Different culture in China and United States
Introduction
What people put in their bodies: Food
What young people put in their minds: Education
The meaning of the difference: Diversity of taste and culture
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
China and American have many
differences in culture. In my first semester I have two orientation classes
about the American culture and I learned lots of information from these classes
and make many friends from all over the world. I have learned many things of American
culture in this year and I also got culture shock too. Food and education
styles these two have many differences between China and American, with the
development of economic, more and more people pay attention on food and education
quality. Food and education culture has been becoming popular in our daily
life, so I want to talk about the differences in food culture and education
styles.
What people put in their bodies: Food
China and America these two countries
have their own food style, also have many biggest differences, and there have
three ways to show how differences between these two countries. Different
regional cuisine styles are the first one between these two countries. For
China, Chinese food is diverse. Because of China has a vast land, it is diverse
in climate, so different place have the different climate and habits, ethnicity
and subcultures. Not surprisingly therefore, there are many distinctive styles
of cuisine. So in Chinese name it ‘South prefer rice, north prefer noodle’ that
rice is the staple food for South and North will use wheat to make the food,
such as noodle and dumplings. And Chinese have another call from taste:
'Southern sweet, North salty, East acids and West spicy.' So Traditionally
there are eight main families of dishes, namely Hui (Anhui), Yue (Cantonese),
Min (Fujian), Xiang (Hunan), Yang (Jiangsu), Lu (Shandong), Chuan
(Szechuan),Zhe (Zhejiang). “The history of Chinese cuisine in China stretches
back for thousands of years and these styles are distinctive from one another
due to factors such as available resources, climate, geography, history,
cooking techniques and lifestyle(1)”. For America, there are kind of single
than Chinese food. We all know she is Multi-ethnic nation of immigrants. So except
America- Indians, the first cuisine, number of ingredients and cooking styles were
made from European colonization of the Americas, at this time America cuisine
style have no more different with European. During 19th and 20th,
there have immigrants from many foreign nations in American and they make the
various styles of food continue expanding. And in America there have five
regional cuisines: New England, Pacific and Hawaiian cuisine, Midwest, The
American South and Cuisine in the West. But the different with Chinese food are
America regional cuisine styles Influence by the country which colonized or
close to this place. For example: “The style of New England cookery originated
from its colonial roots, that is to say practical, frugal and willing to eat
anything other than what they were used to from their British root. (2)” And
“Cooking in the American West gets its influence from Native American and
Mexican cultures and other European settlers into the part of the country.
Common dishes vary depending on the area. For instance, the Northwest relies on
local seafood, while in the Southwest, Mexican flavors are extremely common.
(2)”
Second is eating differences in
different Seasons. Four seasons are different. In China throughout the year,
according to the season and to eat, this is second feature of Chinese food.
Since long ago, our country has followed the different seasons to cook the
food. For example, winter and summer. Winter is cold so the food usually has
strong taste and food usually use stew and simmer to cook, like Chafing dish
these foods that can let body become hot. Summer is hot and supper different
with winter, if people still eat the same style as winter, they will sick, so
the food usually is cool and refreshing. In America most of people do not have this
concept, that people should eat difference in different season. So frozen food
and canned food are kind of popular in America, because these foods could save
long time and eat in all four seasons.
Third one is, Chinese food have four
important standard of food: color, smell, taste and shape. The color is means
how was the food looks like, when you first time to some restaurant and looking
for the menu you have no idea which food is better, at this time of course you
will chose it which have the picture and looks like good to order. The smell,
after you order the food and before you eat you will smell it first, so nice
smell usually can attract you want to eat. Taste, of course this is very
important if the food is very delicious there is no reason you will dislike it.
And for the shape, the special shape is good part to improve the point of food.
And “Confucius once said ‘Eating is the utmost important thing in life’.
Cooking Chinese food requires more time and effort, and is considered a very
sophisticated art .(3)” But as American people when they eat something, the
things they care most are the nutritious value, such as the protein, the fat,
the vitamin, the minerals and the carbohydrate. But it has made some problems,
for example, from Los Angeles to New York, the steak is only one taste, which
has no arts to speak of. As a dish, chicken is chicken, steak is steak. In
America, they think the foods are used just to eat, so they often eat a large
piece of meat, the whole chicken and other “hard food”. So between Chinese and
America food, Chinese foods have a lot of various classes, but U.S. relative to
kind of single type of food.
What young people put in their minds: Education
We all know how important of
Education, this is the basis of a national. Because of two different social
systems, educational structure was very different between China and United
States. Structure is one of different, like Chinese high schools different with
American high schools in many ways. A Chinese school day is much longer than an
American school day. Like our high school in China, we came to school at 6:30AM
then study in school until 10:00PM and every day except Sunday, we all have
this same study schedule. But for America student usually attend school for
about seven hours each weekday. Grade division this is another one, “In China,
kindergarten through 6th grade is called elementary school and 7th through 12th
grade is called middle school. At American schools, the most common system
classifies kindergarten through fifth grade as elementary school, sixth through
eighth grade as junior high school, and ninth through twelfth grade as high
school.(4)”
The major way in which Chinese and
American education different is in the way information is taught. In China, the
teachers would like to use the whole time to interpret the concepts of
textbooks and the skills to take exams. In the classes, every student should
catch the information quickly. Because every class had about 60 students, the
teachers did not have any extra time to spend on one student. Students also
should understand the concepts very well; if not, students could get bad grades
in tests and be blamed by teachers. “Chinese classrooms, the Class are based on
the teacher lecturing and the students listening quietly. This means that
students can do well in class by being diligent and attentive, but it also
means that less interaction exists between the teacher and students. This
difference extends to the overall classroom attitude. (4)”
In contrast, for America, the teacher
in his class explained to students one by one patiently and encouraged students
to give their own opinions. Even though some of the opinions were without
logic, he did not refute it. The teacher uses a good way such as discussion
groups to let students learn. It makes student understand the content more
clearly and have more thinking in the class. Those are mostly two different
teaching styles. “In American classrooms, students are likely to talk not only
when participating in classroom discussions, but also when talking out of turn.
As a result, the classroom can become noisy and boisterous. Students often
develop a friendly relationship with teachers over the course of the year. In
Chinese classrooms, respect towards teachers is emphasized far more. Students
are much more quiet and attentive than many American students, and when a
student is called on to speak, he or she is expected to stand. This classroom
atmosphere is more formal and respectful. (4)”
For the Grade, American teachers
prefer to use "ABCD" instead of Arabic numerals to evaluate the
students, in their eyes every student is good, so teachers will not grudge
praise for the students, may be appreciative education is enlightened from
this. “In America, personal expression is valued heavily. Many classes are
based around discussion of the material, and teachers expect students to be
engaged in this dialogue. Classroom participation, meaning how a student
contributes to the class discussion, is a significant part of a student’s
grade, so a student who is attentive but never speaks up could receive a lower
grade as a result. (4)" But China education always tells us the score is
the most important. We have are great pressure on our students, if you score
not well that means you will to be eliminated.
As myself, I think the style of
Chinese teachers is more attuned to taking tests and having high grades.
Students in China can get good grades on tests, but they did not always
understand how to use the information in people’s lives. Teachers in America
gave more attention to students’ thinking and practical ability, so students in
the America are good at creativity and actions, but do not always have high
grades on tests. In my opinion, America teachers are more successful than
Chinese teachers, because they focus on teaching rather than grades. Low power
distance makes students and teachers to be friends, so the student would not be
ashamed to ask questions. It can also help students know how to use concepts
from textbooks pragmatically in their lives.
The meaning of the
difference: Diversity of taste and culture
So China and America these two
countries have many differences ways of culture, and here have these reason why
these two countries culture much different. First I want talk about food. We
know China is a multi-ethnic country, we have 56 different nation and those 56
nations still have different food culture, when the 56 ethnic groups into a big
family that cause to diversified food countries. In China, we always said “the
food is god", also the Chinese way of eating is further characterized by
the ideas and beliefs about food, which actively affect the ways, so that can
found the food in China is very important, this is a kind of world view is
different. “Food, therefore, is also medicine. The regulation of diet as a
disease preventive or cure is certainly as Western as it is Chinese. Common
Western examples are the diet for arthritics and the recent organic food craze.
But the Chinese case is distinctive for its underlying principles. The bodily
functions, in the Chinese view, follow the basic yin-yang principles. Many
foods are also classifiable into those that possess the yin quality and those
of the yang quality. When yin and yang forces in the body are not balanced,
problems result. Proper amounts of food of one kind or the other may then be
administered (i.e., eaten) to counterbalance the yin and yang disequilibrium.
If the body is normal, overeating of one kind of food would result in an excess
of that force in the body, causing diseases.(5)” But in American, people always
said “the time is money", so they do not feel the need to spend time on
food, such as Americans just use about 20minutes on the lunch. Americans pay
more attention to the food's nutrition not taste. That is why we have different
food culture, like as a kind of idea thorough popular feeling.
Why we have the different education
styles? That has many reasons, such as history, political elements, population
and economies. Chinese education has very long history, and actually at first
Chinese education has very good starting point, that was teach people
philosophy of life and leader them how to become goodness. “Passed down from
ancient times, the maxim from the Three-Character Scripture that says 'if no
proper education is given to children, their nature will go bad' has proved to
be true. The great master Confucius taught us that 'it is a pleasure to learn
something and to try it out at intervals'. Similarly, numerous students have
been convinced that 'reading books excels all other careers'. The records tell
us that Mencius' mother became an example to millions of mothers who were keen
for their children to be talented. - she moved her home three times in order to
choose a fine neighborhood in which Mencius could be effectively influenced.(6)”
After many reasons, China's education system fell into something of a state of
confusion due to the changes in national government. Then, with the foundation
of modern China the new order introduced a fresh approach to education and
brought is into a new phase, although still have many place could improve. For
American this kind of young country, many immigrants let her education become
more diversity and more focus on practical. So as I think history and social system
is the most important reasons of why have these differences.
Conclusion
In my opinion, the reasons which
caused the different food culture and education styles in China and America are
the different culture, customs, history, atmosphere, nutrition values and
economic condition and so on. Although we have many different things between
American and China, but we need learn from other's strong points to offset
one's weakness, the culture is not important, the most important thing is we
can common development because we are the person; we live in the same star that
is the earth.
States, 2 December 2013.
4.
http://www.chinainsight.info/culture/travel-3/302-education-differs-in-china-and-america.html CHINAINSIGHT, By Grace Rybak, Breck
School Senior, 02 July 2009.
5.
http://asiasociety.org/lifestyle/food-recipes/food/meats/food-chinese-culture ASIA SOCIETY WORLDWIDE, by K.C.
Chang, Food in Chinese Culture, Yale University Press, 1977
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