【Abstract】It goes without saying that culture reflects society. Recognizing the characteristics of Chinese and Western Culture is thus constructive and indispensable for the promotion of mutual understanding of the two cultures and their people. Amy Tan， as a representative Chinese American writer， established her position in the history of American literature with her maiden work The Joy Luck Club. The work，as an epitome of the conflicts and integration between Chinese and Western Culture，centered around the interwoven stories presenting the cultural misunderstandings between the Chinese immigrant mothers and their Western-raised daughters. This paper tries to discuss the similarities and discrepancies between Chinese and Western Culture from three perspectives.

【Key words】Chinese and Western Culture; collision; mutual understanding

【作者简介】杨济嘉，南京师范大学教师教育学院。

1. Cultural context 文化情境

Anthropologist Edward T. Hall proposed the notion of High Context and Low Context. A high-context communication is one in which most of the information is already in the person while little is in the coded， explicit， transmitted part of the message while a low-context communication is just the opposite where the mass of information is explicitly coded. Chines culture， by nature， is high-context and Western culture is low-context. We commonly hold that the Westerners tend to take the linear mode of talking where speakers directly express thoughts along a relatively set course while the oriental ones are marked by “indirection” and the ideas conveyed are sometimes developed “in terms of what they are not， rather than in terms of what they are”. Below is an example in The Joy Luck Club. That left two on the platter： a large crab with a faded orange color， and number eleven， which had the torn-off leg. My mother shook the platter in front of me ‘Take it， already cold， said my mother…I thought I was doing the right thing， taking the crab with the missing leg. But my mother cried， No！ No！ Big one， you eat it. I cannot finish. The mother tried to persuade her daughter to take the crab by affirming she was already full yet we could easily tell that she did so to let her daughter take the crab without feeling ashamed and uneasy. However， Westerners are relatively much more straightforward and plain in this regard.

人类学家爱德华·霍爾曾提出了高语境与低语境的概念。高语境指的是，在传播时绝大部分信息或存于物质语境中，或内化在个人身上，极少存在于编码清晰的被传递的信息中;低语境则相反。中国文化在本质上是高语境的，而西方文化则是低语境的。我们通常认为西方人倾向于采用直线形的语言模式，说话者沿着一个相对固定的路径表达，而东方人则以不直接为特点，思想常通过不是什么，而非是什么表达。例如《喜福会》中，当盘中剩下两只螃蟹时，妈妈喊道：“不不！大的那只，你吃，我吃不完。”妈妈坚称自己已经吃饱了而想说服女儿吃大的螃蟹。很显然，我们知道她是为了不让女儿吃得有所羞愧或不安而这样说的。西方人，相对而言，在这一方面，要直截了当得多。

2. Face issue 面子問题

Face——the public self-image that every adult tries to protect refers to the emotional and social sense of self that every person has and expects everyone else to recognize. Chinese people regard face differently from Westerners. Below is an example in The Joy Luck Club which reveals how Chinese， especially Chinese parents view face. A friend once told me that my mother and I were alike that we had the same wispy hand gestures， the same girlish laugh and sideways look. When I shyly told my mother this， she seemed insulted and said， ‘You dont even know little percent of me！ How could you be me？ In a gesture to sustain her superior position as a parent， Jingmeis mother denied their great resemblance despite the fact that she felt gratified to hear such nice comments. As a typical Chinese parent， she hid her inner happiness from her child and remained callous，holding that conceding the resemblance is face-threatening， which also manifested the mindset of Chinese peoples senior equals superior.

面子，即每个成年人都试图维护的自我形象，指的是每个人都具有的并希望他人意识到的情感与社会的自我认识。东西方对待面子问题所持的观点有所不同。下面举《喜福会》中的一例以示中国式家长们，是如何看待面子问题的。当精美羞涩地告诉母亲她的朋友说她和她母亲长得很像，母亲却仿佛被羞辱般地说一点不像。为了维护她作为家长的尊位，她抑制着内心的欢喜，拒绝这一赞美。作为一个典型的中国式家长，承认与孩子长相相像是有伤面子的，因此她将欣喜藏于心中，表面上仍是冷酷，这也体现了中国人的年长则尊的观点。

3. Personal values 个人价值观

Anthropologist Clyde Kluckhohn noted that personal value is the notion taken which a person believe is correct， and the very notion affects peoples behavior， choices and perceptions. The conflicts between collectivism and individualism，among other things are worthy of attention. To achieve harmony， Confucian thought calls for obedience to hierarchy and authority. On account of the profound influence of ancient Chinese culture， Chinese attach tremendous significance to family and community. They highlight the interdependence and the strength of unity. The Westerners， however， uphold personal freedom and advocate the value of individual struggle. In the novel， Jingmeis mom， insisting that her daughter be an obedient child， was driven by the notion that the success of her daughter could bring glory to the whole family and forced her to learn the piano against her will. Jingmei once retorted her mom， protesting that no one could force her to do anything and she attributed all her accomplishments to her own endeavor. Westerners attach great significance to the notion of ‘self and the compound words with self as suffixation amount to over one hundred in Western lexicon of which Chinese words fall short.

人類学家克勒克荷恩提出个人价值观是指一个人认为是正确的而采取的观念，这一观念影响着人的行为、选择以及看法。这其中，集体主义观与个人主义观的不一致值得关注。为寻求和谐，孔子思想要求对等级制度及权威的遵守。深受古代中国文化的影响，中国人高度重视家庭与集体，西方人则高举个人之自由意志及个人奋斗之崇高意义。小说中，深受女儿的成功能荣耀家族观念的驱动，精美的妈妈，坚持要求女儿做一个顺从听话的孩子并强迫她学习钢琴。一次，精美反驳母亲，称无人可强迫她做任何事并将自己的一切成就归结于自我奋斗。西方高度重视自我的观念，可见于以自我为词缀的复合词多达一百，而中国单词于此则不具有如此之数。

It is inevitable that sometimes Eastern and Western cultures， each with its own quintessence may collide;however， different cultures are not necessarily mutually exclusive and by no means could we judge them as superior or inferior. Only when we fully acknowledge and appreciate their differences could we lead better lives in this multi-cultural world. As in the end of the novel，when Jingmei hugged her twin sisters in the airport， she finally saw clearly her cultural identity with pride and affection ‘ I finally saw the part of myself which belongs to China. It is so obvious. It is my family. It is in my blood. And through these years， it finally runs out.

References：

[1]Hall E T. Beyond Culture[M]. New York： Doubleday， 1976.