英语论文：论中西饮食文化差异

英语论文：论中西饮食文化差异 英语论文:论中西饮食文化差异 On Differences Between Chinese and Western Dietary Cultures 论中西饮食文化差异 Abstract Diet is absolutely necessary in the life of mankind and even in the existence or development Because of the differences between Chinese and western cultural traditions the Chinese and western dietary cultures are different in concept target pattern attribution and nature We study these differences and then find out the points that can be digested in order to facilitate the communication about cultures between China and the west Taiwan Professor Zhang Qijun said The old saying Eat drink man woman who wishes greatly For such a standard fair western culture in particular modern American culture can be said to be male and female culture But the Chinese culture can be said to be a dietary culture "As the reason of the cultural traditions the western lives tend to men and women but because of the narrow gender relations Chinese people are dumping guidance on life in the restaurants Thus the diet is rich in culture Food culture in the west is not developed enough but this underdevelopment itself is the result of the development of a culture so it is still significant to study the dietary cultures of Chinese and Western diet By the analysis of the differences between Chinese and western dietary cultures we can comprehend the respective cultural traditions of China and the west And we can also improve and create the culture of China Key Words dietary culture cultural tradition differences 摘 要 饮食是人类生活生存与发展的必需可是由于中西方文化传统的差异导致了 中西方饮食文化在观念对象方式归属与性质方面产生了差异研究这些差异找出 可以融会贯通的地方促进中西文化交流台湾张起钧教授说过古语说饮食男女人 之大欲存焉就这样的 标准 excel标准偏差excel标准偏差函数exl标准差函数国标检验抽样标准表免费下载红头文件格式标准下载 而论西方文化特别是近代美国式的文化可说是男女文 化而中国可说是一种饮食文化由于文化传统的缘故西方人的人生倾向男女关系 而中国人由于对男女关系的褊狭把人生精力倾泄导向于饮食由此赋予饮食以丰 富的文化内涵虽然饮食文化在西方不够发达但这种不发达本身也是一种文化发 展的结果所以对中西饮食文化的比较仍有意义通过对中西饮食文化差异的 分析 定性数据统计分析pdf销售业绩分析模板建筑结构震害分析销售进度分析表京东商城竞争战略分析 我们可以了解中西方各自的文化传统同时能对中国文化进行改善与创新 关键词 饮食文化文化传统差异 Introduction Once there is a saying that "Food is eating well-deserved for human life so food is an indispensable condition for the survival and development of human beings There are two desires in life one is feasting them to survive and another is the lust of men and women which can help the mankind to carry on the family line Facing the two desires China pays more attention to the former while the west tends to the latter Such phenomenon affects the cultural trend Diet is actually the contents of our daily lives but why we call it culture That is because the diet has special status in the Chinese culture and it also has a great distinction between China and the west As one of the world ancient nations Chinas diet has a history almost as long as that of Chinese civilization But in western countries ancient thinkers devoted less attention to the food problem than the Chinese philosophers did and there is even not aware of it to the "heaven" degree With the opposite they recognized and interpreted the world in the perspective of the lust or love of men and women more Whether the awareness of original sin of Christianity Adam and Eve legend or ancient Greek philosophy such as Platos dialogue who considered the personal relationships love as the love of ontology of beauty and regarded it as a reality thinking of philosophy all these ideas become the basis of western philosophers cultural thoughts All these had potential effects on the development of western culture and westerners characters Receiving the influence of respective cultural tradition the Chinese and western dietary culture has had different characteristic The differences in concepts targets patterns attribution and nature had reflected the different dietary culture in the different state characteristic such characteristic has enriched the research value of dietary culture Studying these cultural differences we can find out a joint enhancing the communication between China and the west through a comprehensive study of the subject It may be a great help to the communication of the Chinese and western cultures I Differences in Concepts First the Chinese and western diet have the differences that cannot be ignored in concepts Nobody will deny that the Western diet is a rational concept regardless of the color of food incense flavor and shape but nutrition must be assured It cares about the intake of calories vitamins protein and so on during a day Comparing with the Chinese diet western diet tastes stereotyped as simple as chewing the candle but the sense tells them We must eat them all because of the nutrition And then they put it bluntly just like refueling machine The concept of western diet is compatible with the whole western philosophy Metaphysics is the main feature of western philosophy Such kind of philosophy brings vitality to western culture so the natural sciences psychology and methodology achieve a rapid development In some other aspects such philosophy proposition is a significantly obstacle such as the dietary culture which is the inevitable thing to drop behind and just the metaphysics of methodology marks everywhere In celebration it stresses tableware stresses the staple stresses the servings and stresses the color and shape mix of raw materials But no matter how luxurious the grade is from Los Angeles to New York only one taste of steak it is no art to speak of And as dishes the chicken is chicken steak is steak even in groups which are also conducted in a shallow dish In a dish of "French Muttonchops" one side is potato mud and muttonchops sits next to it another side is allocation of cooking beans and plus a few tablets of tomato Color is on clear but the tastes of the various materials are separated not to reconcile and the entire flavor is also simple and clear Chinese diet is a sense of beauty diet When people sample dishes they often say this dish is "delicious" and that dish is "not delicious" But if you ask what is meant by "delicious" why "tasty" and what are the aspects of "delicious" I am afraid that it will be difficult to answer This shows that which Chinese people hanker on a diet is just the mood that is difficult for one to say anything Even using the "color flavor shape and implement "which people often said to make the" realm "reification I am afraid it is still difficult to crown all The beauty pursuit of Chinese cuisine is clearly overriding the rational pursuit This concept of diet is also coinciding with the traditional Chinese philosophy Chinese philosophy as a representative of oriental philosophy its distinguishing features is the macro visual vague and evasive Chinese cooking method is to reconcile and the ultimate goal is to reconcile out of a beautiful taste The main stress is measure and the overall co-ordination It contains a wealth of dialectics of Chinese philosophy and all these depend on the degree of the wonderful flavor and harmony of dish The ever-changing within degrees decides the changeable of Chinese food and it also decides the characteristics of Chinese food as well as the characteristics on each of the chefs II Differences in targets All diet cannot be done without vegetables The word "dish" is for the sound in China and it always has something to do with the plants According to a survey of western plants scholar there are 600 varieties of vegetables six times more than in the west In fact the Chinese dishes vegetable dish is usual food Meat dish entered the normal diet only on holidays or higher living standards so since ancient times and there was a saying of "fresh vegetables" Chu Mandarin language "Common people eat fresh vegetables fish only offered in the worship" It is said that fresh vegetables are mainly to the civilian in general only being able to eat meat only in worship Vegetarian diet takes the dominant position in the normal structure Chinese people consider the vegetables as the main dish it has inextricably linked with the advocacy of Buddhists They deem animals as "people" and plants have "no soul" So they advocate vegetarianism Westerners do not seem to have such a good habit They uphold a cultural origin of nomadic seafaring nation Living mainly by fishing and hunting collection and planting are just the complement There are more meat dishes in their lives Feeding clothing and using are taken from the animals and even Western medicine is derived from animals When the westerners introduce the diet characteristics of their countries they always feel that their diet is more reasonable on the mix of nutrition than China The food industry is more developed such as cans fast food although the taste is monotonous but it saves time and it also has good nutrition Therefore in their countries people are generally healthier and taller than Chinese and the people have strong shoulders and developed muscles but Chinese people look short their shoulders narrow and legs thin their skin yellow and their body weak The differences between Chinese and western food for Westerners to judge the merits of the two diet is not justified Mr Sun Yat-sen had profound study of the culture of food and incisive exposition In his composing The Scheme for National Reconstruction detailing the differences between Chinese and Western diet phenomenon he concludes "Chinese ordinary people drink green tea and eat simple food such as vegetables and tofu for meal Such kinds of food are the most healthy and beneficial according to the research of hygienist Therefore the remote people in china whose diet are far from meat and wine always live a long life Also China has a big population and Chinese people have enormous power to resist disease but they never try the non-diet He added" The Chinese vegetarians all eat tofu Tofu is expected as the real meat in plants as it has the nutrition that meat has It is the meat without toxic materials So the Chinese are vegetarian used to be a custom without the promotion of scholars It is also a custom that the European and American drink thick Wine eat meat and fish So there was science promotion before and a severe law later such as the United States Prohibition And the transfer will not carry out in a short time "Mr Suns words tell out the scientific benefits of Chinese diet and disadvantages of Western diet According to the characteristics of the significant differences between Chinese and Western diet targets the Chinese character is called the plant character while the Westerners is animal character In response to the cultural behaviors Westerners love adventure exploration conflict but the Chinese people only like to live banally According to American expert on folklore Ruths opinions on the "cultural pattern" theory Chinese culture is quite similar to the classical world Apollo-type character and Westerners is similar to the modern world Faust-type Indeed the Westerners such as Americans in the development of the west they put the whole family on the truck and go out of the city in amid rumbling with the supplies The Chinese people are always thinking about "home" and "roots" despite the promotion that young people should take the world as home But after a few decades the overseas Chinese will come back to the mainland with crutch to seek their roots This concept of return and such human spirit that can only be said to cooperate with the accumulation in the diet Then it brings cohesiveness to the Chinese nation and then makes the human folk full of energy III Differences in Dietary Patterns The Chinese and Western dietary patterns can be very different and these differences affect the national character In China a celebration no matter what there will be only one form as sitting together sharing one feast Banquet uses round table which has created a unity of form which is courtesy comity atmosphere Cate are in the center of the table It is the objects for people to appreciate and taste and it is also an intermediate of communication People toast each other and share the vegetables which reflect the mutual respect between people in the face of the good things also show the virtues of comity Although from the health point of view this approach has obvious deficiencies but it is in our national "happy" mentality it reflects the classical Chinese philosophy area of "and" impact for future generations It is helpful to facilitate the collective emotional exchanges and consequently difficult to reform The western-style banquets although the food and wine are very important but in fact they are just foil The core of Banquet is friendship by the conversation with the guests who sitting next to achieve the purpose of recreation If making an analogous compare between the recreation of the banquets and dancing it may be said that the Chinese banquet is like group dance and the western banquet is like men and women dancing This shows that communication purpose of Chinese banquet and western banquet are very obvious Only the Chinese banquet is more popular in the communion but western banquet shows guests reflected in the friendship between neighbors The more obvious differences between Chinese and western dietary patterns is buffet dinner which is popular in the West This method is to display all food and everybody is picking not fixed in his or her places to eat They walk freely This approach would provide the emotional interaction between individuals they never need to put every word on the table This also shows a western personality and self-respect However all the eating without jamming lacks the real affective tone like the Chinese people Some people want to put the buffet in the Chinese food but I think it is not feasible Zhang Qijun in the Principles of Cooking tells us the main reason "First buffet is not like drinking tea Drinking tea is just the thing to you before you choose and displayed in the cafeteria there is a large number of food to eat so when you want to have it it is cold yet Chinese cuisine will serve hot if cold nothing to eat Secondly buffet dishes only can do hard dishes and beneficial dishes Then you can access for large plots And those most representative of the Chinese culinary arts such as the tender and lighter dishes are not in this show Third the buffet can do stewing pot it means a big pot in terms of food Any sophisticated cooking of a dish can only be cooked in a pot at two most and it is not able to cook the dish for dozens of people So it will not be delicious never talking of the taste Under such circumstances it is clear that the use of buffet dinner will deny Chinese culinary arts "The Chinese people are drinking around the table to show harmony and unity but the buffet has broken such pattern It raises the personal independence and self-mentioned at the first place This is the opposite of the scale of the great unity of all Chinese traditional culture IV Differences in Diet Attribution There are differences between Chinese and western diet attribution Western diet tends to be scientific and rational but the Chinese diet tends to be art and sentimental During the underdevelopment era of diet these two trends have only one aim – to live and never be hungry And when the dietary culture is full developed the tendency is shown in this different purpose the former is in the development of nutrition the latter is expressed as the stress on the flavor Cooking is from diet the origin of food is a life-sustaining nutrition Therefore the focus of western diet is only the extension of the original diet practicality The emphasis on the flavor of Chinese cuisine caters the diet to the arts field Mencius said "Flavor in the mouth has the same interests" "Interests" points out the key from nutrition to arts Such interests are from the meaning of flavor In China eating is not meant to have enough It is about nutrition Sometimes we eat though we are full We are overloaded with food Why Saying bluntly it is to appreciate the art of cooking and not saying it nicely it is the temptation of "delicious" for the enjoyment of taste Watching the rational diet in the west it is not only waste but also harmful to the men body In fact the herbalist doctors are also opposed to overeat claiming "dietary restraint" But the dialectics tell us Chinese people occasionally the "overload" and once we are comfortable we can absorb and store Qigong masters at the situation of non-eat and non-drink at home is still in good spirits although their weight loses but it is intact on the human body and it is the consumption of such storage Herbalist doctor also advocates winter nutrition It is also in order to store for keeping energy in the coming year Chinese peoples views are more dialectical than the western diet propositions opposing overloaded stubbornly It is closer to the science truth and has been checked up for thousands of Chinese medicine practice Psychologists Spinoza said "The desire is human nature than other The human desire for delicious is the nature of human beings which is fully reflected In process of the taste enjoyment it is imbued with the shares of élan vital Life should not be a yoke but also not be a repressed desire We can not use the absolute reason to regulate the behavior of all people On the diet it is not the purpose of "science" and "nutrition" and some delicious are excluded from the table outside Only delicious things can satisfy peoples appetite and then give the arrival of physical and mental pleasure Chinese diet shows the transformation about sentimental form to rational form from the old days till now and cause the Chinese dietary culture brimming with imagination and creativity The sensibility of Chinese culinary culture is a sublime sensibility infiltrating rational sense also the realization of the nature of life In addition gustatory enjoyment is one of the main objectives pursued of the human struggle The art of Chinese cuisine is compatible with the development of human history in the process more scientific than the progress of the western diet As Zhang Qijun in his work Cooking Principles said The United States is unprecedented least affluent society but till today in essence it is still food to eat stage There are still some distances from entering the realm of art In China The role of diet goes beyond the subsistence of existence which is designed not only to have the physical presence but also to meet peoples spiritual needs for pleasure It is positive to enrich peoples life performance and fine arts music literature etc which have the same level of significance to the improvement of life Chinese diet tends to artistry the so-called art realm in fact that is a complete leap from the necessity to freedom It is characterized by randomness For example similar dishes because of the differences in area season target function and grade it has different treatments on operation Set braised fish for example in winter deep colors are advised and tastes are advised strongly but in summer it should be light color and flavor And for the people in Zhejiang province their dishes can be put up more sugar in the braised fish and if facing Chuanxiang customers it should allocate spicy It easy to see that if out of the arbitrary there would be no cooking variety we will lose the unique charm of Chinese cuisine Whereas in the west dishes in different areas and different seasons and facing different customers is the same flavor no changes Although it is the most valuable banquet which is just tableware known conducted layout and the vegetables remain the same as before Moreover as for materials westerners think the food is to eat eating special "hard vegetables" such as large piece of meat chicken block Chinas cuisine is "taste" The Chinese cooking in materials has shown tremendous arbitrariness The things which many many westerners consider as disposable things in China are excellent raw materials Foreign cooks are not able to deal with things but in the hands of a Chinese chef it can get a magic result Chinese cuisine is evident in the wide use of materials Besides skills an excellent cook of course can do more complicated dishes But facing the real simple materials and condiments the cooks are often able to produce delicious flavors It is the arbitrariness of skills In the surface the menu seems to be scientific Westerners always use menu to buy ingredients to produce dishes but in comparison it is the machinery and often powerless facing the complex specific situation Of course this mechanical science is still can be said as science but it is primitive science and it is not the complete science Chinese cooking talks about artistry but it still fit the requirements among the ever-changing it can be said such science is a real science The characters of western food which lacks nutrition and artistic atmosphere have great distinction from the artistic realm of Chinese cuisine V Differences in the Nature Differences in the nature of the Chinese and western diet are inosculated with the respective lifestyle and the pace of life In the west people do the duplication of pipeline operations and implement piece-wage system so the paces of their lives are so fast People fall under the mechanical method either intentionally or unintentionally and believe that "Work is work and game is game" Mechanical lives led to oneness of diet or a single blind about diet and eat beefsteak and potatoes every day Monotonous diet is the same as work for which the purposes is to fulfill the "incident" naturally with no interests and all these have no word in terms of taste But China is not "The game is work and the work is of a game Such life manner is also emerged in diet A baker sells bread in the street he likes using the rolling pole to beat the chopping board rhythmically when they knead flour When the cooks fry a dish even beating scoop they also care the sense of rhythm during cooking These would not work for any conveniences but it increases the interests of workers Only in such an atmosphere work will be meaningful and it will have more creativity and artistry of Chinese cuisine There still exist various differences between Chinese and western dietary cultures But with the development of cultural communication between China and the west along with the strengthening of communication between China and the west China has imported various kinds of western food known as the "KFC" "DICOS" "McDonald" This marks a new western dietary culture exchanges and infiltration We believe that with the development of society the cultural differences between Chinese and western dietary will no longer be the difference Conclusion By the text from this thesis we can easily find that there still exist various differences between Chinese and western dietary cultures But with the development of cultural communication between China and the west along with the strengthening of communication between China and the west China has imported various kinds of western food known as the "KFC" "DICOS" "McDonald" These mark a new western food culture exchanges and infiltration The impact brought about by economic globalization is stronger and deeper than the internationalization Economic globalization is a double-edged sword on one hand it brings the vitality of economic growth and on the other hand the dominant culture is put into other countries through strong economic and infiltrated every corner of the globe Therefore the cultural communication focus on how to assimilate advantages of the other countries culture abandon its shortcoming and learn how to transform and make it localized all countries need to study the issue So in the face of the dietary cultural exchange problems between China and the West we should find each others advantages and draw the mutual advantages as China can learn from the point that western diet stresses nutrition match and make the Chinese cuisine more outstanding China is the country of a long history with an ancient culture and enriching in cultural traditions She feeds the 13 billion Chinese people and Chinese culture is very inclusive in the course of development it absorbs a lot of different cultures Moreover now China does more efforts to draw all the outstanding achievements in the World Chinas reform and opening up policy create the conditions on international relations and cultural exchanges We need to use such an opportunity to absorb the excellent cultures from other countries to develop and create Chinas new culture This work can make the world to know China better and let China go to the world Acknowledgements I am deeply grateful to assistant professor Guo Jun my tutor to whom I owe a great deal of gratitude and appreciation Mr Guo gave me many invaluable instructions and helped me much in every stage of my thesis writing And I also greatly appreciate the help coming from my respectable teachers Professor Deng Xingyi assistant professor Liao Hong Zhang Chun and Sun Peng Moreover my numerous thanks go to my dear friends and my lovely roommates Wu chengying Zou Yan and Hu Ping who spend much time with me on my thesis And I also want to thank my dear parents they give me the best love and supporting for my study Finally I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to those who spend their precious time in reading this thesis Bibliography [1] 安静解读美国[M] 北京中国旅游出版社2007 [2] 陈洁得心应手---西餐礼仪[M]北京世界知识出版社 2005 [3] 金炳镐民族理论通论[M]北京中央民族大学出版社1994 [4] 刘枋吃的艺术[M]山东山东画报出版社2003 [5] 刘玫君陈加真出国点菜不求人---别人不会告诉你的旅行智慧[M]北京中国旅游出版社2005 [6] 马文哈里斯 美 好吃食物与文化之迷[M]山东山东画报出版社2001 [7] 苏珊罗德里格亨特巴黎一席浮动的豪宴[M]北京生活读书新知三联书店2004 [8] 唐鲁孙天下味[M]桂林广西师范大学出版社2004 [9] 王晓昕李学友传统文化与道德建设[M]贵阳贵州民族出版社2004 [10] 萧家成升华的魅力---中华民族酒文化[M]北京华龄出版社2007 [11] 徐先玲李祖状西方饮食文化[M]北京中国戏剧出版社 2005 [12] 徐先玲李祖状中国饮食文化[M]北京中国戏剧出版社 2005 [13] 向世陵中国哲学智慧[M]北京中国人民大学出版社 2000 [14] 殷珍泉礼仪有学问[M]北京北京台海出版社 2002 [15] 张茗阳食物改变你的一生[M]上海学林出版社 2003 [16] 张志伟欧阳谦西方哲学智慧[M]北京中国人民大学出版社 2000 [17] 张起钧烹饪原理[M]北京 中国轻工业出版社2000 A Comparison Between Chinese Etiquette and the Western Etiquette 中西方礼仪差异 Abstract Since different countries have different histories and cultures there are a lot of differences in the habit of conducts and the ceremony especially between China and the West the jokes and the mistakes caused by misunderstanding is not unusual This shows that the understanding of the different etiquettes between Chinese and the Westerners is absolutely necessary In the office to understand each others customer will be conductive to the exchanges between the countries A person who understands others rituals and folk customs can be seen as respecting for others and can be easier to make a good impression on the other side Along with the constant development of Chinese culture and the Western culture Chinese ritual and the Western ritual are fusions The Westerners have accepted the reasonable factors in Chinese culture and other important feelings Chinese people have gradually accepted the advanced civilization of the Western culture and etiquette style However in real life the etiquettes impact due to cultural differences between China and the West still exists The paper explores the differences between Chinese etiquette and the Western etiquette to make Chinese communicate with the Westerners more easily Key Words Etiquette comparison Chinese etiquette the Western etiquette 摘 要 由于各国的历史和文化底蕴不同各国人民在进行礼尚交往时的习惯也有不 少差异特别是中西方之间礼仪上的差异很大因为不了解这些差异而引起的误会 和笑话也不少见 由此可见了解中西方交往的习惯差异是很有必要的往大处来说一个国家无论是 在政治上还是在经济贸易中了解对方国家的礼仪习惯将有利于各国之间的交往 从小处来说一个人了解对方的礼仪和民间习惯是对对方的尊重且容易给对方留 下好印象以便交往的顺利进行随着中西方文化的不断发展中西方的礼仪正在相 互融合西方人逐渐接受了中国文化中重情感等合理因素中国人也逐渐接受了西 方文化中先进文明的礼仪和交往方式但在现实生活中由于中西方文化的差异对 礼仪产生的影响还很多为此本文探讨研究了中西方礼仪的差异使中西方人们之 间的交往更加容易 关键词 礼仪差异中国的礼仪西方的礼仪 Introduction Etiquette is the process and means to show respect to each other in interpersonal relationship by certain common procedures The Etiquette can be said to be a persons external appearance of inward cultivation and quality Firstly it can help people raise their self-cultivation Secondly it will promote social interaction and improve peoples interpersonal relationship It also can purify the society Since different countries have different historical and cultural backgrounds There are a lot of differences in the ceremony especially between China and the West The understanding of the differences between Chinese etiquette and the Western etiquette are absolutely necessary The paper explores the differences of Chinese etiquette and the Western etiquette In modern society it seems that the world is getting smaller and smaller people are very active with frequent exchanges Many countries are paying great attention to combine international etiquette with national etiquette creatively Etiquette is the common wealth of Chinese civilization and the Western civilization ? The Important Role of Etiquette and the Value of the Study of Chinese Etiquette and the Western Etiquette Etiquette is an important part of human life It has many functions So it plays an important role in human society A The Concept of Etiquette and the Reasons for Studying Etiquette Etiquette is the process and means to show respect to each other in interpersonal relationship by certain common procedures Etiquette can be said to be a persons external appearance of inward cultivation and quality From the aspect of communication interpersonal etiquette can be regarded as a kind of art a method of communication It is a common respect for person and a friendly practice in interpersonal relationships From the respect of transmitting interpersonal rituals can be roughly divided into chief etiquette business etiquette service etiquette social etiquette foreign etiquette and several other major branches Firstly it can help people to raise their self-cultivation Secondly it will promote social interaction and improve peoples interpersonal relationship It also can purify the ethos of society From the point of view of collectivity etiquette can create the image improve the customs ultimately and achieve the purpose of enhancing the economy and social benefits Etiquette which is an important part of the companys culture and the entrepreneurs spirit is a major attachment of groups image Almost all international enterprises have a high standard of etiquette and regard etiquette as an important part of groups culture At the same time it also can be regarded as the important software to obtain international fame Therefore studying etiquette is the trend of the times and the actual need of enhancing the competition B The Value of the Study of the Western Etiquette and Chinese Etiquette Since different countries have different histories and cultures there are a lot of differences in the habit of conduct and the ceremony especially between China and the West the jokes and the mistakes caused by misunderstanding is not unusual In modern history there are two stories concerning the misunderstanding of different etiquettes The first one is about Li Hongzhang who was invited by Bismarck to a diner Due to a lack of the Western etiquette knowledge he drank the water which was used to wash hands after eating the fruit Then Bismarck did not understand Chinese customer in order not to make Li Hongzhang lose his face he drank the water too Other officers also followed him and refrained from laughing Here is another story a KMT officer and his wife went to the airport to meet a consultant from the United States After the meeting the consultant said Your wife is really beautiful The officer felt embarrassed and replied 哪里哪里 It is just a polite way which is very common in China for the kind of the words he addressed But the clumsy interpreter translated 哪 里哪里 like where where American consultant couldnt understand he thought I just praised his wife and why he asked me where his wife is beautiful Then he said she is beautiful from head to toe These two jokes are due to the lack of etiquette knowledge about the differences between China and the West This shows that the understanding of the differences of the Western etiquettes and Chinese etiquettes are absolutely necessary To the officers to understand each others customs will be conductive to the exchanges between the different countries A person who understands others rituals and folk customs can be seen as respecting for others and can be easier to make a good impression on the other side Along with the constant development of Chinese and the Western cultures Chinese ritual and the Western ritual are fusions The Westerners have accepted the reasonable factors in Chinese culture and other important feelings At the same time Chinese people have gradually accepted the advanced civilization of the Western culture and etiquette style However in real life the impact on etiquette due to cultural differences between China and the West still exists So the study of the Western etiquette and Chinese etiquette is very valuable and reasonable ? The Difference Between Chinese Etiquette and the Western Etiquette There are three main differences between Chinese etiquette and the Western etiquette The first one is different origins of Chinese etiquette and the Western etiquette In China etiquette is equal to courtesy and ceremony In the West the word etiquette used to mean keep off the grass The second one is the differences of cultural backgrounds The third one is the differences of educations A The Origins of Chinese Etiquette and the Western Etiquette Chinese etiquette and the Western etiquette have different origins 1 The Origin of Chinese Etiquette In China etiquette is equal to courtesy and ceremony The essence of etiquette is the method of dealing with people and the belief in ghosts and spirits People consider that all things are controlled by the ghosts which can not be seen Therefore the etiquette is originated from the belief in ghosts and spirits as well as a special form of belief in ghosts and spirits China is a state of ceremonies Back to five thousand years ago etiquette used to be the core of traditional culture Up to now the etiquette has been really reformed Thus it becomes rituals of modern civilization Chinese etiquette in Chinese culture plays a quasi-legal role Etiquettes origins can be traced back to the early time of human beings It should be said that at the very beginning of the history of the Chinese nation etiquette was generated along with the human activities and with a primitive religion Etiquette is the system to deal with the three relationships among the people God and the ghosts It is said that there were five ceremonies in ancient China In fact etiquette can be divided into two main parts one is politics and the other is life Chinese legal system was bred during the establishment and implementation of the protocol The essence of etiquette is the way how to deal with people and the belief in ghosts and spirits 2 The Origin of the Western Etiquette In the Western countries the word etiquette used to mean keep off the grass Louis XIVs gardener noticed that the aristocrats were walking through his gardens and then he put up signs etiquette to warn them off The dukes and duchesses walked right past these signs Due to this blatant disregard the king of Versailles decreed that no individual was to go beyond the bounds of the etiquettes The meaning of etiquette would later include the ticket to court functions that lists the instructions on which a person would stand and what was to be done Etiquette like language has evolved but it still means literally keep off the grass Until the 1960s the importance of good manners was taught without question but with the liberated 70s it came a decline in the popularity of teaching proper etiquette In 2004 a new emphasis has been placed on returning to traditional values Proper etiquette and protocol have given children and adults a vital tool that provides not only a competitive edge but a sense of confidence B The Impact of the Western Culture and Chinese Culture on Etiquette Chinese and the Westerners have different cultural backgrouds Chinese etiquette and the Western etiquette are affected by their culture deeply 1 The Impact of Different Modes of Social Interaction on Etiquette Chinese cultures and the Western cultures have attached great importance to interpersonal relationship However they were clearly different in exchanging ideas Chinese are very warm and hospitable which contained in relationships being not seemed to be preserved It is granted to understand the age occupation income marital status children and other issues with each other The Westerners will generally not do like that Chinese will ask the price of goods which is bought by others directly In the eyes of Chinese people the price is only for items or rank It is said the quality of goods In Westerners eyes if you do the same thing it may be regarded as the inquiry of others economic conditions It is also the privacy of the Westerners which should not be asked directly If you want to know the price in details you can only tactfully praise the achievement of the goods Under such circumstances the Westerners will tell you if it is cheap or expensive in general but they normally do not tell you the price Chinese prefer to ask where are you going when they meet others This is just a form of calling in China And if it happens in the United States it might make the other feel embarrassed because it belongs to others privacy you should not interfere in In addition the distance of the interaction between people can be divided into four types There are close distance individual distance social distance and public distance Chinese peoples kind relatively belongs to close distance We often see two Chinese girls walking on the street arm-in-arm which is rare to see in the West The Westerners think that the Chinese are too close On the contrary the Chinese feel that the Westerners are very cold arrogant distant with others and unfriendly If Chinese people find that there is a thrum in others clothes they will naturally pick it off It is a bad behavior in the eyes of the Westerners When Chinese meet a friend who wears very pretty clothes he will stroke the clothes before asking price or texture The Westerners will not do like that but directly praise his friends and his beautiful clothes 2 The Differences between the Personal Philosophies of Etiquette Chinese and the Westerners have differences between the personal philosophies of etiquette 1 Individualism of the West and Modesty of China The Westerners are proud of the achievements of individuals They never cover up their self-confidence and are always proud of the accomplishment and the ecstasy of themselves Conversely the promotion of Chinese culture does not flaunt personal honor Generally Chinese people usually oppose or defy the people who are proud of themselves However the Westerners are dissatisfied with the Chinese self-denial or self-modesty Your English is very good No my English is poor For Chinese people it is a modest response But for the Westerners it is not only denying himself but also denying people who appreciate him This shows that the modesty of Chinese style is not feasible in the West 2 Self-centered and Selfless Education The Westerners have a strong sense of independence and self-center One should be responsible for himself In the Western society every ones quality of life and survival depends on their ability Therefore each person must be self-struggle and put personal interests to the first place They are not accustomed to caring for others helping others or talking about the affairs of others It precisely can be seen from the above that helping others or being helped by others in the West are some embarrassing incidents Being helped by others expresses their inability and helping others will be considered as interference in others private affairs Chinese code of conduct is I am useful to the community no matter whether it is useful to others The value of the individual is embodied in the dedicati