Similarities and Differences between Eastern and Western Civilizations

The first difference between Eastern and Western cultures is the relationship between justice and interests.

Generally speaking, Westerners value profit over justice, while Easterners value justice over profit or consider both justice and profit.

The awareness of Oriental people is that the word "righteousness" comes first. Guan Yu in ancient times was an out-and-out heroic hero. He was also highly praised by people at that time. I think this is also a cultural awareness caused by the multi-faceted thoughts in ancient times.

The 5,000-year-old culture is also a reason that cannot be ignored for this heavy courtesy. Relatively speaking, the short-lived Western culture pays more attention to interests. This is also a manifestation of realism, from the war of aggression against China and all life in the West.

Seeing their self-awareness, it can also be called a non-hypocritical and realistic style.

Of course, this is only for the vast majority of people in the East.

In Eastern life, such as Chinese, humility is a virtue, but Westerners don't know what to do about it.

Westerners can sacrifice their own righteousness for profit most of the time.

Second, there is the issue of integrity and individuality.

Easterners emphasize wholeness and comprehensiveness, while Westerners value individuality.

For example, Chinese medicine and Western medicine, Chinese medicine emphasizes the whole, but Western medicine is different. From an anatomical point of view, it emphasizes the parts of the whole.

The difference between overall thinking and individual thinking is also reflected in interactions. For example, in many reports, a Chinese went to a Western home for dinner. When the host asked whether he wanted to eat Chinese food or Western food today, the guest said politely: "Whatever."

It's up to the guest to do as he pleases." Westerners find it hard to understand this answer. They say they get a headache when they hear the word "卍姹铓" and don't know how to do it. It's not easy to operate.

Deep in our way of thinking, we believe that following guests is a sign of politeness and respect for the host, but Westerners don't see it this way. This is the difference.

Looking at it the other way around, when a European comes to China and you ask him what he is doing today, he will definitely not say "casual" but will definitely state his wish clearly.

Today we eat Western food, or just Chinese food, and Chinese people tend to express less personal wishes. When our delegation visits, the foreign party receives our delegation, and the other party asks, what do you want to drink?

If the group leader says to drink tea, the following people may also say to drink tea.

People are surprised that when I say tea, all the tea comes out.

Third, there is the issue of seeking common ground and seeking differences.

We Chinese always emphasize "harmony is the most precious", "harmony between man and nature", etc., while the West pays attention to various new standards.

When we thank each other for their reception, we often say something like this: Your country is beautiful, your people are friendly, your reception is considerate, etc.

They think that after traveling thousands of miles from the east to the west, don't they have any different feelings? Why are they always like these three sentences?

Later, when a delegation left, after three sentences, he said, I would like to make some suggestions now.

These people immediately listened carefully and wanted to hear the delegation's suggestions before leaving.

The first suggestion is that I hope your presentation materials can be translated into Chinese.

The second point is, can you cook the beef a little more rotten? I can’t stand the bloodiness.

The third point is that I hope you can understand something about Chinese history and culture.

They felt particularly good listening to it and hearing different opinions.

They said that if we can do it, we will definitely do it, and if we can't do it, we know what you like.

Fourth, there is the difference between Eastern and Western ways of expressing emotions.

Yes, there are many differences between China and the West on many issues. I bet Westerners will not be able to understand "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai" when they watch it. The biggest problem here is the difference between Chinese and Western cultures, which has caused the Chinese to be delicate and reserved.

There are two different ways of expression: the direct expression of love and the direct expression of Westerners.

Westerners must have no imagination about the ladies of ancient China, not to mention all the restrictive ideas such as "men are superior to women" and ancient family laws in ancient China.

Fifth, there is often intentionality in our way of thinking.

They are intuitive.

For example, in some of our articles, we like to use hints in life, or use metaphors to describe the past and present.

This kind of implicitness requires you to understand. The so-called silence here is better than the sound, which is different from the intuition of Westerners.

For example, Mr. Qian Zhongshu's comparison of Western and Chinese cultures even talked about the advantages of Chinese poetry. Although it only has a few crosses, it expresses more artistic conception than long Western poems.

But for Westerners, this is something very profound and difficult to understand.