Differences of Family Values Between China and America
中美家庭价值观差异
Abstract
This paper tries to make a comparison of different family values between China and US, which appeared in many fields, for instance, the American emphasis the individualism but Chinese focus on the collectivism, the relation-ship between family members and their attitudes to each other are also quite different, the life style influenced by family values are varied.Reasons for these differences are complex, including different customs, cultures and social backgrounds and so on.
摘要
这篇论文比较了中美家庭价值观在不同方面的差异，比如，美国人强调个人主义而中国人注重集体主义，不同的家庭关系与成员间的态度，和由于家庭价值观对生活方式的不同。产生差异的原因各不相同，包括不同的文化习俗，社会背景等等。
Key words:family values, life styles, cultures, differences. 关键词：家庭价值观，生活方式，文化，不同点。 Ⅰ.Introduction
Family is the most basic unit of all human society. It reflects the ethical values of a society, its cultural characteristics
and the unique features of a nation. People begin to learn anything about the world and their culture through the family they are brought up in. What you think, how you act, even your language, are all transmitted through the family from the wider cultural context.
Family values are the core in the research of cultural values, and it has a huge influence on people’s thoughts and behaviors. So if we want to get a glimpse of the cultures of two different countries, it is necessary to know their different family values. In this paper we will analyze family values from different aspects,including the decisive family values, the attitude to the family members and their relationships,and the influences of family values.
Ⅱ.The differences of family values.
A. The individualism VS. the collectivism
The American emphasize the personal independence,while Chinese emphasize on the whole family, not any individual member.Children in America have more freedom than that in China.Their parents rarely interfere with their private affairs, and usually try to enhance children’s all-around abilitieswhen they are young. They handle their own affairs themselves and try to get support from their colleagues or experts who work in
the relevant field, and their family members only give suggestions to them.The key point of its society is freedom.Obviously, we Chinese paymore attention to the interest of whole family than that of any individual’s. In China, children usually live with their parents even after they are grown-up, since Chinese people want a more united family and closer relationship between family members. The living style in China is different compared with that in America. Chinese people like to live with their parents and they think this kind of living style may help them have more opportunity to understand other family members. This kind of living style can narrow the gap between family members andwhen anybody faceswith a problem, the others can help him effectively and efficiently. The living style also reflects that Chinese people mainly emphasize the whole family but not the individuals, which is quite different from Americans.
B. The attitude to the family members and their relationships in China and America.
Chinese people have a big family with variety of relatives, which may be easy to cause competition and suspicion. So in order to maintain order and family harmony, they particularly advocate showing respect to their seniority in the light of the
theory of law and discipline rite of Confucius. And 'Act you role well' is the key to a harmonious family relationship. All the family members should be ranked strictly and according to their position in the family hierarchy they would be treated separately and be required to do what they should do. So in traditional Chinese family, the elder is highly respected. Parents bring up their children, then after parents are getting old, it is their children’s responsibility and duty to care for them and give them both material and spiritual support. In the traditional Chinese family, father was always the centre. It is not because the feudal concept that man is superior to woman, but also for what man has earned is the main source of family’s incoming and usually man earns more money than woman. And woman is responsible for the family house working. Though most household affairs are solved and decided by mother, the most important thing related to the whole family are determined by father. Between parents and children, parents are given more privilege and right to control their children. To most Chinese parents, a good child means to be obedient and docile. It is normal for parents to arrange everything for their children.
To Americans, it is normal that parents and children are separate; reunion is abnormal. Parents bring up children and the
children continue to raise the offspring, so the aged is expelled to the society. For the attitude to bring up the children, American parents consider that they have the legal liability, but in a sense, the children should take responsibility for their behaviors. Americans sniff at the concept of filial piety and think it restrains their self-awareness and ego-development. Parents and their children don't need dependency relationship. In contrast, they should establish a kind of allowance system so as to instill the basic concept of self-dignity and self-love into their children. As a result, although children would be grateful for their parents' favors, they do not think they have the obligation to pay back. In America, if the parents still live together with their adult children, they should pay board wages and accommodation fee to children. And the same to their adult children who still live with their parents.
The primary purpose of an American family is to advance the happiness, the equality and the freedom of every family member. Americans praise self-centered and deal with the family members and family affairs rationally. For the sake of themselves, they deem that family should make sacrifice. Family’s honor and unity are less important than that in Chinese society.In an American family, the democratic idea of equality is
prevalent. Father and mother have equal right to make decision on family affairs and their children are given right to vote.
C. Comparison of life style influenced by family values
1. Different Financial Style
In China， family members are financially dependent， that is to say all of the family members should help each other， especially when he or she meets the financial problems，which seems that people have the responsibility for helping their family members to overcome the difficulties. During the daily life， children should take careof their old parents financially even parents have the possibility torely on themselves.In America,familymembers are financially independent. Americans appreciate the individuality which requires them at first to get an independent financial freedom. That means they do not rely on their parents or family members when they grow up. Sometimes American thinks it is a kind of shame to be supported by their kind red members. That is the reason why in the case the father and the son felt at ease when they bought tickets for each other.
2. Different Life Style
In China ,a stable life style is much appreciated by people. As it has already been discussed above, the strong family tie in Chinahas been taken its shape for thousand years long. Family
membersand relatives prefer to live together in terms of convenience which could reflect the Chinese “guanxi” vividly. Even after the implementation of Open Policy from 1980s， though the traditional lifestyle is influences a lot，people still want to live as close as possible to their family members， relatives and friends. However，in America，there is no such a strong family tie as same as that in China，therefore，their life style are very mobile. Meanwhile, this life style is also influenced by their personal values, such as self-reliance，hard work，and a tie between achieving success in life，personal achievement etc，which encourage Americans to work all of theworld for achieving their career goals and success.
3. Different Public Festivals
There are several festivals which come of family unity in Chi- nese official holidays, such as Spring Festival，Tomb–sweeping Day, Qixi Jie and Mid-autumn Festival. The most important festival is the Spring Festival existing in the history for almost over 2000 years long. During this festival, all family and relatives get together, which is the very precious chance for people to enlarge and strengthen family ties. In America，Chiristmas Day，Hallow-mas，Saint Valentine's Day，Thanksgiving Day are the most important holidays coming of
Christianity. The most ignificant festival is theChristmas Day. Before the festival，all Americans also come back from their works for this big day；however，this festival is much more religious for the family members even though they do have the activities of family reunion.
Ⅲ. Conclusion
The cultural differences between China and America are re- flected in almost all aspects of family life. The present study focuses on various major aspects， such as the different family decisive values，different family relationship and attitudes, and influences caused by family values. It’s not just simply listing some phenomena and analyzing the cultural explanation . The intention of the study is to promote a better understanding between Chinese and American people by comparing the family values. We would like to say if we want to live peacefully and harmoniously under the same roof， the best thing we must do is to make an understanding between Chinese people and American people. Meanwhile， a good understanding of the differences will surely facilitate the cross-cultural communication of two peoples.
【References】
[1] HALL, E, F. The Hidden Dimension[M]. New York: double-day. 1996.
[2] Stanley, Haverwas. A Community of Character[M]. Cam- bridge, 1984.
[3]崔涌,王仁永.自主和多元化的和谐家庭观[J].南华大 学学报, 2005(5).
[4]关培兰,石宁.中美家庭伦理观比较[ J].道德与文明, 1998(5).
[5]李玉艳,李静.浅谈中美家庭观的文化差异[J].现代企 业教育, 2007(2).
Differences of Family Values Between China and America
中美家庭价值观差异
Abstract
This paper tries to make a comparison of different family values between China and US, which appeared in many fields, for instance, the American emphasis the individualism but Chinese focus on the collectivism, the relation-ship between family members and their attitudes to each other are also quite different, the life style influenced by family values are varied.Reasons for these differences are complex, including different customs, cultures and social backgrounds and so on.
摘要
这篇论文比较了中美家庭价值观在不同方面的差异，比如，美国人强调个人主义而中国人注重集体主义，不同的家庭关系与成员间的态度，和由于家庭价值观对生活方式的不同。产生差异的原因各不相同，包括不同的文化习俗，社会背景等等。
Key words:family values, life styles, cultures, differences. 关键词：家庭价值观，生活方式，文化，不同点。 Ⅰ.Introduction
Family is the most basic unit of all human society. It reflects the ethical values of a society, its cultural characteristics
and the unique features of a nation. People begin to learn anything about the world and their culture through the family they are brought up in. What you think, how you act, even your language, are all transmitted through the family from the wider cultural context.
Family values are the core in the research of cultural values, and it has a huge influence on people’s thoughts and behaviors. So if we want to get a glimpse of the cultures of two different countries, it is necessary to know their different family values. In this paper we will analyze family values from different aspects,including the decisive family values, the attitude to the family members and their relationships,and the influences of family values.
Ⅱ.The differences of family values.
A. The individualism VS. the collectivism
The American emphasize the personal independence,while Chinese emphasize on the whole family, not any individual member.Children in America have more freedom than that in China.Their parents rarely interfere with their private affairs, and usually try to enhance children’s all-around abilitieswhen they are young. They handle their own affairs themselves and try to get support from their colleagues or experts who work in
the relevant field, and their family members only give suggestions to them.The key point of its society is freedom.Obviously, we Chinese paymore attention to the interest of whole family than that of any individual’s. In China, children usually live with their parents even after they are grown-up, since Chinese people want a more united family and closer relationship between family members. The living style in China is different compared with that in America. Chinese people like to live with their parents and they think this kind of living style may help them have more opportunity to understand other family members. This kind of living style can narrow the gap between family members andwhen anybody faceswith a problem, the others can help him effectively and efficiently. The living style also reflects that Chinese people mainly emphasize the whole family but not the individuals, which is quite different from Americans.
B. The attitude to the family members and their relationships in China and America.
Chinese people have a big family with variety of relatives, which may be easy to cause competition and suspicion. So in order to maintain order and family harmony, they particularly advocate showing respect to their seniority in the light of the
theory of law and discipline rite of Confucius. And 'Act you role well' is the key to a harmonious family relationship. All the family members should be ranked strictly and according to their position in the family hierarchy they would be treated separately and be required to do what they should do. So in traditional Chinese family, the elder is highly respected. Parents bring up their children, then after parents are getting old, it is their children’s responsibility and duty to care for them and give them both material and spiritual support. In the traditional Chinese family, father was always the centre. It is not because the feudal concept that man is superior to woman, but also for what man has earned is the main source of family’s incoming and usually man earns more money than woman. And woman is responsible for the family house working. Though most household affairs are solved and decided by mother, the most important thing related to the whole family are determined by father. Between parents and children, parents are given more privilege and right to control their children. To most Chinese parents, a good child means to be obedient and docile. It is normal for parents to arrange everything for their children.
To Americans, it is normal that parents and children are separate; reunion is abnormal. Parents bring up children and the
children continue to raise the offspring, so the aged is expelled to the society. For the attitude to bring up the children, American parents consider that they have the legal liability, but in a sense, the children should take responsibility for their behaviors. Americans sniff at the concept of filial piety and think it restrains their self-awareness and ego-development. Parents and their children don't need dependency relationship. In contrast, they should establish a kind of allowance system so as to instill the basic concept of self-dignity and self-love into their children. As a result, although children would be grateful for their parents' favors, they do not think they have the obligation to pay back. In America, if the parents still live together with their adult children, they should pay board wages and accommodation fee to children. And the same to their adult children who still live with their parents.
The primary purpose of an American family is to advance the happiness, the equality and the freedom of every family member. Americans praise self-centered and deal with the family members and family affairs rationally. For the sake of themselves, they deem that family should make sacrifice. Family’s honor and unity are less important than that in Chinese society.In an American family, the democratic idea of equality is
prevalent. Father and mother have equal right to make decision on family affairs and their children are given right to vote.
C. Comparison of life style influenced by family values
1. Different Financial Style
In China， family members are financially dependent， that is to say all of the family members should help each other， especially when he or she meets the financial problems，which seems that people have the responsibility for helping their family members to overcome the difficulties. During the daily life， children should take careof their old parents financially even parents have the possibility torely on themselves.In America,familymembers are financially independent. Americans appreciate the individuality which requires them at first to get an independent financial freedom. That means they do not rely on their parents or family members when they grow up. Sometimes American thinks it is a kind of shame to be supported by their kind red members. That is the reason why in the case the father and the son felt at ease when they bought tickets for each other.
2. Different Life Style
In China ,a stable life style is much appreciated by people. As it has already been discussed above, the strong family tie in Chinahas been taken its shape for thousand years long. Family
membersand relatives prefer to live together in terms of convenience which could reflect the Chinese “guanxi” vividly. Even after the implementation of Open Policy from 1980s， though the traditional lifestyle is influences a lot，people still want to live as close as possible to their family members， relatives and friends. However，in America，there is no such a strong family tie as same as that in China，therefore，their life style are very mobile. Meanwhile, this life style is also influenced by their personal values, such as self-reliance，hard work，and a tie between achieving success in life，personal achievement etc，which encourage Americans to work all of theworld for achieving their career goals and success.
3. Different Public Festivals
There are several festivals which come of family unity in Chi- nese official holidays, such as Spring Festival，Tomb–sweeping Day, Qixi Jie and Mid-autumn Festival. The most important festival is the Spring Festival existing in the history for almost over 2000 years long. During this festival, all family and relatives get together, which is the very precious chance for people to enlarge and strengthen family ties. In America，Chiristmas Day，Hallow-mas，Saint Valentine's Day，Thanksgiving Day are the most important holidays coming of
Christianity. The most ignificant festival is theChristmas Day. Before the festival，all Americans also come back from their works for this big day；however，this festival is much more religious for the family members even though they do have the activities of family reunion.
Ⅲ. Conclusion
The cultural differences between China and America are re- flected in almost all aspects of family life. The present study focuses on various major aspects， such as the different family decisive values，different family relationship and attitudes, and influences caused by family values. It’s not just simply listing some phenomena and analyzing the cultural explanation . The intention of the study is to promote a better understanding between Chinese and American people by comparing the family values. We would like to say if we want to live peacefully and harmoniously under the same roof， the best thing we must do is to make an understanding between Chinese people and American people. Meanwhile， a good understanding of the differences will surely facilitate the cross-cultural communication of two peoples.
【References】
[1] HALL, E, F. The Hidden Dimension[M]. New York: double-day. 1996.
[2] Stanley, Haverwas. A Community of Character[M]. Cam- bridge, 1984.
[3]崔涌,王仁永.自主和多元化的和谐家庭观[J].南华大 学学报, 2005(5).
[4]关培兰,石宁.中美家庭伦理观比较[ J].道德与文明, 1998(5).
[5]李玉艳,李静.浅谈中美家庭观的文化差异[J].现代企 业教育, 2007(2).