Chine Confucian values and American Christian values Culture is of great importance to a nation or race .In other words ,culture to a nation is what the soul to a person .Culture is developed in pace with history ,which consists of many components ,such as customs ,festivals ,food ,behavior manners ,and so on .The most important aspect in cultural matters is traditional value that instructs individuals how to do things and makes it known to them that what is good or bad .Of cour ,there must be different culture as well as different traditional values in different areas .I want to compare Chine traditional values influenced by Confucianism with American traditional values influenced by Christianity. Confucianism has so deep effect on Chine people that it has t the basic norms for the Chine thinking patterns .Confucius was a great thinker ,educator and philosopher of the late Spring and Autumn Period .His thoughts were valuable in conducting education ,government construction and the social life ,thus earning great respect from most Chine people. There are five constant virtues in Confucian philosophy which play great sufficient roles .They're made up of ren or benevolence ,yi or righteousness ,li or propriety ,zhi or wisdom and xin or fidelity .Most Chine act on the principle of the virtues .Benevolence tells people to have a affection for all things .We should keep harmony with others and avoid wrangling ,envying and injuring others .Without doubt ,we cannot do evil deeds .There is the Confucian Golden Rule：what one does not wish for himlf should not be done to others；what one recognizes as desirable for himlf should be willingly granted to others .Righteousn
ess demands the noble man to do the morally right things .One cannot sacrifice other's joy to make himlf delighted .Otherwi ,he will be called the mean man .Propriety institutes the standard of people's social behavior .Wisdom teaches us how to judge what is right or wrong correctly .Fidelity is equal to honesty which requires that one's deeds should match his words externally ,and that one's words and mind are internally in unison .Therefore ,under the impact of the five constant virtues ,Chine people attach great importance to he .There are many saying proving it .For example ,There are millions of blessing when a family lives in harmony .In the recent years ,China has been building the harmonious socialist society ,which is also affected by he .As a result ,China never declares wars on other countries ,always hoping the world would be in peace .It's remembered that 897 persons made a modelling of he with 897 fous in the The Opening Ceremony of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games .It can reflect that he is vital to Chine people .Confucian philosophy also attaches great significance to friendship .It's believed that a lone person cannot survive in any isolated way of life ,so Confucian philosophy advocates collectivism .One man must obrve the world and consider hid community from the perception of wholeness and humanism .When the collective interest conflicts with the individual's interest ,man must take the collective interest into
account in spite of the individual's interest .With the influence of Confucian philosophy ,Chine peo
ple are labeled as "we" culture .We must cooperate with each other in order to achieve the collective goal .In addition ,our honor and disgrace are linked with the collective ones together .There are quantities of sayings and proverbs which can be ud as testimony that gives support to Chine collectivism .Such as ,a lot of people to collect wood make a continuous fire ,one tree does not make a forest .All in all ,under the influence of Confucian philosophy ,the kernel of Chine traditional value are collectivism ,benevolence and he.
Christianity came to America in the 17th century ,and then it has brought great influence to American values .Christian ideas of liberty ,responsibility ,hardwork , ethics ,justice ,equality ,a n of choness and ethical mission to the world became the key components of the American character ,laying a solid foundation for the American Revolution ,Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution .One significant idea of the Christian philosophy is that people are born guilty .Therefore ,one must do a number of benefactions in his lifetime to save himlf and to atone for his crime .Only by doing good things can he go to Paradi after he died .In conquence ,Americans also advocate kindheartedness .In Christianity ,pursuing personal happiness and achievement is also highly valued as a fundamental social value；that is to say, Americans stand upon individualism .It can be a strong evidence that “all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable right
s”in the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson .Each of people has his own personality and freedom which should be respected .Nobody can impo his will on others .There is a story referring to Jesus's freeing slaves in the Bible .So under the impact of Christianity ,Americans uphold freedom and equality .In short ,the core of American traditional values are individualism ,freedom ,and equality.
There is a similarity between Chine values and American that they both advocate benevolence .There are differences ,too .Chine culture is collectivism while American culture is individualism .Collectivism and individualism make a full reflection on cultural diversity .They are no right or wrong .They have their advantages and disadvantages respectively .Chine people make concerted efforts to inherit Chine culture from generation to generation and to make great progress in socialist construction of modernization .On the other hand ,individualism make American prosperous .Values t the principle of people's behavior .And region is one of the important factor in determining values .We should respect all of them becau each of them is one indispensable component of the world's culture. REFERENCE:
A Comparison Between Chine and English Cultures
