Cultural Universals

Cultural Universals
According to the definition of culture,"The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.",every country has its specific culture.It is easy to find out that there are lots of differences between China and America.
For instance,American people are direct about expressing their thoughts,however,Chinese people are indirect by trying to be humble.American young people value the self-indipendence very much,whereas,Chinese young people have a tendency to depend on their parents too much.American people tend to be logical, and Chinese people tend to be emotional.
Despite the differences,there are still some cultural universals that exist in both China and America.For example,there are some social and environmental problems existing in both two countries:high employment pressure,high divorce rate,aged tendency of population,environmental pollution,the extinction of bio-species and so on.
I would like to talk about one cultural universal on holidays more detail. Holidays are days that are set apart for public,religious or special observances.Every country has its own holidays that are celebrated for specific purposes.There are two similar holidays that are celebrated in both China and America.They are News Year's Day and Labour Day.
In both countries,New Year's Day is celebrated for the passing of the old year and the start of New Year. Chinese New Year which is also called Spring Festival starts with the New Moon on the first day of the New Year and ends on the Full Moon 15 days later. It is celebrated in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household,and the family ancestors as a family affair,a time of reunion and thanksgiving.During the Spring Festival,Chinese people will stick the Spring Festival couplets（Chun-lian）on the doors,set off fireworks and crackers,and pay New Year visits to relatives. Meanwhile they will eat a lot of traditional foods like dumplings,noodles,New Year Cake,and so on.New Year's Day in the United States is celebrated on January 1st.Traditionally Americans think that it is the time to resolve to get rid of bad habits and start a new life.These are called resolutions.They will write down their resolutions like"My resolutions is to stop smoking","My resolution is to lose weight".The other custom in the United States is that American families have "Open House".They welcome their friends,relatives or neighbors to visit them.This is quite similar to China.The United States also has some other traditions like the dropping of the New Year ball in Times Square, New York City, at 11:59 P.M, the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California,or eating Hoppin' John—black eyed peas and ham hocks.Anyway, whether the customs in the two countries are different or similar,during the New Year's Day,people are always happy and excited.
Another similar holiday is Labour Day.It is celebrated in honor of hardworking workers in both China and America.However the day of celebration is different.In China Labour Day is on May 1st,and in America it is celebrated on the first Monday in September.
All in all,China and America are quite different in many aspects,like the way of thinking and values.Still,there are some similarities existing in both cultures,like social and environment problems and some traditions.。