中西方人对待隐私差异(英文版)

A comparative study on attitudes toward privacy in Western and Chinese cultures.

There are great differences between Chinese and western culture, which leads to their different views on privacy. For thousands of years, most of Chinese people living in the country and people often live in the village from generation to generation , so they are very familiar with and care about each other. It is common for them to talk about family or personal problems. In addition, Chinese people always don't agree with "private" and regard individual rights as private interests. However, medieval agriculture of Western Europea was developed by the form of manor. The circumstance of closed and non-interference in each other makes westerners gradually produced a relatively independent character. So westerners advocate independence and are not willing to others to interfere in their life. They think that privacy can't be violated.

The differences between Chinese and western culture are shown in the following aspects:

（一）The age

In China, it is a very common to ask someone's age. When a person is told that his appearance looks less than his actual age (except for children), he would think that this is a kind of praise,

especially for women. In addition, in China, the "old" is a symbol of experience and knowledge, so the elderly do not reject to expose their age.

Western society is fiercely competitive society and the old age means retiring from the stage of social competition. The elderly always have a sense of independent and self-esteem, so they don't want to reveal their age. For women, "old" also means lossing charm, which is a kind of pain.

（二）The income

In China, people like to ask others' wages, especially the ones who have just found a job after graduating or have been promoted. Besides, when people have dinner on Spring Festival, we also like to mention this topic.

In the west, the personal income more or less reflects a person's ability. For low-income people, in particular, they are not willing to talk about the income. The rich also regard personal income as their privacy because of the property security.

（三）The space

Due to historical reasons, Chinese people have always Shared geographical space with others so that we are accustomed to the

crowd and don't have a strong sense of personal space . Especially in the countryside, people often get into others' house without the owner's permission.

Westerners generally have a strong sense of space and personal privacy. When they don't want to be disturbed, their door is always closed. If the door open, it means a kind of invitation, then you can knock gently in order to show respect for the owner.Space is also a kind of property which cannot be infringed.

（四）The scope of privacy

The scope of privacy of Chinese is lower than that in the west. Chinese people seem to have nothing to keep in contact and in the eyes of Chinese people, the age, income and marital status can be common topics. If Chinese people meet a friend in the street, it is natural to ask: "where are you going?" This is just a kind of greeting. Westerners have a larger scope of privacy. If they are asked "Where are you going?", he will feel very embarrassed, for they consider it as their own business. In addition, they often talk about unimportant things, such as the weather, the film, instead of things about themselves.

Different nationalities have their own unique cultures. The culture has a great influence on communication. We should respect