British and American Cultures
Western Culture and Values
A Discussion about the Cultural Differences between China and America Reflected in the
Movie "Guasha"
Name: 何善传
Student Number: 2014208007
Date: July 25, 2015
A Discussion about the Cultural Differences between China
and America Reflected in the Movie "Guasha"
1.Introduction
As we know, there are many differences between China and America. For example, American people tend to express their emotions directly, like "I'm happy"or"I'm sad", that's very differently from China. In addition, western people attach more importance to individual rights than relationship among people, "Guasha" is a good example that presents those differences.
2.Parts of movie plot
"Guasha", a famous movie which directed by Zheng Xiaolong and played by Liang Jiahui and Jiang Wenli. The story happened in St. Louis, a city near Mississippi River in Middle America. The leading man Xu Datong came to the US for eight years, with a good job and a happy family, he ever believed that he already realized his American Dream. While what happened next waked him up from the utopian dream. His 5- year-old son Denis had a fever, Denis' grandfather failed to read English instructions on the medicine, so he decided to adopt Chinese tradition folklore scraping therapy to treat Dennis. Unfortunately, his behavior was accused of child abuse for an accident. Than Xu was charged to court, one after another unexpected witness and testimony all point to him. In addition, almost all Americans, including doctors, can not understand Chinese tradition scraping therapy. Finally, Xu was deprived of guardianship about his son. Worse still, for the lawsuit, Xu's father decided to come back home, he was separate from his wife, his friend Quinlan broke with him and he lost his job.What he ever achieved from America have all gone, his American dream shattered.
3.Analysing parts of the plot
If the story happened in China, I believe the tragedy will never appear. In the movie, Denis' grandfather takes traditional therapy to treat Denis without any attempt, but he was accused of child abuse. That seems very absurdity. In China, the elder to the family like the commander to the army, everyone should respect them, no one dares to go against the elder's wishes. Chinese parents always ignore their child's rights for the reason that they are too young to complete anything without parents' help. While in America, all of people are equal and has the same rights from birth no matter you are old or young. Besides, compare to blood relationship, American take the law more seriously. In the movie of "Guasha", although Xu Datong loves his son very much, Xu was charged to court and finally deprived of Denis' guardianship.
4.Analysing the reason cause the cultural differences
Why there are so much cultural differences between China and America?Firstly, China's philosophical view is on the basis of Confucianist and Taoists, Confucianism emphasizes "Benevolence", "Righteousness", "Ceremony", "Wisdom" and "Trust". Besides, Confucianism pursues ordered ethical relationship and social relationship. Taoists thinks that everything in the world is the unity of opposites.While western philosophy pays more attention to explore nature and universe, they attempt to know about nature, command nature, conquer nature and finally change nature. They attach great importance to the scientific spirit too, especially scientific analysis methods and practice. Secondly, western thinking modes are different from eastern. In China, people usually thinking about problem with comprehensiveness. For instance, when a lady wants to marry someone, the girls' family often require the man own a car, a house, money and so on. While in western countries, their thinking modes belong to the type of analysis which separate subjective experience from objective facts. The last reason is the difference of national tradition. Ancient China advocates strict hierarchy and feudal supervisor mode that limits the development of personality. Contrary to Chinese philosophical thought and traditional culture, western countries value personality and humanistic spirit. Moreover, they pay attention to human rights, but
boycott theocracy. In addition, they think either the elder or the young is equal, all people's rights can be guaranteed.
5.Conclusion
As a graduate student with international vision, how should we treat the cultural differences? What should we do to avoid the tragedy from the movie? On the one hand, I think we should adopt an active attitude to understand and respect the cultural differences between China and America so that clear up misunderstanding and unhappy caused by the difference. On the other, firstly, all of us need to learn and discuss good qualities in two cultures, then we should to absorb and utilize them. Above all, it would be best to reject the dross in two cultures. For example, Chinese people can study equal thought from western countries and give up feudal thought. While for western countries, they can absorb excellent Chinese confucianism, such as filial piety culture, integrity culture, kindheartedness culture and so on. If two different cultures can understand each other, the harmonious world will come.
Works Cited
[1] 刘莉,电影《刮痧》的中西文化差异及其原因探究,赤峰：赤峰学院学报，2010
[2] Steward，Edward C．& Milton J．Bennett．American Cultured Patterns [M]．Intercultural Press，Inc．1991
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Unit 2 Robots 【导读】《海底两万里》是法国科幻小说家儒勒·凡尔纳的代表作之一，是一部出色的悬念小说，叙述了法国生物学者阿龙纳斯教授在海洋深处旅行的故事。阅读下面选取的有关冒险活动的节选，认真体会他们面对海上危险的态度。 Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea (excerpt) Part One Chapter Five For some while the voyage of the Abraham Lincoln was marked by no incident.But one circumstance arose that displayed Ned Land's marvelous skills and showed just how much confidence we could place in him. Off the Falkland Islands on June 30，the frigate came in contact with a fleet of American whalers，and we learned that they hadn't seen the narwhale.But one of them，the captain of the Monroe，knew that Ned Land had shipped aboard the Abraham Lincoln and asked his help in hunting a baleen whale that was in sight.Anxious to see Ned Land at work，Commander Farragut authorized him to make his way aboard the Monroe.And the Canadian had such good luck that with a right-and-left shot，he harpooned not one whale but two，striking the first straight to the heart and catching the other after a few minutes' chase! Assuredly，if the monster ever had to deal with Ned Land's harpoon，I wouldn't bet on the monster. The frigate sailed along the east coast of South America with prodigious speed.By July 3 we were at the entrance to the Strait of Magellan.But Commander Farragut was unwilling to attempt this tortuous passageway and maneuvered instead to double Cape Horn. The crew sided with him unanimously.Indeed，were we likely to encounter the narwhale in such a cramped strait？Many of our sailors swore that the monster couldn't negotiate this passageway simply because “he's too big for it！” Our course was set for the northwest，and the next day our frigate's propeller finally churned the waters of the Pacific. “Open your eyes！Open your eyes！” repea ted the sailors of the Abraham Lincoln. And they opened amazingly wide.Eyes and spyglasses (a bit dazzled，it is true，by the vista of $2，000.00) didn't remain at rest for an instant.Day and night we observed the surface of the ocean，and those with nyctalopic eyes，whose ability to
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Introductory Remarks ①．White elephant昂贵而无用的东西 ②．Yellow publications低级趣味出版物 ③．Lame duck跛鸭：不能连任的人 ④．Disinformation假情报 ⑤．Hegemony势力范围 ⑥．Mentor保护人 ⑦．Deep throat秘密消息的来源 ⑧．Paint lily多此一举 ⑨．Smoking gun确凿的犯罪证据 ⑩．Be in high cotton兴隆 ?．Barter trade交换贸易 ?．BBS电子布告栏系统 ?．Anonymous remailer匿名转信站 ?．Cybersalon网络咖啡厅 ?．Cyberspace网络世界 ?．Online prank网络恶作剧 ?．CPI消费者物价指数 ?．ISDN综合服务数字网络 ?．OPEC石油输出国组织 ?．Mitnick affair米尼克事件 21．World Wide Web万维网，全球信息网 22．Cellular phone蜂巢式移动电话 23．Genetic engineering遗传工程 24．The economics of Cloning复制人的经济分析 25．G-7七大工业国集团 26．Reaganomics里根经济学 27．Junk bond垃圾债券 28．Face the music了解美国军队惩罚违纪士兵的方式方法 29．Talk turkey了解美国白人的伪善 30．Come down to the brass tacks了解美国工人的过去 31．Go to the dogs了解英美人破产的辛酸 32．Samaritan源自《圣经》中，指乐善好施者 33．Green Berets指头戴绿色贝雷帽的美国特种部队 34．An Eagle Scout指美国的飞鹰童子军 35．American Dream表意是“美国梦” 36．Forbes list指美国《富布斯》富翁排行榜 37．Madison Avenue是麦迪逊大街，代指美国广告中心 38．A rags-to-riches legacy是美国梦的一个重要的内容，指“留下一笔‘白手起家发财’的遗产” 39．Social Security指美国的“社会保障条例” 40．Medicare指美国为65岁以上的老人专设的“老年保健医疗制” 41．Negative income tax指美国社会的“最低收入补贴” 42．A scapegoat替罪羊
英美文化欣赏 [导读] 《大卫·科波菲尔》是著名作家狄更斯的代表作之一。阅读下面选取的有关成长中的烦恼的节选，对比中外文化中对成长烦恼态度的异同。 David was sent to school In Yarmouth I was put on the long-distance coach to London，and travelled all through the night.At the coach station in London，I was collected by a teacher，Mr.Mell，and taken to Salem House，the school which the Murdstones had chosen for me. The school was a large old building with a dusty playground，surrounded by a high brick wall.It looked strangely deserted.I was very surprised to find that none of the boys were there，and was told that they were all on holiday，and that I had been sent there during the holidays as a punishment for my wickedness①.The headmaster and teachers were on holiday too，all except for Mr.Mell，who had to look after me. I spent a whole month in that miserable② place，doing my lessons in the dirty，empty classroom，which smelt of old food and unwashed boys.Every evening I had to eat my supper with Mr.Mell，and then go straight to bed.The worst thing was the sign I had to wear round my neck.It said：BE CAREFUL！HE BITES.I was only allowed to take it off when I went to bed. Although I was extremely lonely and unhappy at this time，I was not looking forward to meeting all the other boys.I felt sure they would laugh at me and especially at the sign I was forced to wear.But one day Mr.Mell told me that the headmaster，Mr.Creakle，had returned，and wanted to see me.So I went，trembling③，to his part of the house. I realized at once that Mr.Creakle lived much more comfortably than the boys or the teachers.He was a small，fat man with a purple nose，who was sitting in an armchair with a bottle of wine and a glass in front of him. “So，this is the boy who bites，is it？”he asked unpleasantly.“I know your stepfather，boy.He's a man of strong character，he is.He knows me，and I know him.Do you know me？Answer me，boy！”He pulled violently④ at my ear. “Not yet，sir，”I answered，tears of pain in my eyes. “Ah，but you soon will！Oh yes，I have a strong character too，you'll see！”He banged⑤ his hand hard on the table. I was very frightened，but I made myself ask the question I had been considering for a whole month.“Please，sir，I'm very sorry for what I did to Mr.Murdstone.Could
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【导读】 《双城记》是英国作家查尔斯·狄更斯所著的一部以法国大革命为背景的长篇历史小说。故事中将巴黎、伦敦两个大城市连结起来，围绕着马内特医生一家和以德法日夫妇为首的圣安东尼区展开故事。 A Tale of T w o Cities(excerpt) In Monsieur Defarge's wine-shop in Saint Antoine customers came and went all the time.They came to drink the thin，rough wine，but more often they came to listen and to talk，and to wait for news. One day there were more customers than usual.Defarge had been away for three days，and when he returned that morning，he brought a stranger with him，a man who repaired roads. “Madam，”Defarge said to his wife，“this man，who is called Jacques，has walked a long way with me.”One customer got up and went out.“This mender of roads，”continued Defarge，“who is called Jacques，is a good man.Give him something to drink.”A second man got up and went out.The man who repaired roads sat down and drank.A third man got up and went out. “Have you finished，my friend？”said Defarge.“Then come and see the room I promised you.” They went upstairs，to the room where Dr Manette had sat making shoes.The three men who had left the wine-shop were waiting.Defarge spoke to them：“No names.You are Jacques One，Jacques Two and Jacques Three.I am Jacques Four.This is Jacques Five.He brings us news of our poor friend Gaspard，whose child was killed by the Marquis's coach a year ago.” “I first saw Gaspard，”said Jacques Five，“holding on under the Marquis's coach as it drove into our village.He ran away，but that night the Marquis was murdered.Gaspard disappeared and was only caught a few weeks ago.The soldiers brought him into the village and hanged him.And they have left his body hanging in the village square，where the women go to fetch water，and our children play.”,《双城记》(节选) 在圣安东尼德法日先生的酒店里，顾客们来来往往络绎不绝。他们来这儿喝
英美文化概况作业 1、what are the differences in political system between the UK and the USA? Ex:课件 2、what is the role of the Monarch in the UK? Ex:课件女王 3、how do you comment on the British education system? Ex:与中国教育进行对比阐述。课本。 4、what do you think of the open University in British？ Ex:英国教育起源招生宗旨培养目标 5、how do you comment on the American ? ex:最后一天讲的，找一个点进行对比。 6、how does novel develop in British literature? Ex: 书本上，稍微动脑筋课件上总结 7、what is the significance of American Puritanism in American literature? Ex:美国文学倾教思想如何在教育中体现的？可以以霍森的小说为例解释、 8、why is that theatrical creations have been on integral part of english的 culture for centuries? Ex:课本上。课件里没有 9、summarize the history development of british music? Ex:课本目录。 10、what innovations have the 20th century artist in the United States made in the field of arts? Ex:课本上的。 11、do the Americans share the same weddings traditions with the British people? Ex、课本上的。
【导读】《绿野仙踪》又名《OZ国经典童话》，是美国著名作家弗兰克·鲍姆（Frank Baum）在１900—１9２0年期间陆续创作发表的奇幻冒险童话故事集，有“美国的《西游记》”之称。阅读下面选取的有关灾难来临的节选，对比中外文化中面临灾难时态度的异同。 The Wonderful Wizard of OZ （excerpt） The cyclone Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies，with Uncle Henry，who was a farmer，and Aunt Em，who was the farmer's wife.Their house was small，for the lumber to build it had to be carried by wagon many miles.There were four walls，a floor and a roof，which made one room；and this room contained a rusty-looking cookstove，a cupboard for the dishes，a table，three or four chairs，and two beds.Uncle Henry and Aunt Em had a big bed in one corner，and Dorothy had a little bed in another corner.There was no garret at all，and no cellar—except a small hole dug in the ground，called a cyclone cellar，where the family could go in case one of those great whirlwinds arose，mighty enough to crush any building in its path.It was reached by a trap door in the middle of the floor，from which a ladder led down into the small，dark hole. When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around，she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side.Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country that reached to the edge of the sky in all directions.The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass，with little cracks running through it.Even the grass was not green，for the sun had burned the tops of the long blades until they were the same gray color to be seen everywhere.Once the house had been painted，but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away，and now the house was as dull and gray as everything else. When Aunt Em came there to live she was a young，pretty wife.The sun and wind had changed her，too.They had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober gray；they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips，and they were gray also.She was thin and gaunt，and never smiled now.When Dorothy，who was an orphan，first came to her，Aunt Em had been so startled by the child's laughter that she would scream and press her hand upon her heart
(判断题) Chapter 1 1. People in different parts of Britain like to use the name England to refer to their country. (F) 2. The Severn River is the longest river of Britain, which originates in Wales and flows through western England.(T) 3. Today more than half of the people in Wales still speak the ancient Welsh language. (F) 4. In terms of population and area, Northern Ireland is the second largest part of Britain.(F) 5. Although the climate in Britain is generally mild, the temperature in northern Scotland often falls below -10℃ in January . (F) 6. The majority of the people in Britain are descendants of the Anglo-Saxons.(T) 7. The Celtic people were the earliest known inhabitants of Britain.(T) 8. English evolved into what is now described as Modern English from the late 16th century.(F) Chapter 2 1. British history before 55BC is basically undocumented.(T) 2. The Anglo-Saxons came to Britain in the 5th century.(T) 3. The chief or king of the Anglo-Saxons tribes exercised power at their own will. (F) 4. The Vikings began to attack the English coast in the 8th century.(T) 5. HenryⅡ built up a large empire which included England and most of France.(T) 6. The Magna Carta was designed to protect the rights of both the privileged class and the townspeople.(F) 7. The Hundred Years’War (1337-1453) was a series of wars fought between the British and the Vikings for trade and territory.(F) 8. In an effort to make a compromise between different religious factions, Queen ElizabethⅠactually defended the fruit of the Reformation.(T) Chapter 3 1. Conventions are regarded less important than the statutory law in the working of the British government.(T) 2. The British monarchy has never been interrupted throughout the history.(F) 3. In reality, the British King or Queen is the source of all government powers.(F) 4. The British Parliament is the law-making body of the Commonwealth of Nations.(F) 5. The members of the House of Commons are appointed rather than elected.(F) 6. The British Prime Minister is the leader of the majority party in Parliament.(T) 7. Cabinet members are chosen by the Prime Minister from various political parties in Parliament.(F) 8. The legal systems in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are much similar in terms of law, organization and practice.(T) Chapter 4 1. British was the first industrialized nation in the world.(T) 2. The British economy experienced a relative decline during the post-war period.(T) 3. Limited resources and high unemployment rate were persistent problems that prevented rapid economic development in Britain after World WarⅡ.(F)