chinese culture

Through about two thousand years, there is only a culture still in the world now—Chinese culture. With the development of society, it does not just mean the Spring Festival but more. In my opinion, moderation and harmony is the characteristic of the Chinese culture. It seems that, without a mention of the doctrine of the mean in Confucian ethics, a characterization of Chinese culture will remain incomplete. Being shaped by agriculturalism, artistic view of life, and perhaps other cultural inclinations, Chinese people have developed the character of avoiding extremes or one-sidedness. For Chinese, what is the standard for proper conduct? The answer from Confucian ethics is moderation, or, avoiding extremes, no matter they are extremes of deficiency or extremes of excess. religions tells us to suppress our desires and to reduce our material enjoyment to nothing, while the American Playboy philosophy suggests that the best life-style is one of pleasure seeking, namely, to be a playboy. The Chinese rejects both viewpoints. They would like to enjoy life, but with moderation. Together with the concept of moderation is the concept of harmony. In the classic of Zhong Yong or Doctrine of the Mean, the word zhong is associated with he(harmony) to form a special term zhong-he. As it was explained, he denotes the state of harmony attained through the balancing of all aroused feelings. In its generalized sense, he can be interpreted
as equilibrium within an organism, a well cooperative relation among the members within a family, and peacefulness existing in a well-ordered society. This concept of moderation and harmony can account for some phenomena of Chinese culture and society. It has been noted that the Chinese attitude toward religion is one of eclectics. One may worship the Buddha in the morning, then pray to Laotzu in the afternoon, and yet is "registered" as a Confucianist. This is a product of zhong-he which is an inclination to create balance among conflicting components.
In addition, I think the difference between the Chinese culture and western culture is also based on this. Western culture is based on individualism rather than on mass (collectivism). For instance, in the US, you always talk about individual rights, instead of placing the whole society above your own self. This is clearly different in China where a country, society or family are placed above your own self. and Western culture is adventurous and exploration based. Westerners like to discover new things, invention and expand outwards. For instance, bungee jumping is considered adventurous and common in western culture, but you will probably find no-one doing such a thing in China. However ,in Chinese culture, to resolve people and people's relationship, Chinese uses ethics and tolerance (中恕之道) A focus on balance and mean. By 'mean', it means
'middle way'. You don't go into extremism. Peace is always honored. So there are many case that show the Chinese s inappropriate modesty. For example, at a reception at an American college, Mr.chen, a newly-arrived Chinese scholar was chatting with the hostess. As a friend of the hostess approached, she said, ”Ron, let me introduce Mr.chen, an outstanding physicist, and one of the nicest people I know.”Mr.chen offered his hand to the newcomer but looked at the hostess and said with a smile, ”should I blush, or should I tell him you don’t really mean it?”
And the moderation also lead the more indirect way of Chinese than foreigners.
A Chinese guest professor in America, Mr.Liu was invited by his colleague Mr.Thompson, to have dinner at his home. kept saying thank u very much. I will try to come. This irritated Mr.Thompson who wanted a simple yes or no. he had no idea whether Mr.liu had accepted his invitation or not Mr liu was also confused about whether this was a real invitation or just for the sake of courtesy.
So I think the concept of moderation and harmony has influenced every Chinese, heart or hand.。