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Q: Can you explain your culture to a Chinese National?
You know what I mean. If you are an American, for example, can you explain American culture?
Can a German explain German culture to an Argentinian, and vice versa ?
We all feel a difference between cultures, but can anyone actually put the differences into words?
I can't.
you can't talk about:
bag-pipes and traditonal Scottish music?
the origins of the kilt and tartans?
traditional Scottish games - eg the Highland Games?
Famous Scottish writers - Conan Doyle, Robbie Burns and many more
The landscape?
the history: (eg the Highland Clearances)
the language.........
ScotsAlan:
Of course. But it does not explain why we perceive ourselves as different.
Greek soldiers wear kilts.
Every country has landscapes.
What is the essence of culture? Don't we all really think the same, no matter what we are dressed in or where we are from?
sorrel:
true it is quite an abstract concept, but you can identify things that are ONLY from one country, or were originally from one country. but the Scottish kilt has different origins from the Greek kilt.
ScotsAlan:
Indeed. It is the abstract I am looking for. Not the superficial.
I hope this does not become another China bashing thread, but rather an introspective thread that can perhaps help people see that the differences are not all one way.
We are all the result of different agendas. We have all been programmed from birth by people from what is effectively a different era from now. Many people on this forum are programming the future posters.
What is the core difference?
I think too many people are too critical of other peoples programming without being aware of their own.
Does that make sense sorrel?
sorrel:
it does,
question:
could all the culturally definable things such as music, literature etc be an expression of shared experiences that differentiate one group of people from another?
for example, Scottish people and English people have shared the same land mass for thousands of years, but are perceived as being quite different peoples.
With the rise of nation states, songs and ideas particularly defined (i will emphasize in the past) people's identity, siding with one group or the other: "we are all sharing and remembering this thing we have experienced"
I don't pretend to even get near the answer - these are just a few thoughts
Tell 'em that 'tossing the Caber' is a double-entendre ~ wink,wink
ScotsAlan:
Clockwork Orange was all about programming was it not?
If anyone should get the gist of my question it should be Alex 
I could barf everytime I hear the 5000 years worlds oldest civiliation line, I heard it on a documentary recently at home. Even North America has a longer history. 15,000 years go the first immigrants came to North America, today that tradition is still practiced. And people from all over the world want to practice this culture. For thousands of years music was only played on a drum while singing "A-ya", today every Canadian still ends every sentence with the word ''A"
KimOnach:
By 5000 years, they mean 5000 years without evolving. Sorry but they still beat anyone hands down on this planet.
jetfire9000:
Kimonach, are you suggesting that Chinese are un evolved and primitive? Haha ^^
I have done but whenever I try to explain to a local that I am Australian no one really believes me. Responses are always the same "but you don't look white" or "I don't think you are a real Australian" so I sort of don't bother trying to explain anymore.
Haha Iv never gotten the same response when explaining Aussie culture to Fijian's though (my dads Fijian). Perhaps the similarities in cultures help create a clearer image of what the culture is in their minds, and more Chinese (& other Europeans I have met in the past) need to go to Australia for themselves in order to see that it isn't a stereotypical 'white' Australia.
.. Jeez, iv gone off topic I think
Eorthisio:
I know an American girl of Chinese decent from California living in China, when she tells local that she's Californian they often answer "but, you are not blonde?", just how dumb Chinese are.
I try to explain what "normal" means back home. But most times, it makes me sound like I'm bragging, and I don't feel comfortable with it. I mean, even the most modest people live in individual homes, people say "hi" to each other, the loudest thing you would hear are dogs barking, most people do a bit of sport, we choose our mayor who's always a well-known local, on Sunday people go out for a walk in the forest which is free of any littering, even tho nobody cleans it.
expatlife26:
i know what you mean, really i think the biggest difference between us and them is that we consider things like that.
What is culture? I think it's like a recipe for a cake. Everyone has their favorite. Some chefs have their own secret ingredients. Maybe they do something special with the eggs. Baking powder or baking soda? What's that lemony smell? Do I taste the slightest bit of vanilla? As you can see, I'm not much of a cook, but we all have the same ingredients but with slightly different combinations and measures. Just like in baking, this can make a huge difference. And describing that difference between your wife's cheesecake and your Mom's can be difficult (and dangerous).
ScotsAlan:
Yup Xinyuren. A cake recipe is a good analogy to culture.
Membership of a certain culture should dictate that the recipe stays the same and is handed down from generation to generation. A collective culture for an entire country would suggest everyone is making the cake to the same recipe, and that the recipe is different from the culturally different country next door.
But that does not really happen in real life.
Hello Mr ScotsAlan,
Perhaps if you give them a few Viz comics, it might clarify things (or make it more confusing).
From my, albeit limited experience in Scotland, Biffa Bacon (Tyne-Side) is close enough to Glasweigen culture stereotype.
ScotsAlan:
But it's a long way from a Hebridean crofter.
And I should say I have as much in common with a Hebridean crofter as I do with a Biff from Viz.
This is my point, there is perhaps no single culture that personifies Scotland in it's entirety.
andyinshenyang:
Too much difference between Highland and Lowland Scots, not to mention the Western Isles. Then you've got the Scandinavian roots of the Shetlands and Orkneys. The same could be said for any country though.
The whole discussion about culture is tricky. It is such a fluffy concept in many ways. Sure, it is food, people in funny outfits dancing to traditional music, but it is, as OP says, also about how people see themselves.
To explain to a Chinese. I'd go straight for world happiness indices, green environment, simple design, trust, being able to walk up to a politician and say "YOU SUCK" without being gunned down, etc. Paying tax without lying on your income form, because tax helps the weak in society, pays for education to make the young smarter, thus improving the country.
In my country, we are taught to be modest, you will find that all (I think) surveys that puts the Scandinavian countries as the happiest places in the world, come from elsewhere than Scandinavia. People don't care about it very much.
Then I'd bring up how we treat children....
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21537988
because that always gets people thinking, sadly a Chinese person defaults to "Chinese bodies are different"
Of course something about how Scotland was once just a Viking settlement, where the brutal pagans of the north, pillaged, raped and murdered. Hmmmm, strange I would write this in a thread started by s Scotsman. It does however have great relevance as sea faring nation vs. very much not sea faring nation like China. Scandinavia is outwards looking, China is looking at it's belly bottom.
Sprinkle on something about how the pastry traditions came to be, what pets the royal family has, then you have my culture.
DrMonkey:
Hum, my poor knowledge of royal families of Europe. I though Norway does not have a royal family
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Royal_Family
Pardon my French Republicanism ^^
ScotsAlan:
I agree Scan.
A large part of culture is the interaction between individuals and society. And without a doubt Scandinavian countries lead the world with how society as a whole treats it's children. Scotland has been working hard over the past decades to try to emulate this.
I would say Scottish culture is similar to Scandinavian culture. And Scottish culture is also similar to English culture. But Scandinavian culture is not so close to English. A sort of 123, with one being close to two but more distant from three.
A good example is how the Norwegian Government handles it's oil revenues. It invests it for the future of the people in a fund. The English Government spends it for the moment.
Ok let's do it practically where I try to explain a culture about my country..
TBH !!! I failed in explaining it to the locals here...
"You just can't clean ur Butt with a piece of tissue..you need water to clean it thoroughly...."
this face closely represents the looks I got from the Chinese locals...
royceH:
No, it's this one.... 
or perhaps this....
It hasn't been my experience that anything can be explained to Chinese ppl.
One reason is because they just don't want to know.
Well something Joseph Campbell said comes to mind:
"This, I believe, is the great Western truth: that each of us is a completely unique creature and that, if we are ever to give any gift to the world, it will have to come out of our own experience and fulfillment of our own potentialities, not someone else’s." - The Power of Myth
I'd point out that the ideals of individual fulfillment and self-realization (not only financially) are what defines my country, that anyone can come and build their own life and fulfill their destiny from G*d. Ch. has copied part of this but only in the materialistic and greedy sense, with no ethics or idealism.
ScotsAlan:
I see what you are saying. But is this really a cultural thing or is it to do with a country's constitution that protects freedom and social mobility?
Let me explain my thinking. Your quotation is relevant to now, and maybe the past hundred years or so ( for many countries).
But when the industrial revolution kicked off in England while it was still pretty much a feudal society. There was no universal suffrage. Yet people from fairly humble beginnings managed to do things that changed the world. This happened despite the culture of the time being that the masses were subservient to the landed Gentry.
I reckon culture is very dynamic and is changing all the time. I think your quotation certainly describes a constitutional component of culture, but not the whole cultural concept in it's entirety.
sam239:
I don't know if you mean "constitution" in the legal sense or foundation sense; if the latter then yes. I keep on seeing references to Confucius, hierarchy, promoting "harmonious" or "orderly" society, etc., when people talk about northeast Asian countries so you could point out that a basic distinction is that we focus on the development of the individual, whether in terms of personal success or salvation of the soul.
Chinese culture nowadays? It's how big a house you own, the badge on your car and the type of restaurants you frequent. Money culture. In many of my classes, kids don't even know why they have Mid Autumn festival, Dragon Boat festival and the significance of zhong zhi. All they know is that it's a holiday and where they will be hanging out trying to be cool in western copied clothes (which became tacky after local modifications).
I'm from an Asian country and I can tell you everything about Chinese culture, why we pray to the moon, the door god, earth god etc etc. After 30 years of self exile, Chinese here have absolutely no idea what religion, culture and custom is all about. Some of the older folks know but when they pass on, all sense of culture will go with them. It's sad. Children will grow up without an identity, the only identify here is how much money you have. With what I see these days, I'd imagine Chinese culture would be dancing ayis, loud mouthed people in restaurants, spitting, sleeping anywhere, everywhere, rushing past queues to be first in anything, even for an ice cream cone at Mackers, craps the list goes on. But where do you find REAL culture? Is the current culture reflected in Confucius, Mengzi, Yuefei, etc etc? Of course not. That's why Chinese culture, the real culture will be lost forever very soon. What's left behind are relics of a culture that have seen better days.
ScotsAlan:
This is why I asked the question.
Lot's of people blame the culture for strange things that happen here. But I don't think it is the culture that is at fault. There is a subtle difference between Chinese nationals and others, but it's not all cultural. I just cant put my finger on it.
louischuahm:
The trouble is that Chinese here have forgotten what culture means, to them more money means they have the right of way, even with the law. That, is also culture, in this case piss poor culture, born of greed, deceit and selfishness. Don't you think so?
Scandinavian:
@Scots. No, culture is not directly to blame, but a culture of cheating and lying to get your education leads to a poorly educated population. That causes the problems.
I think it's too difficult to articulate the essence of a culture, but I try to make an effort to explain various aspects of British culture to my Chinese friends- also that English, Scottish Irish and Welsh culture aren't the same thing.
I found a pretty good website summarizing cultures. http://www.zompist.com/amercult.html
It also does China, and is very kind and sugarcoated. I once showed the website to my Chinese boss. He said he read the first 8 entries about China, and concluded that it was mostly wrong. I believed him NOT.
http://www.zompist.com/chinacult.html
Some of my chinese friends dont even know where spain is, they think that in spain our native language is english so before teaching history i explain where spain is located. It seems a little difficult to explain spanish history
