《英语专业论》word版.doc

Brief Analyses of the Differences of Table Manners between China and the West1. IntroductionWith the continuous deepening of fusion all over the world. There have more and more attention to manners between west people and east people. Especially the importance of table manners is more highlighted. Finally, we can make the conclusion through the table manners .The differences on connotation of culture、thinking methods and the value systems are the main reason why there have differences on table manners between the west and the east . Chinese table manners have a long history. It is documented that at least in the Zhou dynasty, table manners has already established a set of quite perfect system. It became the important content that the coming dynasties display their civilizations especially after the Confucius highly praised. Western table manners originated from French Merovingian dynasty. Inspired by Byzantine culture, they formulated a series of meticulous manners. Intercultural comparative study is the basic method to study table manners. The culture matrix of human is mutual. The differences between Chinese and western culture is historical rather than natural. A natural and local diet culture is often the concentration of culture in this area. China and western countries is different from the diet viewpoints, attitudes, contents, characteristics and so on. Reveal these differences and internal reasons are well for help to cross generation gap and to promote cultural fusion worldwide.2. Cultural Orientations 2.1 life stylesThe differences between west culture and east culture make the difference of life styles. Among of these life styles, diet is a part of the representative point. So the two diet cultures developing in their own ways. In China, the diet has risen to an important thing that almost beyond all other material form and spiritual form. This is also reflected in all aspects of peoples daily life, such as the words “have you eaten?” Since learning English, you know that it is not always easy to communicate well with a foreigner, or in intercultural communication. Intercultural communication usually takes place between individuals or in reasonably small groups between people of different cultures. Sometimes, this happens in your own country, especially since the majority Han culture is complemented by 55 other minorities in China. The United States is a multicultural country and there are now more minorities in Hawaii and California, plus many big cities, than main stream white Americans. Often it happens that you will meet someone from another country. This is occurring more and more in China because of international tourism. There are 100,000 foreigners living in Beijing alone. There are many other foreigners living in different parts of China. This increase the chance that you will meet them casually. Many universities and private language schools, such as New Oriental, also have foreign teachers. This increase the chance that you will not only meet foreigners, but that you will also be taught by one. Perhaps you will become friends as well with foreigners. Just as we dont become friends with everyone from our own society that we meet, and in fact might not like everyone we meet from our own culture, this is also true in intercultural communication.Study the differences between Chinese and western diet culture can help us understand the western ethnic food characteristics, and summarized our own diet characteristics at the same time. Absorbing all scientific concept of advanced and improves our culture and eating quality. Meanwhile, by this summary and research, we can bring honor to the Chinese excellent food culture tradition, updated and developed constantly.2.2 food and cuisineAs we all know, China enjoys a good reputation for its plentiful and splendid cuisine. So farm China has developed four major cuisine groups, based on the localities of their origins: Su (Su Zhou, Yang Zhou and Hang Zhou). In addition, since ancient times, the Chinese have employed many cooking methods, such as braising, boiling, braising with soy sauce, roasting, baking, grilling, scalding, deep-frying, steaming, drying, salt-preserving, etc. Thus, one common feature among these cuisine groups or systems is the emphasis on exquisiteness, which leads to the inclination of artistry in Chinese cuisine making. That is to say, cuisine making is a creative art and demands the co-presence of color, fragrance and taste. A finely designed cuisine gives customers not only the good taste, but also a visual, and even auditory enjoyment to arouse their appetite. Confucius once pointed out, “He did not dislike to have his rice finely cleaned, nor to have his meat finely minced” His statement actually represents Chinese peoples awareness of exquisiteness and it is a vivid summary of the internal quality of Chinese cuisine, too.Meanwhile, the taste, another essential feature of Chinese cuisine, is also stressed Chinese people do not mind the nutrition of the food as mush as its taste. Savoring food is more important to them. According to the dictionary of Shuo Wen Jie Zi( 说文解字), the Chinese character “美” is composed of “羊” and “大”，which means the aesthetic perception of Chinese people originates from the sense of taste. Only after eating the savoring lamb, can people really experience “美”. In other words, for a Chinese, having a tasty feast is the happiest thing in the world. In his book the Importance of Living, Lin Yutang expresses his brilliant exposition, “How a Chinese spirit glows over a good feast! How apt is he to cry out that life is beautiful when his stomach and his intestines are well-filled. From this well-filled stomach suffuses and radiates a happiness that is spiritualThe Chinese idea of happiness is, as I have noted elsewhere, being warm, well-filled, dark and sweet referring to the condition of going to a bed after a good supper. It is for this reason that a Chinese poet says, A well-filled stomach is indeed a great thing; all else is luxury” (Lin, 1998:45).In the 1900s many movies reflecting the fundamental food culture in China were shot in Hong Kong. One of the most representative films is the Full Set of Manchu & Han Dishes, in which the exquisiteness of cuisine together with those incredible cooking skills compels all the audience to full admiration. Although the movie is of a little exaggeration, undoubtedly, the exquisiteness and the taste in Chinese cuisine are widely recognized around the world.Food, reflected by regional characters，climate environment and customer behaviors, etc, different from materials, flavor and cuisine in some certain means. Besides, the dietary cultures of China and the West really distinguish each other a lot due to their different cultural orientations. Someone mentioned that the dominant culture of a society may impose its views on individuals and cause changes in their different diet concepts. The importance of food in understanding human culture lies precisely in its infinite variability that is not essential for species survival. For survival needs, all men everywhere could eat the same food, to be measured only in calories, fats, carbohydrates, proteins, and vitamins. However, people of different cultural backgrounds eat differently.Nobody will deny that the Western diet is a rational and science-fastidious diet idea, regardless of the color of food, incense, taste and shape, but nutrition must be assured. It cares about the intake of calories, vitamins, protein and so on during a day. Compared to the Chinese diet, western diet tastes stereotyped, as simple as chewing the candle, but the sense tells them: We must eat them all because of the nutrition. And then they put it bluntly, just like refueling machine. Americans want their food to be quick, convenient, and cheap, regardless of buying it at a supermarket or a local fast-food shop. Though the food and wine are important, actually that is a setoff. The purpose of the party is making friends and they make friends by chatting with their neighbor, which also represents Americans personality and respect.2.3 culturesChinese diet emphasizes the sensibility and artistry, and pursues the gustatory enjoyment. When people eat dishes, they often say this dish is delicious, and that dish is not delicious, which has been cultivated and refined far from ancient until now. Chinese cooking method is to reconcile, and the ultimate goal is to reconcile out of a beautiful taste. The main stress is focused on the degree of the wonderful flavor and harmony of dish. The ever-changing within degrees decides the changeable of Chinese food, and it also decides the characteristics of Chinese food as well as the characteristics on each of the chefs. For example, similar dishes, because of the differences in area, season, target, function and grade, it has different treatments on operation. Moreover, Chinas cuisine is taste. The Chinese cooking in materials has shown tremendous arbitrariness: facing the real simple materials, the cooks are often able to produce delicious flavors. It is the arbitrariness of skills. In the surface, the menu seems to be scientific. Westerners always use menu to buy ingredients to produce dishes, but in comparison, it is the machinery, and often powerless facing the complex specific situation. Of course, this mechanical science is still can be said as science, but it is primitive science, and it is not the complete science. Chinese cuisine is evident in the wide use of materials. Historically, the United States has been viewed as “the land of opportunity”, attracting immigrants from all over the world. The opportunities they believed they would find in America and the experiences they actually had when they arrived nurtured a set of traditional American values: individual freedom, self-reliance, equality of opportunity, competition, material wealth, and hard work, which do not tell the whole story of their character. Probably the most basic of all the American values is that they created a climate of freedom where the emphasis was on the individual by limiting the power of the government. We know that cultures in different countries differ so great that sometimes they even conflict each other. Almost every aspect of peoples values, no matter big or trivial, can be a mirror of culture. As a result, individualism and collectivism becomes an important aspect to develop more effective intercultural communication. Collectivism stands for a society in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong cohesive in groups, which throughout peoples lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. While Americans like the strong belief that “Everyone is expected to look after themselves only. and “They owe nothing to any man; they expect nothing from any man; they acquire the habit of always considering themselves as standing alone, and they are apt to imagine that they whole destiny is in their own hands.” Here is the comparison on the obvious characters.As a common saying goes, there are four luxuries in ones life: American salary, an English house, a Japanese wife and Chinese food. Chinese cuisine is regarded as a great wonder of collection of cooking skills in foreign peoples eyes. It is self-evident that Chinese food has a very good reputation both at home and abroad. Chinese food is known for its variety and abundance of ingredients, condiments, and culinary methods. Modern science civilization in western countries has made a great influence on the forming of western culinary custom. Due to the developed science in the West, analyzing the composition content of the food, grasping concrete requirement to nutrition, it is just a piece of cake. Westerners pay attention to what nutrition does it have, what energy can be produced at first, taste and flavor is less important. If heating and cooking will cause nutrition losses, then even half cooking and eat simply. Westerners regard diet as a kind of science, paying attention to the culinary function with the realistic attitude. All the English are interested in is how to strengthen themselves against influenza, as with Bovril, and save the doctors bills.For many people, mentioned to American food, all are hamburger, hot dog, fried chicken and pizza. If you like dessert, apple pie or chocolate chip cookies may come to your mind immediately. In fact, Americans do eat those things, but are those the only kind of vittles you can find in America? Except for Thanksgiving turkey, its hard to find a typically American food. The United States is a land of immigrants. So Americans eat food from many different countries. When people move to America, they bring their cooking styles with them. Thats why you can find almost every kind of ethnic food in America. In some cases, Americans have adopted foods from other countries as favorites. Americans love Italian pizza, Mexican tacos and Chinese egg rolls. But the American version doesnt taste quite like the original! Theres a reason why the term “melting pot” has been such an apt description of the American experience. They like to accept new ideas as quickly as they can because they have the courage to challenge the tradition and the authority.The art of Chinese cuisine is compatible with the development of human history in the process, more scientific than the progress of the western diet. As Zhang Gijon in his work Cooking Principles said: “The United States is unprecedented least affluent society, but till today, in essence it is still food to eat stage. There are still some distances from entering the realm of art.” In China, The role of diet goes beyond the subsistence of existence, which is designed not only to have the physical presence, but also to meet peoples spiritual needs for pleasure. It is positive to enrich peoples life performance, and fine arts, music, literature, etc. which have the same level of significance to the improvement of life. Different selection from categories, with different arrangement and different culinary methods can make diverse dishes. Then the first step to process selected ingredients involves the skills of using knives, for instance, cutting, slicing, shredding, filleting, dicing, cubing, grinding, mashing, mincing, peeling or skinning, boning, scaling, carving and shelling. After the extensive process the next step is to cook. 3. Comparison on the differences of table manners between China and western countries3.1. Time Concepts Americans tend to be punctual while the Chinese is opposite. Thats because in intercultural communication encounters, ours and the other persons concepts of time may influence our communication behavior. Meetings in China begin when everyone is ready. A 45-minute wait may not unusual for a business appointment in China. Unlike Chinese people, Americans tend to follow precise scheduling. Once the time is set, it is rarely changed, and people should take it seriously. Usually everyone is suppose to arrive on time when attending a formal banquet or meeting appointments. Sometimes, it is also acceptable that people can be little later, but no more than 10 minutes; otherwise his behavior will be regarded as inappropriate or insulting to both the host and other guests. In America, if someone is late for 20 minutes, he has to mumble some apologies. And if he is late more than 30 minutes, he is thought to be impolite or to have met some emergencies. The ensuing conversation between the Chinese and the United States businessperson is likely to be evaluated negatively because of misunderstanding between the two cultural clocks. Americans always think of time as a road or long ribbon stretched out in a progressive linear path, having a beginning and an end. They also believe that this road has segments, which should be kept separate from one another, its to say that they prefer doing one thing at a time. Whats more, Americans consider time is quite precious as money because of their fast-pace movement. While China move smoothly and quietly. In general, Americans feel that time is a commodity, something to be used, bought, wasted, saved, spent, and in other ways manipulated. Therefore, appointments and schedules are very important to them. When they accept an invitation, they would try their best not to be late, but they also dont go early to the inviters, as this is considered to be impolite, and it seems to disturb the inviters preparation. By contrast, Chinese culture considers time more flexibly. We should also not be late for the inviters. However, in order to show our thanks and politeness, we would go to the inviters house to help them prepare the meals and then we will have a happy time together.Punctuality seems to be a universal concept to everyone. However, just like other issues discussed in cross-cultural communication, the perception and use of time in different countries are culturally based. In other words, cultures vary widely in their conception of time. Even within the same culture, the conception can vary with different activities. Edward T. Hall, who is well-known for his discussion of time across cultures, proposes that cultures organize time in one or two ways: either monochromic (M-time) or polychromic (P-time) (Hall, 1989:46). He also points out that M-time is the characteristic of people from Western countries in Europe and America, while P-time is the characteristic of people from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Meanwhile, Hall maintains that the two orientations are incompatible. Therefore, misunderstandings or conflicts may occur between people from M-time and P-time cultures, as Hall vividly describes, “Particularly distressing to Americans is the way in which appointments are handled by polychromic people. Being on time simply doesnt mean the same thing as it does i