lies in the unity of Western values, in the high degree of recognition and deep awareness of Westerners of their own culture. All this is closely related to the social foundation of Christianity, because liturgy is an important way of religious activities, due to the devout belief in religion, Westerners have been receiving this kind of liturgical education and inculcation since childhood, so that the liturgy can naturally manifested in the behavior of people. The high degree of spiritual and material, political and cultural integration makes people gain a high degree of self-confidence and a sense of superiority, and it is the self-confidence and sense of superiority of Westerners that gives Western culture a strong infectious force, so that its culture of etiquette is regarded as the world's standard. The gap between us and the West is obvious when we compare our current Chinese social situation.

The fusion of Chinese and Western etiquette and culture, in our today's China, is more or less borrowed from the West. But whether we are borrowing from the West, or whether we are creating our own system of etiquette, this is not formally difficult. What is difficult is for us to have a complete value system, a high degree of recognition and a deep awareness of our own culture. We should learn from the Western etiquette, not only its form, but also its inner soul, only then we can build up our own self-confidence and sense of superiority, in order to establish our infectious power. The revival of the nation is not only a revival of strength, but also a revival of culture. Only when others agree with our culture can we truly make our manners known to the world.

Without etiquette, a person cannot stand, without etiquette, a matter cannot be accomplished, and without etiquette, a country is not peaceful. A society with a lack of etiquette is often an immature society. And a society with less uniform or even contradictory standards of etiquette is often an unholy society. Etiquette is the foundation of the whole social civilization, and it is the most direct and comprehensive expression of social civilization. To create a harmonious society, we must start with etiquette. China is facing unprecedented challenges today, whether it is material, spiritual, cultural aspects, there is an urgent need for a complete and reasonable set of values for unification. Etiquette culture is undoubtedly the "forerunner" of such unification. Only by recognizing the differences between Chinese and Western etiquette culture and integrating the two in a reasonable and effective way can we establish a system of etiquette culture suitable for the contemporary Chinese society and achieve the ideal of a harmonious society.

Western and Chinese dress culture

When it comes to the Eastern dress culture, people will think of the elegant Tang suit, the subtle and timeless cheongsam, but for the Western dress culture, we know very little, in addition to modern suits, can think of is the medieval European grand and gorgeous aristocratic dress. In fact, the difference between Chinese and Western dress culture is not so simple, a nation's dress characteristics permeate the deep cultural heritage of a nation. Chinese and Western costumes have formed a distinctive style and system after thousands of years of historical precipitation.

I. Color

An ethnic group's preference for color is, in a sense, a reflection of its subconscious character traits. In the ancient times, black was considered by the Chinese ancestors as the color of heavenly emperor who dominated everything. During the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the emperor's coronation uniform was black. Later, with the development of feudal centralized dictatorship, people shifted the worship of the God of Heaven (black) to the worship of the earth (yellow), thus forming the traditional concept of "yellow is precious". Traditional clothing colors are influenced by the five elements of yin and yang, and there are five colors: green, red, black, white and yellow. They are known as the main color, the other colors for the intermediate colors, the main color in most dynasties for the upper class society, indicating noble. In folklore, the positive colors are also people's clothing color matching favorite and the pursuit of the color.

In the West, in the Roman era, the most popular colors are white and purple, white represents purity and integrity, purple symbolizes noble. In the Middle Ages, the stained glass windows in the Chianti church were brilliantly decorated, leading people to pursue the colors of paradise, so the colors of the dress full of religious atmosphere were desired by the people. Since the European Renaissance, bright colors have become popular as the level of luxury in clothing escalated. The French especially like lilac and rose color, but also very obsessed with the subtle sky blue and holy white; the Spanish revered elegant rose red and gray tones; in the United Kingdom, black is considered a mysterious, noble color.

Two, shape

In terms of shape, the shape of traditional Chinese clothing emphasizes the vertical feeling, often used in the sagging lines, long sleeves over the hand, and tube shaped gowns and skirts. The longitudinal decorative technique makes the wearing body look slender. The clothing of the Qing Dynasty was relatively fat, with cuffs and hemlines expanding outward. However, the high buns and several-inch-high flowerpot-soled shoes of Qing women, together with the cheongsams that hung down to their feet, made the cheongsams appear slimmer than women of all times. The slenderness of the shape of the garments was a compensation for the shorter stature of the Oriental people, creating an optical illusion in the senses, and achieving perfection and harmony in the proportions. The smooth shape of the garment is in keeping with the softer contours of the Chinese face.

The appearance of Western classical clothing emphasizes the horizontal feeling, often using horizontal expansion of the shoulder silhouette, expanding sleeves, huge skirt support, overlapping lace, etc., so that the clothing line produces an exaggerated and outwardly radiating effect. The appearance of Western clothing features and Westerners enthusiastic temperament, undulating obvious facial contours and taller than the Oriental body type to adapt.

Three, the pattern

Chinese and Western clothing in the choice of patterns also show a variety of trends. Chinese clothing prefer to use patterns to express auspicious wishes. From ancient to modern times, from noble silk to folk prints, auspicious patterns are widely used. Such as the dragon and phoenix, dragon and phoenix dance, nine dragons playing pearls and other patterns, not only a metaphor for totem worship, but also expresses the "descendants of the dragon" feelings; like the crane and deer with the spring, magpies and plums, phoenixes through peonies and other patterns, reflecting the people's hope for a better life.

Western European clothing patterns with the changes in history and constantly changing. Ancient more popular flowers and plants to put the pattern, the Italian Renaissance popular ornate floral patterns, the French Louis XV period, by the influence of the Rococo decorative style, the popular performance of the S-shaped or swirling vines and grasses and light and soft garden flowers and plants to put the pattern. Modern influential popular pattern pattern Fauvist Dufy pattern, the use of geometric Ogilvy principle design of Opal pattern, and so on.

With the development of economic globalization nowadays, the trend of fusion of Chinese and Western clothing culture has been strengthened unprecedentedly. The Chinese clothing industry is trying to connect with the world, taking a fashion plus national characteristics road, integrating western fashion elements in traditional clothing design, while Chinese elements are influencing the development of the international fashion industry. While exploring the cultural differences between Chinese and Western clothing, we should also think about the importance of maintaining national characteristics under the impact of globalization. The key is to find this point, to find the fusion point where national culture and cosmopolitan culture cut through.

From Dayu to Noah's Ark, the difference between Chinese and Western cultures

Ancient civilizations started from the struggle of mankind against the flood. Both the legend of Dayu in China and the story of Noah's Ark in the West illustrate the fact that the struggle against floods had already begun in the ancient flood era. However, in the face of flood, Yu not only summarized his father's failure of building embankment and waterproofing, but also summarized his father's failure of building embankment and waterproofing, by dredging the riverbed and excavating channels, but also "holding Lei Shovel in his hand and putting people first, he suppressed the flood for thirteen years, and did not enter the door of his house for three times". The situation of "The Nine States have been thinned out, the Nine Rivers have been sprinkled, and the summers are in peace" ("The Records of the Grand Historian - The Book of the River and Canal") has become a beautiful story that has been passed down through the ages of the Chinese nation and is well known to women and children. And in the West, widely known is the Bible recorded in the story of Noah's Ark: Noah by God's revelation, in God to punish the world's sins, to flood the world, the destruction of mankind before the construction of a large boat, the family and all the animals female and male each pair to bring to the boat, to avoid the destruction of the flood. The two stories have been passed down through the ages in the East and the West and have endured for a long time, accumulating their own civilizations, full of differences between Chinese and Western cultures, and interpreting a colorful cultural world.

Da Yu and Noah's Ark reflect the different worldviews of Chinese and Western cultures. Noah relied on God's revelation and used the ark to escape the disaster that God had sent to the people, while Dayu regarded the flood as a natural phenomenon and led the people together to overcome the flood by channeling the flood; Noah also left the seeds of human reproduction behind, but it also provided a precedent for mankind to confess their sins to God, whereas Dayu left mankind to think about the harmony and the struggle with the natural world. These two fundamentally reflect differences in worldview and cosmology. In China, the origin and development of the universe is generally regarded as a dynamic natural process, while human beings are an organic part of the universe, and they have to adapt to the flow of the universe, that is to say, "the unity of heaven and man". It is this view of the universe, so that the Great Yu in the face of floods, make the best use of the situation, not "blocking" but "dredging", so that our ancient ancestors from the desert in the west to the east to the sea will be the people along the river basin in the fight to control the water cohesion together to form a great nation, casting a great era of water management, creating an ancient ancient culture of water. Great era, creating an ancient Eastern civilization. In the West, on the other hand, it tries to find an unchanging absolute existence for the universe, and stipulates the basic nature of everything from this absolute existence. Judeo-Christian theology, which is one of the sources of Western civilization, renders Western civilization by making God the creator of time and of all things, and it was God who saved Noah.

Da Yu and Noah's Ark embody the core of Chinese and Western cultures -- the difference between radical and steady, between leaping and tranquil, between analysis and synthesis. In the face of human "sin", God's approach is to destroy mankind. This kind of breakthrough from the original equilibrium to make new leaps and mutations is a prominent feature of Western culture. Therefore, in philosophy, it is full of restlessness and reverie, in literature, it glorifies chivalry, and in art, it promotes the spirit of movement and masculine beauty. And in the way of thinking, it is manifested as a one-sided digging, which in the language of philosophers is to divide into two and seek differences in the same. Therefore, God does not need to do overall thinking, only one end can let the human race to reproduce, philosophers, thinkers only around a point of view, can search for the roots of casting their own theoretical edifice, the formation of their own schools of thought, theism, and even the trend of thought, theories iterative, reproduced the typical characteristics of Western culture - analysis. On the contrary, in the face of floods, China's ancient emperors were very successful, and Dayu finally found a way to control the water through the contradictory thoughts of "blocking" and "dredging", and utilized all kinds of primitive knowledge and skills at that time to control the water successfully. This is the typical thinking characteristic of Oriental culture as synthesis, and the core of Oriental culture as stability and serenity, which in the language of philosophers is to merge the two into one, and to seek commonality in differences. Thus, the holistic concept of Chinese philosophy has been deepened over the years, and the calmness and tranquility of Chinese culture have become the foundation, and the feminine beauty of Chinese aesthetics has become revered. It is like the depths of the sea, there are beautiful coral, fluttering seaweed, there are leisurely sea fish, compared with the surface of the rough sea, constituting a tranquil and colorful picture. This is the realm of Eastern culture.

The story of Dayu and Noah's Ark reflect the difference in ethical and moral values between China and the West. From the surface of the two stories, there is a difference between the Western idea of evacuating people and the Eastern idea of channeling water, while from a deeper perspective, the two stories reflect the difference between the Western culture, which emphasizes human rights, individuality, and subjectivity, and the Eastern culture, which emphasizes the rule of law and the responsibility of collectivity and humanism. In the story of Noah's Ark, although we can't see the traces of Noah's struggle for mankind, we can see the meticulous plan of building the ark, feel the subjective spirit of seizing the opportunity to build a big boat with perseverance, and realize his idea of using external conditions to cope with the crisis and making progress by retreating. Western culture in the long-term development, from the ancient Greek culture of democratic thinking, to the Renaissance development to the extreme, colorful description of the pursuit of independent personality, personality liberation, emphasizing the picture of individualism. On the one hand, this has contributed to the emergence of Western culture, which has produced many talented people with outstanding achievements; on the other hand, it has also caused confusion in ideology, infinite expansion of individualism, and the formation of self-expressive individualistic values. On the other hand, the spirit of Dayu's water-rule has been carried forward for generations, fostering China's introspection, self-discipline, and a cultural outlook that emphasizes righteousness rather than profit, forming a fine national cultural tradition of modesty, courtesy, and social responsibility. The social structure and responsibility of human relationships formed by the long-term accumulation of this culture, such as the righteousness of the ruler and the loyalty of the minister, the kindness of the father and the filial piety of the son, and the harmony of the husband and the wife, on the one hand, ensures the harmony of the relationship between human beings, promotes the unity of the country and the stability of the society, and perpetuates the great nation for thousands of years, but on the other hand, it also imprisons the individuality and the creativity of human beings to give full play to their individuality and creativity, which is not conducive to the establishment of the idea of democracy and democratic system. In addition, the West emphasizes the horizontal relationship between husband and wife, while the East emphasizes the vertical inheritance of blood. Noah took his wife to avoid the water, while Dayu inherited his father's business and went to cure the water in four days after his wedding, which also reflects the closed and open ideological and cultural characteristics of the East and the West.

The reasons for the cultural differences between the East and the West are manifold, and the differences are wonderful. Noah's Ark and Dayu's flooding present us with a beautiful landscape of Chinese and Western cultures, guide us towards the source of the differences between Chinese and Western cultures, inspire us to think about the qualities and essence of Chinese and Western cultures, and prompt us to learn from each other and "give up" each other. The "quiet" Chinese traditional culture and the "dynamic" Western culture reflect each other, and the sense of responsibility in the East and the idea of rights in the West complement each other, thus generating a colorful picture of human civilization.