You are on page 1of 3

YUFENG LU

Professor Jon Beadle


ENGLISH 113B
23 Feb 2016
The Collision of Chinese and American Cultures
Different place has different culture. Cultural differences are inevitable. Just like food
culture. Chinese food culture is different from American food culture. Chinese food culture is
a broad vision, deep, multi-angle, high-grade long-standing regional culture. And American
diet does not pay attention to the fine, the pursuit of convenience, not luxury, more popular.
Different cultures can make people more aware of their own culture. "Because culture can be
represented symbolically, people are able to identify, understand, explain, and discuss aspects
of their own culture and compare and contrast these to aspects of other cultures"( Kurylo, 4).
People can be very straightforward to understand the culture. And also to compare the merits
of their own culture by other cultures. But when we encounter a new culture It will have
some trouble. Chinese culture and American culture may be different impact on me.
When I finish my high school I arrived US. I feel education culture is completely
different. In China, high school students class begin at 7:30am and after school at 9:30pm.
This is very tired. And everyday have a lot of homework. In Chinese high school students
need to study six subject. And every teacher say: "This subject homework only need one
hour." But we need study six subject. And in weekend we must go to the tutoring. Every day
don't have free time. Because Chinese people very pay attention to achievement. If you get
A+ you are a good student. This is an unusual way of education. People only focus on student
achievement without regard to the ability of students. But when I arrived in US I feel very
relax. Although sometimes there are a lot of homework. But every day I still have a lot of free
time, and a weekend of rest. I feel very relaxed. But I sometimes miss my family. Especially

LU 2
in the holidays.
Chinese people attach great importance to family. They are going to be reunited with
their families in many holiday. Especially the Spring Festival. " The evening before Chinese
New Year reunion night, wandering away from home must travel long distances to get home
"( http://www.china.com.cn). Spring Festival is a traditional Chinese festival. Before the
Spring Festival, many people who work in the field will return hometown. But I was alone
studying in the US. I can't return home during the Spring Festival. The United States did not
Spring Festival. So I have to go to university. The first year I can't adapt. In my mind Spring
Festival must with family. The first time away from home for the Spring Festival. I first time
felt culture so obviously different. Because I was in America I need to accept American
culture. Although the family is not around. I can with my friends. In this year, my friends and
I spent together Spring Festival. We cooking a lot of foods, and buy some beer. We ate dinner
and watch the Spring Festival Gala Evening. This year I feel better than last year. Although
there is no family together, but I have many friends. For my influence not only traditional
culture. Food culture is very different.
American food culture is different Chinese food culture. When we talk about American
foods we will think of Hamburg, sandwich, French fries, fried chicken. But when I arrive US
I think America have many different country restaurant. "Formation and development of a
nation's food culture there are two main factors, one is geological factors, one is the diversity
of human factors."(John) For the United States, the diversity of the human factor is more
critical than influence of the geological factors. Because The United States is a nation of
immigrants. There are many people from all over the world. Therefore American have many
countries restaurant. In China have different kind of Chinese foods. In China we like to buy
fresh food cooking. This ensures that the taste of food and nutrition. But Americans tend to
time purchase of food stored in the refrigerator a week, the daily consumption of frozen food.

LU 2
In the supermarket often see many local people to buy a lot of frozen foods and canned. The
nutritional value of these things is not high but very convenient. And Americans like to eat
with a fork. Chinese people like use chopsticks. But I feel a lot of foreigners also like to use
chopsticks. There are many Americans are very skilled using chopsticks in the Chinese
restaurant.
When we in different places we need to accept different cultures. Cultural differences
make us better to understand our culture. Not only in the diet and learning but also in the life.
We have many different identities. These identities may be caused by cultural conflict. But
we can integrate them together. " You embody multiple cultural identities and are a composite
of these." (Kurylo, 5) Everyone has a variety of cultural identities and each identity is not the
same. And some also conflicting identity. When your identity change culture is also different.

Work Cited
Kurylo, Anastacia. Inter/Cultural Communication. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2013.
Print.
Hoenig, John M. "The Canned and the Fresh: The Making and Remaking of American
FoodCulture."OviattLibrary.Web.
"Chinese New Year Customs." China Internet Information Center. Web.

You might also like