西方节日对中国文化的影响

1、毕业设计(论文)外文资料翻译院 （系）： 外国语学院 专 业： 英 语 班 级： 080802 姓 名： 马 淼 学 号： 080802119 外文出处：zbl860904浅析西方节日对中国文化的影响 2008-3-27 附 件： 1.译文；2.原文 2012年 5 月The Influence of Western Festivals in Respect of Chinese Culture1 IntroductionEvery country has its own festivals. When a festival comes，all of the countrymen will c

2、elebrate it in a traditional way. With the development of the world, many countries do not only celebrate its own festivals but also foreign festivals. The phenomenon is especially popular in China.With the influence of western cultures, more and more Chinese people prefer to celebrate western holid

3、ays rather than traditional ones. When Christmas or Valentine Day comes, youngsters flood into bars, restaurants, and department stores to celebrate these festivals which their ancestors know little about. Everything has two points. This phenomenon reflects both advantages and disadvantages. Maybe o

4、ur traditional holidays are more boring than those western holidays, so more and more people don't like to celebrate them. For an instance, nowadays Spring Festival is quite different from our parents generation. And say some good points of it，First, obviously it can bring big income of economy

5、to our country, it can make some people become richer, like business men. Second, our lives will become more meaningful, we get more chances to get together with our parents and friends. In my opinion, the popularity of western festivals includes two aspects. First of all, it reflects that Chin

6、ese peoples attitude towards countries has changed. We become more open, and we are more willing to accept foreign something different. It also reflects that western culture has more effects on us than ever before. Nowadays, people in China are increasingly interested in celebrating foreign festival

7、s, especially those western festivals. The reason why I choose this topic is that the coming Christmas and the whole holiday phenomenon make me wonder the factors that contributing to this craze.2 Analyzing the Status of the Western Festivals in ChinaSome critics are arguing that people are losing t

8、heir traditional values and the respect of historical heritage. They insist that the popularity of foreign festivals should warn sociologists and educators nationwide. However, I do not completely agree with them. Foreign festivals in China today are celebrated for fun for they give people opportuni

9、ties to relax. All of us have been familiar with festivals ever since our childhood. There are all kinds of festivals, from conventional ones such as spring festivals, Mid-autumn Day to national holidays like the Labor Day. These days, more and more people are turning into celebrating foreign festiv

10、als -San Valentines Day, Christmas. However, some people wonder whether it is necessary to celebrate our traditional festivals. So I think it is essential to find something exclusively reasonable to explain the strange phenomenon at hand. I would like to begin this part with a survey conducted recen

11、tly by . In it the hosts ask surfers about their attitudes toward Christmas. Among the 18222, 63.9% said celebrating Christmas is just another way of recreation, nothing serious while 17.85% surfers termed the festival as a fashion act, showing they were not “out”. These two parts clearly indicate t

12、he general opinion of the young. Only 7.8% of people define Christmas as a kind of festival colonization. The phenomenon of celebrating foreign festivals plays an important role with the advancement of Chinese economy. When a major festival arrives, the business are trying every means to boost the a

13、tmosphere, thus finding opportunity to attract every possible customers. The atmosphere rose by the businessmen however, stimulate the public and raise their desire to celebrate the foreign festivals. They give people certain assumption that it is definitely necessary to be part of the celebration.

14、During the middle of the 90s, high school and college students in big cities are limited to celebrate Christmas and other foreign festivals. These young people studied English in class, had their own English names and possessed understanding of the western culture. They usually go to McDonalds and K

15、FC, drank coke, watched Hollywood films while they knew little about traditions of Mid-autumn Day-they even complained that the moon cake tasted awful and should be deserted! But they did remember Christmas, San Valentines Day and April fools DayThen the campus culture spread the so-called “middle c

16、lass”. Celebrating foreign festivals seems to be a fashion and a trademark of the wealthier class. From this point of view, western festivals begin to show their strong influence on peoples values and thoughts. The combination of the acceptance of western culture and the desire of western world happ

17、ened long before the business world enters this field.3 Analyses of Causes of the Popularity Why are western festivals so popular in China? I think there are many reasons. The most important reason is that the cultural communication between China and foreign countries is more and

18、 more frequent. Since China started the “reform and opening up” in 1978, foreign cultures, certainly including festival culture, have affected many Chinese people. Thus, we Chinese can receive some western culture, such as some important western festivals. One reason is someone may try celebrating t

19、hese important and meaningful festivals, and then more and more people celebrate them eventually. Another reason may be Chinese peoples curiosity about western festivals. Besides, I think only meaningful or interesting festivals may be accepted by most Chinese people. The young people like celebrati

20、ng Valentines Day, because the festival makes couples get together and is in favor of the development of the love between the lovers. In contrast, only a few Chinese people celebrate the Easter. I think that is because the culture of the Easter is a little far from our Chinese culture.Now people are

21、 facing one question: how to celebrate the Chinese New Year in a way that could both maintain an ancient tradition and make it fit the new time and attractive to the new generation. family gathering and visiting miao hui are still dominantly popular, new activities like tourism, text message greetin

22、gs and partying with friends are also gaining grounds. Meanwhile, other old traditions, such as worshiping ancestors and kneeling down in front of seniors, have almost completely disappeared. However，some new changes are appearing。Firstly，the status of women in the society changes. For example, trad

23、itional Chinese people think men and women are not equal which is influenced by Confusion. Womens job is just taking care of babies or doing the housework. However, the Western culture tells us we should give men and women the equal right. More and more talented women use their own ability to improv

24、e themthey can do what man can do. So we should thank those people who fight for the womens right in the early western counties。Secondly, lots of new science and technologies are introduced into our country, which indirectly improve our living condition and the quality of the society in recent years

25、. We can see the lifestyle becomes different. It means our life become more colorful. At this aspect, it should be extremely necessary to put it into the spotlight, for it is the major achievement the western culture made.  We no longer only wear Zhong shanfu, instead; we have more new modern c

26、lothes, different color, and different styles. We begin to know how the westerners celebrate their own festivals. So these are all very new and fresh for us, which we are more likely to imitate. The Valentines Day enrich the life of lovers, and it is really so romantic. The Christmas let you experie

27、nce the different custom. People become open, they want to take those new and interesting and exciting things which they havent tried before. Thirdly, some good elements of Western culture do affect Chinese society. For example, in modern western society, the lives of most old and disabled people ar

28、e secured by perfect social insurance system. We learned from them to establish the social insurance system, and accomplished it step by step, so more and more disadvantaged of peoples life are insured in Chinese society.4 The Attitude to the West Festival The attitude toward foreign festivals varie

29、s a lot from person to person. From what I can see, foreign festivals are popular mainly among the younger generation while the seniors show little interests to them. As I have previously stated, the young people today are growing in the atmosphere of well acceptance of foreign cultures and increasi

30、ng tolerance toward foreign festivals. They enjoy happily sending greeting cards at Christmas, DIY chocolate to their beloved ones on valentines day, and hug their parents on Mothers day and Fathers day. To them, foreign festivals enrich their lives, giving them more occasions to have fun and apprec

31、iate love. While, the older generation shows indifferent attitudes towards foreign festivals. They still prefer traditional Chinese festivals, during which the gathering of family is still greatly emphasized. They regard the young peoples craze about Christmas and Valentines Day as deceived by busin

32、ess tricks. The money spent on gifts and flowers are, in their eyes, nothing but waste. As foreign festivals today still go with some economic interests, the people in poor places care little about them, or even do not know them. The wealthier the city is, the more festival atmosphere could be seen

33、there. Foreign festivals in china today are celebrated for fun. They give people occasions to relax and celebrate, to show appreciation and gratefulness. The acceptance of foreign festivals generally depend on the openness of the public, the familiarity with the western culture, and most importantly

34、, on peoples economic status. Chinese are celebrating foreign festivals for merely fun and curiosity; the fear of culture colonization is nonsense.5 Conclusions What young people look for is to try a new way of living, a new set of culture in the foreign festivals. Christmas in Shanghai is viewed wi

35、th Chinese festival. The number of celebrating of Christmas here is over 70%. On other southern cities, to most enterprises, Christmas is not only a big business opportunity, but also a perfect occasion that boss connect with the clients and the staffs. Hotels make full use of the chance to offer lu

36、xurious Christmas dinner to make much profit; still, these luxuries are sold out in seconds. Businessmen make use of all measures to make profit; some shopping centers redecorate their little gifts such as doll bear and chocolates to sell at special prices. We have no Christmas Whether a city celebr

37、ate Christmas is largely depend on the culture infrastructure of the city, the economic conditions and the extent of openness. In big cities like Shanghai, Guangzhou Christmas has become the matter of every people. But in some inland cities, especially those in the west part of China, the situation

38、is quite different. No one really care and celebrate it, not to mention value it.The Valentines day, Though the business welcome a lot this special day as businessmen expect lovers to spend a lot of money buying flowers, chocolates and gifts, usually at a higher price than usual, San Valentines day

39、has not yet received as high a status as Christmas in China. Maybe most Chinese people are reserved; so they do not think it necessary to show their love in so direct a way as to be shared by the public. The younger generation is more open-minded, but their money is limited. So the business cannot r

40、eally enjoy the big festivals. Still, the atmosphere of Valentines Day is quiet observable. Roses are emerging at any place supposed to gather a lot of love couples, such as shopping centers, squares, metro stations and so on. The advertisement of chocolate and other gifts appear newspapers and fash

41、ion magazines giving all kinds of tips from how to send suitable gifts to your loved ones to how to write a special and romantic love letter, even how to arrange a surprise night. But from what I can see, the mature the couples are, the less they take those matters seriously. 西方节日对中国文化的影响1背景每个国家都有属于

42、自己的节日。当节日来临的时候，国人都将以传统的方式庆祝。随着世界的发展，许多国家不仅庆祝自己的节日，而且也庆祝外国的节日。这种现象尤其是在中国最为普及。 由于受西方文化的严重影响，现代越来越多的中国人更喜欢西方节日而非传统节日。当圣诞节或情人节来临，青少年进入酒吧，餐馆，百货公司为了庆祝这些节日以打折扣的方式来吸引顾客。但是，任何事物都有两面性。这种现象既有积极的影响也有消极的影响。也许我们的传统节日与西方节日相比更枯燥。因此越来越多的人不喜欢庆祝他们。例如现在的春节不同于父母那辈的春节。从积极的方面来说，首先，它显然可以给我们的国家带来大的经济收入，它可以使一些人变得像商人一样富有。第二，我

43、们的生活将变得更充实，我们可以得到更多的机会与我们的父母和朋友一起团聚。 在我看来，西方节日在中国的盛行主要包括两个方面，首先它反应了中国人对外国态度的改变，我们的思想变得更加开放，我们更愿意接受的不同的事物，其次也反映了西方文化比以往任何时候都深深影响我们。如今，中国人对庆祝外国节日越来越感兴趣，特别是西方节日。我之所以选择这个主题是即将来临的圣诞节和整个假期的现象使我怀疑。2分析西方节日在中国的地位一些评论家认为人们正在失去他们的传统价值观和对历史遗产的尊重。他们坚持认为，外国节日的普及应该提醒社会学家和国家教育工作者 。不过，我不完全同意他们。今天中国人庆祝西方节日是为了乐趣。他们给人们

44、的场合放松和庆祝。从我们的童年开始，我们已经熟悉这些节日。有各种节日，如春节，中秋节，国际节日劳动节等 。近几年越来越多的人正在转向庆祝外国的节日- 情人节，圣诞节等。尽管如此，有一部分中国人甚至怀疑我们的传统节日是否有存在的必要性。 所以，我认为必须找到完全合理的答案解释这种怪现象。 最近，在问卷调查网站上，我做了一项关于市民对圣诞节的态度，调查结果显示， 在18222人当中，其中63.90的人表示庆祝圣诞节，他们认为庆祝圣诞节只不过是另一种娱乐方式，没什么大碍，而17.85网民认为，庆祝节日是一种时尚的行为，表示他们没有落后时尚潮流。这两个数据，清楚地表明年轻人的普遍的看法。只有7.80的

45、人定义圣诞节为一种节日殖民。庆祝外国节日这一现象产生，显然对中国经济的增长起一定的促进作用，当重大节日到来时，商人千方百计的提高节日气氛，从而寻找机会，以吸引每一个可能的客户。然而由商人提出的节日氛围，激发公众和提高他们的愿望，以庆祝外国节日。然而在90年代中期，在大城市限制高中生和大学生庆祝圣诞节和其他外国节日。这些年轻人在课堂上学习英语，有自己的英文名字，并对西方文化有一定的理解。他们经常出现在麦当劳，肯德基，喝焦炭，看着好莱坞电影，而他们很少知道传统的中秋 -他们甚至抱怨说，月饼尝起来很难吃应该被遗弃！但他们却记得圣诞节， 情人节，愚人节。  校园文化传播到所谓的“中产阶级”。

46、庆祝外国节日，似乎是一种时尚和富裕阶层的商标。从这个角度来看，西方节日开始显示其对人们的价值观念和思想的强烈影响。接受西方文化和加入西方世界的愿望在人们心中表现的越来越明显。3西方节日流行的原因 为什么西方节日在中国如此的流行？我认为有许多原因。最主要的原因是在中国和外国间的文化交流越来越频繁，自1978年中国改革开放以来，外国文化，其中包括节日文化，影响着许多中国人。因此，我们中国人接受一些西方文化，例如一些重要的节日。一个原因是一些人可能试着庆祝一些重要有意义的西方节日，随后，越来越多的人最终庆祝他们。另一个原因可能是中国人对西方节日的好奇。其次，我认为有意义或者有趣的节日可能被更多的中国

47、人接受。年轻人喜欢庆祝情人节，因为情人节可以使更多的夫妻团聚，和爱人一起享受这美好的时刻。相比之下，很少有中国人庆祝复活节。我认为原因是复活节的文化和我们中国的文化有一点差别吧！ 现在人们正在面临一个问题：以什么样的方式来庆祝中国春节，使它既包括古老传统又适应新时代的潮流来吸引年轻一代。家人一起逛庙会仍然很流行，新的活动像旅游，简讯问候，和朋友一起聚会也是很受欢迎的。同时，其他古老的传统，例如祭祀祖先，向长辈磕头问候几乎都消失了。然而一些新的变化正在出现。首先，妇女的社会地位改变了。例如，传统中国人受孔夫子思想的影响，他们认为男女是不平等的，妇女的工作仅仅是照顾孩子和做家务，然而，西方文化告诉

48、我们应该给妇女和男人一样同等的权利。越来越多有天赋的女人靠她们自己的能力完善他们自身-她们能做男人做的事情。因此我们应该感谢在早期西方国家为妇女权利而战斗的人。第二，许多新的科学和技术被引进到我们国家，它间接的提高了我们社会近几年的生活环境和质量。我们可以看到我们的生活方式是不同的，它意味这我们的生活更丰富多彩。在这一方面，它应该很有必要作为重点，因为他是受西方文化影响最主要的成就。我们不再穿中山服，取而代之，我们有更多的新款衣服，不同的颜色，不同的风格。我们开始知道西方人怎样庆祝自己的节日。因此所有的东西对我们都是新鲜的，我们很可能去模仿。情人节使情侣的生活更丰富，他确实也很浪漫。圣诞节让我们经历不同的风俗，人们变得很开放，他们想要尝试以前没有接触过的一些新的，有趣的，兴奋的东西。第三，西方文化一些好的东西影响中国社会，例如，现代西方社会，完善的社会保险系统保障大部分的老年人和残疾人的生活，我们从西方国家那学习建立社会保障系统，一步一步完善，因此在中国人们生活越来越多不利的因素被确保。4 对西方节日的态度对外国节日的态度，各年龄段有不同的看法。从我所看到的，外国的节日主要是年轻一代的流行，而老年人表明他们对此毫无兴趣。正如我以前说过，今天的年轻人在广泛接受外