Cultural Differences between the East and West
As we all know, the culture in the east and that in the west are very different.
In value judgment, easterners hold the value of collectivism while westerners hold the values of individualism. As the way of thinking, western people think more directly, but the eastern people more obliquely. So while solve a problem, westerners would solve it in a quite direct way while easterners would more likely to detour. Meanwhile, easterners would show their emotions and opinion in a more tactful way than westerners who show then out directly. And for mode of life, westerners prefer live by their own while easterners prefer live in groups. When talking about interpersonal relationship, westerners have much more simply interpersonal relationship than easterners. There are still many different aspects in the culture between the east and the west. And among all the, the value of judgment is one of the most obvious and important differences.
It is known that easterners hold the value of collectivism while westerners the values of individualism. That is to say, in east, one should put collective interests in the first place. That is becau they believe one would not exist without nationality, society, family or other collective; so one is firstly a person in collectives, and then he is himlf. Therefore, the view of onelf in the east is tiny. However, in west, o
ne would usually pay more attention to the realization of personal interests, becau in their mind, the societies are established on individual. So, unlike eastern countries, the
view of lf is great in western countries.
In the past years, millions of people argue that the collectivism and individualism which one is better. They all had their own points, and as for me, they are all reasonable. In one hand, any one of us is living in the collective, on one can live without collective; and as a member of a collective, it is reasonable and necessary to attach importance to the congregate interests. But it does not necessary mean that we should give up all our rational interests, we still have the rights to pursue them. Only when our own interest against the congregate one, should we put the congregate one in the first place. In the other hand, it is right for the individualism stress the expression of individuality, independence, liberty, competition, and lf-achievement.
A society should admit individual value, so that, the whole society could exert its vitality absolutely. In a word, from my point of view, the two types of value are all meaningful and have their own pros.
There are many differences between east and west. Different cultures add a colorful element to the world. The cultural gap should not be the obstacle to the civilization of human being. It ought to be th
e motivation of our going farther. Besides, we can not judge which type of culture is better in our own point of view, becau all culture exits in its meaningful way: they formed, developed and exited in a specific culture and social environment.
