语言与文化英语论文On Differences between Chinese and Western Families

;;学号姓名班级On Differences between Chinese and Western Families[Abstract] This article intends to study the differences between Chinese families and western families, and we would take America for a representative of the western countries. Firstly, the paper introduces the definitions of families, and then it focuses on the family patterns, in other words, the family types or structures in present-day China and the Unites States. In the following sections, the paper proceeds to discuss the attitudes to family members and their relationships in China and America respectively. And finally the paper has a general introduction of family values in Chinese and western cultures. With the development of the international society and economics, there are more and more contacts and communications between China and western countries. So it is necessary and helpful for us to learn western cultures and the differences between cultures in China and the west. This paper researching family cultures of China and the west would help us to further understand the cultural differences between China and the west, and to oid unnecessary conflict and misunderstanding during the cross- cultural communications. Key words: family, family patterns, differences, family values Family derives from private ownership, and is inevitable production in the development of social productive forces (Xie Yongxin, 1995:70). Family, as the basic unit of a society, is very much like s mirror, reflecting the ethical values of the society, and the cultural characteristics and the unique features of a nation．Every person began to learn the world from their families, and it is their families and family environments that he the most important influence on the shape of their values of life and their developments. Study shows that because of the influence of cultural background, the relationships among members of the family and the family values in China and America are completely different. That is, Chinese people advocate collectivi while Americans value individuali (Quan Guoliang & Si Qin, 2010:113-117). Due to the differences of geographical, historical background, religion and belief, different nations he different family structures and family values. And the meaning of families to them is also different. In the following sections, this paper is supposed to he a further research on those aspects of families above. 1. The definition of family Traditionally speaking, family has been defined as a group of people to live together by bonds of blood, marriage, adoption to form economic ties, to fertilize and to bring up children. According to this idea, families form the continuation through child-rearing. Also, there are three different perspectives of family from three different views. Firstly, family is the primary or basic institution of a society from the physiological view. And secondly, in the view of culture, it is the primary caretaker of a culture’s core values and worldview and tranits them to new members of the cult