Contents 




Foreword…1 
Part I East and West 
Unit 1 Why Contrasting Chinese and Western Cultures?…2 
I. Ancient Civilizations and Cultures…2 
II. Cross-cultural Comparative Studies in China…4 
III. Imperatives to Contrast Chinese and Western Cultures…7 
IV. A Note on Some Key Concepts…11 
Unit 2 Traditional Characteristics of Chinese and Western Cultures…14 
I. “There Are All Kinds of Birds When a Forest Gets Large”…15 
II. Traditional Chinese Cultural Characteristics…17 
III. Traditional Western Cultural Characteristics…24 
Unit 3 Affinities across Cultures…29 
I. An Unexpected Affinity…30 
II. Reading for More Cultural Affinities…30 
III. A Note on Some Key Concepts…38 


Part II Cultural Differences in Silent Languages 
Unit 4 Time…43 
I. Time in China and the West…44 
II. Two Time Modes…48 
III. Past-oriented Societies vs. Future-oriented Societies…54 
IV. Two Time Orientations…57 
Unit 5 Space…61 
I. Spatial Language…62 
II. Spatial Language and Culture…65 
III. Spatial Language and Life…71 
IV. Changes We Cannot Afford…73 
Unit 6 Smiles, Nods and Silence…75 
I. Smiles…75 
II. Nods in the Intercultural Communication…80 
III. Silence in the Intercultural Communication…82 


Part III Cultural Differences in Thinking 
Unit 7 Intuitive vs. Logical Thinking…89 
I. Definitions of Intuitive and Logical Thinking…89 
II. Philosophy and Thinking…90 
III. Application of the Two Thinking Modes…94 
IV. Impact of Thinking Modes on Writings…98 
V. Logic in China and Intuition in the West…100 
Unit 8 Dialectical vs. Analytical Reasoning…104 
I. Proverb Preferences across Cultures…104 
II. Dialectical Reasoning…105 
III. Analytical Reasoning…109 
IV. More about the Two Reasoning Modes…113 
Unit 9 Holistic vs. Atomistic Visions…116 
I. A Detention Room Incident…116 
II. Prominent Attributes of Holistic and Atomistic Visions…117 
III. Vision and Cognition…122 
IV. Vision and Language…123 
V. Zhengshan Xiaozhong and Lipton Black Tea…128 
Unit 10 Categorizing Objects by Relationships vs. by Attributes…131 
I. Two Ways to Categorize One Person…132 
II. Principles to Categorize Objects…133 
III. How to Categorize Objects and Why…135 
IV. Impacts of Different Ways of Categorization…137 
V. Causal Attribution Differences Out of Different Categorization Ways…140 
Unit 11 Non-controllers vs. Controllers…143 
I. Too Early to Tell…144 
II. Why So Different Stances towards Life…144 
III. “Being” and “Doing” Cultures…149 
IV. Manifestations of “Being” Culture and “Doing” Culture…153 


Part IV Different Cultural Orientations 
Unit 12 The Introvert-oriented vs. the Extrovert-oriented…160 
I. Personality Types…160 
II. Personality Types of Cultures…162 
III. Effects of Personality Types on Pattern Preferences…166 
IV. A Contrast of Cultural Phenomena…171 
V. The Trend of the Introvert-oriented Chinese Culture…175 
Unit 13 Collectivism vs. Individualism…177 
I. An Embarrassing Habit…177 
II. Collectivism and Individualism as Cultural Orientations…179 
III. Collectivism and Individualism in Cultural Anthropology…183 
IV. Collectivist and Individualist Perspectives of “Self”…185 
V. Interdependence vs. Independence…189 
Unit 14 Femininity vs. Masculinity…193 
I. Gender Traits…193 
II. Feminine Chinese Culture…195 
III. Masculine Western Culture…201 
IV. Why So Different?…205 
V. The Trend of Cultures and Its Potential Impact…208 
Unit 15 Advocacy of Jing vs. Dong…211 
I. Introduction to Two Concepts…211 
II. Jing Advocacy of China…213 
III. Dong Advocacy of the West…221 
IV. Differences and Discomforts…225 
Unit 16 Implicitness vs. Explicitness…229 
I. “Half a Story”…229 
II. Implicitness and Explicitness of Language…231 
III. Implicit Chinese…234 
IV. Explicit Westerners…241 
V. High Context vs. Low Context…244 
VI. “Chicken and Duck Talk”…247 


Part V Different Cultural Standards 
Unit 17 Peace vs. Conflict…253 
I. Great Names and Different Cultural Standards…253 
II. External Factors and Cultural Standards…258 
III. Cultural Standards and Their Unique Products…260 
IV. Better Ways to Know Each Other…265 
Unit 18 Egalitarian and Inegalitarian Distribution…268 
I. Hate-the-rich Mentality…268 
II. Chinese-style Egalitarianism…269 
III. Western-style Inegalitarianism…272 
IV. Egalitarianism and Inegalitarianism in China and the West…274 
Unit 19 Good vs. Evil Human Nature…279 
I. Definitions of Key Concepts…280 
II. Human Nature and Education…281 
III. Theorization of Assumptions about Human Nature…283 
IV. Human Nature Theories and the Rule of Ethics vs. Law…288 
Unit 20 Rule of Individuals vs. Rule of Law…290 
I. An Unexpected Complaint…290 
II. Rule of Individuals in Traditional Chinese Thought…291 
III. Rule of Law in Western Thought…296 
IV. Rule of Law in China…30 
Bibliography…305