In American culture, anyone can give a compliment or be complimented. Especially the women, who are the object of compliment or praising, may be complimented for the replacement of the hair style and the change of clothing. However, women’s appearance is even the focus of compliments. Regardless of her age, career and social status, she can be complimented. So are the men, children and elderly. When an American woman is complimented, she won‘t feel shy, instead, she thinks it is decent(体面的).
In Chinese culture, praises and compliments have a wider range. It is the same with the American culture that for abilities and achievements, also other serious praise, only those people with the talent evaluation(称赞) ability can praise others. Older can praise young man, but this is only an encouragement, not really compliments on their abilities and achievements. Meanwhile, the younger can praise the older and the lower can praise the superior(地位高的), but this is just a compliment, and this is flattering(谄媚 的) more to those complimented. Therefore, in our daily life, we have a lot of praises for other people's abilities and achievements but they have different meanings on different occasions(场合), not only serious praises, but also a compliment to make the relationship closer.