An Analysis of Differences between Chinese and Western Culture fromkungfu PandaⅠ. IntroductionOn 2008, Kungfu Panda, which reflected the Chinese culture has screened in China. The movie has caught tens of thousands of person's attention, because it reflects cultural combination, cultural docking and cultural conflict. An English dialog's animated cartoon, if wants to win Chinese audience love is not an easy matter, but kungfu Panda, this movie actually dexterously bridged over this gap, is accepted by general Chinese audience. This is because this movie presents the Chinese tradition's cultural elements. It naturally can obtain native audience's approval.What if this movie manifests is pure Western countries' thought connotation, and then it will sell at a discount in China's box office. However, the Chinese culture of Hollywood, regardless of how to play, no matter how to produce, cannot be the true meaning of the performance and understanding of the spiritual essence of Chinese culture. The thesis aims to elaborate on cultural differences between Chinese and the Western by analyzing the Chinese and Western elements in Kungfu Panda.Ⅱ. Cultural Application in Kungfu Panda2.1 Cultural CombinationKungfu Panda takes the Chinese audience as the essential target market. It picks up the Chinese cultural elements to construct a Chinese scene by westerner's angle of view. Regardless of the movie name, the story theme, the picture structure and even music accompaniment are full of Chinese cultural elements, such as acupuncture, calligraphy, the Chinese style architectures, mantis, snakes, tigers, monkeys and crane. The kungfu in the movie are also full of interests, but they are chaos. In the movie, Wu Xingquan was different from 200 years ago, which was invented in the middle of the Qing Dynasty in the Shaolin Temple in Fujian Quanzhong, and there are dragon, snake, tiger, leopard, cranes, lions, elephants, horses, monkeys, and they have different characteristics, power and prestige in all aspects. Moreover, Kungfu Panda also combine the western culture and values with the Chinese elements to show us a new panda, a new mood. Culture is mobile, and it is drifting, no one can control the tangible and intangible flow. The United States is a country of immigrants, thus it combines different cultures together and forms its unique culture. Hollywood claims that they are always looking for the best story, wherever or whenever it occurs is not important. DreamWorksproduces Kungfu Panda in the context of such a culture. This kind ofculture is not surprising.At the same time, China also accelerates the cultural flow and cultural drift. We see that China's film and television industry learn a lot from Hollywood and western countries, which the culture of adoption to the local community, such as commercial films of unique art forms, rules, business rules, the film concept and mode of operation, and so on. Oscar-winning Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and Zhang Yimou's "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers" and other famous films, can successfully enter the western countries’ film market, access to the recognition of Western audience. This is the fruit of cultural combination. Kungfu Panda was produced as a cartoon to show the influence and appeal of Kungfu and Chinese culture. The selection of cultural imagesthemselves has symbolic meaning.First, to Po, as the national treasure of China, was connected with the extensive and profound Chinese martial arts. In the background of globalization, panda is a symbol of unity; meanwhile, it also conveys friendship and peace to the world. Chinese martial arts, as an important part of mysterious ancient oriental civilization, are not only the pride of Chinese, but also a symbol of national spirit and integrity. This recognition and consensus have passed down from our ancestors just like genes. It is also spread the good quality into our blood and lives, which constitute the unique content and quality of this nation. However, Kungfu Panda combines the two symbols of Chinese ingeniously, given the role of double meaning and mission of cultural heritage and cultural exchange. Looking from another perspective, the growth process of Po is also the rise of Chinese nation, which symbols the awakening of the nationalspirit.Second, in the film, no matter" Dragon warrior", or " Dragon Secret", have taken the meaning of Dragon Worship of ancient Chinese. Historically, Dragon is a symbol of the spirit of the Chinese, which has played the role of uniting Chinese. In Kungfu Panda, Long has become a symbol of strength and authority, and the fighting of "Dragon Secret" has become extremelyimportant.Third, five brave generals--Tiger, Monkey, Snake, Crane, Mantis, have corresponded with five Chinese martial arts (Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun of Chinese, Sword). These five generals have perfectly performed Chinese martial arts; thus, successfully create different styles of Chinese martial arts. Besides, turtle always symbols wisdom and longevity in Chinese; thus, the turtle in the movie also corresponds with Chineseculture.2.2 Cultural DockingThe cultural docking of Western elements and Eastern elements is anotherway to show cultural combination. This panda was the combination of Chinese and Western culture. Not only has the blood vessels of Chinese culture, but also has the breath of western.First, many of the details in the film displayed elements of Chinese traditional culture and ways of thinking. Master turtle explained the origin of martial arts as to reconcile “Yin” and “Yang”, which was one of the bases of Chinese traditional culture. Explained by Master Turtle like this has not only reality basis, but increased the mystery of Kungfu. Then we will see the “Dragon secret”. This wordless book has puzzled everyone. Instead of saying it was kungfu helps Po to defeat Tailung, we’d like to say it was his own understanding. Because Po’s father has said, “If you want to do s omething special, you just believe it is special (Kungfu Panda).” In addition, the behavior of defending the village also embodies the Chinese martial arts and its followers havea sense of social responsibility and a sense of justice. Second, the film seemed lightly describe, but accurate grasp one of the main relationships of the ancient Chinese society-- teacher and student. In ancient China, this relationship has different patterns. In the film, the relationships among Master turtle, Shifu raccoon, five brave generals, and Po have reflected hierarchical orders. This shows that the film not only combines Chinese elements, but also pays more attention to Chinese unique interpersonal relationship. In the film, it is clear that Master Turtle maintains his position through the control of Kungfu resources. This also reveals the unequal rights and obligations between students and teacher. Obviously, the film not only combines Chinese cultures, but also pays attention to shape the unique relationships ofancient China.In the last, the movie also revealed different values of life by dialogues and comparisons between different roles and images, during which both the Chinese traditional thoughts and Western pursuit of value have shown to the audiences, and aroused the consideration of audiences. Master Turtle persuaded Shifu Raccoon to accept Po as the Dragon Warrior, and this revealed the Chinese traditional culture of determinism. Then Master Turtle said, “Maybe it can if you are willing to guide it, to nurture it, to believe in it (Kungfu Panda) ”, and he tried to encourage Shifu Raccoon and Po to challenge fate and reality. “There are no accidents (Kungfu Panda)” implied that opportunities were only waiting for those who get ready. Po always gave the feeling of funny, but when we watched carefully, we will find that he was a kind of person who never surrenders to the fate, and eager to break through reality, and pursuit for betterlife.2.3 Cultural ConflictCultural borders and misunderstandings lead to conflict. There are noborders in cultural resources, and the same with cultural products. Kungfu Panda was a product, which was made by DreamWorks. It is unreal, but this panda of western blood caused the anger of some Chinese people. One of the resistances is an artist named Bandi Zhao. Before the coming of Kungfu Panda, he was always drinking and singing with panda, even not long before, he started a fashion show in the favor of panda. He has crazy love for panda, we can’t image a man like him will call for a b oycott of KungfuPanda.The reason is that this is a panda created by Americans, and it is not native. This kind of boycott not aims to panda, but aims to the powerful film industry in the United States.Cultural resources are renewable. Culture leads to a race of creativity and imagination. However, there are contest of creation behind the development and utilization of cultural resources. This kind of boycott is just a joke. National sentiment caused by nationalism is politically negative; however, people’s response in cultural dimensions was very excited. Thus, when our sensitive and vulnerable people met American Panda, and there comes boycott, in another way, this is cultural conflict. Cultural conflict aroused by Kungfu Panda can be avoided, as long as we think carefully about this issue. On the other hand, conflict embodiesthe gap between China and Western.Ⅲ. Cultural Differences in Kungfu Panda3.1 Morality and Values3.1.1 Individualism and CollectivismThe formation of Western values dates back at least the Renaissance. The guiding ideology of the Renaissance was humanism, which was, advocating individual as the centers, to promote individualism, develop their own self-expression. "Modest" the concept of value in Western culture is negligible. Life of worship is "strong", "hero." The ability and the talent are strong reuse, lack of confidence of the weak can only eliminate outdated or cruel. Therefore, the western culture reflects the individuality of individual cultural features and cultural characteristics of personal value overrides group interests. They believe they are special. Westerners view themselves as highly individualistic in their thoughts and actions. They resist being thought of as representatives of any homogeneous group. When they do join groups, they believe they are special, just a little different from other members of the same group. In western countries, you will find people freely expressing a variety of opinions anywhere and anytime. Yet, in spite of this independence, almost all Westerners end up voting for one of their two major political parties. Individualism leads to privacy, which Westerners see as desirable. China has a long history of more than 5000 years. Chinese people are greatly affected by Confucius. Confuciusteaches people the idea of harmony, and harmony means to handle relationships. Thus, Chinese people tend to live in an environment, which is surrounded by relationships, and they care for this more than their family and relatives. Usually, they will trust the people around them. One more important thing is that they pay more attention to their words and action, for fear of "losing face". In the film, five apprentices of ShiFu were utterly describing Westerners’ independence. They seized every minute to practice martial arts, and got ready for dangers. They had a kind of confidence that was someday they would become the Dragon Warrior. Then Tailung was the best one to reflect the Westerners’ individualism. All he cared was how to become powerful and strong. He was a gifted character with ambitions, maybe a little selfish and cruel. He could give up everything for strength. From other prospect, this was caused by his strong sense of independence. Master Raccoon, he was a little Chinese, because he only trusted one of his five apprentices can be the Dragon Warrior someday. He refused to believe that Po was Dragon Warrior.3.1.2 Fairness and Ranking SystemFairness is so cherished in Western countries that it is seen as having a religious basis. Westerns believe that all people are created equal and that all should have an equal opportunity to succeed. This concept of equality is strange to seven-eighths of the world, which views status and authority as desirable, even if they happen to be near the bottom of the social order. Since Westerners like to treat foreigners "Just like anybody else", newcomers to Western countries should realize that no insult or personal indignity is intended if they are treated in a lessthan-deferential manner by waiters in restaurants, clerks in stores and hotels, taxi drivers, and other service personnel. Reading from ancient China, there was no equality, instead by ranking system. Everyone has his own fate, which was decided by his background. Ancient China was a feudal country, which was ruled by ranking system. The emperor was the greatest ruler. Even in the ancient Chinese mythology, and there existed ranking system. Chinese people were diligent and they needed a guider. This situation had revealed in the film. Master Turtle was just like an ancient Emperor, and Master Raccoon was his representative. Besides this, five apprentices respected their master. They followed the guidance and accepted the tasks assigned by Master Raccoon. What’s more, all the people living in the peace valley respected Master Raccoon, and took his five apprentices and him as hero and people kneeled down to show their respects. Though Master Raccoon had five apprentices, he still listened to Shifu Turtle. Po was restricted by his father, only making noodles. Po was just a normal Person in the village, he had nothing special, and however, he became the savior of the village and the world. Why? This tells us the Western countries’ values of Fairness. If you believe you can,and you can.3.1.3 Openness and ImplicitnessMany other countries have developed subtle, sometimes highly ritualistic, ways of informing others of unpleasant information. Westerns prefer the direct approach. They are likely to be completely honest in delivering their negative evaluations, and to consider anything other than the most direct and open approach to be "dishonest" and "insincere". Anyone in the U.S. who uses an intermediary to deliver the message will also be considered "manipulative" and "untrustworthy". If you come from a country where saving face is important, be assured that Americans are not trying to make you lose face with their directness. Chinese select the indirect way. They will never say "no" directly, for fearing of hurting someone. Kungfu Panda utilizes exaggerated expressions and actions to show Chinese martial arts. This is an innovation, also an open-mind, and it challenges the traditional ideas of Chinese people. The tasks of five apprentices will be done quickly and energetically, and these kinds of actions will make no doubt of expressing the directness and openness of Americans. Master Raccoon was a little directness. Po d idn’t impress him the first time they met. Master Raccoon told panda that he wouldn’t be the Dragon Warrior directly. Confucius’ frankness was the main reason why Chinese people tended to select a manner of mildness. They will never say no directly, for fearing of hurting someone. They will imply something by their words or actions. In the movie, Master Turtle was aware of the evil hided in the heart of Tailung. He didn’t say any word in front of Tailung, however, he told Master Raccoon about his worry of Tailung, and definitely denied the possibility of Tailung to become Dragon Warrior. Looking from Kungfu Panda, Shifu Turtle did not tell Tailung that he was not Dragon Warrior, on contrast, he told Tailung's Shifu---MasterRaccoon.3.2 Philosophy3.2.1 Attitudes toward ChangesWesterners prefer new things and new lives, and they really want something new. In the Westerners’ mind, change is seen as indisputably good, leading to development, improvement and progress. Master Turtle had predicted that Tailung will come back, however, he took it easy, and told Master Raccoon to be ready for revenge. He thought it would be the birth time of Dragon Warrior. In many Chinese people’s eyes, change is considered as disruptive and destructive. They value stability, continuity, tradition, and ancient heritage. Master Raccoon did not believe the prison-break of Tailung. When Master Turtle told him that Tailung would escape from prison, he did not want to believe it. The peace life had made him forgotten the existence of Tailung. He did no preparationfor the prison-break of Tailung. Thus, when the news came, he felt extremely feared. What he did was told Zeng “Fly to Ohorh prison and tell them to double the guides, double their weapons, double everything (Kungfu Panda)” te mporarily. When he met Po, he did not want to believe that the fat and normal panda could be the Dragon Warrior. Because he was afraid of changes, then Master Turtle said “Maybe it can if you are willing to guide it, to nurture it, to believe in it (Kungfu Panda) ”, and he tried to encourage Shifu Raccoon to accept the truth that Po was the one who was chosen to be Dragon Warrior. Finally, he wanted to have a try, in orderto save the world.Po was restricted by his father, only making noodles, because his father said they were noodle folk. When Po asked his father “Did you ever want to do something else? Something besides noodles? (Kungfu Panda) ” His father said when he was young and crazy he thought about make tofu. In his mind, everyone had his or her place in the world; people just followedthe destiny and tradition.3.2.2 Action OrientationTailung and other five apprentices of Master Raccoon were diligent characters. They seized every minute to practice what they learned. Time seemed to be the most precious for them. The sooner Tailung was coming, the more diligent five apprentices would be. This is in the line with Westerners’ thinking and behavior. "Don’t just stands there," says a typical bit of American advice "do something" This expression, though normally used in a crisis situation, in a sense describes most Americans' waking life, where action - any action - is seen as superior to inaction. Americans routinely schedule an extremely active day. Any relaxation must be limited in time and aimed at "recreating" so that they can work harder once their "recreation" is over. Such a "no-nonsense" attitude toward life has created a class of people known as "workaholics" - people addicted to, and often wholly identified with, their job or profession. The first question people often ask when they meet each other in the U.S. is related to work: "What do you do?" "Where do you work?" or "Who (what company) are you with?" The United States may be one of the few countries in the world where people speak about the dignity of human labor - meaning hard physical labor. Even corporation presidents will engage in physical labor from time to time and, in doing so, gain rather than lose respect from others. It is well know that Chinese people are diligent, but they also need some leisure time to relax. They can and they will, but not like Americans. They prefer a comfortable life. Five brave generals were of the first kind. They would never waste any minutes. They took every time to practice their Kungfu, getting ready for the challenge. Po had no concept of time. All he cared was eating and sleeping. Finally, some dramatic change happened. Po loved Kungfu and determined to learn it byheart.3.2.3 Future OrientationWesterners are hopeful that the future will bring improvement. They devalue the past and are, to a large extent, unconscious of the present. Even a happy present goes largely unnoticed because Westerners are hopeful that the future will bring even greater happiness. Master Turtle was a man with great wisdom. He knew all the challenges were destiny and fate, and they would be overcome eventually. He knew that Tailung would come. When Shifu Raccoon did not accept Po as the Dragon Warrior, he told Shifu Raccoon “Maybe it can if you are willing to guide it, to n urture it, to believe in it (Kungfu Panda)”, He believed the future. In his mind, it was unnecessary to worry, and just waiting for the coming of the final moment. Chinese worry about the future, thus they save the present for tomorrow. Some Chinese people offered no initiative for changes, even inclined to maintain a state of lethargy and seek no progress. Master Raccoon lived in the shadow, which was caused by Tailung, and this was the reason why Master Raccoon decided to find out the real Dragon Warrior. He couldn’t forget the pains Tailung bring. In the end, he accepted the destiny, acknowledges that Po was Dragon Warrior, and made preparations. In the film, five apprentices of ShiFu were fully representing Chinese future orientation. They took every minute to practice, and hope to become the dragon warrior someday. Meanwhile, Po and his father’s attitude toward life became a sharp contrast. Po dared to dream, and put it into action, while his father was adhering to tradition, not dared to strive for his dream. Finally, Po succeeded.Ⅳ. Modernization of Chinese Traditional CultureHow to treat traditional culture, in a long period, once was not a problem. But after we step into the modern society, we start to carry on our reconsideration about the collision between China and West, and this kind of reconsideration has met with difficult barriers. The complexity of constitutions of Chinese traditional culture is a main reason. Chinese traditional culture has a long history of more than 5000 years. During this long time, many things, no matter bad or goof, were absorbed.It is difficult to draw the right conclusions whether Chinese culture is superior or inferior. Chinese culture should compare with other countries and culture. By comparison, we can know the advantages and disadvantagesof Chinese culture.Chinese cherish their families, to a large extent; it gives us the strength to overcome difficulties. Chinese never surrender to challenges, on the contrast; they always maintain a spirit of confidence. Chinese people also pay attention to ethics. They carry out a friendly attitude toward other nationalities, which set up a positive role for the internationalcommunity. All these will surely become the extremely precious part of world culture when the era of world culture is coming. However, Chinese traditional culture was formed after a long history, which was based on feudal society. And Western culture, seriously speaking, is based on capitalism. This has caused the weakness of Chinesetraditional culture.New era calls for the society to adapt to the requirements of the development of new culture. In new era, we need to build a new culture to promote our lives and the development of our nation. New culture is not set up on the little understanding about the outside world, but set up on the understanding of society and nature. The culture, which is based on ignorance, can never bring happiness to the society. Inheritance, reference and innovation, and integrating into the world culture, are necessary for the development of Chinese culture in the future. Inheritance is necessary. Many traditional culture which contain valuable things or reflect moralities, are to be inherited.Viewing from the point of world culture, different cultures have their merits and demerits; therefore, we should learn from each other in order to make progress. Others can learn from us, and we can learn from them, too. Learning is not a disgracing thing, on the contrast; it is wisdom, also a pursuit of progress. We can only catch up with others by studying the merits from them. Now we have seen that there exists such a huge gap between eastern culture and western one. Then what should we do to face this gap in the gradually globalizing world?Firstly, we cannot deny any of the cultures. Every nation has its own chara cteristics and it’s mainly through its culture that we first begin to know the nation and its characteristics. So we cannot say that this culture or custom is right and that is wrong. Equal respect should be attached to every culture in the world, even to those that are not inexistence any more.Next, we should get to learn how to coordinate the different cultures. We say the world is becoming smaller and smaller. More foreigners come and go everyday. When it is in the same country, the same city, the same neighborhood, the cultural collision is expected to be more serious. So we should try to avoid this happening. One important thing is to get some basic knowledge about the other cultures so as not to misunderstand some actions or habits of the foreigners.When the above two is done, we can start to communicate. I mean we can take in some strong points from the foreign cultures. Though there doesn’t exist correctness in terms of culture, it does have the terms of more advanced or more suitable for the world nowadays. Of course, we cannot throw away our own culture and accept another one totally. Every culture is a treasure to the history of the Earth, so we should only pick out those we lack to perfect our own.Ⅴ. ConclusionWesterns do not understand the deep meaning of Chinese martial arts. Hollywood only stole the "bottle" of Chinese culture to fulfill the wine of “American culture". The main character of Western heroes is individualism. Heroes of Western action film are usually concerned of their lovers and the safety of their family members. On the contrast, Chinese heroes are subject to Confucianism; sometimes they will even sacrifice their family’s life to save their friends. To the Hollywood, Chinese martial arts mean fresh surprise, gorgeous visual effects and even with a little mystery. These are only the external form of kungfu. Hollywood’s action taken on whether the design can attracts the attention of the audience. As for the internal, Chinese martial arts is what Hollywood could not understand. This is Hollywood's inherent weakness. Chinese has a long history of more than 5000 years. It is impossible for the foreigners to understand it. Kungfu Panda was indeed combined Chinese elements in the film, and the director intended to attract the aud ience’s eyes. However, we can see that all these are affected by Hollywood. They tried to create an atmosphere of the ancient China, but all they revealed in the Kungfu Panda is just the belief and understanding of Americans. According to Confucius, Chinese people are influenced by harmony. Youzi once said that “The most valuable use of the rites is to achieve harmony.”(丁往道，2008:34-35) Harmony here means peace, a peaceful life. On the contrast, Hollywood has its own American thoughts. They prefer a life of competition and challenge and opportunity. Therefore, it is hard for Hollywood to produce a real Chinese movie. Cultural invasion is a serious problem. It seems that our nation will be destroyed after cultural invasion. Over more than one hundred years, our nation has suffered from humiliation because of the decadent rule by the feudal dynasty. This has been one of our hardest suffering. Therefore, we can easily hurt when we face foreign cultures. However, in the 21st century, we have joined WTO, china and west countries have become partners in economy, especially in culture. There is no need for us to argue after the birth of Kungfu Panda. This kind of cultural invasion calls for our action. Let’s calm down andhold a sense of rationality.We can say we are facing cultural crises in now days. What can we do? We need to carry forward our traditional culture. We need creation. Kungfu Panda has told the world about the influence and fascination of Chinese culture. Kungfu panda takes a comedy mood of typical Hollywood to please the audience, behind, which there hides the transmission of American values and worldview. Kungfu Panda expressed how the Chinese culture has been packaged into one of the popular cultural products in the world. Hollywood only takes some of the most common elements in the Chinese traditional culture, and these elements have become the most important。
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