Essay Example about Cultural Differences Between the United States and China.

It is the norm for any society to have a unique way in which they do their things. Each and every community has a way in which they can be characterized. This uniqueness is called culture. We can define culture as social behaviors and norms in human society. The uniqueness of a human society is usually a defining characteristic. Culture is the characteristics and knowledge that is held by a particular group of people. The components of culture include language, religion, food, social habits, music, and many other things. Every community has their culture changing as time progresses.

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What was done a hundred years ago is not what is done today although most of the fundamental aspects about culture are usually maintained and passed on from one generation to the next (Henslin, Possamai, Possamai-Inesedy, Marjoribanks, & Elder, 2015). There are cultural differences between one community to another. People should always respect other people's cultures and appreciate the difference that is there between the cultures. The United States and China are among the largest countries in the world, and their cultures are known throughout the world. These two cultures also have a lot of differences in terms of how they do things.

One of the major cultural differences between the US and China is in terms of religion. In China, they have few religions that are dominant (Henslin et al, 2015). They have religions such as Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity. This is in complete contrast to the US where there are hundreds of denominations and sects of religions.

Most of the Americans belong to churches and synagogue (Henslin et al, 2015). What influences religious choices in the US is a social class, race, and age. Most people will go to a religion that they are comfortable with and these factors mentioned are big influences on the choices. Religion in the US is mostly classified according to race. With a big percentage of the Americans being immigrants from different parts, religion is diversified in the country. The Black Americans and the Whites usually have separate churches in most cases. There are many congregations and denominations in the US thus it is difficult to say which religion is dominant. The US puts less emphasis on religion, and this can be attributed to modernization and civilization. On the contrary, China puts a lot of importance on religion and their culture is centered on religion (Henslin et al, 2015).

The other difference in cultures between the two countries is the way they communicate. The Americans are considered as people who are up front by the way they communicate with each other. People in the US learn and are taught about defending their ideas, and sometimes this leads to confrontation especially when one wants another person to agree to his or her idea.

This is very different from the Chinese who are people who avoid confrontation and will always look for ways to agree with your point in order to avoid confrontation (Bryant, 2018). This is referred to as saving face among the Chinese. The Americans are usually direct and literally. In China, people are not all about the end, but in America, the end result is the most important thing whether it will hurt someone or not.

Another aspect is how the two cultures foster friendships. Chinese love having deep friendships. Friendships in China mean having deep and social contact and they feel that when you have a friend, then you are obligated to help them at all times. A friend is like a personal responsibility to you, and you should make sure that you assist them in all ways(Bryant, 2018). This is as opposed to America where people seem to be more gregarious, and people don't love knowing each other deeper. This means that while in China friendships are built on trust in America it is not easy to trust someone. People in America separate their personal life from their professional life.

Chinese people love and appreciate communism or socialism. That is to say that the people in China love to celebrate achievements as part of a group, not an individual. Any achievement is seen as a communal achievement because the people contributed to it in one way or another. In China people consider others before they make a decision; they have to know the effects that their decision is going to have on others and not just how he or she is going to benefit.

The US people thrive on individualism and will always celebrate the individual (Bryant, 2018). The Americans can be considered as meritocratic that is they celebrate individual merit and anything that an individual achieves belongs to the individual alone and not anyone else. Individualism is what is given priority in the United States. In China, people are humble and laid back as compared to the United States. People in China will avoid talking about their achievements but in America because of meritocracy(Bryant, 2018). In China when you talk about your achievements you are seen as someone who is boasting whereas in America humble people are regarded as weak people.

The culture in the US and China have a lot of differences; this does not, however, mean that they cannot co-exist in peace. We have seen that they differ in terms of language, religion, socialization and there are many other areas that they contrast. What we have seen is the true definition of culture, uniqueness by different people.

References

Bryant, S. (2018). 10 cultural differences between the Chinese and Americans. Retrieved from Country Navigator: https://countrynavigator.com/blog/expert-view/cultural-differences-us-vs-china/

Henslin, J. M., Possamai, A. M., Possamai-Inesedy, A. L., Marjoribanks, T., & Elder, K. (2015). Sociology: A down to earth approach. Pearson Higher Education AU.