Space and location: a glimpse of cultural differences between China and the United States
Americans have a strong sense of space, but a vague sense of location. When you walk into an American suburban house, the first thing you do is probably to go to the window to enjoy the scenery. Surprisingly, in the first idiom, you lamented your appreciation of the beautiful scenery outside the window. The host will be proud of his taste worthy of your praise. The distant horizon outside the window means not only the dividing line between the sky and the earth, but also a symbol of the future. Americans will never take root in a place, no matter how beautiful it is, because
Their eyes are always fixed on the vast space extending to the horizon under their feet-their doomed future.
Let's compare it with the traditional China family. The fence surrounds the courtyard. Behind the wall is another yard, and there may be an exquisite small garden in one corner of the yard. Once you enter this private territory, you will be surrounded by a peaceful and harmonious beautiful atmosphere. Houses, balconies,
Rockery bonsai, everything is designed neatly. But you will never see the scenery outside. Without a broad view, the only change we can notice in these courtyards is the alternation of seasons. The only open field of vision is the blue sky above us. China people are always rooted in their own land. When they have to move, it is not because they are eager to pursue a happy place full of hope, but for another fantasy that originated from them.
Religious belief.
The strong attachment to the land is rooted in the minds of China people, who are unwilling to be a rolling stone. Tao Te Ching, a famous Taoist book, describes such an ideal of peaceful and satisfying life: neighboring countries are in sight, and the local accent is faintly audible, but people from different countries will never know each other. From a purely abstract point of view, farmers in China have a relatively high status in society. The reason is not only their participation.
The "root" industries of food production, however, lie in their nature to a deeper extent.
The difference with unscrupulous merchants. Despite the disaster, they are still attached to their land and will never abandon and betray their country.
Nostalgia is a common theme in China's poems. American readers are often surprised by the sad memories that frequently appear in those poems, so that they can't stand them. To understand the deep-rooted feelings in their hearts, we must know that the desire to live a peaceful and satisfied life stems from the long-term suffering from war, family separation and drought and flood. The vagrancy of the homeless makes them cherish what they have lost more. On the other hand, Americans migrate voluntarily in most cases. Their so-called homesickness is actually a nostalgia for the innocent childhood that is gone forever. At the same time, the bright future is waving to them somewhere in the vast and distant space.