Comparing American And Chinese Society

It doesn’t matter what kind of ethnicity you are, or how you were brought up. Everyone is deeply rooted in their own culture. “Culture” has a different meaning to everyone. Comparing American culture to Chinese culture we will find many different meanings to the word “culture”. For example, we Americans are always looking for something bigger and better for our future, and the Chinese are content with a small reserved lifestyle with no intentions of changing it for something bigger. A culture is a way of life of a group of people-the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and are passed along by communication and imitation from

Cultural differences are apparent from one group of people to another. Culture is based on many things that are passed on from one generation to the next. Most of the time people take for granted their language, beliefs, and values. When it comes the cultural differences of people there is no right or wrong. People should be aware of others culture and respect the differences that are between them. The United States and China are two very large countries that have cultures that are well known through out the world. There are many differences between the United States and China, but there are many contributing factors that shape the cultures of these two countries.

Grilling meats and spit roasting over a pit fire are both common even today. Americans use barbecue smokers to cook chicken, pork and corn. Frying is the most common in Western countries because almost every famous dish is related to frying. Examples include fried chicken, French fries, burgers and fries, etc. Local families in America like to do baking, which is generally applied to breads, lasagna, manicotti, pastries and other sweet confections. There is a big difference between Chinese and American cooking methods. One is mainly concentrated on the color, smell and shape. The other is always speedy, convenient and cheap.

America have a variety of food with no staple food to eat with every meal, unlike in Vietnam where the food is more exotic, but very easily to get sick of. Both countries daily meals consist of cooked goods, vegetables, and a variety of foods. Daily routine for eating is the same for both countries consisting of breakfast, lunch and dinner. But where there are similarities, there are differences such as the food cultures. Both the countries have difference regions, so of course each region vary on what they eat, and what they have access to. In America, the southern region’s foods are different than the cooked foods in other regions. In the same way, the foods that the southern region

Looking back at the article Nacirema, I feel my daily routines are weird and tradition as a Chinese. After reading the article Nacirema, it shows that the belief of American think their culture is superior to others, they tendency to view other cultures from their own views. Some of the traditional culture, maybe looks weird in another people’s eye. For example, as a Chinese, we eat chicken feet, duck feet, and chicken viscera which American people don’t like it. We like to have a morning tea with family to eat dimsum, deep-dried dough sticks, steamed buns, tofu pudding, noodles, and rice for breakfast, but the American people like to have some coffee, milk, eggs, fired potatoes, cereal, toast, and pancake. I like salty stuff, but American

The McDonald’s in Beijing created these trends because they used the same menu as the American counterpart. This increased business and attracted customers because they felt more modern eating the so-called “American cuisine.” The McDonald’s in Beijing is most definitely considered an example of an American-inspired, transnational culture because the Chinese are intrigued with the western influence and this does change their culture because they are becoming more modern and opening up to outside influences. With a positive view from China, McDonald’s decided to expand even more.

Looking at the years of progression of food in china it started with Chinese imperial food originated around the Zhou Dynasty 11th century B.C. – 476 B.C. Although China’s dietetic culture developed and grew prior to the Zhou Dynasty, it truly flourished during the Zhou, Qin, and Han dynasties 1122 B.C. – 220. (www.china.org.cn/english/imperial/25995.) But when we look at the food today it has a mix of diversity of mix culture with the main ideas of the imperial dinning back in Zhou dynasty. We can look at food like curry which came from India and the Chinese culture took the spice and added to its food but also remembering the balance of sweet and sour and hot and spicy as well as tart. We can also look at the U.S.A and seeing the

American culture, despite the beauty of such diversity, has some draw backs. As nation, we are amongst the least healthy in the world with an alarmingly high percentage of obesity. This could very well be a byproduct of our culture. As for other aspects of our culture, American’s tend to be very motivated in life with goals that are often success and wealth oriented. These goals are focused on the individual person; however, Chinese people tend to be focused on the community and family. They look to each other for support throughout their lives and this is where the achievements that Chinese people strive for is oriented around (Lu and Gilmour).

The first noticeable difference are the kinds of foods. Some of american foods are, burgers, hotdogs, and more others. Then the most popular cambodian foods are, pho, spring rolls, and rice with different flavored soups. A normal american breakfast would be something like, pancakes, and eggs with bacon. Traditional cambodian breakfasts are, pho and a liquid rice soup with dry fish called, babawl. Most americans eat steak, burgers, and rice with chicken for dinner. While cambodians eat curry in banana leaves called amok, and the most popular food kuy tieu, which is a noodle soup which meats and vegetables. Now my favorite, the desserts. There’s the american desserts like, ice cream, cake, and cookies. But cambodian desserts are much different. There’s this sweet juice with noodles that are similar to spaghetti, there’s taro ice cream, then my personal favorite is the mochi ice creams. They are shaped in a circle, with dough wrapped around the ice cream.

As many Americans love to, Chinese people love to eat too. Rather than greeting people with “How

The text ”When Rich Came to Sunday Dinner” by Amy Tan, brings up multicultural aspects in the USA such as cultural differences. In the text the daughter of Chinese parents brings her American boyfriend Rich to Sunday dinner. Rich and her parents experience cultural differences which consequently make for misunderstandings between the two parties. An example of the cultural differences is during the dinner when Rich refuses to have seconds. The father took small, but several portions of the dinner, whereas Rich took big portions and declined seconds. This scene from the text portrays the different values these two cultures have when it comes to food. By declining the chefs food Rich insulted he, according to

Chinese new year and american new year have a few similarities but also are very different from each other, Chinese new year is a time of celebration in the chinese culture, typically families reunite, play games and eat dinner together but when the clock hits midnight they light off fireworks. The Chinese new year celebration comes from a old story about a red monster that was very loud that would steal children and often times eat them so to counteract the monster the chinese people would decorate their homes in red and throw firecrackers out of their houses to confuse the monster into staying away from their children. In China people value their families very much compared to the U.S. where people value their looks and are more self centered

China and the United States have different business cultures, in part, because of their differences in history (Pitta, Fung, & Isberg).

The United States and China aspire to command the world economy, but their lifestyle and standpoints look like east and west. When comparing the U.S. and China in Hofstede 6 dimensions model, there were four main dimensions that are strikingly distinctive. These dimensions include individualism, power distance, long-term orientation, and indulgence. Recognizing cultural differences is the first step towards understanding each other. The difference between the United States and China are pronounced, and they merit rigorous examination.

This year is my forth year that I has been studying in the United State. I’m already used to the U.S. culture and the U.S. living style. So in general, I didn’t experience any culture shock after I got here. If I had any culture shock, it’s probably three years ago. I couldn’t remember any of them. However I do have some thoughts about the differences between the U.S. and China after four years of studying in the United States.