Archive January 13, 2020

The Difference Between Chinese and Western Religious Culture

By inChina History

The history of human development, because of the different geographical, cultural, political and economic patterns are different from. Of course, cultural differences also include religion as a cultural difference. Specific performance in three aspects.

 

First: the origin of Chinese and Western religions are different.

Oriental religious culture is in at that time the nobles of the jealous Shemi the pursuit of material desires expansion; the Western religious culture, on the contrary, he is in the bloody political struggle, people in the spirit of sustenance, the faith.

Second: the religious beliefs of the East and West are different.

In China, religion has a large part of people’s desire for material.

The west, no matter what religion, people’s beliefs are spiritual. Will not pray for material prosperity, the pursuit of spiritual liberation.

Pure faith and non pure faith are the essential differences between the eastern and Western religions.

Third: the differences between Chinese and Western religious and political relations.

The history of the development of religions in the East and the west, we can clearly separate: strong political color of the religions of the East, indelible, in modern still exist; Westerners of the spirit of God is not politics.

Eastern and Western religious differences, there are a lot of differences, for example, religious elements, function, teaching, characteristics and so on, existed more or less difference, I believe with the development of society, the religious exchanges will continue to strengthen mutual integration of different religions, take the essence, common development. At the same time, because of differences in political, economic, cultural, geographical, religious in many aspects is still not the same. In the history of western culture, although there are tens of thousands of religious differences, religious culture still is immortal, has a long history.

The Cultural Meaning of Animals in Chinese

By inReligions & Beliefs

The same animal word has very different commendatory and derogatory meanings in Chinese and English. The same animal word in English means a positive meaning, but in Chinese it means a negative meaning, such as dog, owl and bear.

A friendly dog and a disgusting dog. In English and Chinese, the basic meaning of dog is the same. Both of them mean a domesticated animal that has four legs and can help to guard the house. However, the cultural connotation is very different. Dog is a commendatory word in most situations in English, which can be used to describe someone who is worthy of sympathy and trust, such as help a dog over a still, a lucky dog, an o ld dog, love m e, love m y dog. Apparently, these sayings reflect the cultural psychology of the British, who regard dogs as loving companions and man’s best friend. But in the Chinese culture, the dog is repeatedly reviled things, representing despicable abominable character. Words with dog characters are obviously derogatory, such as running dogs, wolves, friends, bereaved dogs, dog guard, dog bite and so on.

Wise owl and ominous owl. In English, owl is a kind of smart and witty bird, so it has cultural connotations such as “smart as an owl”. But in the eyes of the Chinese people, it is considered to be a bad thing because of its sad cry at night. When people hear an owl hooting, they think that bad luck or bad luck is coming. Hence the saying, “when an owl enters a house, good things come to an end.”

Bear the genius and the bear. Bears have very different meanings in the minds of Chinese and British people. In spoken English bear can be used to describe someone who has a special talent, such as He is a bear at maths. But when Chinese people talk about bears, they often think of such cultural connotations as “weak and incompetent”, such as “look at him like a bear” and “real bear”.

(2) the same animal word has a derogatory meaning in English, but in Chinese it has a commendatory meaning, such as peacock, bat, petrel, magpie, fish and so on.

The proud and arrogant peacock and the auspicious and beautiful peacock. Because of the different aesthetic perspectives of English and Chinese people, the same animal often has different associations in their minds. The British are as proud as a peacock and play the peacock. The han people pay attention to the beauty of her screen, and the peacock is a symbol of auspicious beauty in Chinese culture.

The evil bat and the lucky bat. Westerners are always afraid of bat. Bat is disgusting, which is associated with ugliness and evil. Therefore, all idioms with bat in English have derogatory meanings. For example, as blind as a bat, bat has become a typical image. In traditional Chinese culture, bats have become mascots because the characters “bat” and “fu” sound the same.

Petrel and the brave petrel. The British pet rel as those who bring disaster, disputes, longman dictionary of contemporary English and Chinese double solution will pet rel definition for “A stormy petrel is A person whose presence excites discontentment, quarrelling, etc., in A social group.”, thus its. In the eyes of the Chinese people, haiyan is an indomitable, fearless, brave hero, is a model for people to learn. The song of haiyan, written by gorky, a famous writer in the former Soviet union, is a tribute to the resolute and brave spirit of haiyan.

The repulsive magpie and the propitious magpie. In English, magpie is used to describe someone who is a nag. In China, the magpie is regarded as an “auspicious bird”, which is associated with happy events, auspiciousness and luck. People often say: “magpie call, the event to the magpie,” magpie door is a happy thing.

Poor fish and fish that bring wealth. The cultural connotations of fish and fish are quite different from each other in Chinese and English culture. In English, fish is used to describe bad people and things, such as a poor fish, a loose fish, or fish in the air. Fish is a homonym for “yu” in Chinese. It is said that even in mountainous areas where there are no fish, people carve fish shapes out of wood and put them on the table to express the good hope of having more (fish) every year. Unique social customs give fish a rich cultural color.

The Chinese View of Privacy, Different from the Western

By inOthers

Chinese people always dislike “privacy”, individual rights are often regarded as selfish interests, and Chinese people have little concept of privacy, so there is no word in Chinese that can be equated with “privacy” in English. Thus, it can be seen that Chinese and western cultures treat “privacy” differences. Chinese people are warm and hospitable by nature. In interpersonal communication, they are full of enthusiasm. You take it for granted that you know someone’s age, occupation, income, marital status, children, etc. We’ve all had the experience of going on a trip and the neighbors asking, “have you eaten yet?” “And” where are you going?” “” to do what? . We are used to these greetings, but in the eyes of westerners, such greetings are impolite and will feel very offensive. Because in their perception, such “greetings” have violated their privacy. Chinese people also do not have a strong sense of boundaries. As children, they do not think that parents’ unauthorized entry into their own room is an invasion of personal privacy.

From the above analysis, we can see that there are considerable differences between Chinese and western attitudes to privacy. The root of these differences is the cultural difference between China and the west. First, in the west, individualism is at the core of western values. That kind of individualistic value is centered on the individual, and the individual’s behavior is completely based on his own inner feelings and motives, which opposes the strangling of personality and the violation of the individual. It can be said that the emergence and development of western individualistic values is the result of the continuous accumulation and inheritance of the core values of western culture, as well as the continuous enrichment and deepening of the western understanding of human nature. Second, collectivism is the core of Chinese values. Collectivism emphasizes the individual’s obligation and responsibility to the collective and the supremacy of collective interests. In the relationship between the individual and the state, it is manifested as the supremacy of national interests; In the collective family, it is shown as the attachment and obedience to the family. For the benefit of the group, when necessary, individuals need to suppress or even sacrifice themselves. Under the long-term influence of the collective concept, Chinese people’s concept of privacy is naturally different from that of westerners.

Imperial Examination in Sui & Tang Dynasties

By inChina History

The imperial examination system became a way for talents to be recognized and selected for future civil service positions. It was implemented in the sui dynasty and lasted for more than 1,300 years until the last examination in the qing dynasty. Therefore, it occupies a long-term dominant position in the history of ancient Chinese education.

The imperial examination consisted of two parts, the art examination and the martial arts examination. The examination of fine arts includes composition, books, law, calligraphy, painting, etc. The examination of martial arts is to select military officials, but it is not as important as the examination of fine arts.

In ancient societies, class consciousness was so strong that many of the lower classes had little chance of rising to high positions, let alone positions in the imperial court. But since the introduction of the “imperial examination” evaluation system, children from poor families have been given the chance to take government exams, enabling them to bring honor to their families. In addition, there was a special test for bright children, “child sentences,” which in many ways resembled today’s special classes for gifted children. Therefore, almost all men, regardless of birth or age, are entitled to self-development.

While the spread of Confucian culture and education had a huge impact, it also influenced the educational systems of many other countries, such as South Korea, Japan and Vietnam. Today’s education system is its undisputed successor.

During the Sui dynasty, many independent countries were unified as one. To centralize power, the emperor realized the need for a strong, well-educated administration, one that would employ the best people in the country. In order to achieve this goal, the most influential institutions came into being, and replaced the previous old system – the middle of the nine. Although it is immature from the very beginning, it closely interweaves the three elements of study, examination and management. It has proved fairer and more far-reaching than any previous system.

Face in Chinese Culture, Another Form of Fame

By inOthers

Face concept has a very long history in China, under the influence of traditional culture, people in China with regard to its face problems often produce a large comprehension, many people think that face is their dignity, is like your face, it is not allow anyone to hurt, and strangers in the process of communication, Chinese people think about their face others respect, is respect for themselves. Face this concept also has certain collective consciousness, is likely to emphasize as a whole, such as the “face” of a country, a group of “face”, etc., in general, on the face culture in our country is very seriously, either in life or work process, attaches great importance to others’ ideas, and also will often find that the maintenance of face. Like Chinese anthropologists Hu Xian jin in the introduction of the “face” culture to the westerners, she once said: “the face of this culture represents the reputation of a kind of social value, it is through continued success in life and move onward to gain reputation, is also a personal pass through its own efforts to accumulated reputation.”

Our social collective idea is an important factor of “face” and the western cultural differences, our country is self-sufficient smallholder economy in before, at that time people in life that is mostly a family in the process of the concept of the family in this way of life and the environment, our people for the interests of the collective importance will be significantly higher than the personal interests, for a long time, under the background of The Times development, our people will stake in protecting themselves face and face. In addition, influenced by Confucianism, Chinese people think that respected let a person feel very face, is a “gentleman”, and “little people” will abandon, by the people under this kind of social ideology, people want to be a gentleman, not a, so, either in life or work will win respect for oneself, not to “lose face”, because “losing face” is a great thing.

Chinese Traditional Education, the Exam-oriented Education

By inChina History

Compared with Chinese and western students, Chinese students learn more but have less understanding, while western students learn less but have more understanding. Most of the Chinese students show a solid foundation, ideological attachment, only from the teacher, only from the book, lack of innovative spirit of the general phenomenon; Most students in the west show that they dare to think, dare to do and are full of competition. As is known to all, for thousands of years, Chinese education has a remarkable feature, that is, pay attention to the foundation, pay attention to the basic education. But unfortunately, too much emphasis is placed on “basics,” “learning from the basics that are not needed by everyone as the basics that are needed by everyone.” The primary education adopted by Chinese education lays the foundation, attaches great importance to basic knowledge, attaches great importance to inculcate knowledge to students, and emphasizes the inheritance and mastery of previous knowledge. Only in the advanced stage of learning, to the university began to learn to do research, and at this time, because the creative consciousness, creative ability has not been cultivated since childhood, lack of creativity, no wonder “less awareness”. However, western education focuses on the consistent cultivation of creative consciousness and creative ability and ignores the imparting of basic education knowledge. The foundation is not solid, “learn little”, but the west pays attention to children’s imagination, creativity inspiration, pay attention to non-intellectual factors or personality training, “understand much”.

Compared with the western education, Chinese education attaches importance to the commonality but ignores the cultivation of individuality. In China, Chinese teachers believe that good classroom discipline requires students to be orderly and keep quiet. Chinese children see sitting upright as a sign of respect for their teachers, while western children see sitting upright as a way to communicate better with their teachers. Indeed, in a relaxed and free educational atmosphere, students feel, dare to say and do, their personalities develop freely, their talents are fully displayed, and their creativity is cultivated. However, whether in class or after class, Chinese students spend their time in the infinite care of teachers and parents and in a variety of designed homework. It is this kind of care that makes children lose their individuality, limit their free space, block their free dreams, and suppress their imagination and creativity.

Traditional Chinese education emphasizes the imparting of knowledge, while western education emphasizes the cultivation of students’ ability. The two need to communicate and complement each other. Therefore, we should learn from western school education to give them broad space for thinking and encourage them to think independently, question boldly and explore bravely.

Chinese Culture of Filial Piety, a Unique Traditional Culture

By inChina History

The culture of filial piety has permeated and flowed through every aspect of Chinese social life. Many places are famous for “filial piety”, filial sons will be respected by the whole society. Dong yong is one of the famous “twenty-four filial piety” in ancient China. The story of his “filial piety, family poverty, death of his father, selling his body to borrow money and being buried” moved heaven and earth. However, the western filial piety culture is far from so developed, not only there is no place known for “filial piety”, there is no place proud of “filial piety”, there is no “twenty-four filial piety” such famous people. There are many proverbs about “filial piety” in China, such as “filial piety is the first of all virtues; filial piety should be done in a timely manner”, “filial piety to parents-in-law and their own blessings, and diligent planting of heaven and earth and their own valley”, “filial piety at home is better than burning incense far away”, “there are three unfilial, no later is greater” and so on. However, in the west, there are very few proverbs in this respect. Among the proverbs included in the dictionary of applied English proverbs with an english-chinese double interpretation, there is none.

The culture of filial piety in China has dual meaning, that is, family meaning and social meaning. “Filial piety” in the family is mainly reflected in the behavior and attitude of children to their parents. In the traditional Chinese culture of filial piety, parents are the absolute authority in the family, and obedience to parents is regarded as a manifestation of filial piety. Confucius thought: “the matter parents a few admonition, see different ambition, but respect not violate, but not complain.” That is, when children serve their parents, they should gently remonstrate with their parents about their faults. If their own opinions are not accepted, they should remain respectful, not get angry, and not offend them. Even though they feel depressed, they should not complain. The social significance of “filial piety” is to maintain a kind of social harmony, that is, the reverence for elders and the ruling order and the reverence based obedience. In the west, “filial piety” is not mainly reflected in the behavior of children towards their parents, but more in the religious culture. The western culture of filial piety also has little social significance, while its family significance only shows respect for parents. This respect did not lead to obedience to parents, but more emphasis on independence and equality among family members.

The traditional mode of providing for the aged has greatly enriched the culture of filial piety in China. In China, for thousands of years, the duty of supporting was mainly done by children. However, in the west, it is not emphasized that children have the duty to support the elderly. When their parents grow old, the duty to support them mainly depends on the state through the social security system. Therefore, the culture of filial piety in China contains the obligation to support, while the culture of filial piety in the west does not. In China, the duty to support is like “feedback” in nature. In the west, the duty to support is “passed on” to the children or parents themselves.

The Chinese people have a strong sense of family, and parents give the most to their children, which is beyond the imagination of westerners. In the west, once you reach adulthood, you can earn your own living without too much effort from your parents. Chinese people usually live close to their parents, even if they work in other places, they usually bring their parents to them. Confucius thought: “parents, do not travel far, travel must have a way.” Confucius did not approve of sons traveling far away from home when their parents were still alive. Confucius was afraid that his son would travel far away and the old man would not be taken care of. Westerners usually don’t do that. They don’t think too much about their parents for their career. They don’t have to think about them. Moreover, unlike Chinese people, westerners do not have a deep attachment to their homeland. On the contrary, they like to change their residence constantly, especially americans, who usually move several times in their lifetime. This difference in the mutual contribution of parents and children partly explains the differences in property inheritance between China and the west. In China, there is no doubt that the parents’ property is inherited by the children, no written proof is required, and the children take it for granted. Westerners, on the other hand, decide the ownership of property through wills. They can give their property to any person or institution they want, even to their pets, without their children finding it unacceptable.

Chinese and Western Greetings Embody the Cultural Differences

By inOthers

In daily greetings, most Chinese people use: “have you eaten yet?” “Where?” “What are you doing?” “To work? “Off duty? “To the street?” “Back? Wait a moment, ask a question specific, variety, form is flexible, not stick to one pattern, basically be the specific circumstance that when meeting and decide. This reflects a sense of kinship between people. But to a westerner, this greeting can be sudden, awkward, and even unpleasant, because they interpret it as a “grilling,” a feeling that they are being asked about their personal life. In the west, the greeting is simply “Hello” or divided by time, “good morning!” “Good afternoon! “Good evening! Just do it. The most commonly used greetings in the west fall into two categories: first, about the weather. As the English say when they meet, “it is a fine day today!” This is because of the influence of the British westerlies all year round. The warm currents from the Atlantic make the weather unpredictable, even the weather forecast is not accurate, so people are most concerned about the weather. Second, talk about the latest situation. But only in general, no privacy involved, can say: “how are you? Always say “nice to meet you” when you first meet someone.

As a matter of fact, with the development of The Times, most of the postscript languages in modern Chinese have deviated from the characteristics of showing concern for people and paying attention to concrete and practical matters in the early stage of their generation. When people meet to say these greetings, in fact, do not ask the other side to give a clear answer, even if the other side irrelevant answer will not care, as long as the message sent by the other side know, even if the purpose of greeting and politeness. But friends from english-speaking countries often have misunderstandings. For example, misunderstanding “have you eaten” means that the other party wants to invite him to dinner, and misunderstanding “where are you going” means that the other party is asking for and interfering with his freedom of movement, etc. Some foreign friends think that since you have already seen people “back”, “to work”, “busy”, but also ask, this is not redundant? Obviously, they equate a dummy greeting with a literal, substantive inquiry. In fact, the greeting words “have you eaten” and “where are you going” in Chinese are the same as the greeting words “How are you?” in English. Its pragmatic function is no different. This shows that Chinese and English greetings are the same in terms of their functions and usage, but their cultural connotations and possible points are different. What is considered polite in one language may not be considered polite in another, and different ways of greeting are subject to different cultural norms.
In terms of content, Chinese greetings have a remarkable feature, that is, they often talk about the other person’s life, such as how old they are, what kind of work they do, how much they earn, whether they are married, how many children they have, how healthy they are and so on. Anglophone people, on the other hand, don’t talk about these topics, which has something to do with the cultural psychology of people not wanting to get involved in each other’s privacy. Many of the polite expressions of concern used in the Chinese culture are perceived in the west as “meddling in other people’s private affairs” or “giving orders”, so the listener is offended by the threat to his or her face. In the eyes of westerners, such greetings that ask about the direction of others’ actions and personal information are regarded as interference in others’ freedom of action. The listener will feel extremely disgusted and will not feel polite behavior at all. This difference is caused by different ways of thinking in the east and the west.

Zhangye Danxia National Geological Park Promoted to 5A Tourist Attractions

By inPopular Spots

In 2016, Zhangye Danxia National Geological Park started to build a national 5A scenic spot. Scenic area overall closely around “concerted effort, full participation, to build the international well-known type 5 a level mountain scenic spots” that create the target, started the tourist service center, danxia square, ecological parking lot, viewing platform scale, tourism toilet, tour road, intelligence platform 15 tourism supporting service facilities such as construction projects. Complete the tourist service center construction area of 180000 square meters, 210000 square meters of danxia square and ecological parking lot, anticorrosive wood eco-tour trails of 8393 square meters, 18703 square meters of viewing platform, 3 commercial shopping district, 1 smart scenic spot operation management center and real-name ticket booking system, the purchase of environmentally friendly tourism bus 40 vehicles, replace the tour bus 14 units, scenic area has reached 95 operating vehicles now. Positive response to a call for a “toilet revolution”, investment 7 million yuan, according to the matching with the characteristics of landscape scenic spot, with the surrounding environment coordination principle, successively scenic spot in the parking lot, tourist service center, the viewing platform, there are 11 new high standard tourism toilet set 6 third toilet seat, according to AAA set up standard of scenic tourism toilet toilet cleaning requirements, are equipped with a one-time health cushion, hand sanitizer, such as cleaning service, do the humanized service, perfecting tourism service system.

One thousand and two hundred days of wind and rain, the service quality of the scenic spot continues to improve

Service quality is the lifeline of tourism development. In the process of its establishment, zhangye colorful danxia scenic spot has always been guided by “quality tourism” and aimed at “tourists’ satisfaction”. Whatever is provided to visitors must be safe and healthy; All visitors to see the scenic spot staff must be warm and polite; All the scenic spots to provide services must be perfect “quality policy, efforts to increase the comprehensive improvement of the tourism market, creating a healthy, harmonious and orderly tourism market environment. Always practice “put yourself in others’ shoes and treat guests sincerely; Online booking a ticket through the tour of the satisfaction of the service; Maternal and child space service special love service; Colorful danxia dazzle colorful Chinese read heart service; Multi-language explanation of the transfer of popular science warm heart service; Peace of mind service for human and vehicle diversion hotspot monitoring; Network covered pavilion blessing comfort service; Be diligent in communicating tourists’ satisfactory intimate service; Resolve emotional complaints for zero patient service; Respect the old love the young heart blend of enthusiastic service “standard. Carry out the theme service activities of “everyone is a security officer, everyone is a geomorphic protection officer, everyone is a cleaner, everyone is a publicist”, “tourists ask me for thousands of times and I treat tourists as if they first met”, and the service quality of the scenic spot is constantly improving.

“The world’s top ten amazing geographical wonders”, “the seven most beautiful danxia in China”, “China rainbow mountain”, “cappadocia in the east”, “the best low-altitude tourism experience area”… This “grab an eye” net stick and the key word “exposure” out of the current zhangye colorful danxia “thermal value”. To create a national 5 a-class tourist scenic spot “gold-lettered signboard”, to build international tourist destination brand, zhang ye cities and counties (districts) two levels of government, zhang ye danxia scenic area management committee, group in gansu province and air travel, and zhang ye danxia culture tourism co., LTD., together with strengthen protection and construction of scenic spots, improve the functional facilities, standard management, optimize the tourism environment, make the danxia scenic area leading to effectively play a leading role, improve the core competitiveness, zhang ye danxia tourism brand has been recognized by domestic and overseas tourists generally and degree of visibility and reputation continued ascension of scenic spots, Brand influence continues to expand, the number of tourist reception “blowout” growth, from 380,000 in 2013 to 2.6 million in 2019 to achieve the “six consecutive jump”, the management mode has also changed from extensive to collectivized, large-scale. According to zhang ye colorful danxia scenic spot large data operations center, according to data from 2014 to 2019, tourists, respectively, 645400 people, 1.0793 million people, 1.4131 million people, 1.9218 million people, 2.3268 million people and 2.6 million people, rose 68.56%, 67.23%, 30.93%, 35.99%, 21.07% and 11.74%, the average annual growth rate of more than 40%, alkaline saline colorful danxia scenic spots have become the best scenic spots in gansu province growth.

The Differences Between Chinese and Western Marriage Customs

By inOthers

Marriage in China was arranged by family. “Behest of parents and proposals of matchmaker” decided everything about marriage. Usually the husband and the wife did not meet each other before getting married. The youths are not free when chose the lover in some places even today.

Marriage marks the beginning of complete independence from the parents. According to the English law, no one was allowed to get married under the age of sixteen. Marriage between the age of sixteen and eighteen must have the parents’ consent. But when the girl was over eighteen, she was free to choose her love. One’s willing was superior to anything.

Chinese men were superior to women in old people’s eyes. And women must comply with three obedience and four virtues. But man could have a wife and many concubines. In north of China in some places, husband and wife are still unequal.

The Bible says that husband should respect wife because both of them are blessed by God. And it emphasizes that the relations between husband and wife should include duty.

The main purpose of getting marriage in China is to continue the male offspring. In western countries, they are influenced deeply by religion, especially the Christianity. They think that it is the God who has created marriage. So they do not stress the blood relationship. They can remedy the defect of non-child by adopting other children.

Among all the religion by which people seek to worship, Christianity is by far the most influential in the west. Every phase of man’s life is touched by this religion, so much so that it has become part and parcel of western culture. British dominant religious belief is Christian faith; or rather the U.K. is a country of Christianity.

Bishop ordered marriage law as the fourth chapter in 1234. After issuing the law, it was carried on under the strong church control. In 1917, the marriage law referred: wedding ceremony should be held by priest or at least two witness; the willing should be true and not be forced.

Most Chinese people believes Buddhism which advocates “why and because relationship”. In this point of view, sky is the reason, and earth is the result; parents are the reason, and sons or daughters are the result; husband is the reason, and wife is the result.

Traditional Chinese traditional marriage custom was characterized by a distinctive patriarchal clan system. Marriage sometimes was a kind of ways to ally in political. The policy of cementing friendly relations through political marriages was a typical example in history. The traditional marriage custom was influenced deeply by Confucianism..

Western marriage custom is influenced deeply by religion, however, which emphasizes both men and women are God’s sons and daughters, so they are equal unlike Chinese who pay more attentions to boys. Western people consider girls are also the fruit of love.

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