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英语论文中西方传统节日文化的差异

英语论文中西方传统节日文化的差异
英语论文中西方传统节日文化的差异

Culture Differences of Chinese and Western Traditional

Festival

Abstract

Traditional festivals are the historical products of a nation’s development. Whether in China which has a long history of more than five thousand years or in the newborn America, the origination of traditional festivals in the two countries is similar. Most traditional festivals originated from people’s expectation for harvest in the agricultural production, the worship towards the gods and the nature, sacrifices to the historical characters and etc. After the long-term evolution, traditional festivals have become an indispensable part of the national culture. Through traditional festivals, the distinct cultural characteristics of a people and the national spirits can be observed. Since the ancient time, China has been a large agricultural country, the small-scale economic mode known as ―The men plough and the women weave‖ initiated the agricultural civilization of Chinese characteristics. Chinese traditional festivals are deeply rooted in the agricultural civilization and greatly influenced by Confucianism. To some extent, Chinese traditional festivals have relieved from the primitive taboos and tended to be happy festivals which reflect the concept of harmony and integration in Confuci anism. In America, religion plays a very important role in people’s life. With various branches, the religious system of America is quite complicated, among which Christianity is of the greatest importance. Some American traditional festivals are the direct products of Christianity and most festivals have evolved into the religious festivals later. This paper is designed to discuss the differences in customs, origins and other aspects of traditional festivals with the similar cultural connotation, then analyze the reasons lying behind the differences and finally reflect the cultural differences of the two nations. The paper also analyzes the mutual fusion in tradtional holidays between China and the west.

Key words: Traditional festivals; Chinese and American culture; cultural differences; causes; mutual fusion.

中西方传统节日文化的差异

摘要

传统节日是一个民族发展的历史产物。无论是在有着五千多年悠长历史的中国还是在新生的美国,传统节日的起源都显示出相通之处,大多数传统节日都源自于人们在农业生产生活中对丰收的期盼、对天地神灵和自然的崇拜、以及对历史人物的祭奠等等。传统节日在长期的演变和发展中,已经成为民族文化不可或缺的一部分,透过传统节日可以反映一个民族的文化特色和民族精神。中国自古以来就是一个农业大国,“男耕女织”的小农经济模式开创了具有中国特色的农耕文化。中国传统节日深深植根于农耕文化之中,在演变过程中深受儒家思想的影响。从某种程度而言,中国传统节日已经渐渐摆脱原始禁忌和崇拜,演化成为体现儒家和合思想的欢庆祥和的节日。在美国,宗教的影响和地位是不言而喻的,美国的宗教体系错综复杂,其中最有影响力的宗教派别是基督教。美国的传统节日大都衍化成为基督教的产物,大多数的美国节日在日后的发展中都成为宗教性的节日。本文从两国传统节日中有着相似文化内涵的节日出发,探讨这些传统节日在起源、节日习俗等方面的差异,并分析产生这些差异的原因,从而折射出两国传统节日文化的差异。另外本文也探讨了中西方传统节日的相互融合。原创英语毕业论文请咨询QQ253771735

关键词:传统节日;中美文化;差异;根源;相互融合

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Differences between Chinese and Western Traditional Festivals

2.1 The Spring Festival vs. Thanksgiving Day

2.2 The Zhongyuan Festival vs. Halloween

2.3 The Chinese Valentine’s Day vs. Valentine’s Day

2.4 Summary

3. Major Factors Causing Differences between Chinese and Western Traditional Festivals

3.1 Factors Influencing Chinese Traditional Festivals

3.1.1 Agricultural Civilization

3.1.2 Confucianism

3.2 Major FactorsInfluencing Western Traditional Festivals

3.2.1 Industrialization

3.2.2 Christianity

4. Mutual Fusion Between Chinese and Western Traditional Holidays

4.1 The development of the Mutual Fusion

4.2 The Performance of the Mutual Fusion

5. Conclusion

Culture Differences of Chinese and Western Traditional Festivals 1.Introduction

China is a multi-ethnic nation, with the Han nationality accounting for the majority of the total population and various ethnic minorities in the minority (Zhao, 2002). According to Zhao (2002) and Tan (2003), people in different nationalities or regions celebrate some traditional festivals of their own, while among all the festivals the most typical ones celebrated by Chinese people in common consist of these ones: the Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, the Dragon-Boat Festival, the Chinese Valentine’s Day, the Zhongyuan Festival, Mid-Autumn Day, the Double-Ninth Festival, the Winter Solstice, the Laba Festival, and the Kitchen God Festival, etc.

Different from China, America is a multi-cultural nation with the immigrants taking a large proportion of its population and people from different countries live together and the cultures brought with them melt into the distinct American culture (Wu, 2003; Hu, 2004; William, 2007). In the system of American traditional festivals, there are festivals originating in the homeland and festivals brought from the foreign lands. The festivals in America can be divided into the legal holidays and traditional ones; besides, some states also celebrate a few festivals of their own (Ellinwood, 2005). In general, according to Samovar et al. (2008), the most popular traditional festivals celebrated by American people include the followi ng ones: New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, All Fools’ Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween, Easter, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas, etc.

According to the folklorists’ research, traditional festivals in different societies derive fr om such originations as people’s expectation for a bountiful harvest in the agricultural production, the primitive worship towards the gods and the nature, sacrifices to ancestors and historical characters and so on, and it is unable to deny that traditional festivals display the cultural differences on several aspects (Davis, 2001; Ni and Qiao, 2003). In the modern world with globalization taking such a fast pace,

communication among people of different nationalities is more common in the fields of politics, economy, cultural and technological exchange and others. In a context of different cultures, misunderstandings and conflicts are likely to arise in the process of communication when there is little awareness of diverse cultural values and beliefs. Therefore, the recognition and understanding of the cultural differences is of great importance to promote the cross-cultural communication. This paper is designed to investigate the cultural differences embodied in traditional festivals in China and America based on the analysis of traditional festivals in the two cultures with similar cultural connotation.

2. Differences between Chinese and Western Traditional Festivals

Traditional festivals, as an integral part of the national culture, possess rich cultural connotations. To some extent, traditional festivals are the manifestation and sublimation of human beings’ cognition and emotions toward the world and in the light of the universal cognition and emotions of human beings, it is no wonder that there are traditional festivals in the two cultures with the similar cultural connotations (Zhang, 2001). However, behind the similar cultural connotations of traditional festivals, origins and customs of these festivals are greatly differentiated, which illustrate the cultural differences of the two nations.

2.1 The Spring Festival vs. Thanksgiving Day

The Spring Festival in China and Thanksgiving Day in America are both festivals for family members to reunite and to strengthen the family bonds. The Spring Festival is the biggest festival observed by Chinese people. However, in the beginning, the ―spring festival‖ was not held to farewell to the past year and welcome the Chinese Lunar New Year, but to celebrate the coming of ―Spring Commence‖(the 1st solar term) (Chen and Lu, 1989). For when ―Spring Commence‖ arrived, which was seemed as the coming of spring, farmers had to sow seeds in the farmland. Just as the old saying goes that ―The whole year’s work depends on a good start in spring‖

(Xiao, 2002). Concerning the origin of Thanksgiving Day, it should be related to the pilgrims. In history, the first thanksgiving had to date back to 1621. In 1620, a group of pilgrims who wanted to escape religious persecution reached Plymouth by the May Flower (Julian, 2004). As soon as they settled down, they found they had to face a terrible winter—tough weather and lack of food and shelter. It was those native Indians that helped the pilgrims to survive. Later, the Indians taught the new settlers how to grow corn and other crops and also how to fish and hunt. In the autumn of 1621, the pilgrims enjoyed a bountiful harvest. In order to celebrate the harvest and show gratitude to the Indians’ help, they held a feast together with the native Indians, which was recorded as the origin of thanksgiving (Geng, 2006). Based on different origins, the two festivals developed with their own national culture and formed the unique customs of their own.

Among all the customs, food at the festival is the most remarkable, just as the Chinese saying g oes, ―Food is the first necessity of the people.‖ No matter at the Spring Festival or on Thanksgiving Day, a reunion dinner will be set for celebration. In China, the reunion dinner is held on the New Year’s Eve, that is, the day before the first day of the first lunar month. The menu for the reunion dinner traditionally includes fish, chicken and other delicious food. In Chinese characters the pronunciation of ―fish‖ (―鱼‖; in Chinese pinying ―yú‖) makes it a homophone for ―surpluses‖( ―余‖; in Chinese pinying ―yú‖), in this sense, the fish at the reunion dinner is to express people’s good wishes for the coming year which are implied in the Chinese phrase ―may there be surpluses every year‖(―年年有余‖; pinying ―nián ni án yǒu yú‖). There are also other typical foo d for this festival, such as dumplings and nian gao known as the Chinese New Year pudding. The shape of the dumpling is like gold ingot from ancient China, so people eat them and wish for money and treasure (Tan, 2003). ―nian gao‖, as a homophone, means ―h igher and higher, one year after another.‖ At the reunion dinner, the family members sit together according to a particular order in respect to the elder in the family. While the traditional American Thanksgiving dinner consists of roast turkey served with mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, vegetables, fresh corn bread and ends with pumpkin

pie. Family members sit together at the dinner table to enjoy the joyful time of reunion. (Hu, 2004) In celebrations at home, it is a holiday tradition in many families to begin the Thanksgiving dinner by saying grace. Grace is a prayer before or after a meal to express appreciation to God, to ask for God’s blessing.

Despite the difference in the food culture, the celebrations of the two festivals also differ a lot. China is known for its morals and rituals, which are also embodied in the celebrations of the Spring Festival. Affection for the dead and the alive is exhibited in lots of ways. It is customary to make sacrifices to the ancestors with delicious food and burning paper money to the dead during the festival. In a family, the elder usually give ―red envelops‖ to the children. People pay New Year calls to their relatives and friends with gifts. Greetings can be heard everywhere among people, suc h as ―Happy New Year‖ (in Chinese ―过年好‖) and ―May you be prosperous‖ (in Chinese ―恭喜发财‖). Other customs, like pasting the door panels with the Spring Festival couplets, highlighting Chinese calligraphy with black characters on red paper, burning fireworks and so on, all create the festive atmosphere. For the Thanksgiving Day, beside the big Thanksgiving dinner, people celebrate the festival by traveling with the family, parading, shopping and also American football is often a major part of Thanksgiving celebrations in the United States. Professional games are traditionally played on Thanksgiving Day; until recently, these were the only games played during the week apart from Sunday or Monday night.

2.2 The Zhongyuan Festival vs. Halloween

The Zhongyuan Festival and Halloween are two festivals related to ghosts (Trevor, 2005; Robert, 2007). The Zhongyuan Festival, falling on July 15th in the lunar calendar, is a festival for people to offer sacrifices to the departed relatives (Chen and Lu, 1989). Since ancient China, the seventh lunar month has been believed to be the ―ghost month‖, and in this month the ghosts are allowed to get out of the gate of the hell and go home to receive the sacrifice of their descendants. In history, people used to worship ancestors at every change of season throughout a year, but

restrained by the natural rhythm, farmers had to grow crops in spring and harvest in autumn (Xiao, 2002). Then in spring they prayed their ancestors for a good harvest and in autumn they offered their ancestors the crops to show their worship. Therefore, sacrifice in the autumn became the most important. With Buddhism introduced into China in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 A.D.), the original Zhongyuan Festival combined with the festival of Buddhism – the Yu Lan Pen Festival, which was held in memory of the forefathers of the Buddhists and encourage the Buddhists’ piety (Ibid.). Afterwards the customs of the Yu Lan Pen Festival went with the Chinese custom of commemorating their ancestors on the Zhongyuan Festival and the present Zhongyuan Festival, or the Hungry Ghost Festival, took the shape. At this festival, Family members would offer prayers to their deceased relatives and would burn joss paper. Families would also pay tribute to other unknown wandering ghosts so that these homeless souls would not intrude on their lives and bring misfortune and bad luck. A large feast is held for the ghosts on the 15th day of the 7th month, where everyone brings samplings of food and places them on the offering table to please the ghosts and ward off bad luck.

Halloween has origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain celebrated on the night of October 31. The ancient Celts believed that on the night of October 31, ghosts of the dead would return to earth causing trouble and damaging the community’s food supply (Eugene, 2006). The Celts observed the event by burning crops and sacrificing animals to the Celtic Gods in bonfires built by the Druids (The Celtic Priests). They also wore costumes, typically of animal skins and heads, because they believed that they could avoid being recognized by the ghosts, which is now considered as the root of dressing in the Halloween costumes on this festival. They would also place bowls of food outside their houses to satisfy the ghosts and prevent them from entering the home, which could be where trick-or-treating originated. By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The

celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. The day is often associated with the colors orange and black, and is strongly associated with symbols such as the jack-o'-lantern. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, ghost tours, bonfires, costume parties, visiting haunted attractions, carving jack-o'-lanterns, reading scary stories, and watching horror movies(Chen Kefeng,2006).

2.3 The Chinese Valentine’s Day vs. Valentine’s Day

The Chinese Valentine’s Day and Valentine’s Day in the west are romantic festivals for lovers. The Chinese Valentine’s Day, also known as Qixi, falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. The origination of the festival is closely related to the love story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl. The skill is essential for their future family. On that night, the unmarried girls may pray for the Weaving Maid star to let them become smarter. When the star Vega is high up in the sky, girls do a test, which is to put a needle on the water surface. If the needle doesn't sink, then girl is already smart enough and ready to find a husband (Zhang, Qizhi 2007).

Valentine’s Day is rooted in the story of the m artyred Valentine. Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men – his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death and Saint Valentine was buried on the day of February 14th. Later lovers who got married with the help of Valentine began to memorialize him on this day. In the west, Valentine’s Day is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine’s cards, presenti ng flowers, or offering confectionery (Ellinwood, 2005).

2.4 Summary

Through comparison of the three pairs of traditional festivals above, the differences in Chinese and American festivals can be summed up as follows.

In view of origins, the Spring Festival has close relation to agriculture. Actually, most Chinese traditional festivals are derived from people’s conducting the agricultural production. In ancient China, agricultural production could not be separated from the special ―solar terms‖ (in Chinese pinyin, ―jiéqì‖). Most Chinese traditional festivals are connected to the ―solar terms‖, for example, the Pure Brightness Festival, The Winter Solstice and others. Comparatively speaking, origins of American traditional festivals reflect the influence of religion, mainly Christianity. Thanksgiving Day is related to religion to some extent, although it is originated in the celebration of harvest, the influence of agriculture on this festival has faded away, and it tends to be a festival for family reunion and showing thanks to the God. In fact, among all the American traditional festivals many are originated from Christianity. The biggest festival Christmas is held to observe the birth of Jesus; Easter is to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus; Halloween is also branded by Christianity as a day to memorialize all the saints. Christianity is closely related to American traditional festivals. In contrast to the unique place of Christianity in American traditional festivals, pantheism has great impact on Chinese traditional festivals. There are many gods in China’s legends. The Qixi Festival is rooted in the story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl who was the seventh daughter of the Jade Emperor and the Heavenly Queen Mother. And the Kitchen God Festival is obviously related to the Kitchen God, etc.

In view of customs, etiquette has been greatly emphasized in celebration of Chinese traditional festivals. Take the Spring Festival for example, etiquette can be seen everywhere: the seating arrangement at the reunion dinner, the elder giving ―red envelops‖ to the younger, the younger giving gifts to their parents, the descendants offering sacrifices to their ancestors, people saying greetings to each other, paying New Year calls to relatives and friends with gifts, etc. Etiquette has been regarded as a

criterion to judge an individual’s personality to some degree. Besides, most Chinese traditional festivals attach more importance to harmony and happiness among people. While in America celebrations for traditional festivals are more tending to be for fun and recreation. At the same time, the customs of traditional festivals are somewhat religious, for example, the prayer before the Thanksgiving dinner, people going to the church at the Easter morning, etc.

All the differences analyzed above between Chinese and American traditional festivals are formed under the particular historical background and specific cultural features. The following part is devoted to the underlying factors that have caused such differences.

3.Major Factors Causing Differences between Chinese and Western

TraditionalFestivals

3.1 Factors influencing Chinese traditional festivals

China is a country that bears wisdom of generations and a national history of centuries; therefore, it is inevitable for traditional festivals to go through dramatic changes for ―it is a general law in human history that the various civilizations polarized, syncretized, and affected each other‖ (Zhou, 2006). In history, such factors as religion, literature and arts, Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism from the foreign land and politics and others have exerted a significant and positive influence on the culture loaded by Chinese traditional festivals (Robert, 2007). The following two are the primary ones among all the factors that have contributed to distinct characteristics of Chinese traditional festivals.

3.1.1 Agricultural civilization

The single, decisive factor that made it possible for mankind to settle in permanent communities was agriculture. After farming was developed in the Middle East in about 6500 BC, people living in tribes or family units did not have to be on the

move continually searching for food or herding their animals. Once people could control the production of food and be assured of a reliable annual supply of it, their lives changed completely. In most ancient countries, the development of agriculture gave birth to the national civilization (Ni and Qiao, 2003). China is not an exception.

Agricultural civilization refers to a kind of culture formed in the long-term agricul tural production. Based on the economic mode of ―men till the land and women weave cloth‖ in the feudal society, people’s life centered on the agricultural activities (Ibid.). As time goes by, various kinds of cultural displays related to agriculture, such as dramas, folk songs, poems, and other sacrificial ceremonies, etc. showed up, which constitutes the rich agricultural civilization.

The agricultural civilization is the foundation of most Chinese traditional festivals. ―Solar terms‖ are the direct prod ucts of the agriculture development in Chinese characteristics. In the Han dynasty, people created the twenty-four solar terms as an exclusive way to divide time and the solar terms were then adopted by farmers to direct their agricultural production. Based on their experiences, farmers knew how agricultural work should be better arranged according to the characteristics of different solar terms (Xiao, 2002). The time system of Chinese traditional festivals is born from the system of ―solar terms‖ because ―solar terms‖ provide the prerequisite for deciding the time for festivals. Most festivals are celebrated around or on some solar term.

3.1.2 Confucianism

Confucianism, with focuses on human morality and right actions, is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius (551–479 BC) (Robert, 2007). Confucianism is a complex system of moral, social, political, philosophical, and quasi-religious thought that has had tremendous influence on the culture and history of China (Ibid.) According to Tan (2003), the influence that Confucianism exerted on the development of traditional festivals can be summarized into the following aspects.

3.2 Major Factors influencing American traditional festivals

3.2.1 Industrialization

Different from China, America is a highly industrialized country. Following the wave of industrialization initiated in Britain, America soon became the giant among all the industrialized countries. In 1860, America was fourth in the world in manufacturing but by the turn of the 20th century was the biggest industrial nation in the world by far. In its national economy, the proportion of agriculture is much smaller than other industries such as manufacturing, information technology and other high-tech industries (Wu, 2003; Hu, 2004). It is then natural that the influence of agriculture in the whole nation weakens. With the fast pace of the industrialization in America, more and more foreigners have poured to the country to pursue their ―American dreams‖, which prompts America to become a multi-cultural nation.

As a result, with the declining influence of agriculture in the national economy, agricultural characteristics in the traditional festivals gradually disappear. The Thanksgiving as the festival most closely related to the agricultural production is no longer a festival to celebrate the harvest but a festival for the reunion of the family members and showing their thanks to the God. Furthermore, with the several immigration waves bringing abundant labor force for the industrialization in America, many foreign festivals have also been embedded in the system of traditional festivals in America. The St. Patrick’s Day is originally a festival celebrated by the Irish in Ireland, later it arrived with the immigration of many Irish people. The All Fools’ Day was first celebrated in France and later became a popular festival in America. The immigrant cultures have enriched the system of American traditional festivals.

3.2.2 Christianity

Religion is vital to the American people’s life. According to a 2002 study by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, the US was the only developed nation in the survey where a majority of citizens reported that religion played a ―very important‖ role in

their lives. In America, it is a ritual for most people to go church on Sunday, for the church is not only a place for people to show their piety to the god, but also a place for people to socialize with others. The most important events of one’s life are all connected with religion: a baby accepts baptism at birth; a couple gets married at the witness of a priest in the church; a man’s funeral is conducted by the priest. It can be seen that religion has penetrated into people’s daily life. Religion in America is complicated with several branches, among which the largest one is Christianity. To a large degree, the American culture has developed under the great impact of Christianity. Many American traditional festivals are directly the results of religious beliefs (Ellinwood, 2005).

This history of Christianity is focused on the life, death and resurrection of one person, Jesus Christ, the son of God (Trevor, 2005). The traditional story of Jesus tells of his birth in a stable in Bethlehem in the Holy Land, to a young virgin called Mary who had become pregnant with the son of God through the action of the Holy Spirit. The story of Jesus’ birth is told in the writings of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament of the Bible. His birth is believed by Christians to be the fulfillment of prophecies in the Jewish Old Testament which claimed that a Messiah would deliver the Jewish people from captivity (Ibid.). After the story of his birth, little is known about Jesus until he began his ministry at the age of about 30. He then spent three years teaching, healing and working miracles. He taught in parables - everyday stories which had divine messages for those who would hear it. He had twelve disciples whom he called to follow him and help him in his work. Jesus stated publicly that he spoke with the authority of God. This claim angered the religious authorities in Palestine and they handed Jesus over to the Roman authorities as a revolutionary. He was tried for heresy, condemned and put to death by means of crucifixion. On the Sunday following his execution, some of his women followers discovered that the tomb into which his body had been placed was empty. Jesus then appeared to them, alive, as the Jesus they had known prior to his death. His followers realized that God had raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus was seen by many of his disciples and followers over the next few days before, and according to the Gospel accounts, he was taken up

into heaven (Eugene, 2006; Trevor, 2005)

The belief in Christianity is the source of formation of most American traditional festivals. Christmas is celebrated in the memory of Jesus’ birth; Easter is celebrated in the memory of his resurrection. Other festivals have also been branded by Christianity, such as the Valentine’s Day and the Halloween. The Valentine’s Day is said to commemorate the saint Valentine, and Halloween, originally as a day to memorialize the dead, has become a day in the memory of all the saints. Based on the analysis above, it is obvious that Christianity has deeply taken root in American culture, and exerted great impact of American traditional festivals.

4. Mutual Fusion Between Chinese and Western Traditional Holidays

4.1 The development of the Mutual Fusion

The differences between the Chinese and Western traditional festivals make the world beautiful and interesting, rich and colorful. However, every thing has two sides, when we affirm the differences, paying attention to the similarities is helpful to understand things comprehensively, then deal with problems dialectically. In the past, we have exaggerated the Chinese and Western differences too much, particularly replace the shared values, ideas, thoughts and emotions with political system, it seems not you overwhelming I or is I overwhelming you, not you die or is I live. In fact, wha t the differences bring is not all ―a scourge.‖ The nature of human means there is not difference between eastern and western races, the human cultures originally have many common things, these things are imposed in interdepending, interacting, complying each other, learning from each other and promoting each other, then promote the human society’s developing. We know, our country is a typical land-based culture, the farming culture has lasted for thousand years. In general, this type of culture tends to be closed and conservative. The European and American cultures are maritime cultures, this type of culture is open in major, especially in the United Kingdom, after the industrial revolution, it gradually expand external, become

a empire ―sun does not set‖, many European countries followed have completed the Industrial Revolution one by one, and expand external. When the United Kingdom and other European countries bring abroad advanced technology, they also output the culture, including the Western culture of the traditional festivals. There are a number of cases in China accepting the Western culture passively, such as, a week we usually said is a week, a Sunday we usually said is a Sunday. A Sunday is the main religious activities the Protestantism have, generally held in chapels on Sunday, it has praying, scripture reading, hymns, sermons and so on. Though we are not Christians, we accept the ―Sunday‖, in fact, we accepted the external influence of the Christian activities, that is, the western traditional f estival’s impact. The Gregorian calendar we used today are actually influenced by the Christian, treat the Jesus year as the AD year. Nowadays, there are more and more western traditional holidays becoming Chinese holidays, such as Thanksgiving Day, Halloween, Valentine’s Day and so on. There are also some Chinese trational holidays are popular in western countries, such as the Dragon Boat Festival, Spring Festival and so on.

4.2 The Performance of the Mutual Fusion

Today, by the global economic integration and China’s market economy, people liberated their thought, provided conditions for western culture merge into our society, at that time, learning the West seems to be a trend, such as learning English, learning Western technology, learning Western lifestyles and so on. In recent years, the Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day and the Fool’s Day have become the new generation, especially the fashion of the ―after‖, they are interested in the freedom, everywhere, unrestrained, personal atmosphere, sometimes are full of swing, and never tired. This acceptance of the western culture and traditional festivals reflect the fusion of the Eastern and Western cultures. Now the current situation continues to evolve, this is a active acceptance.

The European acceptances to our traditional festivals mainly are in the Chinese communities. Though the Chinese bring dancing dragon, dancing lion in our new year and stepping ships to the Europe, but they have not created a great impact.

5. Conclusion

This paper begins with the background introduction of traditional festivals in China and America, and then compares three pairs of traditional festivals in the two cultures with similar cultural connotations. Through comparison of the three pairs of traditional festivals in origins and typical customs for celebration, a lot of differences have been detected between the Chinese and American traditional festivals. Then we analyzed the underlying reasons causing such differences in the two cultures.

To sum up, the Chinese traditional festivals reflect the characteristics of agricultural civilization. Expectation for harvest is the origination of most traditional festivals. In the process of the development of traditional festivals, they have been mainly influenced by Confucianism and embodied the essence of Confucianism into the customs and celebrations of themselves. The culture loaded in Chinese traditional festivals reflects that Chinese traditional culture attaches great importance to ethics and morals in the society and the harmony among people.

In contrast, the fast development of industrialization in America has crowded out the influence of agriculture in traditional festivals. At the same time, American traditional festivals are closely related to religion. Most traditional festivals are the religious products and the religious rituals have been incorporated into the celebration of traditional festivals. The culture embodied in American traditional festivals reflects the important role of religion, mainly Christianity, in the society.

In cross-cultural communication, effective communication relies on mutual understanding, the avoidance of misinterpretation, and positive cultural awareness of individual interlocutors (Samovar, et al., 2008). Chinese-English learners must know that learning a language is more than learning the language itself, and only when Chinese-English learners develop greater awareness of the differences can they become efficient in Sino-American communication. The present study is thus practically significant in that it helps readers to have a better understanding of some of the key traditional festivals in Chinese and American culture as well as the major

differences between the two cultures as reflected in them. However, limitations exist in that due to the author’s limited range of knowledge, the covered cultural phenomena are not various enough and thus the depth of our analysis is in need of further development.

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中西文化差异英文

Differences between Chinese and Western culture As we know the differences between the our estern cultures and western cultures are quite obvious.I would like to state some of my opinions in this paper. I.difference in the thinking style People on the earth are homologous,but different people in different place have different performance on the way of thinking. Differences between Chinese and Western way of thinking reflected in many aspects.Such as the difference between abstract and concrete, reflected in their attitudes towards life can be understood as Westernersare more practical, and the Chinese are much more biased towards some spiritual experience. Westerners pay attention to logical thinking, but Chinese pay more attention to dialectical thinking and so on. As Chinese and western way of thinking are different, there are differences in expression of the order. For example,we can see that the names of western style are not like ours,they put their given names at the first place,while we put them after our family names,that is to say,we regard our family more important than ourselves,and it's the traditional way of estern thinking.Westerners have another way of thinking,they think that each person is important in our world and society,and a person should play a important role among our human beings. II.differences in daily communication Westerners are frank,but chinese are humility.The reflection between westerners and chinese on the treatment of praise is different.In the West, people can accept it generously. As the Chinese have long term impact of Confucian education, we treat others’ praise and recognition not often take the attitude of ourselves, or there is suspected of arrogant. When meeting acquaintances, chinese and westerners greet each other are also different. Chinese people often say "Have you eat ?" "Where are you going?"except the general asked”hello”. In western culture, this is not a greeting, but substantive issues. When British and American people meet,they usually use a polite phrase like "How are you?" or "Nice to meet you!" In addtion,when westerners accept gift from others,they are willing to open it and praise it directly,but chinese do not do like that. III.differences in customs Chinese people regard ourselves as descendants of the Dragon.Chinese have a supreme respect for the dragon, we think dragon is a symbol of our nation. In the dynasty time,Chinese emperors generally self-styled "dragon".However,in the West, the dragon was regarded as the devil, and it was killed by the legendary god of protection, so they set a day as a festival to celebrate the lifting of a disaster, and thank the protection of God.For this reason, when the students describe a person's lively, they say "He / She is full of vim and vigor." not"He / She is as lively as a dragon and tiger". Everyone has their favorite color, so does a country and a nation. Chinese like the red colour ,because chinese think red is a symbol of luck and enthusiam. But westerners perfer to the blue colour,they think blue can make themselves calm. Thus,the preferences of different colors can reflect the whole of a country’s aesthetic taste. IV. differences in eating cultrue Chinese and Western diets are very different, so the differences also have an impact on the national character. In China, a banquet, no matter what purpose, there will be only one form, that is, everyone sit around one table. People toast each other,and eat the same food in one plate,,It reflects the mutual respect between people even the traditional courteous virtue. Although from the health point of view, this dietary approach has obvious shortcomings, it is consistent with our

中西方饮食文化差异比较

中西方饮食文化差异比较 古人云:民以食为天。在人类社会的发展中,各国的饮食也逐渐形成了自己独特的文化。不同的地区有着不同的饮食习惯,不同的饮食习惯造就了不同的饮食文化。 (一)中国的饮食文化 中国有着五千多年的历史,形成了灿烂丰富、博大精深的饮食文化。中国人注重“天人合一”。中国饮食以食表意,以物传情。中国的饮食文化令人拍案叫绝,赏心悦目。 中国的传统饮食有四大特点: 1.重食:古人就有“民以食为天”之说。见面常问“吃了没有”,可见饮食文化的地位。朋友离合,送往迎来,人们都习惯在饭桌上表达惜别和欢迎的心情。感情上的风波,人们也往往借酒菜平息。这是饮食活动对社会心理的调节功能。 2.重养:以“五谷”养“六脏”,饮食中重视人体养生保健。中国的饮食注意各种食物的搭配,以相生相克、相辅相成等阴阳调和之理性认识指导烹饪。 3.重味:中国的饮食最注重食物的味,讲究“色、香、味、型”。孙中山先生讲“辩味不精,则烹调之述不妙”,将审美视作烹调的第一要义。 4.重理:对于饮食活动中的情感文化,有个引导和提升品位的问题。中国的饮食提倡健康优美、奋发向上的文化情调,追求一种高尚的情操。 (二)西方国家的饮食文化

西式餐饮的主要特点是:一是生,如牛排带血丝;二是冷,如凡是饮料都加冰块;三是甜,无甜不餐,无餐不甜。此外西式餐饮不讲究精细,追求快捷方便,也不奢华,比较大众化。 此外西餐还有以下显著特点: 1.重视各类营养成分的搭配组合,根据人体对各种营养(糖类、脂肪、蛋白质、维生素)和热量的需求来安排菜或加工烹调。 2.选料精细,用料广泛。西餐烹饪在选料时十分精细、考究,而且选料十分广泛。如美国菜常用水果制作菜肴或饭点,咸里带甜;意大利菜则会将各类面食制作成菜肴:各种面片、面条、面花都能制成美味的席上佳肴。 3.讲究调味,调味品种多。西餐烹调的调味品大多不同于中餐,如酸奶油、桂叶、柠檬等都是常用的调味品。 4.注重色泽。在色泽的搭配上则讲究对比、明快,因而色泽鲜艳,能刺激食欲。 5.工艺严谨,烹调方法多样。西餐十分注重工艺流程,讲究科学化、程序化,工序严谨。西餐的烹调方法很多,常用的有煎、烩、烤、焖、焗、炸、熏、铁扒等十几种,其中铁扒、烤、焗最具特色。 6.器皿讲究。烹调的炊具与餐具均有不同于中餐的特点。特别是餐具,除瓷制品外,水晶、玻璃及各类金属制餐具占很大比重。 二、中西方饮食方式的差异 (一)就坐形式的差异中西方的饮食方式有很大不同,这种差异对民族性格也有影响。

中西方企业文化差异

企业文化是指一定历史条件,企业在生产经营和管理活动中所创造的具有本企业特色的精神财富及其物质形态的总和。是形成于企业内部的一种群体亚文化,包括物质文化、制度文化和精神文化三个层次。随着当前我国的市场环境不断完善,外资企业与本土企业之间的并购、联合等现象经常发展,但由于不同国家的企业文化存在差别,这使得企业之间文化的融合非常困难,如何有效地克服这些差别,消除不同文化之间的差异呢?我认为关键要弄清两者之间存在的差异与联系。本文就中国企业文化与西方(以美国为代表)企业文化进行对比研究。 一、文化形成的渊源不同 企业文化的特征与其国家民族文化息息相关,中国与西方文化形成的历史渊源和地理渊源都有所不同。 从历史渊源来看,对“人论”的不同以及当时所处的环境决定了一国文化的特征,任何文化都是以人类社会生活和个人生活为基础,所有打上人类印记的物质和精神的存在都归于文化之列。以美国为代表的西方文化,其文明的起点是古希腊,在古希腊,人们在现实生活中彻底地脱离了自己所处的自然状态,因此古希腊人认识自己的道路是从明确区分人与自然,把人和自然当作各自独立甚至相互对立的对象分别加以研究开始的。于是人与自然的对立和分离就成了西方文化的“人论”基础。随着时间的变迁,文化的不但演变,西方的文化形成了如今以个人为本位、以注重自我权利为特征的权利型伦理价值观。而中国的文化,文明的发生是在原有氏族制度的基础上,通过氏族之间的相互联系,逐渐形成了如今的以血缘宗法为基础、注重人际关系的等级制度。由于等级森严,无法获得像西方那样的平等和独立的地位,因此对待自然和自己的态度就有着很大的差别。站在自己的宗法人伦关系的基础上来理解人,把人看作是“人伦”的派生物,重视和强调人与自然的和谐统一。天人合一自然就成了中国文化的“人论”基础。 从地理渊源来看,由于西方文化源于古希腊,古希腊土地贫瘠、临海,无法靠农牧为生,但临海且岛屿星罗棋布又给古希腊人带来了机遇,船成了他们最主要的生存工具,航海可以占领新的空间,激发人的创造力,古希腊人在惊涛骇浪中锤炼出了冒险精神与扩张的本性,形成了西方文化个人本位的原始定位。而中国西面高山、东临大海、缺乏横越大海的条件,形成了一个封闭的环境,这是形成整体性文化的客观基础。土地肥沃,小农经济长期占主要地位,从而形成了中国文化群体本位的原始定位。 二、中国文化的合理内核与西方文化的理性成分 中国的传统文化与儒家思想为主体,极具人文精神,以重视并善于处理人际关系为其显著特点,作为一种深入人心的观念,它不随着自然经济的瓦解和封建制度的衰落而自动消失,而是在不断地吸收外来文化的同时赋于自己新的时代内容,但其合理的内核保持不变。中国文化的合理内核主要包括:(1)人本主义精神。强调人际关系的和谐,对人生价值尊重,主张“人爱”,推及万物,实现人与自然的和谐。(2)“内圣外王”。首先造就德、才、智全面发展的“自我”,然后积极参与社会,实现自我的个人价值。(3)注重个人道德的培养。通过“修身”,进而达到“治国,平天下”,以国家、民族的利益为重。(4)强调群体本位。以家族、血缘等为纽带形成一个个群体,以此为基础建立和谐的人际关系。(5)积极进取,自强不息。“天行键,君子以自强不息”,通过自力更生、改革进取,从而造就了历史悠久的中华文明。西方文化崇尚智慧和理性,讲究科学、民主,信仰宗教,追求道德和灵魂的净化,个人主义价值观深入人心。鼓励个人奋斗、勇于竞争和拥有个人成就感是其价值概念的核心。美国文化是西方高度发达的现代资本主义精神的代表,是由各种文化组成的“大融炉”,具有强烈的开方性和兼容性。美国人民有争取自由、独立、民主的传统;富有开拓和创新精神;极度推崇个人主义和个人奋斗;重视法治,公平竞争。 三、中国文化的消极因素和西方文化的非理性方面 中国几千年的传统文化有其精华,但也有其糟粕。在中国现代化进程中,它一方面使中国社

如何对待中外文化差异英语作文.doc

如何对待中外文化差异英语作文 我们如何去看待,中外文化差异所带来的英语学习的思维转换?下面是给大家整理的怎样对待中外文化差异英语作文,供大家参阅! 如何对待中外文化差异英语作文篇1 The culture differences between the East and West. As we know ,there are so many differences between culture of the East and West that I can not list all of their different aspects.I will focus on the differences of diet custom and teaching system.For your better understanding ,I will set examples of China and America. It is no doubt that it is a tradition to use chopsticks for Chinese.But people in America prefer to forks and knives.This different result is based on different food they are like .Americans choose to eat beefsteak,bread,and salad,while Chinese people choose noodles ,pancakes and rice.What is more,the custom of drinking tea in China and drinking coffee in America are stand out particularly.However,there is a trend that the food in both countries has been mixture.For example,the coffee and bread have introduced to China.The famous KFC is very popular at children. The gap of teaching system between China and America is big.Chinese students always complain about their homework.Too much homework has limited the time to exercise and relax.They have to recite many things as to get a high mark.Homework comes the first to them. In my opinion,the study in America is more interesting .Teachers pay attentions to training students skills in thinking in realastic life not to emphasis on the importances of memories.In a addition,the rate of going to school ,the salary of teaching ,and the job of gruduates are quite different,too.I should say that Chima government should make great efforts to improve its teaching syetem.I am also expect to be one day ,the West give more cheers to our country.

中西方管理思想的异同

中西方管理思想的异同 根据我们的所学知识可以发现,中国和西方的早期管理实践中大国的形成都是管理思想萌芽的开始,例如在秦国和古罗马帝国的历史发展过程中就给我们留下了有关管理国家、巩固政权、统帅军队、组织战争、治理经济、发展生产等方面极其丰富的经验和理论。 但由于文化背景和历史具体发展的不同,中西管理思想在管理价值观和管理哲学及其由此所决定的管理方法论和手段上都有着明显的差异。 具体来说,我们中华民族有着光辉灿烂的历史与文化,我国古代的管理思想也同样是博大精深的,其中也包括许多宝贵的管理思想和管理经验。综观中国古代诸家的管理思想及理论不外乎是儒、墨、法、农、道之说的反映和体现。中国管理思想的起源和农业密不可分,随着社会发展,特别是在以农业为基础的畜牧业、手工业等社会分工之后,中国早期的管理活动和行为得到了迅速的发展。中国古代出现了许许多多的思想家,有着极为丰富的管理思想,其中,老子、孔子、商鞅、孟子、孙子、管子的管理思想最具有代表性。中国传统的管理思想主要侧重于顺道、重人、人和、守信、利器、求实、对策、节俭和法治。这些管理思想和管理经验经过五千年的积累与提炼,至今仍在国家和企业的管理实践中发挥着重要的作用。 但中国传统管理思想是在封建的农业社会的土壤中生长起来的,它也有不可避免的缺陷:一是缺乏与近代工业生产和科学技术的有机联系,二是缺乏与市场经济的紧密联系。同时,它自身也没有形成系统的科学形态。 相比较之下,西方管理思想则是与近代大工业生产及科学技术的发展紧密联系在一起的,经历了科学管理运动之后所产生的各种管理理

论,更是直接为现代市场经济服务的,因而形成了它自身的优点。这主要是:善于运用科学技术的最新成果,在试验和逻辑分析的基础上进行严格的控制和严密的管理,注意引进竞争机制,提高整个管理活动的效率,不断根据管理实践的结果来变革管理模式和创新管理理论,重视发挥个人的能力和专长,充分利用法律和契约在管理中的作用等。当然西方的管理思想也是有一定弊端的。 中西管理思想各具自己的长处和短处,而且优劣共生、利弊相通。值得注意的是,这种长处和短处,在中西管理思想中往往具有对应和互补的关系。因此,中西管理思想的交流、移植和融合,中国传统管理思想在新的历史条件下的改造和重建,是一种必然的历史发展趋势。

最新如何对待中西文化差异英语作文

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