What are the typical aspects of cultural differences between the East and the West?

The concept of civilizational complementarity is both an important concept for different civilizations in the world to live in peace*** and an important concept for making harmony among different civilizations in the country. From the perspective of Chinese and Western cultural differences, this paper further argues that cultural or civilizational differences are not a source of conflict, but a basis for complementarity. \x0d\ \x0d\ I. Differences between Chinese and Western cultures \x0d\ The Chinese and Western cultures are two different types of cultures with great differences, which have been studied by many famous Chinese and foreign scholars and politicians. In the author's opinion, from the point of view of cultural types, the differences between Chinese and Western cultures are mainly manifested in four aspects, namely, ethical and juridical types, introvert and extrovert, holistic and analytical thinking, and family-oriented and individual-oriented. \x0d\ 1. Ethical type vs. Juridical type. \x0d\\ From a cultural point of view, Chinese culture belongs to the "ethical" culture; Western culture belongs to the "legalistic" culture. Chinese culture from the point of view of "sexual goodness", that human nature is good, advocating the establishment of good ethics to regulate people's behavior, through indoctrination to make people form self-discipline, consciously overcome the animal instincts, consciously overcome the personal desires of individuals, to comply with the social norms, to maintain the social order: Western culture from the point of view of "sexual badness", that is, the culture of the "ethical type". Western culture from the perspective of "sexual evil", that human nature is evil, advocating the "original sin", that life is sinful, and advocating the establishment of strict laws to curb personal desires and animalistic instincts. It advocates the establishment of strict laws to curb individual selfishness and animalistic instincts, and the use of "other laws" to urge people to abide by social norms and maintain social order. The differences between ethical and legalistic cultures are mainly manifested in the following aspects:\x0d\ Firstly, in the relationship between culture and society, culture influences society, and the types of culture are different. The way to maintain social order is also different. Chinese culture is based on the rule of virtue, supplemented by the rule of law, mainly through indoctrination to solve the problem of relations between people, through authority and power to maintain social order; Western culture is based on the rule of law, supplemented by the rule of virtue, advocating the establishment of strict laws to deal with the relationship between people, through the establishment of a variety of systems and norms to maintain social order. \x0d\ Secondly, in terms of the relationship between culture and the individual, culture influences the individual, and different types of culture create different types of people. That is, in terms of what kind of people to cultivate, Chinese culture has the basic purpose of cultivating people with goodness, propriety and generosity or good people. It focuses on indoctrination and cultivation, regulates behavior by suppressing individuality and selfish desires, and raises people's self-discipline through indoctrination and cultivation; it emphasizes setting up a typical person as a role model to learn from, and restrains itself with the consciousness and behavior of typical people. The formation of this self-discipline can be called "moralized self-discipline", and it is formed under the driving force of morality. Through indoctrination, everyone has a "conscience" and a sense of shame, so that every citizen becomes a filial son and a good citizen, and the Chinese people are molded into traditional Chinese people who are "kind to their fathers, filial to their sons, kind to their brothers, brotherly to their sisters, righteous to their husbands, obedient to their women, kind to their elders, obedient to their young children, kind to their rulers, and loyal to their subjects". Western culture aims to cultivate a law-abiding citizenry. Western culture emphasizes the construction of the legal system, from the system to regulate people's behavior and awareness, this self-discipline and behavior can be called "institutionalized self-discipline", it is formed under the constraints of the system of self-discipline, so that every citizen has become a law-abiding people. \Thirdly, in terms of the relationship between culture and nature, Western culture takes nature as evil, emphasizing the subject-object dichotomy and dichotomy between man and nature, with man as the subject and nature as the object, and the relationship between man and nature as the subject and the object, conquering and being conquered, and advocating the conquest of nature and the continual solicitation of nature. China is the opposite, and nature for good, emphasizing the unity of man and nature, man and nature in harmony. Chinese culture is "the nature of man", while Western culture is "the nature of things". Chinese culture emphasizes people, humanism, life, humanism, human nature, human relations, personality, human feelings, human nature. All the ideologies of Confucianism take "man" as the starting point and "man" as the destination. Therefore, the religion of "the way of heaven" is not developed in China, and the natural science of "the way of earth" is not carried out in China. \x0d\ 2. Inward-looking and outward-looking. \x0d\\ From the point of view of cultural character, Chinese culture belongs to the inward-looking culture, while Western culture belongs to the outward-looking culture. It is mainly manifested in the following aspects: \x0d\ First, from the perspective of movement and static, the Chinese civilization is a static civilization, seeking stability and peace, from ancient times to the present, advocating stability, contentment, satisfied with the status quo. It is good at patience, minimizing major problems and minimizing minor ones. Pursuing social balance and harmony, it emphasizes stability at all times. Whether in ancient times or now, all emphasize stability, pray for peace, and seek development in stability. Western civilization is a moving civilization, advocating change, progressive, never satisfied with the status quo, and seeking development in the midst of change. \x0d\ Secondly, in terms of foreign relations, China loves peace, does not like war, with war as the exception, does not attach much importance to the external environment, mainly through internal control to maintain domestic stability and security; do not like to care about other people's business, as the saying goes: "Everyone sweeps the snow in front of the door, do not care about other people on the frost." Defense-oriented, advocating a rear-guard action, people do not offend me, I do not offend. Western culture is very aggressive and expansive, emphasizing the impact of the external environment on its own security, and safeguarding the country's security through expansion. War as a common thing, constantly expanding outward, in the expansion of development and consolidation of their own, advocating pre-emptive action, fighting for the initiative in everything, emphasizing the nip the opponent in the bud. \x0d\ Thirdly, from the point of view of personal character, Chinese people are flexible character, more flexible, most of them are gentle and kind-hearted people, no coldness, excessiveness, roughness and violence, don't love to show themselves, gentle and calm, solemn and old-fashioned. Westerners are rigid character, aggressive, self-confident, love to show themselves, always centered on themselves. \x0d\ 3. Holistic thinking type and individual thinking type. \x0d\\ From the point of view of the way of thinking, human thinking can usually be divided into forward thinking and reverse thinking, lateral thinking and vertical thinking, image thinking and logical thinking, comprehensive thinking and analytical thinking, holistic thinking and individual thinking. Generally speaking, Chinese people have strong image thinking and underdeveloped logical thinking, while Westerners have strong logical thinking. In the author's opinion, Chinese people have stronger holistic thinking \x0d\, while Westerners have stronger individual thinking. \x0d\ Chinese people emphasize the overall qualitative thinking, focusing on the overall perspective to grasp the individual and observe things, focusing on the organic relationship between things, emphasizing that man and nature is a unified whole, the disadvantage is that they are not good at or do not attach importance to things to do a thorough logical analysis, but also difficult to find out the laws or principles of society and nature. And Westerners emphasize individual local empirical thinking, focusing on the individual person, good at grasping the whole from the individual, long for a body to make sophisticated logical analysis, able to find through the surface of the inner laws and principles, etc., the disadvantage is that there is a certain one-sidedness. \x0d\ As a result of the different ways of thinking, resulting in the Chinese and Western cultures are very different, it is mainly manifested in the following aspects: \x0d\ First, the performance of science and technology, the Chinese culture belongs to the technology-based culture, the Western culture belongs to the science-based culture. While there are brilliant technologies in ancient China, such as the four great inventions of gunpowder, papermaking, printing and compass, these technologies are empirical technologies, invented by people in long-term production practice, not technologies deduced and invented on the basis of scientific theories or principles, while the West is just the opposite, with well-developed natural and social sciences, and most of the principles and laws of natural sciences as well as humanities and social sciences that affect the world are the result of Western force' theories and theories. Theories are all discovered or founded by the Western force' people, and modern Western technologies are all developed on the basis of scientific theories or principles - \x0d\. \x0d\ Secondly, Chinese people always consider problems from big to small and from top to bottom, while Westerners think from small to big and from bottom to top. For example, Chinese names are written in such a way that the Chinese surname, which symbolizes the family, comes first, and the first name, which signifies the individual, comes second: whereas in the West the first name, which signifies the individual, comes first, and the surname, which symbolizes the family, comes second. The Chinese order of timekeeping is year-month-day. In the West, it is the opposite: day-month-year. Westerners always write their resumes from the present to the past. The Chinese, on the other hand, generally go from the past to the present. \x0d\ Thirdly, in terms of religious beliefs, Westerners are specialized and Chinese are compatible; Chinese emphasize utilitarianism and Westerners emphasize spirituality: Westerners generally believe in only one religion and do not believe in both Christianity and Catholicism or Islam; while Chinese are not exclusive in their beliefs, and many believe in both Buddhism, Taoism and other religions. Some people worship any god they see and beg any temple or church they see, no matter what religion it belongs to. Some temples even put a variety of religious idols on a piece of *** with the worship and sacrifice, such as the Ming and Qing dynasties since the present many temples, are Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, three religions in the same hall; people's sacrifices and worship psychology, but also the worship of the \x0d\ God, the more the better, and will be blessed by more God. The religious beliefs of the western nation have the characteristics of exclusivity, each person - generally believe in only one religion, will not believe in both Christianity and Catholicism or Islam. \x0d\ 4. Family-oriented versus individual-oriented. \x0d\\ From the point of view of cultural orientation, China is a "family"-oriented culture, while the West is an "individual"-oriented culture. Chen Duxiu once said: "The Western nation is based on the individual, while the Eastern nation is based on the family". "The Western nation, from ancient times to the present day, is, through and through, a nation of individualism." \x0d\ "Family-oriented" Chinese culture, but that is to take the family, family and clan as the basic orientation unit, the relationship between people is characterized by interdependence, based on blood relations, and the stable and lasting family, family and clan as the bond: everyone is fixed in the network of relations, and all kinds of social needs can be found in the family, clan and family line. In this basic system, people depend on each other and have obligations of mutual support and reciprocity. At the core of Chinese ethics is filial piety, which is a synthesis of all the duties, obligations and attitudes that children should hold toward their parents, and a return of the favor they have given them for their upbringing. Since what is within one's own group and what is outside the group have fundamentally different meanings for him, and since he recognizes through life experience that different truths exist in different situations, the most basic cultural-psychological orientation of this type is emotionally centered, with an emphasis on particularity, and the individual adopts different standards for his own group and for the external group, respectively, resulting in a dual or multiple code of ethics. \x0d\ The "individual-oriented" Western society is characterized by "self-dependence" in interpersonal relationships. The blood ties between close relatives are temporary, there is no permanent family or clan base, and the basic orientation of the individual's life and environment is self-dependence. In other words, one must think for oneself, make one's own decisions and do everything on one's own. The individual who grows up in this mode finds it intolerable to be dependent on others because it destroys his own self-esteem: he also finds it unacceptable to be dependent on others because this situation is resented by them. Since he is not bound by the basic group, the family, or the secondary group, the clan, he considers the whole society, the whole world, to be at his disposal. Since Westerners have taken the whole society and the whole world as the space for their activities, they tend to establish a universal standard and form a universal principle of right and wrong. \x0d\ "Family-oriented" and "individual-oriented" are two different types of cultures, forming two different consciousnesses. In the family-oriented Chinese society, the "family" or kinship consciousness is very strong, and the interests of the family and relatives are considered first and foremost at all times, while the concept and consciousness of the society and the country are very weak: the consciousness of the Chinese people only rises to the family, and no one has ever risen to the nation and the country. In Chinese history, there was no concept of state, only the concept of "world". A country was the emperor's "family world". \x0d\ in the individual-oriented Western society, not to the family or clan as the space of activity, but to the whole society, the country and even the world as their own space of activity, so they are very concerned about the relationship between the individual and the community, the individual and the country, very concerned about society, the country and the world's various phenomena, and efforts to establish the same rules, the formation of the same concepts and awareness of the same ***. Therefore, Western society is not only strong in individual consciousness, but also strong in social consciousness as a nation and the world. \x0d\ \x0d\ II Complementarity between Chinese and Western cultures \x0d\ Why is it said that differences in cultures or civilizations are not a source of conflict but a basis for complementarity? In what ways are Chinese and Western civilizations complementary? \x0d\ 1. Cultural differences are the basis for complementarity. \x0d\\ A large number of facts at home and abroad show that cultural differences are conducive to complementing each other's strengths and weaknesses, and are conducive to cultural innovation and development. First of all, cultural diversity is the basic feature of human society and the driving force for the development and progress of human civilization. The more heterosexual and heterogeneous a culture is, the stronger the complementarity will be. In the long course of its historical development, any culture is not self-enclosed, but rather protects its own characteristics in mutual exchanges, complements its strengths in competition and comparison, and develops together in seeking common ground while reserving differences***. Every culture has its strengths and weaknesses, and if two civilizations are identical or similar, it is impossible to complement each other's strengths and to absorb new cultural factors, and the culture or civilization will not be dynamic. A culture without vitality will stagnate and decline. Most of the demise of many civilizations in history was caused by the loss of vitality in culture. \x0d\ Secondly, cultural diversity is a source of innovation and creativity. It is manifested in two aspects: first, cultural innovation or the creation of a certain new culture, in many cases, is produced in the exchange of different cultures, and a number of them are created on the basis of the culture of a foreign nation or after absorbing its essence. Many famous dances, music, paintings, crafts, etc., both ancient and modern, were created in the exchange of different cultures. Many modern dances and music popular in the West were created on the dances and music of African blacks and Indians. Secondly, all kinds of creations of many nationalities, such as literature and art, are rooted in their own cultural traditions. Leaving the cultural traditions of their own people, the works created will not have a distinctive national character. \x0d\ Chinese philosophers realized the importance of cultural diversity and difference more than 2,000 years ago, believing that "difference" is the root of complementarity and development, and that only when things that are different complement each other can they continue to grow and prosper. If things were the same, there would be no comparison or reference, and things would stagnate or even suffocate. The Guoyu-Zheng Yu (《国语-郑语》)recorded what Shi Bo said at the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty: "Harmony is a living thing, and sameness is not a continuation." \x0d\ 2. Intercultural exchange is the way to complement each other. \x0d\ The difference of cultures is not only the basis of cultural innovation and development, but also a prerequisite for cultural exchanges among peoples. If there is no difference, there can be no exchange, and there is no need for exchange. The more dissimilar and heterogeneous the cultures, the more necessary the exchanges are, and the more possible it is to absorb valuable things from each other. Various cultures communicate with each other, so that they can learn from each other, complement each other's strengths and weaknesses, and share each other's strengths and weaknesses; the various cultures of the world are mixtures of many cultures, some of which are inherent in themselves, and a considerable portion, or even most, of which are foreign; there are very few, if any, purely national cultures in the world. If there is one, it must be segregated, closed, primitive, and unrelated to others. It is primitive and has no contact with other peoples. \x0d\ In the primitive times, due to the inconvenience of transportation, there was little communication between the same ethnic groups, and the development of the culture of each ethnic group depended mainly on its own internal changes and innovations. With the continuous development of means of transportation, exchanges between alien races became more and more frequent, and there was more and more contact between different cultures and civilizations. Each ethnic group is constantly absorbing from other ethnic groups cultures that they themselves do not have. \x0d\ Cultural or civilizational exchanges are one of the important driving forces of cultural development - and at the same time an important factor in the enrichment and prosperity of the cultures of all peoples: because, culture is cumulative, and the various cultures that have been handed down in the world up to the present day have all been accumulated over a long period of time. The accumulation of culture is a basic form of cultural growth and development, and any culture is always accumulating, or accumulating due to invention. Any culture is always accumulating, either by invention or by introduction. Both inventions and introductions are mostly the result of cultural exchanges. \x0d\ From a global perspective. A considerable part of the culture of the peoples of the modern world has been introduced through cultural diffusion and exchange. Especially material culture and science and technology, no national boundaries, exchange and dissemination of faster, not subject to all the Wu dialect, geographic environment of the obstacles and barriers to influence. Beyond all national barriers. Such as modern mathematics, physics, chemistry, medicine, astronomy, biology, etc., all worldwide, natural science, once a new principle of discovery, will immediately spread around the world. Once there is a new invention or creation in science and technology, it is immediately accepted and adopted by the whole world. \x0d\\ From a historical point of view, the more culturally homogeneous a region is, the stronger the conservatism and exclusivity, and the slower the social and cultural development; while open, multi-cultural exchanges in the region, the socio-economic and cultural development is also faster; wherever culture is prosperous and developed is mostly cultural pluralism ****existence and cultural exchanges developed region. \x0d\ 3. Chinese and Western cultures have strong complementarity. \x0d\ British famous thinker Russell as early as more than 80 years ago, will stand in the heights of history overlooking China and Western civilization, from the perspective of cultural values perspective of China, not only see the ancient civilization of China in the Western civilization under the impact of the perilous predicament suffered by the country, but also to see the Chinese culture contains the treasures. Russell recognized the strong complementarity between Chinese and Western cultures. He said, "China has developed its traditional culture completely independently of European influence, and thus has strengths and weaknesses very different from those of the West." In his opinion, "There is a weakness in Chinese culture: the lack of science. Chinese art, literature, and customs are by no means inferior to those of the Europeans." Both Chinese and Westerners should retain their own strengths and learn from each other's strengths, and never learn from each other's shortcomings or retain their own shortcomings. He pointed out: "The remarkable strength of our civilization lies in the scientific method; the strength of Chinese civilization lies in a rational understanding of the destiny of life. One would surely like to see the two gradually coming together." He believes that Chinese and Western exchanges can complement each other, "Chinese and Western exchanges are good for both sides. They can learn from us the practical efficiencies which are essential; and we can learn from them some of the thoughtful wisdom which has enabled China alone to survive when all other ancient nations have perished." \x0d\ Russell believed that Chinese civilization must draw on the strengths of Western and other civilizations, but not Westernize them wholesale. Russell once said, "I believe that the Chinese, if they can promote the good and discard the evil of our civilization, and then combine it with their own traditional culture, will achieve brilliant results: but in the process they must avoid the danger of two extremes. First, wholesale westernization and abandonment of traditions that are distinct from those of other countries.? Second, in resisting foreign aggression, to develop a strongly xenophobic conservatism that rejects any Western civilization." \x0d\ Russell also believed that Western civilization must learn something valuable from Chinese civilization. He severely criticized the plundering, aggressive and warlike aspects of Western capitalist culture, appreciated the "peaceful" glory of Chinese culture, and appreciated the "unity of heaven and man" and "harmony" advocated by Chinese culture. He appreciates the "unity of heaven and mankind", "harmony", "mediocrity", "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faith" and filial piety advocated by Chinese culture, and hopes that these ideas can be accepted and carried forward by the world today. In his opinion, "the Chinese are a great people? the only people in the world who truly believe that wisdom is more valuable than rubies". And he believed that "the ideas of the Chinese can enrich our culture as much as doing business with them can line our pockets". \x0d\ \x0d\ III Conclusion \x0d\ The Chinese and Western cultures belong to two different types of cultures, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Chinese culture since the Song Dynasty has differed greatly from modern Western culture. From the viewpoint of cultural nature, Chinese culture belongs to "ethical" culture, while Western culture belongs to "legalistic" culture; from the viewpoint of cultural character, Chinese culture belongs to inward-looking culture, while Western culture belongs to outward-looking culture; from the viewpoint of thinking style, Chinese culture belongs to From the point of view of cultural character, Chinese culture is inward-looking, and Western culture is outward-looking; from the point of view of way of thinking, Chinese culture belongs to the holistic thinking culture, while Western culture belongs to the individual thinking culture; from the point of view of cultural orientation, Chinese culture is the "family"-based culture, and Western culture is the "individual"-based culture. Due to the different types of culture, there is a great deal of difference and complementarity. \x0d\ Strengthening dialogue, mutual respect, mutual recognition, full understanding, equal cooperation, and harmonious coexistence is the way to get along with different cultures, civilizations, and religions in the world. Culture is relative, and every culture is a product of adaptation to the natural and social environment. All cultures have their intrinsic and unique values. The superiority or inferiority of a culture should not be evaluated in isolation from its historical and social environment. The value of all cultures is relative. Absolute standards of value do not exist. No matter which nation, we should respect the differences and diversity of cultures, respecting both our own and others' cultures; respecting both strong and weak cultures. \x0d\ In general, we should appreciate the beauty of Eastern civilization and its great contributions. We should also appreciate the beauty of Western civilization and its historical value: we should inherit the wisdom of the East and absorb the wisdom of the West. A wholesale affirmation of tradition, stubbornly closed to the night, arrogant, unwilling to absorb and learn from the essence of Western civilization, will certainly lag behind the world: and a wholesale denial of tradition, arrogance, self-deprecation. It will lose its own excellent tradition and become a vassal of Western culture. Cultural conservatism and historical nihilism are not scientific attitudes and are not conducive to the revival and development of Chinese civilization. Chinese and Western cultures should respect each other, complement each other's strengths and weaknesses, share each other's strengths and weaknesses, and *** live **** glory, parallel development.