February 8, 2017
3:30 pm
CIES House
Generalizations and Stereotypes
Haiping and I went through the email sent out for conversation partners to discuss various cultural differences. There are a lot of similarities between Chinese and American culture. Gift-giving customs, views of gender roles, concepts of time, rules of politeness, gestures and nonverbal communication, are all very similar. However, clothing, holiday customs, belief of modesty, religious/spiritual beliefs, food, and classroom behavior are very different. Americans own a lot more outfits and wear a lot more clothes. We also have different standards of modesty. Chinese people generally wear more layers and longer and looser clothes. Holiday customs are a lot different in China. They celebrate different holidays, but they do have specific foods that they eat for specific holidays and gift giving holidays. So there are similarities but also a lot of differences. Classroom behavior emphasizes more teacher respect than American classrooms. They don't ask as many questions and the grading system works much differently. Chinese people have different religious beliefs, they focus more on legends and myths. Christianity is not as well known as it is in America. They also have very different food in China. More rice and different pasta dishes. The food is more healthy and they eat less processed foods. It was very interesting discussion.
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