中国文化如此不同以至于西方人无法理解吗？ [美国媒体]

Is the Chinese Culture too different for Westerners to ever understand?

中国文化如此不同以至于西方人无法理解吗？



Shaun Lawson, I speak Chinese, lived in China 3 years, and married a local.
Answered 10h ago
There are three aspects (境界, to use the Chinese term) to the cultural conflict between China and the ‘west’, on the part of the westerner or outsider.

从西方人或者外人角度看，中西方在文化上的冲突有三个方面（或者中文里所谓的境界）。

“I don’t understand why you do this.”-Ignorance or alienness. Examples: Why do use chopsticks? Why do you eat dog? Why haven’t you overthrown your tyrannical government?

1、“我不明白你为什么这么做。”——无知或者相异。举个例子：为什么使用筷子？为什么吃狗？这为什么还不推翻你们暴政的政府？
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This three-tiered structure of difference basically applies to all cultures, as well as subcultures and even to individuals themselves. China is only a particularly alien nation because it is large, wealthy (relatively), politically isolated because of the nature of Leninism, and geographically isolated. Direct Chinese influence has been pretty much exclusively north of the Himalayas and east of Afghanistan until 1840, and China was not a truly active participant in global military and political affairs until 1950, and not in economic affairs until at least 1980.

这三个境界适用于所有文化，包括次文化，甚至适用于个体。中国是一个特别不一样的外部国家，因为它很大，相对富有，因为列宁主义而导致政治上孤立，地理上隔绝。中国的直接影响力主要在喜马拉雅以北和阿富汗以东，直到1840年。中国也不是积极的全球军事和政治参与者，直到1950年，而至少到1980年代才积极参与全球经济事务。

These three realms of conflict also do not go away if you study China for a long time. I will live in China for years and will still find things that confuse me or simply go against my values for someone who was raised as a liberal westerner, and other times I will raise points out of altruism, not because I think the west necessarily does things better but that China can do things better, and often does when pressed (most effectively by domestic critics, who often take considerable risk to do so). I am similarly open to constructive criticism of America from non-Americans.

即使你研究中国多年，这三个境界的冲突也不会消失。即使我在中国居住多年，中国的一些事情还是会让我感到困惑不解，或者有违我的价值观，毕竟我是在自由主义的西方长大的。有时候我会出于利他而指出中国的一些问题，不是因为我认为西方做得比较好，而是认为中国可以做的更好，而且在压力之下，中国确实会做的更好（尤其是中国国内的批评者做出批评时，他们这么做时冒了很大风险）。如果非美国人能建设性的批评美国，我也持开放态度。



Eventually, China will get rich and its culture industry will steadily come out of the doldrums and its martial arts, regional cuisines, video games and films, and works of philosophy will span the world the way that Japan’s, England’s, and America’s have, and the way that China’s culture covered all of pre-1800s East Asia. It will then be one of the “new popular kids” in the high school of nations, and will sit at Germany and Japan’s table in the cafeteria but will also still go out to smoke and play football with Africa and Latin America. Metaphorically.
Until then, let’s just keep doing business, trading essays, and not shoot at each other. And have both of us try to keep the passive-aggressive defensiveness to a minimum.

最终，中国会变得富有，其文化产业会稳步的走出困境，中国的武术，地方菜系，电子游戏和电影，还有哲学作品都会像英美日那样走向全世界，就像中国文化在19世纪前覆盖全东亚一样。我们需要做的就是继续和平共处，而不是战争，让我们之间的敌意降到最低。