The Culture Between China and American 英语论文.doc

the culture between china and americanoutlinethesis statement: give a general introduction to the culture between china and american through the from religion, history and education.i. introduction.ii. the cultural differencesa. festival differences1. the lantern festival2. the qingming festival 3. the national day4. the dragon boat festival5. the moon festivalb. the american heritage festival1. new years day2. halloween3. thanksgiving day4. christmasiii. the differences between chinese and western dietiv. the reasons for the differences between china and americana. social relationsb. friendshipc. obligationd. orientatione. harmony andfacef. relations andrulesg. concept of timeh. statusvi.conclusion abstract:the aim of this research is, through a general comparison the culture between china and american, to probe into the characteristics of chinese and western festival, because in different historical differences in background, and caused great differences both in cultural connotation and the performance of the festival, through to the chinese and american culture contrast, from religion, history and education and so on the different background set out, realizing these differences between countries can promote better communication and help the nature of foreign festival and urged to take a more objective view of the prestige of the foreign festival in china.key words: culture；festival ；religious；historyi.introduction： the improvement of chinas international position, international communication has been growing rapidly. therefore, some western holidays in china has been celebrating, such as christmas and valentines day, etc. chinese and western festival, because in different historical differences in background, and caused great differences both in cultural connotation and the performance of the festival. understanding these differences between countries can promote better communication and help the nature of foreign festival and urged to take a more objective view of the prestige of the foreign festival in china. in this article, the differences, china and the united states, the holiday custom will discuss from the cultural perspective. this paper first explains and, with practical examples, such as the different diet and dress. since then, to explain the cause, the differences between china and the united states holiday. religious reasons, the historical reason, culture cause and other factors will be considered in this part. finally, it will bring a conclusion to the festival of different forms and reasons of the diversity of the chinese and western festivalii. the cultural differences a. festival differences 1.chinese festivalstplets on their doors. people also burn incense at home or in the temples to pay respect to their ancestors and to pray to the gods for a safe and happy life.on new years eve, all the members of families come together to hold feasts. jiaozi is popular in the north, while southerners favor a sticky sweet glutinous rice pudding called “niangao”. at midnight on new years eve, people set off firecrackers to drive away the evil spirits and to greet the arrival of a new year. 2.the lantern festival on the 15th day of the 1st month of the lunar calendar is the lantern festival. it normally falls at the end of february. in the evening, people traditionally come out to see various lanterns in the streets or parks and eat round, sweet rice-flour dumplings that are called tangyuan in china. 3.spring festival the most important holiday in china is the spring festival, also known as the chinese new year. to the chinese people， it is as important as christmas to the west. the date for this annual celebration is determined by the lunar calendar rather than the gregorian/solar calendar, so the timing of the holiday varies from late january to early february. preparations for the new year begin on the final days of the last lunar month, when most families clean their houses, pay their debts, cut their hair and buy new clothes. almost every family will paste spring cou 4.the qingming festival normally the qingming festival falls on april 5, and is a time to remember the dead, when people traditionally go to visit the tombs of their ancestors. on this day, in beijing, schoolchildren lay wreaths of flowers before the monument to the peoples heroes in tiananmen square in memory of martyrs who died for the country. 5.the national day the national day celebrates the anniversary of the founding of the peoples republic of china in 1949. celebrations usually take the form of parties in amusement parks in the daytime and firework display during the evening. during this time, people can enjoy 3 paid-days off. 6.the dragon boat festival the dragon boat festival falls in may on the lunar calendar, is in memory of qu yuan, a great patriotic poet of the state of chu during the warring sates period(475 b.c.221 b.c.). qu yuan drowned himself to demonstrate his protest against his fatuous king. in order to protect his body from being eaten by fish, people threw rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves into the river. nowadays, people still eat zongzi (the rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo leaves) to remember him, and the dragon boat contests enjoy great popularity. 7.the moon festival on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar, the moon is especially round. on this day the chinese people celebrate the moon (or mid-autumn ) festival. to the chinese, the round shape of the moon represents family reunion. the moon festival is therefore a holiday for members of families to get together wherever it is possible. sometimes people who have settled overseas will come back to visit their parents on that day. during the festival, people eat moon cakes, a kind of cookies filled with sugar, fat, peanuts, walnuts, preserved egg yokes, ham or other ingredients. b.the american heritage festival united states is a cultural powers. short but rich history and unique it makes for an ethnic melting pot, and bring together the worlds culture. if the thought of this huge social and human treasures of get in, we may wish to take a short cut, that is, on his holiday to be a general understanding of the culture, because it is a microcosm of the festival. 1.new year day new years celebration of the lander agreed mainly festival. americans are the most exciting new year, new years day before yesterday evening is the night. is the night, people gather in churches, streets or squares, choir, prayer, blessing, repentance, and welcomed the updated 12 a.m., the church bells, the band played the famous old song, bon voyage. california rose is americas largest new years celebration, with flowers especially roses that car miles and car placed flowers made of various models.held in philadelphia, inauguration, the traditional procession of people, some dressed as clowns, some dressed as women (according to the old customs, this demonstration does not allow women to participate in), with the car singing and dancing. 2.halloween november 1, halloween is the traditional festival of the west. halloween, namely 31 october night, children enjoy a good time to play. as night fell, the children put on colourful costume, and wore a mask of all sorts, put on a pumpkin lamp ran out to play.packed with parity, the demons were dressed up as children of mobile pumpkin lamp, ran to a neighbors door, intimidation, like shouting: to trick or treat and give money or to eat. if the adults do not have to change for the hospitality they candy, and those naughty boy just talk the talk: well, youre not playing entertaining, i you. 3.thanksgiving day november 4th thursday is thanksgiving. on thanksgiving day, the united states the whole fun, people follow the customs of the prayer of thanksgiving to the church, and rural towns are nearby, theatrical performances or sporting events, etc. continues for another year of relatives will return from many, one family luck, taste the delicious thanksgiving turkey. thanksgiving food rich in heritage. the traditional thanksgiving turkey is the main dish, usually put turkey belly with various spices and mix with good food, then the whole roast from the oven, the men who use a knife to cut into thin slices to everyone. 4.christmas december christmas is americas largest and most exciting festival. christmas night the most interesting activities to a few harki, the symbol of the angels to report to the shepherds of bethlehem on the outskirts of messiahs good news. late in the season, in a church choir from door to door to come to their doorstep in chorus to sing christmas carols. so the family out to join the chorus. songs, the everyone invited to host house,refreshments. laughing, the choir to sing someones house, the owner of a home is often accompanied by the harki team growing, they sung from the houses, joyful atmosphere continue to increase, and often continue until dawn. christmas is the most typical christmas tree decorations, people in a small fir or pine filled with gifts and lantern, the top of the tree with a big star. iii.the differences between chinese and western diet chinese and western diet has great differences,and the main differece is the easting habit.besides,table manners is also the difference between them. this kind of difference may change along with the science development.and more and more people pay attention to the health and the nutrition which is in our food.center the western diet way has very great differences, which is also influential to the national disposition. in china, any banquet, no matter what any goal is, all only can have one kindof form, is that everybody sits in a circle all round, sharing. the banquetmust uses the round table, which formally has created one kind of unity, politeness, altogether the interest atmosphere. the delicacydelicacies put on table of peoples centers, it not only is the object which a table of people appreciate tastes, also is a table of peoplesentiments exchange intermedium. people propose a toast,and offer food to a guest, and urge the vegetable, in front of the happiness, has manifested the moral excellence which between the people mutually respect, and give precedence out of courtesy. although looked from the hygienic angle, this diet way has the obvious deficiency, but it conforms to our nationality the happy ending the universal point of view, is advantageous for the collective emotion exchange, thus until now with difficulty reforms. western-style banquets, food although count for much, but in fact that takes the set-off. the banquet core lies in the friendship, through with the adjacent seat visitors between conversation, achieves the friendship the goal. if the dance resembles the banquet friendship compared to, then may say, the chinese type banquet is just like is a group of dance, but the western-style banquet is just like is mens and womens social dancing. thus it can be seen, friendship goal of the chinese type banquet and the western-style banquet is quite obvious, only chinese type banquet more terrains now complete meal friendship, but the western-style banquet manifests much between the neighboring guests friendship. is the western popular buffet is more obvious which with difference chinese diet way. this law is: will possessfood to exhibit, everybody takes what is needed, will not need to fix onthe seat eats, just takes a walk free, this way will be advantageous for between individual emotion exchange, will not will certainly all speeches to suspend on the tabletop, also has displayed the western person to the individuality, to the self- respect. but respective lyeats each, mutually did not harass, lacks some chinese to chat with happy affective tone. beside for the front, the chinese diet and western diet have other differences,for example the table manners.now i take british and chinese table manners to compare with.british table manners the fork is held in your left hand and the knife is held in your right. you should hold your knife with the handle in your palm and your fork in the other hand with the prongs pointing downwards. if youre eating a dessert, your fork (if you have one) should be held in the left hand and the spoon in the right. when eating soup, you should hold your spoon in your right hand and tip the bowl away from you, scooping the soup in movements away from yourself. if there are a number of knives or forks, then you should start from the outside set working your way in as each course is served. drinks should always be to the right of your plate with the bread roll to the left. when eating bread rolls, break off a piece before buttering. use your knife only to butter the bread, not to cut it. you should not start eating before your host does or instructs you to do so. at larger meals, it is considered okay to start eating once others have been served. never blow your nose on your napkin. place it on your lap and use it to dab your mouth if you make a mess. it is considered rude to answer the telephone at the table. if you need to take an urgent call, excuse yourself and go outside. always ask for permission from the host and excuse yourself if you need to leave the table. you should place your napkin on your seat until you return. if you must leave the table or are resting, your fork should be at eight oclock and your knife at four oclock (with the blade inwards). once an item of cutlery has been used, it should not touch the table again. the food should be brought to your mouth on the fork; you should sit straight and not lean towards your plate. dishes should be served from the right, and taken away from the right. unless the food is placed on your plate at the table, then it should arrive from the left. drinks should be served from the right. salt & pepper should be passed together. do not take food from a neighbours plate and dont ask to do so. you must not put your elbows on the table. if pouring a drink for yourself, offer to pour a drink for your neighbours before serving yourself. if extra food is on the table, ask others first if they would like it before taking it yourself. when chewing food, close your mouth and only talk when you have swallowed it. swallow all food before eating more or having a drink. do not slurp your food or eat loudly. burping or sneezing at the table should be avoided, too. never pick food out of your teeth with your fingernails. try to eat all the food you are served. glasses served in a wine glass or other stemmed-glass should be held at the stem. always remember “regular” manners. remember to say please and thank you.chinese table mannersthese are mostly concerned with the use of chopsticks. otherwise generally chinese table manners are rather more informal, what would be considered rude in other cultures such as talking with the mouth full may be acceptable but better not to do so. chopsticks must always be held in the correct manner. it should be held between the thumb and fingers of the right hand, it is considered impolite to use the blunt end of the chopsticks to transfer food from a common dish to your own plate or bowl. never wave your chopsticks around as if they were an extension of your hand gestures, bang them like drumsticks, or use them to move bowls or plates. decide what to pick up before reaching with chopsticks. do not hover around or poke looking for special ingredients. after you have picked up an item, do not put it back in the dish. chopsticks can be rested horizontally on ones plate or bowl to keep them off the table entirely. a chopstick rest can also be used to keep the points off the table. traditionally, it is polite for the youngest members of the table to address each and everyone of the elderly members of the table before a meal starts and literally tell them to eat rice, which means go ahead and start the meal, to show respect. the host should always make sure the guests drinks are sufficiently full. when people wish to clink drinks together in the form of a cheer, it is important to observe that younger members should clink the edge of their drink below the edge of an elder to show respect. when eating food that contains bones, it is customary that the bones be spit out onto the table to the right of the dining plate in a neat pile. therefore, in the final analysis or between perceptual and rational difference. but, this kind of difference which changes along with the science development. more and more chinese no longer only pay great attention to the color of the vegetable, the fragrance, the taste, but pay great attention to its health and the nutrition. in has experienced after in particular the non- standard.also, the people because of the more and more busy work, thought the chinese meal starts with too troubles, were inferior to hamburg facilitates and so on. then the difference was not too distinct in the diet.iv.the reasons for the differences between china and american a.social relations chinese peoplessocial real individualism conception：collectivism: in general,china and other asianculturesreflect thesocial scientists known as the collective approach.theseco-culturegroupsand individualspay more attention tomodesty.on the contrary; americans typically exhibit an individualistic orientation.self-realization, if not an expectation, but at least more likely to be accepted.americans p