What makes American Culture Distinct from Chinese Culture

詹鑫

摘 要：Culture is a mirror of real life which can reflect all aspects of peoples lives.More and more scholars have begun to study the differences between American culture and Chinese culture. As a view to make the differences more clear, and to lay foundations for the further studying, this shot paper will discuss the things make American culture distinct from Chinese culture.

关键词：American culture；Chinese culture

中图分类号：H31 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1009-0118（2011）-03-0236-01

Culture is not only the material wealth, but also the spiritual wealth created in the process of the human development which contains a long-term accumulation about national history, historical events and cultural myths. Like two different tree root systems can develop into two different trees, the United States and China have huge differences in their process of society history so that cultures of the two countries are totally different from each other. The following reasons can help to find out what factors make American culture distinct from Chinese culture.

Firstly, religion takes the biggest percent of this distinctness. As we all know, the United States is a religious country and many American people are Christians. No matter the way they behavior, the way they think, or the way they consider themselves, all are affected significantly by religion. For instance, many pious Christians pray at any time and from any location. They think begin each day with a prayer will arm their soul. They pray for sorrows to end, for happiness to continue, for Gods bless and pity. (The evidences of this aspect from the songs God Bless America by Irving Berlin and God Bless the U.S.A by Lee Greenwood). Compared with American, most Chinese people have no religion belief. They prefer to ask help from their friends or themselves rather than seek the hands of gods. However, it does not mean China has no religion culture for many Chinese people are Buddhists. All these factors show that different religion belief and culture accumulation drive the two countries to have different culture.

Secondly, except the religion culture, the national characteristic of Chinese culture and the diversification of American culture also contribute to the distinctness between the two cultures. The United States is a country of immigrants and its population constitution is extremely complex. Various talented people from everywhere get together in here which makes the US become a true melting pot of different cultures. The multiplex characteristic makes US's culture at the forefront of fashion and change as time goes, however, it also bring discrimination and dissent to the United States. American discrimination against African Americans, Latin Americans, Muslims, some other immigrant groups and their descendants was widely acknowledged all over the world. In this aspect, it seems that American culture is the same as Chinese culture for both of them are the melting pot of different culture. However, the United States is a nation state. Even American culture combines many ethnic cultures; it still has differences from Chinese culture.

Thirdly, the development history decides the distinctness of the two countries. China has a history of 5, 000 years or so which is much longer than the history of the United States. Although Chinese culture contains a long-term accumulation of history, compared with American culture, Chinese culture lacks ardor, vigor and energy. There is no doubt that American culture at the forefront of the world culture taking the lead of fashion such as Hip-hop culture, Hollywood movies, McDonald. American culture has its own unique charm and style to attract the world's attention, to ignite the passion of people of five continents.

To sum up, different religions, different characteristics of cultures, and the different development history make American culture distinct from Chinese culture. Comparing Chinese culture to American culture is advantageous to further understand each other's society and culture, to promote the bilateral understanding and the contact. Most importantly, we may through the contrast, clearly recognize that our insufficiency, absorb other's merit, makes up for deficiency by learning from others' strong points and develop own culture.