Comparison of the Chinese and American Cultures Essay

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, culture is defined as the integrated pattern of human knowledge, popular opinion and behavior that depends upon the capacity for instruction and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations. Culture is an boldness all groups of humans start and nonetheless though it is an aspect our species sh ars, the supposed leavings select it seem like we be of incompatible species Culture is something that both connects and separates us. Culture is something plain enough to create barriers among us, such as linguistic barriers and behavioral barriers. And this is especially seen surrounded by the American and Chinese cultures.River T give birth, by mother fucker Hessler, is a non-fiction novel that depicts Peters examines as a Peace corps propose in Fuling, mainland China. He was displace to Fuling (a poor town on the banks of the Yangtze River) in 1996 and taught English and American literature for dickens years at a teachers col lege. This novel, in reading, seems more than of a journal and thus, his makeup of China puts the raft and his experiences on a more personal level. He describes, with great detail, his observations of the genial, political and cultural issues of China and his experience as a waiguoren (foreigner). At his arrival, the spate of the teachers college showered him and his fellow Peace Corps volunteer with many gifts and did everything they could to make them tonus easygoing and welcome. However, alternately, whenever Peter would walk outside the campus of the school, the people would stargon and gawk at him and yell, alien and hello out of curiosity and their own amusement.This made him dedicate a large(p) part of his day solely to attainment Chinese. As he becomes more upright in Chinese, he develops friendships and connections and begins to feel more accepted. He talks about the lush history of China the struggles of land reform, decades of mislead economic policies and e specially the damaging cause of the Cultural Revolution. Peter spends a salutary deal discussing the, then, up attack sound projection of the triplet Gorges Dam, which has an immense, detrimental impact on the people. The project leave require millions of villagers to be displaced and pull up stakes destroy centuries worth of meaningful history. The reason gives a very vivid representative of the beautiful landscape, history and the people he meets. He also portrays the, especially political, perspectives of the Chinese quite well through learning from his students and teachers.According to Francis Hsu, the two sets of contrasts ar individual-centered versus situation-centered and the hump of emotions versus the underplay of all matters regarding the heart. He believed Americans be concerned sole(prenominal) of themselves and act correspond to what would be beneficial to them, and that the Chinese acted tally to the situation at hand. The Chinese vacate direct confronta tion, open criticism and moot topics to maintain harmony. In America, he adage the blind, often excessive pursuit of confidence and the inherent, permanent instability of human relationships as the root cause of many dogged social ills, including crime, racial discord, and the sale of twine in government. In China, he sawing machine the traditional narrow focus on kinship based relationships had rendered their society inefficient to effectively counter Western colonialism, general poverty and famine, and even the practice of seat binding of women. (Tong 2001)One aspect of the declare that really interested me was the education establishment and different cultural differences of how education is looked upon. In the book, the students all had the same thoughts on almost every issue and those opinions would be unwavering. However, perchance by my standards they were politically brainwashed, but compared to the ago they were remarkably free. (Hessler 200123) They would also communicate indirectly to Hessler often epochs via their journals. Not only is the learning environment in China elevatedly competitive and demanding, but micturate overations are high of students, forcing them to simply learn to progress to the highest grade possible. Also, Chinese students do not have electives they can choose from, they are assigned classes that best correspond to their loads on tests. Whereas in America, individualism and self-expression if looked high upon. Thus, in America, the individual students abilities and skills determinewhere they go in the future, and in China, what society or their parents want determines where they go. This is scarce what Francis Hsu talked about.I believe Peter Hessler was relatively objective in his journaling. Whenever he brought up thoughts or opinions of his students or any of the Fuling people, he briefly gave the history and background of them so we can understand where they are coming from. However, there were a few times where you could sense his extreme bias, but this was never fully evident in his writing.The difference between American and Chinese homes reflects the contrasting patterns of behavior in the family. In the US, children are highly regarded, cared for and have privilege, so farthest as to have laws and regulations protecting them. In China, children are taken for granted and have little to no reason to expect protection. Pediatrics was not a weapon system of medicine in China until near recently. In America, what is important is what parents should do for their parents in China, what is important is what the children should do for their parents. This is a major(ip) reason why Chinese students are so focused on acquiring the best grades, so they can modernize a good job and take care of their elders. This is the basis for Filial worship (virtue of respect for ones parents and ancestors). American students focus on what is best for them and will usually move out the set up at age 18 with no regard to taking care of their elders. some other difference between the two cultures is social relationships. The Chinese have formal, hierarchal relationships in which they feel most comfortable acute their position. Americans have informal, egalitarian relationships in which they feel most comfortable among their equals and social be is not important. Ironically however, the Chinese run to have a few, very near(a) friends to whom they feel obligated to when it comes to helping them Americans move to have numerous friends and acquaintances that changes over time and to whom they feel no obligations.Works Cited2001 River townsfolk Two years on the Yangtze. HarperCollins Publishers. Aguilar,Leslie, and Linda Stokes 1996. multicultural Customer wait on Providing Outstanding Service Across Cultures. Chicago Times reverberate Higher Education Group, Inc CultureAbout Our Definitions All Forms of a Word (noun, Verb, Etc.) Are Now Displayed on One Page. Merriam- Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2013 Li Qing 1995. Face, Guanxi, Houmen(r) & whippy Rules Insight into the Chinese Culture. Presentation at conference of NAFSA Association of International Educators. Tong, William K. Excerpts from Americans & Chinese by Francis Hsu. Excerpts from Americans & Chinese by Francis Hsu. Oakton corporation College, 2001. Web. 22 Apr. 2013