What are the differences between the US and China cultures
Cultural activities vary from one country to another and therefore the US and China show a definite perspective of differences in their cultures. Generally, in all societies, there is something that motivates people to act in a similar way. Things that motivate people include; money, achievements, recognition, satisfaction, comfort, and security among other things. But each culture achieves this by following different paths. In every society, people are driven by something to behave the way they do, the way they talk, wear, how they judge what is wrong and right and several other deeds. China has a culture that dates a thousand years back and it has been noted to poses a unique sense of individuality and it has managed to preserve its uniqueness despite there being numerous influences from outside the country. The United States is a society made up of different people with different cultures because of its high percentage of immigration to other countries. It’s said to be ethnically and racially diverse. There is no one culture that is uniformly applied across the whole nation.
In China, the social structure is strictly formal and hierarchical. People are placed in social classes based mainly on their economic status and each person in the society knows where they belong and societal rules expect them to carry themselves as per their social class. Those in the lower class level cannot directly interact with those at a higher level because it’s viewed as disrespect. While in the United States people with huge different economic range can interact and socialize normally with each other, social classes are informal, there is no definite grouping. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
The Chinese society holds a high level of morals for its people (Child, John, and Yuan). For instance the case of marriage, in China the culture discourages early marriages and it’s against youngsters being sexually active or even dating while they still teenagers. People are expected to wait until they are in their late twenties for them to consider committing themselves into marriage unions. In America, the culture is more relaxed and worries less about how people want to carry their personal lives. Society even supports their young ones having sexual relationships before they are barely eighteen years of age. Morals are perceived in a more friendly way than in China.
Chinese cultures judge its societal activities in communal point of view. Actions are judged in a community sense than in an individual way. People in China put collective benefits of their actions before their personal benefits. Sacrificing personal desires for the common good and looking at the effects of action towards other people is what is more valued. American culture advocates individualism and pushes people to put their own needs, desires first. And it considers personal benefits before communal benefits. In the United States an action that may cause a great disaster in the society may be overlooked if it was taken to satisfy a personal desire.
A question of reputation is another area that places a big difference between the two cultures. In Chinese culture, people value reputation more than what the sacrifice of the reputation might bring. An individual from China is more likely to pick quitting their jobs if it means protecting their respect and reputation. However, in America people concentrate more on what they will gain by losing their respect. The main focus is on the end benefit and reputation is considered as something that can come and go.
Business relations are placed after socializing activities in China. The culture considers people working on knowing each other to be more essential than putting their business activities before that. Therefore, a Chinese culture prefers social values over abrupt business relations. In America, people are less concerned with how good they know each other as long as their workplace or business relations are successful and are attaining the economic status aimed at. Business achievements are placed before social interactions necessities.
In China, the largest percentage of the population holds traditional beliefs and practice traditional religions. The country is generally atheist and they do not have value in any particular religion. There are a few religious figures and the few people practicing any type of religion are majorly concentrated on the urban parts of the country. Unlike this religious situation in China, united states have all types of religions being practiced in their nation and most people in the nation put so much importance to religion and religious beliefs hold a special part of the society.
Chinese culture considers honoring ancestors to be important. Honoring the dead is a traditional norm which is always carried every year in the Chinese culture. People take time once a year to visit their ancestor’s graves and pay respect to them through various cultural practices. In America, most people aren’t even aware where their ancestors were buried and very few people find visiting their dead ones to be necessary. This may be due to the fact that America has a high percentage of immigration and most people have no idea where their ancestors were buried or probably their graves are in their foreign countries and therefore they have nowhere to visit and pay their respect to the” late ” ones. The immigration number is very minimal in China and this may be the reason why the practice has been not interrupted and has been preserved within the culture (Voss, Peggy).
The issue of time sensitivity is another concern that brings a difference in how people in the two cultures do their things. Americans are extremely sensitive with their schedules and strictly follow deadlines issued, keep time during meetings and are very punctual in their projects. Time is something that doesn’t hold so much importance and someone can be excused if they don’t keep deadlines or when they late for their meetings and extra time can always be allocated to someone who needs to do final touches to their projects.
In conclusion, Chinese culture has evolved with time and with the influence that technology is bringing to the world, years to come most of their customs will probably lose value and other norms adopted while America has a chance of making its culture less formal than it already because it’s too going to be affected. The fact that the two countries have different cultures doesn’t mean that one is better than the other.