Contents
Part I.East and West
Unit 1 .Why Contrasting Chinese and Western Cultures?.................3
I. Ancient Civilizations and Cultures ................................................................3
II. Cross-cultural Comparative Studies in China ..............................................5
III. Imperatives to Contrast Chinese and Western Cultures ..............................9
IV. A Note on Some Key Concepts .................................................................15
Unit 2 .Characteristics of Traditional Chinese and Western Cultures..............19
I. “There Are All Kinds of Birds in a Large Forest” .......................................19
II. Traditional Chinese Cultural Characteristics ............................................22
III. Traditional Western Cultural Characteristics ............................................32
Unit 3 .Affinities Across Cultures........................................................37
I. Two Unexpected Affinities ..........................................................................38
II. Reading for More Cultural Affinities .........................................................39
III. A Note on Some Key Concepts ................................................................51
Part II　Cultural Differences in Silent Language
Unit 4 .Time .........................................................................................59
I. Time in China and the West .........................................................................60
II. Two Time Modes ........................................................................................65
III. Past-oriented Societies vs. Future-oriented Societies ...............................73
IV. Two Time Orientations ..............................................................................76
Unit 5 .Space ........................................................................................80
I. What Is Space? ............................................................................................81
II. Spatial Language ........................................................................................82
III. Spatial Language and Culture ...................................................................86
IV. Spatial Language and Life ........................................................................93
Unit 6 .Smiles, Nods and Silence ........................................................97
I. Smiles in Intercultural Communication ......................................................97
II. Nods in Intercultural Communication ......................................................103
III. Silence in Intercultural Communication .................................................105
Part III　Cultural Differences in Thinking
Unit 7 .Intuitive vs. Logical Thinking..............................................115
I. Definitions of Intuitive and Logical Thinking ............................................116
II. Philosophy and Thinking ..........................................................................117
III. Application of the Two Thinking Modes ................................................121
IV. Impact of Thinking Modes on Writings ..................................................126
V. Logic in China and Intuition in the West ..................................................128
Unit 8 .Dialectical vs. Analytical Thinking......................................132
I. Proverb Preferences Across Cultures ........................................................133
II. Dialectical Thinking .................................................................................134
III. Analytical Thinking ................................................................................139
IV. More about the Two Modes ....................................................................143
Unit 9 .Holistic vs. Atomistic Visions ...............................................146
I. A Detention Room Incident .......................................................................147
II. Prominent Attributes of Holistic and Atomistic Visions ..........................147
III. Vision and Cognition ..............................................................................156
IV. Vision and Language ...............................................................................157
V. Zhengshan Xiaozhong and Lipton Black Tea ..........................................164
Unit 10 .Categorizing Objects by Relationships vs. by Attributes.....167
I. Two Ways to Categorize Objects ...............................................................168
II. Principles to Categorize Objects ..............................................................169
III. How to Categorize Objects and Why .....................................................172
IV. Impacts of Different Ways of Categorization ..........................................175
V. Causal Attribution Patterns Caused by Different Categorization Ways ......178
Unit 11 .Non-controllers vs. Controllers .........................................182
I. Too Early to Tell ........................................................................................183
II. Why So Different Stances Towards Life? ................................................184
III. “Being” and “Doing” Cultures ...............................................................190
IV. Manifestations of “Being” Culture and “Doing” Culture .......................194
Part IV　Different Cultural Orientations
Unit 12 .The Introvert-oriented vs. the Extrovert-oriented...........205
I. Personality Types .......................................................................................206
II. Personality Types of Cultures ..................................................................208
III. Effects of Personality Types on Pattern Preferences ...............................213
IV. A Contrast of Some Cultural Phenomena ...............................................219
Unit 13 .Collectivism vs. Individualism...........................................225
I. An Embarrassing Custom ..........................................................................225
II. Collectivism and Individualism as Cultural Orientations ........................227
III. Collectivism and Individualism in Cultural Anthropology ....................233
IV. Collectivist and Individualist Perspectives of “Self” ..............................236
V. Interdependence vs. Independence ...........................................................241
Unit 14 .Advocacy of Jing vs. Dong......................................................245
I. Introduction to Two Concepts ...................................................................246
II. Chinese Advocacy of Jing ........................................................................248
III. Western Advocacy of Dong ....................................................................258
IV. Differences and Discomforts ...................................................................263
Unit 15 .Implicitness vs. Explicitness ..............................................267
I. “Half a Story” ............................................................................................268
II. Implicitness vs. Explicitness of Language ...............................................270
III. Implicit Traditional Chinese ...................................................................276
IV. Explicit Westerners .................................................................................284
V. High-context vs. Low-context ..................................................................287
VI. “Chicken and Duck Talk” .......................................................................291
Part V　Different Cultural Standards
Unit 16 .Peace vs. Conflict ................................................................299
I. Great Names and Different Cultural Standards .........................................300
II. External Factors and Cultural Standards ..................................................305
III. Cultural Standards and Their Unique Products ......................................308
IV. Better Ways to Know Each Other ...........................................................313
Unit 17 .Egalitarian vs. Inegalitarian Distribution .......................316
I. Hate-the-rich Mentality .............................................................................316
II. Traditional Chinese-style Egalitarianism .................................................318
III. Western-style Inegalitarianism ................................................................321
IV. Egalitarianism and Inegalitarianism in China and the West ...................323
Unit 18 .Good vs. Evil Human Nature ............................................326
I. Definition of Two Concepts .......................................................................326
II. Human Nature and Education ..................................................................328
III. Theorization of Assumptions about Human Nature ...............................331
IV. Human Nature Theories and the Rule of Ethics vs. Law ........................337
Unit 19 .Rule of Individuals vs. Rule of Law ..................................339
I. Rule of Individuals in Traditional Chinese Thought .................................339
II. Rule of Law in Traditional Western Thought ...........................................345
III. Rule of Law in China Today ...................................................................350