Collectivism＆Ind...

Collectivism＆Individualism――Contrast Between Chinese＆American Culture
It may be beyond the understanding of us Chinese people that the American parents will ‘drive’ their children off home when the y become full-grown,and, some parents will even charge their adult-children with board and lodging expenses.Just have a look at the families of us Chinese, how many people still take it as a honour to have there or four generations living under the same eave! But in America, ‘nuclear family’is quite typical nowadays. Children should leave home when they grow up, and no matter they are workers or students, they should begin to support themselves, or else they will be looked down upon.
This reflects one of the contrasts of the value judgement between we Chinese and American people. Chinese culture is famous for modesty and courtesy. This is the universally-acknowledged fine tradition with which the society, the schools and the families educate the new generations. We Chinese have been used to measuring others’moral behavior as well as their outlook on life and world by this standard, which is, in other terms, collectivism. While the westerners advocate self-enterprising spirit a lot, and they always measure one’s individual value by his success. This is what we call as individualism.
The source of this contrast of the value judgement can be traced in the two countries’ history. China is a country with a history of about 5,000 year, with its culture a distant origin and a long development. With the theory of Confucianist education as the core traditional culture, Chinese have consistently held strong sense of social stratum and codes of ethics. People with the lower rank should respect and even obey those with higher rank, and the younger should act the same to the older. People should be modest and courteous, and act according to the interests of the collective. What about American? America is a country with its history of just more than 200 year, and most of the citizens are immigrants from Europe. They brought there Protestantism of the Christian religion, that’s the W ASP culture (White Anglo
Saxon Protestant), which reflects the nation’s religion character. They believe that all the world including the food is given by God，so one should repay the God through his diligent work. And everyone’s life was given by the God, so everyone is free and equal. When they immigrated into America, which was, at that time, just a desolate and uninhabited wilderness，they had to struggle for life, with no one to depend In that case, great importance was attached to the self-dependence and individual success. From generation to generation, the individualism of America has been formed and affects people’s daily life a lot.
This contrast is clearly mirrored in the matrimonial families in the two countries. In China under the old system of enfeoffment, a family is a collective made up of the family members, the individual did not appear as citizens. One should obey his father or elder-brothers when he was young, and belonged to the officials or the lord when he grew up. One who disgraced his family would be inquested even sentenced to death by the family. One should try his best to succeed in the government examination not for himself but to bring glory on his ancestors. There is an old saying like‘There are three unfilial acts, no posterity is the greatest’----one’s tragedy of life was the extermination of his family rather than his own death. The individual interests were next to nothing before the family interests. The individual character had no way to develop but to suffer warping. Nowadays this situation has been improved a lot. But in the countryside, some arranged marriages still exist. Though divorce has gradually been accepted, there is still some bias towards the divorced. On the contrary, arranged marriage is beyond comprehension in America, and divorce is quite common. The youth do not have to consult their family if they want to get married. Americans pursuit and enjoy freedom to choose one's spouse and be united in wedlock. An American scholar used to say, they are a country without family; the nation is made up of broken-up individuals. It makes a world of difference from we Chinese caring for each other, being interdependent，and sharing joys and sorrows.
Let’s go back to the example at the beginning of this article. Americans believe that the individual is the atom of the society, independent on others or the collective, the individual right is sacred and cannot be violated.; one’s proficiency should be
brought to full play, while one’s personal preference and hobbies should have great chance to developed. In this case Americans are encouraged even in their childhood. They form their own opinion, make their own decision, solve their own problem and develop their own originality. When they grow up, they leave home and make a living. The college students support themselves with part-time jobs or scholarship or loan, few of them will depend on their relatives or friends. In the restaurants, even the family members will sometimes pay their own bill. Knowing this, we may no longer be surprised with the parents’ charging the children with board and lodging expenses!
The Americans have obscure sense about social ranks. In school, the students dare to point out the professors’ mistakes or show their own opinion in the public. The same case also occurs in the big companies. This is the reflection of their individualism. In their opinion, everyone is equal no matter in what kind of soc iety rank. But according to us Chinese, it is a kind of offence, or at least, it is a sense of discourtesy. In China, there are many forms of address, which differs slightly from others, suggest just one form of address in English, just like bobo, shushu, jiujiu, gufu, yifu, for the English term uncle. We Chinese often call a person characterized with his or her social status, just like Director Wang, Manager Li and so on, while in America, people will call one’s name directly. Just like in Family Album, U.S.A , Marilyn called her father in law directly as Philip, while her mother in law as Ellen.In China, it is unimaginable.
Individualism and collectivism can also be sensed in daily life. Chinese names begin with the family name, after that come the name which suggests the status of a generation in the family, and our own name comes last. The English names are just to the opposite and highlight the individual character. In the expressions of time or place, we Chinese are used to arrange from big ones to small ones, giving the impression of the collective. In the English expression, it stresses the individual and just does the opposite to Chinese. People have noticed the difference between Chinese and American about their reaction to others’praise. Americans accept praises happily because it is an approval about themselves.
A certain kind of culture has its advantages and disadvantages. We should fully
realized the differences and learn from the good points from other cultures. Only in this way can we make progress.
References:
Family Album,U.S.A外语教学与研究出版社，1993年4月版；
四川外语学院学报（重庆）,1998年第四期（总第70期）
株洲工学院学报. 湖南株洲,2002年第三期
美国文化模式----跨文化视野中的分析.百花文艺出版社
庄恩平.东西方文化差异与对外交流.华东理工大学出版社
朱永涛.英语国家社会与文化入门.高等教育出版社1998年1月第一版
《生命列车》The Train Of Life
1.不久以前，我读了一本
书。

书中把人生比作一次
旅行。

2.人生一世，就好比是一次
搭车旅行，要经历无数次
上车、下车; 时常有事故
发生; 有时是意外惊喜，
有时却是刻骨铭心的悲
伤……
3.降生人世，我们就坐上了
生命列车。

我们以为我们
最先见到的那两个人
------我们的父母，会在人
生旅途中一直陪伴着我
们。

4.很遗憾，事实并非如此。

他们会在某个车站下车，
留下我们，孤独无助。

他
们的爱、他们的情、他们1.Not long ago, I read a book,
in which a man’s life was
compared to a journey.
2.The life of a man is just like a
hitchhiking，during which
many times we go up and
down. Now and then things
will happen accidently, some
of which are to be unexpected
excitement，while some
heart-breaking sorrows.
3.When first embraced the
world，we are already on the
train of life. We take it for
granted that the first two
persons, our parents, whom
we are encountered with, will
accompany us all the way. 4.Sadly，things do not go on as
we thought.Our parents will
get off the train at a certain
station，leaving us, bereft and
helpless.Their love and
emotion to us and their
irreplaceable company can be
不可替代的陪伴，再也无
从寻找。

5.尽管如此，还会有其他人
上车。

他们当中的一些人
将对我们有着特殊的意
义。

6.他们之中有我们的兄弟
姐妹, 有我们的亲朋好
友。

我们还将会体验千古
不朽的爱情故事。

7.坐同一班车的人当中，有
的轻松旅行。

8.有的却带着深深的悲
哀……还有的,在列
车上四处奔忙，随时准备
帮助有需要的人……9.很多人下车后，其他旅客
对他们的回忆历久弥
新……但是，也有一些
人，当他们离开座位时，
却没有人察觉。

10.有时候，对你来说情深义
重的旅伴却坐到了另一
节车厢。

你只得远离他，
继续你的旅程。

11.当然，在旅途中，你也可
以摇摇晃晃地穿过自己
的车厢，去别的车厢找
他……
12.可惜，你再也无法坐在他
身旁，因为这个位置已经
让别人给占了… ...
found in nowhere.
5.However，there will be
somebody else who will get on
the train. Some of them will
have special meaning to us. 6.Some of them may be our
siblings , relatives and
friends, and we will also
expereince the imperishable
love.
7.Some of our travelling
companions are quite
light-hearted on the way.
8.While some may bear
immense sorrow.Still
some ,back and forth, are
ready to hold out their hands
for others who need help.
9.Some people alight off the
train, yet they are still kept in
the mind of the other
passengers for long;some, to
the opposite, leave their seats
without being noticed.
10.Sometimes, the one,who is
dear to your heart, has
huddled into another
carriage. Nothing but one you
can do is just to keep on
going, far away from him. 11.Of course, during the
journey, you may stagger to
another carriage to look for
him.
12.It’s a pity that you will never
seat yourself beside him
because the seat has been
engaged by others.
13.Never mind. The journey is
full of challenges,dreams,
hopes and departures--- but
only one thing is that you
can’t turn back. So, have a
13.没关系。

旅途充满挑战、
梦想、希望、离别……
就是不能回头。

因此，尽
量使旅途愉快吧！
14.善待旅途上遇见的所有
旅客，找出人们身上的闪
光点。

15.永远记住，在某一段旅程
中，有人会犹豫彷徨，因
为我们自己也会犹豫彷
徨。

16.我们要理解他人，因为我
们需要他人的理解。

17.生命之谜就是：我们在什
么地方下车？坐在身旁
的伴侣在什么地方下
车？我们的朋友在什么
地方下车？我们无从知
晓……
18.我时常这样想：到我该下
车的时候，我会留恋吗？
我想我还是会的。

和我的
朋友分离，我会痛苦。

让
我的孩子孤独地前行，我
会悲伤。

我执著地希望
在我们大家都要到达的
那个终点站，我们还会相
聚……
19.我的孩子们上车时没有
什么行李，如果我能在他
们的行囊中留下美好的
回忆，我会感到幸福。

good journey with heart and
soul.
14.Show your good-will to all the
passengers you are
encountered with, and find
the merits of theirs.
15.Remeber that someone may
oscillate just as we do in the
journey.
16.We should understand others
just as we need others’
understanding.
17.The enigma of life is：Where
shall we get off the train of
life?And how about the
companions beside us?And
our friends?We don’t know.
18.Sometimes I think：When my
time comes to get off the
train，shall I miss it？I think
I will.It is a suffering when I
part with my friends.I will be
sorry for leaving my kids
going alone.I firmly hold that
when we get to the terminal，
we will have another reunion.
19.When my kids get on the
train of life, they have only
little luggage in their
travelling bags. However,if I
can leave the beautiful
memory in them,I will be
happy.
20.After getting off the train of
life, I will be content if my
fellow passengers will
remember me and miss me.
21.To you , the companions on
my train of life.May you have
a good journey!。