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1、A discussion of the differernces in cultures between China and AmericaAbstract:In the world today, there is a fast increasing number of contacts which result in the communication among people with differernt linguisic and cultural backgrounds. This cross-culture communication covers many fields from
2、 politics, economy, education, medical cares and so on. As the world today is getting more and more globalized, people gets more and more opportunities to communication than before. Therefore in the process of communication, as it comes up with many problems because of the culture backgrounds, we re
3、alize that the more frequently people get in touch with each other, the more important and necessary for them to better understand the cultures of those with whom they communication. With the entrance of WTO , China is getting greater developing opportunities in the open world market on one hand, ye
4、t it is facing with greater challenges than before to find an effective and effient way in dealing with the relationships with so many countries whose culture backgrounds are so different with itself .Because there is much distinction between Chinese culture and others, so there is no doubt coming u
5、p with many problems in the process of communication.Without better understanding of the foreign cultures, China could not quickly get itself harmonious with others. America, as we all known, stands in the centre part of the worldwide communication because its fast speed in development. In the follo
6、wing part of the thesis, it will discuss the differernce in cultures, especially in values, between China and America.As values are enduring attitudes about the preferability of one belief over another, it becomes the deepest part in culture. Values which control peoples belives , attitudes and acti
7、ons, are relative stable in the system of culture, making it much easier for us to study a comparision between Sino-American values . With the comparision, it could help us Chinese to solve the barries and achieve successful inter-cultural communication. 1.The Historical RootsThere are two main orig
8、ins of cultural values in China, Ren and Li. Ren, etymologically combines ancient Chinese idealogy about individual human behavior (the left side) and the reciprocal relationships between people(the right side). It advocates on the reciprocity of love, which express best in the obligations and respo
9、nsibilities ascribed to people in their social position : rulers should be benovolent, subjects be loyal; parents should be loving, children be reverential; husbands be good, wivies obedient, etc. Likewise, Li is also the moral core set for people. It emphasize on the responsibilities and obligation
10、s accroding to the social position. Ren and Li bring balance and harmony in dealing with the inner-relationships of people, predispose the values of Chinese form and develop later. Therefore, setting up a kind of harmouious relationship becomes the fundatmental value in Chinese culture. Everyone, no
11、 matter who he or she is, was born to build up certain kind of harmony with others, as a result of the effect of Ren and Li made on the long history of his or her fathers.However, the history of America is unique in his culture which is younger than China.The fundamental American propositions become
12、 “ life, liberity and the persuit of happiness” for each individual Americans, whose liberties had to be secured against the potentially abusive power of government. One of the typical American characters is individualism. People who emigrated to that “melting pot” valued individuality for setting a
13、 new undeveloped required a great deal of attention to the daily activites of surviving. Because at the time of early immigrant, there was no time to waste on the nonsense of English and European formality. Only the independent survived.After developing habits of survival based on individualism, the
14、y soon develop thought patterns, beliefs and attitudes which fit that environment. In this way, individualism becomes even more important for American culture. Thats why Americans nowadays have a much more strong sense of individuality than Chinese ,which can be easily traced in their thinking mode,
15、 way of behavior and conducting things.2.The Social RootsDurning the long Chinese history, there are two great events should be emphasized which bestowed the forming of Chinese values. One is the unitify of China in Qing Dynasty, another one is the combination of confucism with the political power i
16、n West Han Dynasty. Therefore, a strict and closed social structure and,to be consistant with it, a firmly spirtual system was set up. It can be characterized by two words “hierarchy and statue”. The Chinese instituation offered little opportunities to massive who intended to climb up onto higher st
17、eps of social ladders. As such, it was easy for ordinary people to accept fatalism, which is the core of Taoism, and Buddhism. The two religions became the mainstream religions, deeply influencing Chinese cultures, especially values.In the short story of America, three events, which are the signs an
18、d keystone of American dominant and mainstream culture, characterized Americans. They are pilgrim fathers landing on the new continent, declaration of independence and the Civil War. Compared with Chinese culture, American cultural root directly from the Pilgirm Fathers, who were all rebellers for r
19、eligious, political, economical or lawful reasons. However, to some degree, the situtions of the old were-Europe,where the Pilgrim Fathers left behind, were roughly similar to China in that period. This accounts for the origins of the difference in values between China and America.3.ConclusionDiffer
20、ences in cultural values are the obstacles in inter-cultural communication and even become the disturbance of objective thinking，for people are so accustomed to their own value oritations and will reject the thinking patterns used by other cultures.Therefore，it is rather difficult or even impossible
21、 to understand the native speakersbehavioral patterns without knowing their cultural valuesTo a large extent, value system is the guiding principle on studying bom language and cultureLearning the cultural values of target languages is not only an effective way to increase language learnerscultural
22、awareness so as to guarantee the successful commmunication, but also a good way to widen the learnersthinking space. This thesis focuses on the origins of Sino-American cultural values. With the development of economy and science and technology,the world we live in is shrinkingThough we may not full
23、y become aglobal village”，there is no denying that various cultures ofthe world are far more accessible than ever before，and that the peoples of these cultures ale coming into contact at an OVer increasing rateTherefore，the study of cultural value differences should be synchronously carried through
24、with a deep and broad study of cultureOnly in this way can learners transcend the cultural value differences and bring the internal changes and innovative forces.Reference1.Hall，E, MHall，Understaning Cultural Differences. Yormouth, Intercultural Press, 1900.2. Henretta,James，Americas History. Chicag
25、o,The Dorsey Press，1987.3.Lewis,R.D. When Cultures CollideLondon, Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 1999. 4. Neuliep，J，International Communication：A Contextual ApproachNew York, Houghton Mifflin, 2000.5. 胡文仲，1999，跨炙化交际面面现，外语教学与研究出版社。6.胡文仲，2002，跨文化交际学概论，外语教学与研究出版社。7.姜志伟，2004，点击英美文化，中国书籍出版社。8.姜志伟，2004，荚美文化链接，中国书籍出版社。9.宁洪，2004，美国文化阅读教程，天津大学出版社。10.王恩铭，2003，美国文化与社会，上海外语教育出版社。
