Student Essay on Similarities & Differences between Chinese & American Culture

Similarities & Differences between Chinese & American Culture

Essay

Culture is defined as the symbols, values, material artifacts, and rules of behavior that a society or group collectively creates and uses. This movie was about a Chinese family that was falsely accused of child abuse in America.

Some of the similarities that I noticed in this movie are:

Both children enjoy playing video games
Families share similar family morals
Read to children at bed time
Bed time stories have a lesson to be learned in them
Care for their children with their "all"
Father & mother's love for their children
Parents only want the best for their children and all of their dreams to come true
Parents work together for the well being of their children
Parents will risk their life for their children
Parents will lie to their children to protect them

All of these similarities can be seen in families from different cultures. Just because a family is from a different culture doesn't mean they don't share some cultural similarities.

Some of the differences that I noticed in this movie are:

Different forms of child discipline
The Chinese smoke while eating their meal
People from the Chinese culture eat their meals with chopsticks
People from the Chinese culture place their food in the middle of the table and they all share from the same dish and put it in their own dish.
Chinese culture has different forms of medication and treatments for illnesses
People from the Chinese culture are extremely protective of their families
The Chinese culture believe in "honor" and incorporate it into everything they do
People from the Chinese culture express their emotions much differently (they hide and control their emotions)
Everything in the Chinese culture involves respect (of people, objects, language, and beliefs)
Chinese people feel they will be treated unfairly in America because of the cultural differences.