Culture Difference Exhibited in Daily Life between East and WestXU Yushi F0203003 5020339055ContentsAbstractionP2IntroductionP3Part I What leads to the culture difference?P3Part II How differently do people behave in daily life?P Section 1 GreetingP Section 2 Expressing gratitudeP Section 3 DiningP Section 4 SymbolizingPPart III What can we do to treat the cultural gap?PABSTRACTIONThe cultures between East and West are distinguished by a rather large scale. This doesnt not only mean the opinions or ways of thinking are different. Actually, how do people behave in daily life is also not the same, sometimes even the opposite. This research will show some of the typical examples.KEYWORDSCultural differences, the East, the WestIntroductionIn many aspects of our life, we often divide the world into two parts: the eastern one and the western one. The former usually refers to Asia and the latter includes mainly Europe, North Africa and America. We divide like this not only because of the geographical location differences, but also due to the cultural differences to a large extent. In the following parts, youll see such differences, from the causes to the customs of the two sides nowadays.Part I What leads to the cultural difference?The cultures of the East and the West really distinguish each other a lot. This is because the culture systems are two separate systems on the whole. The origin of the eastern cultures is mainly from two countries: China and India. Both of the two cultures are gestated by rivers. In China, the mother river is the Yellow River while the Indian one is the Hindu River. These two cultures were developed for several thousand years and formed their own styles. Then in Dang Dynasty of China, the Chinese culture gradually went overseas to Japan, mixed into the Japanese society and shaped the Japanese culture nowadays. Though a bit different from the Chinese one, it belongs to the same system. When the two mother rivers gave birth to the eastern culture, another famous culture was brought up on the Mesopotamian Plain - the Mesopotamian Civilization. This civilization later on developed into the cultures of the Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. And these two are well- known as the base of the European culture. Like the Chinese culture, the European one also crossed waters. When the colonists of England settled down in America, their culture went with them over the Atlantic Ocean. So the American culture doesnt distinguish from the European one a lot. At the same time, the difference of the language systems adds to the cultural differences. In the East, most languages belong to the pictographic language (see the picture below) while the Western languages are mostly based on the Latin system, for example, the one Im using to write this paper. Other factors like human race difference counts as well. But whats more, due to the far distance and the steep areas between the East and West, the two cultures seldom communicate until recent centuries. So they grew up totally in their own ways with almost no interference from the other.Pictographic charactorsPart II How differently do people behave in daily life?The differences are everywhere. They affect peoples ways of thinking and their views of the world. Even in everyday life, the cultural differences show up from the moment the eyes are opened to the minute the dreams are invited.In the following, Ill give some typical example of the differences.Section 1: Greeting Greeting is the first step to form a culture, because people begin to communicate with others. The individuals become a community. How do we Chinese greet each other? Informally, if we meet an friend in the street, we are used to say: “Hi, have you had your meal?” or “Where are you going?”. When it is the case of two gentlemen, they tend to shake hands. However, in the western countries, the above questions are just questions, not greeting at all. They may think youre inviting them to dinner if you ask about their meals. Usually, theyll just give each other a smile or greet with a “Hi.”. Theyll shake hands only in some formal situations. By the way, Westerners can leave a party or meeting halls without a formal conge, nor should they shake hands with every attendee like most of us will do here.Section 2: Expressing gratitude Think of the situations below. Your mother is busy in the kitchen. She suddenly asks you to fetch a bowl for her. You do so. Whatll your mothers response be? Probably shell just continue doing the cooking. After a while, the dinner is ready. Your mother hands you your bowl of rice. Whats your response? Probably just begin to eat. Thats what I want to say. In Chinese families, we rarely say “Thank you” to other family members for receiving help or service. Neither will we say so between good friends. Its such an unpopular response that if you say it, the counterpart will think you are treating him a