Conflict between Chinese and western culture.doc

conflict between chinese and western culture in recent years , with the globalization of social life and economy, people from different countries contact with each other more frequently than before . however, they may misunderstand each other during their contacts and cause conflicts. so, it is quite necessary for us to know more difference between chinese and western culture that we can reduce misunderstandings and avoid conflicts during the contact. first of all ,what is the definition of culture?there are many definitions of culture, the one that i agree more is the following one.culture is a system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of a society use to cope with their world and with on another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning. the reason why i prefer it is that this definition includes not only patterns of behavior but also patterns of thought . secondly, what cause the conflict? people from different nations live in the different ecology, material, social and religious environment. so each language environment produces different language habits, social culture, the local conditions, customs and so on. also, due to different culture background, people always like to talk with his own ways to explain each words in communications, it could make inaccurate inference to some words and then create conflicts or faults. in cross-cultural communication, if two sides cant go into the same cultural background, it is easy to misunderstand or unable to understand, so that the communication may failure. thirdly, there are too many kinds of conflicts between chinese and western culture for me to list and analyze in the text,so the following i will talk about table manner, privacy and time view these three kinds of conflicts. on the aspect of table manner, there are many differences between chinese and western people which may cause conflicts. for example, in some western countries, when eating bread rolls, break off a piece before buttering. use the knife only to butter the bread, not to cut it. they should not start eating before your host does or instructs to do so. at larger meals, it is considered okay to start eating once others have been served. when finished, place the knife and fork together at five oclock with the fork on the left. it is considered rude to answer the telephone at the table. if need to take an urgent call, excuse self and go outside. try to eat all the food you are served. but in china, the table manners are different. some chinese find it offensive to scoop rice from the bowl using a spoon. if rice is served on a plate, as is more common in the west, it is acceptable and more practical to eat it with a fork or spoon. the thumb must always be above the edge of the bowl. the host should always make sure the guests drinks are sufficiently full. one should not pour for ones self, but should offer to pour for a neighbor. when your drink is being poured, you should say thank you and tap fingers on the table to show appreciation. 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. about privacy,the chinese concept of privacy is very weak, we believed that individuals should belong to the collective ,pay more attention to unity and care about each other, so the chinese tend to be willing to understand others feeling and each other are willing to be honest. while westerners takes more notice of personal privacy and personal space, they dont want to mention too much to others their own things and they are more reluctant to let others intervention. so both sides of chinese and western privacy often conflicts, for example: the chinese who met for the first time can ask each others age, marital status, children, occupation, income and so on, it is normal for the chinese but in the view of westerners,they may think that these questions have violated their privacy. about time view,westerners view of time and money are linked together, it is deeply in their mind that time is money, so they cherish the time very much. in the life,they tend to make careful arrangements and plans about the time and had formed the good habit of the appointment on time. in the west, if you are going to visit someone,you must advance notice or agreement and explain the purpose of visit, time and place,so that it can be carried out only after it has been agreed. however, chinese belongs to the multidirectional time ,we generally do not like westerners strictly carried out in accordance with the plan, westerners often feel uncomfortable about this. conflicts are unavoidable, but we can reduce it through our efforts, such as learning more about cultural difference and improving the ability of intercultural communication.during intercultural communication we have to keep in our mind that the communication strategies we use with persons with whom we are familiar may not be effective with persons from other cultur