To interact with people outside of China, I think one important issue is to understand the other culture. When we talk about culture, we are actually relating to arts, behaviors, language and etc.
Below are a set of pictures from the internet which I personally think is very close to reality. Maybe many people have seen these pictures before, but I want to use these pictures to talk about some of my own understanding of the Eastern and Western way of thinking.
Meals of the day:
? In the western society, people don’t seen to be mind on whether
the breakfast and dinner will be hot food or not, but I’m not saying everybody likes it, just that I guess half of the population wouldn’t put too much of attention on it.
? But to the eastern society, it seems almost impossible to have
breakfast and dinner in cold. Because started from ancient time, people tend to think hot foods bring good health to the body.
Relationship:
? In the western society, the relationship is very clear and direct.
People tend to know other people from the same profession or same interest.
? In the eastern society, the relationship is very complex, and you
can see things always mixed up not just with one but a lot more. If you did something bad somehow, you are very much crewed up for the rest of your life. Because your reputation will be spread faster you can imagine.
Way of living:
? Individualism is the way of living in the western society. People
tend to prefer a life without too much of interaction, because it is different between working hours and private time. For example working hours are 9am – 6pm, then the rest is private time, people normally turn off their phones so they don’t get disturb but others. ? Collectivism is the way of living in the eastern society. People
spend time with each other doesn’t matter whether like it or not. This is a huge different with the western world. It is a way of life, but sometimes people seems to live without privacy, but they already got use to that.
interculture communication东西文化差异和沟通理解
