摘要
纵观历史，人类发展的过程即为持续融合的过程。随着不同语言，风俗文化的融合，以及全球化的进程，不同国度的交流日渐频繁。
于中国而言，这不仅是一个历史机遇，它也意味着一个巨大的挑战。如何理解，应对文化歧义，如何避免现实中由于文化差异带来的问题和冲突，都是我们需要学习和解决的问题。在现实工作与生活中，表达差异是最常见的问题。它不仅反映在语言中，更反映在影响深远的文化和根深蒂固的思维习惯中。这些深层的分歧，如果不能理解透彻，在现实中会导致一系列麻烦。
这篇文章旨在从文化起源和信仰的观点分析中西方之间的深层次差异，并解释潜藏其中的历史和现实因素，为更好地进行中西方交流提供参照。
关键词：中西方；文化差异；表达分歧；文化多元性；思维模式
Abstract
Throughout history, the process of human development has been a process of continuous integration. With the integration of different languages, religions and cultures, and the process of globalization, the exchanges between different countries have also increased.
For China, this is not only a historical opportunity, but also a great challenge. How to deal with cultural differences better, how to understand cultural differences, and how to avoid problems and confusions brought by cultural differences in practice are the problems we need to study and solve. In practical work and life, the difference in expression is the most common problem. It is not only reflected in language, but also in far-reaching culture and deep-seated way of thinking. These deep-level differences, if not clearly understood, will cause a lot of trouble in practice.
This paper will try to interpret the deep-seated difference between China and the West from the perspective of cultural origin and religion, and explain the historical and practical reasons behind the differences, with a view to provid reference for better communication between China and the West.
Key words: China-West; Cultural Difference; Expression Difference; Cultural Diversity; Thinking Mode
1. Introduction
1.1 Research Background
With the development of globalization, communication of politics, economy, and culture between nations is becoming more and more frequent. English, as the world’s most widely used language, plays an important role in today’s society. The joining of the World Trade Organization in 2001 marks China’s opening up into a new stage. Thus, there is a necessity for Chinese to master English and use it as a communicative tool. However, due to the Chinese traditional English teaching approach, students get a high score in exams, but the competence of using English is far from satisfactory, especially in oral communication. It is high time that China improved its English teaching approach and turned this situation around.
In the exchanges between China and the West, differences in expression due to cultural differences have brought many problems. The most typical case is the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States. Since China and the United States did not have effective communication channels at the time, both sides made many attempts and released many signals that they believed that the other party could understand, but the efficiency of communication was very low, and some signals could not be understood by the other party. The same problem is also reflected in many kinds of non-governmental exchanges. In the economic and trade cooperation between China and Western countries, the differences in expression brought about by cultural differences between Chinese companies and Western companies have caused difficulties in many aspects.
In addition to these differences, there are also big differences in the specific expressions of words between China and the West in the specific use of language. For example, Westerners like to adopt a focused way of thinking, emphasize analysis principles, and emphasize one-to-many thinking. People often adopt a scattered way of thinking, focusing on overall harmony, and emphasizing the thinking from many to one. Chinese people tend to think about everything with people as the center, while Westerners focus on expressions.
How to analyze and understand these differences is the first step for us to solve this problem. The differences in expression between China and the West can basically be summarized for two reasons: culture and religion. The differences between culture and religion have led to huge differences in thinking patterns and perceptions of cultural diversity between China and Western. These differences are ultimately reflected in the different ways of expression between China and the West.
1.2 Significance of this Research
According to related reports, the total value of trade between China and the EU in the first five months of 2020 was 1.61 trillion yuan, accounting for 13.9% of China’s total foreign trade value. The total value of Sino-US trade is 1.29 trillion yuan, accounting for 11.1% of China’s total foreign trade value. And China is already the largest trading partner of the European Union and the United States. The relationship between China and the West, especially the relationship with Europe and the United States, is already at the core of world trade relations and will remain at the core for a long time.
For China, this is a historic opportunity and a great challenge. How to better deal with cultural differences, how to understand cultural differences, and how to avoid problems and perplexities caused by cultural differences in practice are issues that we need to study and solve. In actual work and life, the difference in expression is the most common problem. This difference is not only in language but also in deep-seated culture and thinking patterns. These deep-level differences, if not clearly understood, will cause a lot of trouble in practice.
1.3 Structure of the Thesis
This article will use the following research methods.
(1) Extensive literature research
First, according to the subject content and research plan, I will spend a lot of time reading the literature in the early stage of the thesis. Reading documents includes books, papers, online articles, magazine articles, and related videos, movies, TV, etc. Through literature research, a more detailed understanding of the background and phenomenon of the subject can provide a solid foundation for subsequent research.
(2)Detailed analysis
Through the first step of literature research, we can summarize the many differences in expression between China and the West, and analyze them.
(3)Expert research
Consult my teacher and experts in various fields to study the deep cultural, religious, and historical reasons behind these differences.
(4) Practical research
Through the results of the research, some methods of how to better avoid the problems caused by differences in the communication process are drawn, and the effectiveness of these methods is tested through practice.
2. Literature Review
In recent years, some scholars at home and abroad have made a comprehensive study of expression differences between China and Western countries.
Zheng Weijia [1] has discussed the cultural differences in home education. In his article, the home education of China and America has been studied. In this paper, the Sino-US comparison of family education, and further elaborated in cross-cultural communication, because of cultural connotations in Western society produced by the various differences between China and the West. Young-Hoon Kim [2] did research on differences in East-West in the Likelihood of Making Favorite Self-Evaluations. The authors contend that although people in both Eastern and Western cultures are motivated to make favorable self-evaluation actual likelihood of expressing favorable self-evaluations in a concrete situation depends on (a) the dominant self-presentation forms in the culture, (b) how salient the norm is in the immediate situation, and (c) the availability of normatively permissible means to make favorable self-evaluations. Soh Kay Cheng [3] did research on the East-West view of creativities. The study tests these conceptions empirically by contrasting the views of Singapore teachers steeped in Chinese culture with those in the Western tradition. Michael and his team discussed the emotions and their expressions in Chinese culture and compared them with Western [4]. Lili Ye [5] did some discussions on the linguistic difference between China and the Western and the influence. And the article advocates that cultural education should be properly applied to foreign language teaching. Taofang Su [6] did research on the Chinese and Western cultural differences in etiquette. Yuqin Ma did research on the differences in politeness expression between Chinese and Western culture [7]. Yinwei Ye emphasizes the cultural differences in business negotiation etiquette and makes an effort to highlight the reasons, conflicts, and impacts on business negotiation [8].
The study also helped discuss the difference in religion. WANG Kai-bei and his team researched to discuss the difference of China-West religious opinion based on their view on hell [9]. In his paper, he first introduces the difference of the views of hell between the West and China, then distinguishes the characteristics of their religious cultures from three dimensions. From this study, the author discovers the different attitudes towards the relationship between God and human beings and that between this life and next life. Chang Junliang [10] made a discussion on the education model between western religious belief and Chinese Marxism belief. Based on comparative analysis of the characteristics and model between western education of religious belief and Chinese education of Marxism belief, the author meticulously screens for helpful education models in western religious belief, puts forward four revelations aiming at Achilles’ heel of the education of Marxism belief: Put equal importance to explicit and implicit education, make soft instruction and hard management, carry forward philanthropism and emphasize on the spirit, to improve the efficiency of Chinese education of Marxism belief.
The above-mentioned studies did not study the differences in expression methods based on the differences in cultural and religious traditions, cultural diversity, and thinking patterns, and did not study the differences in expression methods, nor did they communicate about actual life and work. Provide comments and references. This article will try to improve these issues.
3. The difference of China-West on expression difference
3.1 China Expression Style
Due to the influence of traditional culture, especially Confucian culture, the expression of Chinese people is conservative and implicit. In terms of written expressions, such as literary works, such as poems and articles, Chinese people are accustomed to expressing intentionally. Image is an important component of Chinese culture. In addition to literature, image is also an important expression in painting, opera, dance and other arts. Images hide emotions in the form of characteristic objects, so that emotions will not be obvious outside the expression. Only by analyzing and understanding the cultural background can we feel the emotions in the external image. Orally, the expression in Chinese is similar to written expressions, which are conservative and subtle. For example, in emotional expression, Chinese people are used to paying attention to actions rather than expressions. Chinese people are not used to expressing their feelings directly with language. This is one of the reasons for the prevalence of Chinese wine culture. After drinking alcohol, it is easier to break daily habits, and thus have a greater desire to express emotions.
Generally speaking, the expression in Chinese is implicit, not directly expressed, but transmitted through a third party. In literature, it is expressed through images, orally, through actions or other objects, rather than through Express in a direct way.
3.2 West Expression Style
Contrary to the Chinese people, Westerners are used to expressing themselves directly, not through the twists and turns of a third party. This is very clear in both written and oral expressions. In written expressions, Westerners are used to expressing themselves in a more direct and straightforward way. For example, in literary works, it is the habit of Westerners to discuss the facts directly or describe the direct process. In literary works, Westerners are also accustomed to directly showing what they want to express instead of relaying it through a third party.
In oral expression, Westerners are also accustomed to direct expression, such as in the expression of emotions and attitudes towards things, the way of expression is point-to-point, rather than expressing on behalf of other means.
3.3 The Difference of China-West on expression difference
From the above content, we can see that there are obvious differences in the way of expression between China and the West. These differences are mainly reflected in the fact that Chinese people are accustomed to using implicit methods while Westerners prefer direct methods.
For example, in literary works, when westerners comment on a matter, they will directly state the quality of the matter, divide their conclusions into many points, and comment on the reason and analysis process of each point, but it’s different for Chinese. Most Chinese people do not comment directly, but come to a conclusion through a more complicated process of rhetoric and argumentation. The difference between these two methods and habits eventually leads to the differences in culture and language richness. The direct way of expression in the West has led to a certain degree of linguistic richness being limited. Chinese expression, because it is used to borrowing things to express, can establish a certain connection between things, thoughts and emotions, and this connection is dynamic and can be updated constantly, so Chinese expressions can be expanded and enriched constantly.
There are also obvious differences in oral expression between China and the West. For Chinese people, the oral expression is a relatively difficult process, because in traditional cultural concepts, oral expression ability is not the standard of a good person. On the contrary, it is sometimes more negative. In the traditional Chinese concept, the behavior is valued while verbal expression is despised, which is also influenced by written expressions to some extent. For example, if a Chinese wants to praise a girl as beautiful, she will not say it directly, but she will say she looks like a flower. Flowers, as a third party, express meaning and emotion. Unlike the Chinese people, Westerners praise and express themselves directly with words. They are used to directing the output of language to the object of expression, and expressing their feelings and thoughts straightforwardly.
Traditional Chinese thinking focuses on practical experience, so with the aid of intuition and experience, it is generally vague and direct to grasp the inner nature and laws of the object of knowledge. Therefore, the Chinese people’s understanding of things is only satisfied with the summary of experience and the description of the phenomenon, instead of pursuing deep thinking about perceptual knowledge and philosophical speculation about the nature of things behind the phenomenon. For example, the understanding of Chinese medicine and Qigong, and the appreciation of a calligraphy work or a Chinese painting can only understand and appreciate the ups and downs of the author’s charm from the inside. Western thinking has strong empirical, rational and speculative colors. Early philosophers of ancient Greece permeated with rational thinking and philosophical speculation in various observations and experiments in nature. On the basis of collecting and sorting out data, they used the power of rational thinking to explain the world. Modern western philosophers, from exploring to investigating the certainty of the subject world, rely on the achievements of natural science, rely on the power of reason, and take experience or speculation as a weapon to answer questions about how to know and what to recognize. For example, in the 19th century, Kant used the spirit of critical reason to comprehensively explore the conditions for the establishment and existence of science and metaphysics. Hegel started from objective idealism and used dialectics to re-establish the intelligibility of the theory to the essence of the world of phenomena and re-establish it. A bridge of transition and transformation between the phenomenal world and things themselves.
In addition to these differences, there are also great differences between China and the West in the specific use of language and the specific expressions of vocabulary. For example, Westerners like to adopt a centralized way of thinking, emphasizing analytical principles and one-to-many thinking. People tend to adopt a decentralized way of thinking, paying attention to overall harmony and emphasizing many-to-one thinking. Chinese people tend to think about everything based on people, while Westerners focus on expressions.
The most straightforward difference in expression between Chinese and westerners has brought a certain degree of pain to both life and work. In the eyes of Westerners, the Chinese way of expression is too cumbersome and inefficient, wasting time in the process of expression and understanding, and in many cases they ultimately fail to understand the true intentions of the Chinese. In the eyes of Chinese people, the expression of Westerners is too straightforward to meet the implicit requirements of the Chinese people. Emotionally, it’s hard.
4. The Thinking and Cultural Diversity behind the Difference
4.1 The Difference between China and the West on Religion
Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism are the leading factors in Chinese history and culture. Confucian thought is the most important. It is cautious about ghosts and gods, “children don’t talk about supernatural powers,” “Serving the people and respect ghosts and gods,” and emphasizes people-oriented, but in ancient Chinese traditional society, there has never been a unique situation of Confucianism. On the contrary, Buddhism and Taoism have their own merits, which together constitute the three pillars that influence the psychological quality of the Chinese people. Secondly, because Chinese traditional society is a rural society formed on the basis of farming, as the famous sociologist Fei Xiaotong said: “From a grassroots level, Chinese society is rural society.” In rural society, the lifeblood of farmer’s island, and their dependence on land lead to the immobility of society, making it possible for them to live in one place for generations. As a result, a rural society based on consanguinity was formed. In this kind of society, the clan-based on ancestor worship just provided the foundation for the stability and integration of rural society, and people’s faith in ancestors has become spiritual sustenance. At the same time, due to the many uncertainties faced by the rural society, such as the uncertainty of long-term lack of medical care and huge social risks brought by natural disasters, people can only seek their own psychological comfort through beliefs of praying to God and worshipping Buddha. Therefore, we can say that the belief system formed by the traditional society for ancestors, Taoist gods, and Buddhist Buddhas has its important social function, just as the Chinese say: “Respect for God is in the presence of God, not respect for God.” “no blame” and “Don’t burn incense, hold the Buddha’s feet temporarily” are important manifestations of Chinese people’s careless and utilitarian attitude towards religion. Once this function can not be realized, it loses its meaning of existence.
Therefore, the above factors lead to the complicated attitude of Chinese people towards religion, that is, they have no absolute position on religion since ancient times: atheism and theism are allowed, and all kinds of religious organizations are allowed to exist. They are very casual with religion. There is an awe-inspiring side, and there is also a utilitarian side.
Western religions pay attention to the absolute separation of the world and beyond the world, which inevitably leads to the absolute pursuit of surpassing the world. This kind of ultimate absolute scale is used to measure secular life, which leads to the life value orientation of life. One is a negative attitude towards all utilitarian values in the world. This kind of valuable attitude towards secular life has been distorted in institutionalized Christianity. After the Western Hills, as a cultural mentality, it is still stubbornly reflected in Western culture. The romantic outlook on life and the existentialist thoughts of Sartre and Heidegger all show this mentality of secular life.
China’s religion does not value the other side of the world, which makes the values of Chinese religions oriented towards the ultimate (the emperor of heaven), but mainly based on life in this world. Therefore, the dominant tendency of value is to be raised on the basis of ethics and to be secular and ultimate. The so-called “meritorious service, virtue, and virtue” are immortal, showing the dominance of Chinese values. This kind of value attitude gave the Chinese people a strong humanistic ethical tendency and a value character of keeping the mean, which produced the unique traditional personality of the Chinese scholar-official class and the supreme authority of the secular king (the highest religious priest), which made Chinese People’s mentality of value rarely has Western-style sober reflection and rational criticism of reality. On the contrary, it uses practical utilitarianism to measure gain and loss. Even if they engage in revolution, they are blind and sensitive. This characteristic reappears in the world, even in the Chinese religion born in the world, it is also manifested in a hidden way. Just like Taoism, its transcendence means immortality. This seems to be a kind of Christianity close to the West in another world, but it is not.
Western Christianity pays attention to transcending the ultimate world and has a pessimistic view of human nature in secular life: people are born with original sin, but human nature is evil. However, this evil is not lacking general utilitarian significance such as virtue, but human nature is imperfect and incomplete. This view of fundamentally denying the rationality of secular humanity makes people always take a pessimistic and exclusive attitude towards the humanity of the world, so they are never interested in the ultimate transformation and redemption of the humanity of the world.
Chinese religions, due to their present-day character, have a completely different attitude towards human nature: from the Zhou Dynasty, it was believed that the way of heaven was reflected in the hearts of people and that people naturally possessed the “virtue” of heaven and that of human beings. Competence. Xunzi’s theory of “evil nature” does not deny that people have the ability to be good, but thinks that desires and so on have blinded these abilities, and desires are born, so people are “evil”, but as long as the blindness of desire is removed, the ability of human beings to be goodwill reappear. This firm belief and affirmation of the ability to be good in human nature will inevitably raise the important issue of human morality. Confucianism talks about personality cultivation, Taoism and Buddhism talk about “accumulating good” to transcend evil, and Zen Buddhism talks about the Zen enlightenment focusing on internal cultivation. The world’s experience and cultivation of human nature and its emphasis on virtue make the Chinese people have a natural optimistic attitude towards the life of the world.
4.2 The Difference between China and the West on Thinking Mode
Chinese civilization originated in the Yellow River basin and the Yangtze River basin. The traditional culture based on agriculture gave birth to Chinese people’s developed thinking in images, which is embodied in all aspects of Chinese culture. For example, in the history of Chinese literature, image analogy is very rich. From the first chapter of “The Book of Songs,” “Jujiu Guan Guan, in the continent of the river, a gentle lady, a gentleman is a good man” to Qu Yuan’s “Li Sao”, the parallel style prose of the Wei Jin, the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Tang Dynasty’s legal poems, the Ming and Qing couplets the method of image analogy was so common that Wang Fuzhi, a famous scholar in the Qing Dynasty, said: “The world is full of things, and everything looks like.” Bixing in “Poetry”, politics in “Book”, name of “Spring”, the ritual of “Rite” and the law of “Music” can be seen by them, while “Yi” unifies its rationale. “
In our daily vocabulary, there are many uses of image metaphors, such as: “wage” refers to labor remuneration; “soil and water” refers to the natural environment, etc. There are more vivid and vivid image metaphors in idioms, such as: “Surrounding the North”, “Dragon Flying and Phoenix Dance”, “Wolf-grabbing” and so on. All these words reflect the distinctive features of Chinese thinking in images. While in Western literature, from the “Homer Epic” and ancient Greek drama to modern critical realism literature, the development of literature has gone from a poetic depiction of grand historical scenes to a full display of the conflict of destiny and revealing the deep personality of the characters. Such a contradictory movement is an evolutionary process from sensibility to abstraction.
In philosophy, ancient Chinese philosophers and thinkers did not pay attention to concrete concepts. Laozi’s wisdom lies in the confusion of the “invisible elephant”. Confucius pays attention to the exploration of the outlook on life but did not give a clear definition of the original meaning of benevolence. This is quite different from Socrates’ exploration of “what is beauty” with “spiritual midwifery”, and Aristotle’s deductive logic. In addition, Chinese hieroglyphics are a vivid expression of thinking in images, and Chinese calligraphy is the art of expressing the beauty of words in images. But in the four major cultural systems, Chinese grammar appeared the latest, and the expression of the Chinese language is also relatively vague.
In the basic intelligence operation of thinking, Chinese people tend to be comprehensive, while Westerners tend to be analytical. The Chinese people’s preference for integration leads to the overall priority of thinking, while the Westerners’ preference for analysis leads to the characteristic of thinking operations with partial priority. For example, in the arrangement of surnames, Chinese people’s surnames are the first family’s surname, the last generation’s surname, then their own surname and the most prominent one is the whole family. Western countries have their own name first, then the father’s name, then the family name. The most prominent ones are themselves. Another example: in the order of the writing and expressing time and address, Chinese people are accustomed to the order of year, month and day from big to small, and the address is sorted by province, city, and county to the house number, with the highlight from the whole to the smallest. As for the separation of individuals, Westerners and the Chinese express the opposite order. The most outstanding is the compound relationship between the individual and the whole.
Chinese people’s comprehensive thinking is also reflected in Chinese traditional culture. For example, Chinese medicine theory holds that the human body is an organic whole connected by various parts of the organs, and the theory of Yin-Yang and five elements are used to explain the interdependence and mutual restriction of the internal organs. This is quite different from western medicine in explaining pathological phenomena with the physiological structure of the nine systems of the human body. Conceptually, traditional Chinese medicine is the product of comprehensive thinking, while western medicine is the product of analytical thinking. Another example is Chinese painting art. In the scrolls of traditional Chinese painting, there are not only pictures but also poems, calligraphy, seal cutting, etc. Such as Wang Wei’s landscape poetry and painting, “there is a picture in the poem, and there is a poem in the picture”, which fully reflects the comprehensive thinking in Chinese painting. There is absolutely no poem or calligraphy in western painting. At most, you should sign the author’s name in the painting.
In short, for westerners, if they want to understand one thing, they must first break things up and understand the internal structure. Chinese people look at things, do not discuss things, do not split things, do not analyze things, but look at things as a whole, pay attention to the relationship between things and other things, and transfer their previous experience of dealing with other things here. Some analogical judgments and conjectures.
Both the dialectics of Chinese classical philosophy and the dialectics of western philosophy pay attention to the contradiction and opposites of things. For example, Heraclitus, an ancient Greek philosopher, believed that everything was created through struggle. The Book of Changes in China explains the development and changes of things by the interaction of two opposing forces, Yin and Yang. However, Chinese culture puts more emphasis on “unity”. As far as the relationship between subject and object is concerned, this problem is dealt with by the thinking mode of “the unity of man and nature”, rather than the separation of subject and object. It’s harmonious. As Zhuangzi said: “Heaven and earth live next to me, and everything is one with me.” “everyone has a Taiji, and everything has a Taiji”. The whole includes parts, and the part reflects the whole, so it emphasizes looking at the problem from a unified perspective. Consider the overall situation in ethics. When there is a conflict between individual interests and collective interests, individuals often sacrifice their own interests to obey and adapt to the needs of overall interests. Western culture is confined to small islands. In order to survive and develop economy and culture, people often face nature independently and struggle with the sea, thus forming an innovative, innovative, curious, and active national character and nature. The view of nature that separates people from each other. Therefore, Westerners have made a clear distinction between subject and object, man and nature, spirit and material, phenomenon and essence, and conducted in-depth analysis and research respectively. For example, the atomist proposed the concept that matter is infinitely separable. Westerners like to think according to certain procedures, deduce the unknown from the known, analyze geometric problems, demonstrate meticulously, and then draw logical conclusions. From the “analytical era” of ancient Greek philosophy to Kant’s “innate comprehensive judgment”, and then to the “analytical era” of the 20th century, this has been fully explained.
Traditional Chinese thinking focuses on practical experience, so with the aid of intuition and experience, it is generally vague and direct to grasp the inner nature and laws of the object of knowledge. Therefore, the Chinese people’s understanding of things is only satisfied with the summary of experience and the description of the phenomenon, instead of pursuing deep thinking about perceptual knowledge and philosophical speculation about the nature of things behind the phenomenon. For example, the understanding of Chinese medicine and Qigong, and the appreciation of a calligraphy work or a Chinese painting can only understand and appreciate the ups and downs of the author’s charm from the inside. Western thinking has a strong color of experience, reason, and speculation. Early philosophers of ancient Greece permeated with rational thinking and philosophical speculation in various observations and experiments in nature. On the basis of collecting and sorting out data, they used the power of rational thinking to explain the world. Modern western philosophers, from exploring to investigating the certainty of the subject world, rely on the achievements of natural science, rely on the power of reason, and use empiricism or speculative theory as a weapon to answer questions about how to know and what to know. For example, in the 19th century, Kant used the spirit of critical reason to comprehensively explore the conditions for the establishment and existence of science and metaphysics. Hegel started from objective idealism and used dialectics to re-establish the intelligibility of the theory to the essence of the world of phenomena and re-establish it. A bridge of transition and transformation between the phenomenal world and things themselves.
5. Tips on How to Avoid the Problems Caused by Expression Difference
5.1 Better Understanding and Acknowledge
Cross-cultural adaptation refers to the process of active change in order to adapt to a new culture. This process includes changing one’s beliefs and attitudes, knowledge and skills. The external cultural features include clothing, language and eating habits, while the internal cultural features include beliefs, attitudes and values. Successful cultural adaptation includes adhering to the original values, customs and beliefs, while actively respecting the new culture and treating the two cultures fairly and impartially. Therefore, we have to admit that there are great differences between Chinese and Western cultures. In the face of these differences, we should have a positive attitude first. It is necessary to know the cultural background knowledge and social customs of different nationalities in different regions. In the west, we must actively integrate into another culture, treat the two cultures fairly, understand other people’s thoughts and other cultural connotations with a positive attitude, seek common ground while reserving differences, and respect each other. After all, there is no distinction between cultures. This is only the result of the accumulation of history. After getting acquainted with life in a foreign country, we should boldly communicate. When communicating with local people, we should not just remember words, but try to learn local language expressions. In addition, you should learn to adjust your mentality and actively adjust the way of life and study, which will be of great help to your life and career in the future. In a word, we should improve our cross-cultural awareness, make good psychological preparations, and make use of the specific expressions of cultural differences that we have mastered to effectively improve our adaptability.
5.2 More Practice
Cultural differences exist objectively in different countries, and cross-cultural communication ability is also a basic ability we need to master with the development of the times. While adhering to our traditional culture, we should learn to actively understand the history and culture of western countries. We should take an international perspective. We should understand, appreciate, accommodate, and respect the culture of other countries. In the process of cultural exchanges, one can improve one’s cultural adaptation ability. Only in this way can we better cooperate with foreign friends in future work, avoid unnecessary disputes, and adapt to today’s global social stage.
6. Conclusion
Due to the differences in cultural background and thinking mode, there are many differences in behavior and communication between Chinese and Western people. However, with the increasing exchanges between China and the West, the gap between China and the West is gradually narrowing. Chinese culture is absorbing a large number of foreign cultures and Western ways of thinking and behavior, and Westerners can also be able to come to China. “do it according to the local people’s practice.” In addition, as the West moves from modern society to post-modern society, many traditional values and ways of communication are also changing quietly. For example, we all believe that Westerners are submissive to the concept of time. In fact, on some informal occasions, Westerners are not like this. It must be like this. It may bring some embarrassment to the Chinese people. Therefore, in practical cross-cultural communication, we must deal with various problems in a realistic way. Respect each other’s cultural customs, understand each other, learn from each other’s strong points, and deal with the communication and cooperation between different cultural backgrounds in an attitude of tolerance and seeking common ground while reserving differences.
References
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[2] Kim, Y. H. , Chiu, C. Y. , Peng, S. , Cai, H. , & Tov, W. . (2009). Explaining east-west differences in the likelihood of making favorable self-evaluations: the role of evaluation apprehension and directness of expression. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 41(1), 62-75.
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[6] Taofang Su. (2012). Chinese and western cultural differences in etiquette. Oversea English(11), 283-286.
[7] Yuqin Ma. (2010). On the differences of politeness expression between Chinese and western culture. Reading and Writing (Education Teaching Journal), 07(007), 3-3.
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[9] Kai-Bei, W. , & Zhi-Yi, F. U. . (2016). The difference of religious cultures between the west and china — a study based on the view of hell. Overseas English.
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Acknowledgments
Upon finishing this thesis, I would like to express my great gratitude toards all those who have offered me sincere assistance in the three years.
First and foremost, I want to thank my supervisor, Professor Gu, with all my respect and love. He has given me insightful suggestions and constant encouragement both in my study. Furthermore, Professor Gu’s painstaking teaching and valuable advice have profoundly contributed to the completion of the present thesis.
Also, I want to give my thanks to all professors who have taught and enlightened me during my studies in the campus, for guiding me in the field fantastic research. The obtained expertise and profit will be of grand importance to me in further studies.
Finally, I am also grateful to my family and friends for and supporting me and share with me happiness. You’re all the part of honor and I love you all.
Analysis on The Chinese and Western Expression Difference of Their Thinking and Cultural Diversity
论文库：文学 时间：2022-01-04 11:19:38 点击：次
