Differences in moral values between Chinese and Western cultures! Thank you!

Similarities and Differences in Traditional Moral Concepts between Chinese and Western Cultures

1. In terms of extolling diligence and thriftiness, encouraging labor, and being down-to-earth in work, both Chinese and Western proverbs show the same moral norms.

"A lazy youth, a lousy age" corresponds to the English saying, "It is better to accumulate wealth than to work hard". "A useful trade is a mine of gold.

English proverbs that express thrift are Labour overcomes all things. Thrift is philosopher's stone. (Thrift is the philosopher's stone.) Frugality is the mother of liberality. (Thrift is the mother of generosity.) And so on. There are even more idioms and proverbs that express thrift in Chinese, so I won't give you all the examples here.

2. Most of the Chinese and English proverbs have the same viewpoints on the most basic moral virtues such as modesty, self-knowledge, honesty, honor and contentment.

-For example, the English equivalent of "Humility often gains more than pride. He is not wise that is not wise for himself." There are also a number of Chinese proverbs that address the problem of "not knowing oneself is not wise". In addition, there are quite a few Chinese proverbs that satirize those who want to show off their skills in front of experts, such as "Read the scriptures in front of Confucius" and "Play the big sword in front of Guan Gong", and in English there is also Never offer to teach fish to swim. Never offer to teach fish to swim.

-Chinese and English proverbs both value the importance of honor. "It is better to be broken for jade than to be broken for tile", "It is better to break bones than to lose one's reputation", "Take away my good name and take away my life", "Take away my good name and take away my life". --Take away my good name and take away my life." (Taking away my good name is the same as taking away my life.) A little bit of chivalrous swordsman's "Sword in the man, sword destroy the man die. -Faith moves a mountain. (Loyalty moves a mountain) and The cross on the breast and the devil in the heart. (The cross hangs on the breast and the devil in the heart.) are two proverbs that express honesty in both positive and negative terms. The Chinese sayings "Sincerity is the key to success, the stone is the key to success" and "Full of benevolence, righteousness and morality, full of male thieves and female prostitutes" correspond to these sayings. It is important to note that honesty in Western proverbs is loyalty to the Lord ("the cross"), whereas Chinese promotes "benevolence, righteousness, and morality". This is also a mark of the influence of religion and Confucianism on both Western and Eastern cultures. If we pay attention, we can also find more or less such traces in the comparison of many aspects of the proverbs that follow.

3. In the proverbs of friendship, the difference between the East and the West begins to be obvious.

There is a saying in Chinese, "To make a friend is a thousand times more difficult than to offend a friend", which has the same meaning as the English saying "A friend is not so soon gotten as lost"; A faithful friend is hard to find" is the best translation of "A friend is easy to get, but a confidant is hard to find".

- In Chinese, the word "friend" itself has a sentimental (positive) meaning, but in English it seems to have a negative meaning, and there are many negative proverbs used to describe friends. While they say A man without a friend is only half a man. (没有朋友的人只算半人),Friendships multiply joys and divide griefs. It is when friends and personal interests conflict that there is a new saying.Love your friend, but look after yourself.(Love your friend, but take care of yourself) Friends are thieves of time.(Friends are thieves who steal practice).

It is not difficult to see that the advantages and disadvantages of friends are viewed from both positive and negative perspectives, with a dialectical flavor. In the Western moral system, the individual, the self, always comes first. Western view of friendship in the gold worship, the impact of utilitarianism, friendship is synonymous with reciprocity and mutual benefit, covered with a thick layer of utilitarian attention to color. he that has a full purse never wants a friend. (Wallet rich people never need a friend), Hungerknows no friend. (Hunger does not know friends, that is, people in hunger can not care about friends), not only that, the West also pay attention to the friends in distress, do not lend a helping hand, so as not to spill over their own interests, such as: Never catch at a falling knife or a falling friend. In this cultural atmosphere, friendship over personal interests is a recognized moral concept. A gentleman can stick his knife in both sides for a friend, and can "die for a friend who understands him", which is also the reason why the Western mind can not understand it.

The Western concept of friendship is completely contrary to the Eastern concept of friendship between the "scholar" and the "gentleman" (the "scholar" and the "gentleman" are themselves Confucian concepts). The "scholar" and "gentleman" themselves are also products of Confucianism.) Personally, I guess it will not be related to the ancient Chinese "guilt by association" - family and friends associated, a person to get the chicken and dogs, and a person who committed a crime, the nine clans. Oh, blind guess.

Interpretation A digression, a famous American movie critics, a "first time to be valued, treated as a human being," the killer turned to save people sacrifice their lives (the typical Shi for a close friend to die) as the plot of the film's loophole (said: emotional shift suddenly), is out of his lack of understanding of the Eastern culture, right. He boasts that he has seen 200-300 Chinese movies, so he can comment on Chinese movies? (Oh, a belly full of anger, please pay attention to the recent launch of the "for Hong Kong films - watching Hong Kong film secrets")

4. On the view of help and relief, the roots of the East and the West cultures decided that there are bound to be very different points of view.

Traditional Chinese morality emphasizes "propriety, righteousness, benevolence, sincerity, and trust". Benevolence is to be compassionate and kind; righteousness is to be righteous and helpful. So there is a "one person in trouble, we all help, one thing a hundred busy" "mutual help, poor can become rich" and other proverbs of gratuitous dedication.

-Repayment There is a kind of temporary borrowing to relieve the need of the moment, which is even more ungrateful in Chinese proverbs. Although this simple act of borrowing and returning, there are in fact many hidden mysteries. The English proverbs make this "mystery" known to the world, without being shy about it. For example, the lender's fear, He that has but one eye must be afraid to lose it. (He that has but one eye must be afraid to lose it.) Fear that the borrower will not be able to return it as promised, Lend your horse for a long journey, you may have him returned with his skin. Even conflicts arising from the lending process are anticipated. Lend your money, and lise your friend. There are also some proverbs that bluntly advise against lending money and things to others: Lend and lose, so play fools.

Of course, there is no shortage of English proverbs that despise borrowers, He that borrows must pay with shame and loss.

In fact, in China, the problem of borrowing and repaying also exists in the English proverbs mentioned above. It's just that the Chinese education of benevolence and righteousness, "gold is not precious, benevolence and righteousness are worth a thousand pounds", expresses bluntly the lender's concern that it is "unkind" (in fact, it feels like it should be disbelieved), but the lender's concern and the loss he often suffers are undeniable facts. Therefore, Chinese proverbs emphasize from the borrower's point of view that "it is only right to repay a debt" and "it is not difficult to borrow again if you have borrowed and have to pay back". Some proverbs even advise people to repay their debts with interest, such as: "Borrowing a goose from someone else, you have to pay back a camel". Personally, I feel that in this process, the Chinese culture, "righteousness" word first, rather than people negative me, not I negative people, even if the lending time also have worry, hesitation, but deep into the marrow of the traditional spirit and moral standards in the sway of people's behavior.

-Comparing East and West, it is impossible to say which is better or worse, but there is not much of the traditional left in the actual behavior of modern people, who are more westernized and assimilated. Progress or not, it at least suggests that the ancient system of trust is more compelling than the contemporary.

5. Another reason why China doesn't want to see the entanglement of money issues is that it is afraid to pull its punches. This goes to the issue of face.

This face is actually similar to the reputation mentioned above. Reputation is often associated with morality, and a moral person will also have a good reputation and usually a good face. But it's not quite the same thing. In China, "face" means to be respected, and minor matters such as poor clothing and behavior do not affect reputation, but they can still cause loss of face.

-Related proverbs have both positive and negative connotations. "People are afraid of not face, the tree is afraid of peeling off the skin", "people do not face, ghosts are afraid of" and "dead face living suffer" is to say "swollen face to be fat The first is the "I'm not sure what I'm talking about" type.

-For gossip that may affect the face, the fear of the nation can also be seen in the proverbs. "Rumors can kill," "Sticks hurt flesh, but bad words hurt people's hearts," said Ruan Lingyu, a popular movie star in the 1920s and 1930s, who responded to the saying "People's words can hurt" with her death.

-Traditional Western morality holds that reputation is important and that people should watch their behavior, but as long as they do not endanger society or others, or break the law, it is not very important how others evaluate them. Therefore, in English proverbs, the same "sticks and stones" are less lethal: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Hard words break no bones.

-Comparatively speaking, Chinese people want to save face and care a lot about the evaluation of the people around them, which may be traced back to the root of the "Confucian" influence, where people and the environment and society are one and the same, and only the evaluation (good or bad) that a person receives in society is recognized as the best. The reason for this may be that under the influence of the Confucianism, people and their environment and society are one and the same, and only the evaluation (good or bad) that people get in the society is the criterion for judging the honor and face. Similarly, it is not difficult to see the shadow of individualism and the supremacy of the individual in Western proverbs that do not care about the opinions of others and the evaluation of society.

-On the other hand, in China, social opinion and evaluation are sometimes an invisible wall in defense of morality, which serves as a deterrent to bad deeds that violate morality. The traditional cultural values of "bravery and courage", "fighting for justice" and "no sand in one's eyes" are all examples of the positive effects of "people's words".

In Western culture, according to Christianity, everyone has sinned. When a person wants to speak out against someone else's sin, he must first think that he himself has sinned. "Judge not others, and God will not judge you." Embodied in the proverb, Physician, heal thyself. Moreover, English culture regards the person who chatters about right and wrong as worse than a thief.

In fact, from another point of view, they " don't say right and wrong" are not just devout to God, but more out of respect for privacy. In the West, privacy is above morality, and personal privacy is sacrosanct. (Note the emphasis on "personal" privacy). In traditional Chinese culture, on the other hand, a disciplined, moral person has nothing to hide. "A gentleman is open and honest, but a villain is always on his own", "A man of honor does not do anything in secret". Doing the unseemly thing, is no need to hide can not be hidden "belly no evil things, not afraid of the cold wind blowing" "If you want people do not know, unless they do not do".

On the whole, the similarities and differences between Chinese and Western proverbs in terms of traditional moral concepts are as follows:

1. The proverbs expressing the basis of traditional morality (truth, goodness, and beauty) are basically the same, and this is the moral standard that all human beings *** are pursuing together;

2. The Chinese culture has been profoundly affected by Confucianism and has left its imprints on traditional moral concepts embodied in Chinese proverbs; while Chinese culture is y affected by Confucianism and has left its imprints on traditional moral concepts. The Chinese culture has been y influenced by Confucianism and has left its mark on the traditional moral concepts embodied in Chinese proverbs. Western proverbs are also unavoidably influenced by Western religions (such as Christianity), for example, in the proverbs expressing loyalty The cross on the breast and the devil in the heart. The cross represents the Lord, and the object of loyalty also points to "God".

3. Chinese proverbs embody the Confucian idea of benevolence and righteousness, which subconsciously regulates people's concepts and behaviors. The traditional morality of the West is inescapably affected by money worship and individualism. It is reflected in the proverb that one's own self is the most important thing, and one should not help others and friends to avoid harming oneself. This kind of selfishness is a concept that traditional Chinese morality is not ashamed of.

4. It is important to note that Chinese proverbs represent people who are social beings, who have relationships with friends, relatives, neighbors and even those who help and need help in the social environment, and who are subject to the constraints of the environment, such as social opinion, the views of the community, comments, and even gossip. In this social environment to maintain the honor and face must be "gentleman open and honest" not to do unseemly things, there is nothing to hide the private. Comparatively speaking, the people in Western proverbs are personal people, heroic people, and private people. They do not bother to ask for help from others around them (e.g., borrowing money), nor are they willing to help others or lend money or goods to others, and they care even less about what others think as long as they follow their own standards. Reputation in the Western proverb has to do with morality, but face seems to have nothing to do with morality, and the most important influencing factor is personal privacy, i.e. privacy above all else.

5. However, it is not difficult to realize that Chinese people live a valuable life (in the collective value), but also live a tired life, living in countless pairs of eyes, under countless mouths. As the Western saying goes, "Go your own way and let others talk", perhaps it is easier to succeed without having to be too attached to all the details.