Kaiwen Lian
China and America are now the two most powerful countries in the world. People often compare China to an experienced older man, while the United States is more like a young man full of vigor and vitality because of their different historical backgrounds. However, the difference between the two countries is far more complicated. Although the relationship between China and America is much closer today due to globalization, their cultural differences still significantly exist in ideology, degree of formality, and diet habits.
Chinese people value collectivism the most in their ideology, but Americans hold the belief in individualism. The difference between Chinese and American ideology mainly exhibits from their different government structure, epidemic prevention performance, and working environment. China holds the belief in Karl Marx’s communism and has a powerful central government. Collectivism is an essential part of communism, which requires people to sacrifice their benefit for the good of the collective willingly. For example, the epidemic prevention of China facing the coronavirus shows the power of collectivism. According to the Associated Press (April 6, 2020), China mainly monitors the spread of disease through a green symbol on a smartphone screen, which also called “the health code.” In China, people are forced to use their smartphone app with health-code when entering any public area to identify their health situation. Any Chinese citizen with a yellow code or red code will be forced to stay at home to stop the spreading of disease. The health code regulation helps China effectively inhibit the spread of coronavirus, which shows that Chinese people are willing to sacrifice personal rights in exchange for great collective benefits. Nevertheless, collectivism sometimes may also lead to harms on individuals. In the Chinese working environment, the wage deduction of manual workers sometimes occurs. Leaders might make workers think of their work as a contribution to the country instead of pursuing money. For instance, the Huoshenshan Hospital, an emergency hospital fight coronavirus, was accused of wage arrears but local media says workers gave up their wages voluntarily (NOWnews, February 2020).
In contrast, the United States has a democratic government with the idea of humanism. Individualism is a vital keyword under humanism, which assumes that personal freedom is the most precious and worth protecting thing. For example, when fighting against the coronavirus, the U.S. government gave each state discretionary powers to fight against the virus themselves. Most states have imposed executive orders focused on maintaining social distance and staying at home, but the two-week quarantine is still not mandatory (Macfarquhar, Mar. 2020). The U.S. policy has tried to protect individualism, but it has also brought worse epidemic prevention performance than China. However, sometimes individualism brings Americans better results. For instance, the United States has a labor union system to protect individual rights, and any violation of labor law will bring severe legal problems to the company. It’s important to notice that the differences between China and the U.S. are not only reflected in ideology, but also some aspects of daily life.
The degree of formality varies between China and the United States in school, table manners, and conversations. China is a land of ceremony and etiquette, and Chinese people value formality rules in public. The Americans, however, are more casual in daily life. In China, due to the influence of Confucian culture, teachers and elders are especially respected in society. In school, students should behave formally, such as standing up when answering questions, to show their respect. Some Chinese teachers especially pay attention to this action, and if the students don’t stand up while answering the questions, the teacher will feel disrespected. At home, Chinese people also follow their table manners. For instance, if the elderly do not sit down, the family is not allowed to start eating, and the younger people are not encouraged to talk while they eat. Chinese etiquette also reflected in daily conversation. In the Chinese language, there are lots of honorifics. Chinese people should use “Nin” as “you” in everyday conversation to politely indicate any respectful person and use “Ni” to indicate people of the same generation.
Nevertheless, Americans care more about the equal relationship between people. Equality plays a significant role in American schools, families, and daily conversations. In American schools, students do not think of standing up as something necessary while answering the questions because they believe that professors are their friends as well as teachers. In table manners, instead of the elderly, the host is the person who gets respected because the host/hostess pays extra effort in preparing food. Unlike in the Chinese language, English does not use honorifics, which gives Americans a more casual way of talking with people. There is nothing right or wrong between Chinese and American formality. It’s all about cultural differences, just as there are differences in eating habits between the two countries.
When choosing what to eat and when to eat, Chinese people and Americans may also hold a very different opinion. In China, most people have a similar diet habit. For example, almost 94% of Chinese people have three meals a day due to Chinese long-standing agricultural occupation in history (Ma, Nov. 2015). There is an old Chinese saying about the eating habit, “Eat healthy at breakfast, finish with a full stomach at lunch, and not to eat much at dinner.” Obviously, in the past, daytime farming works need a lot more food than the evening, and this habit has gradually become a part of Chinese food culture. In food preference, Chinese people preferred rice and noodles as their staple food. In fact, the northern lands of China are mostly drylands that are suitable for growing wheat, while the southern areas are paddy fields that promote the growth of rice. Therefore Chinese people living in the northern part of China prefer noodles while people in the south like rice. In traditional Chinese dietary nutrition, carbohydrate always takes account of most of China’s diet. As recommended, the proportion of carbohydrates in the Chinese diet should not be less than 55% (Dietary Guidelines for Chinese, 2016).
The United States, however, holds a very diversified dietary habit. Different people from different regions converge into the United States and form a pluralistic society, and diversify is the keyword in the American diet. For example, Some Americans follow the rule of three meals a day, while some other Americans think it’s better to eat less and eat more. It’s all depends on personal choices. Similarly, Americans have no fixed preference for food. The cooking style and characteristics brought by immigrants made Americans have varied food choices. An American may choose to eat bread and milk for breakfast, a Mexican taco at lunch, and some Chinese Kung Pao chicken with rice in the evening. Although there is no consistent standard in the American diet, their daily nutrition intake is comparable in general. According to the FAO Statistics Division in 2010, the world average daily protein intake is 77 grams per person, but the United States has 114 grams of protein intake per person on average, which makes the United States the highest protein consumption country. Additionally, as recommended in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, people should eat “less than 45 percent of total calories as carbohydrate”, which is 10% lower than what recommended in China. In a word, compared with China, Americans consume more proteins with fewer carbohydrates on average and have broader choices about what to eat and when to eat.
In conclusion, China and the United States hold differences in ideology, degree of formality, and diet habits. Chinese people, overall, believe in collectivism, have particular respect for the elderly and teachers, and adapt to a consistent diet habit. Nevertheless, Americans believe in individualism, respect the equal relationship between people, and have diversified eating habits. It is important to remember, these differences arise from the different cultural and historical backgrounds of the two countries, and there should be no right or wrong between different cultures.
Work Cited
Associated Press. “Green Symbol on Chinese Smartphone Screens Allows Subway Travel, Hotel Check-in; New ‘Health Code’ a Tool in Getting Economy on Its Feet.” MarketWatch, MarketWatch, 6 Apr. 2020, www.marketwatch.com/story/green-symbol-health-code-on-smartphone-screens-is-part-of-chinas-bid-to-get-economy-moving-again-2020-04-06.
Macfarquhar, Neil. “Can You Be Forced to Quarantine or to Stay Home? Your Questions, Answered.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 Mar. 2020, www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-quarantine-questions.html
“China: Huo Shen Shan Hospital Accused of Wage Arrears and Not Providing Enough Masks; State Media Says Workers Give up Salaries Voluntarily.” Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, 19 Feb. 2020, www.business-humanrights.org/fr/node/203887.
Ma, Guansheng. “Food, Eating Behavior, and Culture in Chinese Society.” Journal of Ethnic Foods, No Longer Published by Elsevier, 24 Nov. 2015, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352618115000657.
“New Chinese Dietary Guidelines A Reference for Industry.” Edited by FIA Communications, Food Industry Asia, June 06, 2016, foodindustry.asia/new-chinese-dietary-guidelines-a-reference-for-industry.
ChartsBin, FAO Statistics Division. “Daily Protein Intake Per Capita.” ChartsBin, 2010, chartsbin.com/view/1155.
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