The Constant Conflict Between Chinese Culture And American Culture

Richard Rodriguez article, “The Chinese in All of Us (1944)”, argues that many different cultures have contributed to making up the American culture. Rodriguez backs up this claim by sharing

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

The American dream is large in the minds of the American public, and indeed, of people around the world. It has taken on somewhat of a life of its own, and its clear, powerful call has brought people from around the world to the shores of the United States for more than a century, each of them hoping to capture a little bit of the American dream for themselves. While some have (there are famous immigrants in history who have come to America with nothing and created ridiculously successful financial empires that even continue today), most have found that the proverbial American dream is far more myth than reality (Bambara

Cultural Issues/Differences – China has a very old and complex culture. Traditions vary between towns, cities and country areas.

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.

The American Dream has always been based on the idea that each person, no matter who he or she is, can become successful in life by his or her own hard work. The dream, to desolate immigrants escaping an oppressive Europe, also embodied the idea of a self-sufficient man, an entrepreneur garnering success through his own hard work and ambition, not

The definition of the “American Dream” by James Truslow Adams, “life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement” this means that no matter your social class, dilemmas, or circumstances at birth one will overcome and make their dream come true. This is a misconception brought upon by us in order to bring more workers to justify a social class clearly. Many immigrants come to the US thinking there will be a better life for them. It is the place where dreams come through. They know it will not be easy and are willing to put the hard work and

The term “American Dream” is defined as an idea which believes that all people have the possibility of prosperity and success. The idea first came from James Adams, a noted American writer and historian. He claimed, “Life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability and achievement.” Therefore, the core concepts of the American Dream were closely linked to hard work and opportunity.

In the story “Two Kinds”, author Amy Tan, who is a Chinese-American, describes the conflicts in the relationship of a mother and daughter living in California. The protagonist in this story Jing-mei Woo’s mother is born and raised in China, and immigrates to the United States to escape from the Chinese Civil War. For many years she maintained complete Chinese traditional values, and has been abided by it deliberately. This kind of traditional Chinese culture has also affected her daughter profoundly. However, Jing-mei is born and raised in the United States. Despite she has a Chinese mother; she is unfamiliar and uncomfortable with Chinese

In the short story Two Kinds by Amy Tan, she writes about a child named Jing-mei and her experiences with her mother pushing her to become a prodigy, all while her mother deals with being a Chinese immigrant that just moved to the United States. The two countries obviously share very different cultures and this plays a part in the story as she pushes Jing-mei to live ‘The American Dream’. Her mother strongly believes that in America you can be whatever you want to be. This, to some, may not be true, however this idea is strongly pushed in the Chinese culture. This is shown when Jing-mei fails to do any prodigious task that her mother puts in front of her which leads to her mother being ultimately disappointed in Jing-mei. Her failures ends up causing a huge argument between Jing-mei and her mother. The argument could be called the climax of the story. This confrontation wouldn’t have happened if Jing-mei’s mother didn’t have the huge idea that The American Dream is a legitimate thing, and Jing-mei’s mother wouldn’t have that perception of America if the Chinese culture didn’t present the United States as such a place. Based on Chinese culture and perspectives, there are numerous fallacies concerning the American Dream, and these are displayed in Amy Tan’s short story “Two Kinds”.

     What culture they had was to be forgotten – a difficult and practically impossible feat. The Chinese-Americans faced a wall of cultural difference that could only be scaled with the support of their parents and local community. The book review of Bone by Nhi Le stated clearly how “ … the first generations’ struggle to survive and the second generations’ efforts to thrive … ” made the transition into American culture possible. Overcoming barriers such as language, education, work ethic, and sex roles was just a beginning to the problems that all Asian – Americans faced.

The American Dream can mean a number of different things to number of different people. Over the years this ideal has evolved and its definition will continue to change for many more years to come. What has not changed is the desire to achieve this dream. For decades now, people from all over the world have immigrated to the United States with hopes of obtaining this dream. However it seems that, to many immigrants the American dream has a very different and more modest definition. To many foreigners it means having the basic necessities in life and giving their children opportunities and life they ever had. Immigration can be a good and a bad thing. On one hand the overall standard of living is better but on the other hand it is almost

In American Born Chinese there is a constant struggle between two cultures, the Chinese American and the white culture. Their interaction yields constructive and destructive results in terms of their cultural integration. The characters can be separated into two distinct categories, empathizers and antagonists. Empathizers are the individuals that allow other cultures to exist freely within their city in the United States. They make no attempts to suppress other’s cultural identity, instead, they make decisions that promote the coexistence of multiple cultures. For example, when Jin Wang went out on a date with a white girl this would represent two cultures actively working to coexist (Yang 164). In this case, the girl would be considered an empathizer. On the other side of the spectrum, antagonists actively attempt to suppress cultures dissimilar to their own. They go out of their way to force conformity through the use of bullying and exclusion. Peter Garbinsky is an example of an antagonist. His abuse of Jin Wang catalyzed Jin’s transition to conformity rather than identifying with his own culture. Yang represents both of these groups through their appearance in the graphic novel, more specifically their eyebrows. Empathizers are given two distinct eyebrows while the antagonists possess a unibrow. The unibrows represent our progress, or lack of progress, as a society towards cultural acceptance. Referring to the examples above, Jin’s date was given two eyebrows while

It was easy to remember that from the beginning of 2008, there was a word became popular in China--the Chinese Dream. As America became one of the greatest countries in the world, China never stops following their steps and tries to learn from the U.S. Just like the Chinese dream, which was illuminated by the famous American dream. When I was a child, I could not understand what the American dream exactly was, but I used to think that both the Chinese dream and the American dream are insubstantial, they were so wonderful and fantastic that might not be able to realize. However, as I read a poem called “Richard Cory” that written by Arlington Robinson few days ago, I understood that the American dream is necessary for Americans and it should never die, because it is the American dream that makes Americans survive.

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.