Chinese Culture 1

Chinese Culture
Taylor Gentry
University of Kentucky

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Abstract
The purpose of this research is to provide depth and insight into Chinese culture, and to
show connections between the communication issue and in class concepts of this culture.
This research brings up the birth laws, how women are treated in the culture, and the
differences between American culture and Chinese culture. It gives information about the
culture today. The customs, arts, food, celebrations, and language. There is information in
the paper about interviews that were conducted as well as information from various
sources on the Internet. Also, some information from my experiences in my life.

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Chinese Culture
The world is very diverse when it comes to culture. What one country finds
acceptable, other countries could have a total different view on that subject. When a
person lives in one country and doesnt get to travel, they miss out on learning unique
cultural characteristics that other countries have. For this paper we were made to pick a
culture that we were not apart off. One that we knew little about, and then do research on
it. Not only were we to research it, but also interview two people that are apart of that
culture. This gave us more personal information that we could include into our research.
I interviewed a girl and a guy that are Chinese. They were actually both from New York,
but their families had moved there from China. The girl was the only one in the family
not born in China.
In the paper you will learn a lot about the Chinese culture and what makes it
unique. Also, some stereotypes that were made by people on the outside of China looking
in. I told the interviewees some stereotypes and got their opinion on them. I got to know
their background and information about their family and customs that they brought to
America.

Chinese Culture

Chinese culture is very unique. A lot of its culture has spread all over the world.
China is home to many wonders that make the country a unique place. China is the most
populated country in the world, they are one of the largest exporters of goods, and their
official language is Mandarin. Mandarin is only spoken by 53% of the population.

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Food Culture

Chinese culture is unique because of their ability to keep old customs in the
culture. When a guest or senior relative is at the table to eat, they always are provided the
best food first. When the dishes are being placed on the table, they are arranged in a
certain order. Main courses in the middle with the sides evenly placed around them.
When the main dishes are cut or prepared, they are placed facing the guest or the senior
members at the table. One thing that makes chine unique would be a chopstick. China has
a long history with chopsticks as tableware. Chopsticks to the Chinese people are not just
sticks; they reflect the wisdom of Chinese ancient people. In Chinese culture today,
chopsticks are considered as lucky gifts for important ceremonies and marriages (Chinese
Food Culture, 2014).

Chinese Arts

The most influential part of the Chinese culture would be its art. Chinese art is
influenced greatly by the countrys mystical and rich spiritual history. Kung Fu began in
China. It means human achievement. Also, the ancient Chinese were philosophers and
writers. The arts in Chinese culture are very traditional and have always been that way.
Chinese arts is a lifestyle, it isnt a pass time for the most part. They take art very
seriously (Zimmerman, 2013).

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Chinese One-Child Policy

In 1979, the Chinese government saw the growing population of china, which was
already one quarter of the worlds population, as a problem. The baby boomers born in
the 1950s were getting to be around the age of reproduction. If China would decide not
to take action the Chinese population, the country would become too populated and
would not be good living standards for the people living in China (Hesketh, Lu, & Xing.
2005). In my interview, both my interviewees were second born. Also, the first born in
both families were born in China. The Chinese One-Child Policy could be one of the
reasons why they moved to the United States.

Not only did this slow down the growth of the population in china, but it also
started to decline the amount of girl gender babies to be born. The Policy itself was not
the main reason. A male has many more cards to bring to the table than a female child.
He is able to preform heavy labor, inherit land, and pass down the family name. But how
can the mother decide what the gender of the child will be? In 1980 the ultrasound
become widely used, giving the mother a chance to see what gender baby she would give
birth too. The Chinese government saw the decline in girl babies and passed a law in
2001 that made it illegal for doctors to reveal the sex of the baby. Though this law was
passed, parents living in China would bribe doctors for the results of the ultrasound and
then abort the child if the baby was female. There were some exceptions to the One-Child
Policy. If the child has a disability or both of the parents work in occupations with a lot of
risk. A change to the One Child Policy in China was made in late 2013.

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Change to the One-Child Policy

The policy has been up for around 45 years and the Chinese government is seeing
a decline in the birth of girls. In late 2013, the Chinese Government made a change to the
policy. The Government made it to where if one parent was a single child, then they were
allowed to have 2 children instead of the original one. Since the change

Stereotypes

When you here Chinese person, what is assumed? It is probably assumed that
they are good at math or smart in general. This is just one of the major stereotypes put on
the Chinese people. When I asked my two Chinese friends if they thought this stereotype
was true, to my surprise, one said it was true and one said it was not. The girl said that it
is true because almost all of her Chinese friends are good at math. On the other hand
though, the guy went to an all-Chinese school in New York in middle school. He said that
this stereotype is definitely not true with a laugh after. After doing a little research on
this stereotype and just stereotypes in general, I found that this is not true. Not every
Chinese person is good at math. Although it seems like most are in America, it is
definitely not true.
Another stereotype was all Chinese people are the same. I think this is a
stereotype because some facial features are shared by a lot of the Chinese people. I asked
both my interviewees about this stereotype and they both agreed that this stereotype is not

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true. The Chinese population is very different in their looks and what they like. In the
Chinese culture there are an almost infinite amount of hobbies and culture things you can
be apart of.

Conclusion
Before this project, I knew very little about Chinese culture. I was able to really
get an understanding of how their society works and their culture today. The culture is
very unique and seems to have been that way for a long time. They have kept customs in
their cultures for 100s of years. There are many interesting customs that the Chinese
culture has. The art, food, language, and other parts that make up the culture were all
influenced by their history.
The stereotypes targeted at the Chinese culture were interesting, and at the time I
started doing research on them, they seemed to be true. But as I began to really learn
about the Chinese culture and also do some interviews with people apart of the Chinese
culture, it opened up my eyes to so many different things. All the stereotypes were false,
and for the most part, not even half true. In China, there are so many different, unique,
and interesting places, people, and customs that they have. Anything that you can
imagine and even stuff that you cant take place in the Chinese culture. I honestly wish
that some customs that the Chinese have were used here in America.
I am really happy that I was able to do research on this culture. Learning about
this culture gave me more of an insight of what is happening on the other side of the
world. The way they run their country is so different than the way we run ours. The

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problems that they are facing, although some are similar, are vastly different than here in
America.

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Bibliography
Chinese Food Culture: Table Manners, Dining Etiquette. (n.d.). Retrieved October 20,
2014. Retrieved from http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/cuisine.htm
Hesketh, T., Lu, L., & Xing, Z. W. (2005). The effect of China's one-child family policy
after 25 years. New England Journal of Medicine, 353(11), 1171-1176. Retrieved
from Google Scholar.
Zimmermann, K. (2013, April 17). Chinese Culture: Customs & Traditions of China.
Retrieved October 20, 2014. Retrieved from http://www.livescience.com/28823chinese-culture.html