Cultural Universals Between United States and China Essay examples

Words: 1076
Pages: 5

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, the definition of culture is “the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group”. Every country has its specific culture and there are some obvious cultural universals between China and America. One example of such cultural universal is the directness of American versus the humbleness of the Chinese people. Another example would be the self independence of the young Americans versus the young Chinese who tend to depend on their parents. What I would like to cover are the holidays observed by United States and China, roles played in the family by husband and wife, parenting styles and conflict management.
Holidays observed
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It also touched on how Chua called her eldest daughter “garbage” at the dinner party they attended. She is explaining that she was just raising her children the same way her and her siblings were raised by her parents. She tells that her and her husband had many arguments and discussions on how to raise their children, and that he was not always against her. The Wall Street Journal article later conclude that Western parents try to respect their children's individuality, encouraging them to pursue their true passions, supporting their choices, and providing positive reinforcement and a nurturing environment. By contrast, the Chinese believe that the best way to protect their children is by preparing them for the future, letting them see what they're capable of, and arming them with skills, work habits and inner confidence that no one can ever take away.
Conflict Management
Chinese are more obliging and avoiding than Americans in managing conflicts. In managing conflict the Chinese are more concerned with maintaining interpersonal relationships. Just like any other situation, the rules for the polite way to handle problems are specific to a particular culture. An old Chinese saying goes that "Do not talk too deep when you are not close enough with the other", when one feels that their relationship with the other is not strong enough for conflict, he or she has should better express an opinion through someone else. If they disagree about something,