Angela Wong

Group Members: RongRong Huang, Tina Huang, Sandy Leung

Chinese Comprehension
Dr. Liu
December 4th, 2015
Cultural Differences between China and America
1. Introduction
A culture is a way of life of a group of people--the behaviors, beliefs, values, and
symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by
communication and imitation from one generation to the next. It is what makes all of us different
from one another. While it cannot define who we are as individuals, it is a big influencing factor
in our lives that can dictate what we believe in, what we value, and what we do on a daily basis.
We decided to examine and compare the cultures between two countries as our research project
topic, in order to gain a better understanding of different countries lifestyles.
We define culture as an aspect of daily life such as religion, heritage, education and arts
of a group of members. We decided to compare cultures between America and China because we
are all Chinese and are living and attending school in America. We are heavily influenced by
western culture, hence the reason why we want to compare America to China because we want to
learn more about Chinas culture. With the comparison of these two different countries we are
able to see the similarities and differences between the two countries culture.
I find this very important to me because there are many aspects of culture that I do not
know or partake at home. I was born in America while my other family members were all from
China. There are differences in how we all perceive our cultural traditions and I want to be able
to understand from their point of view. Choosing to study the cultural differences between China
and America can help me differentiate how my life is different and what aspects of it is similar to
them due to my family influences.
2. Key Variables
a.
b.
c.
d.

Education: Top School Tuition

Religion: Christianity
Highest Paid Actress
Social Media: Highest Users

3. Data Comparison with table & resources

Data Comparison in Key Variables

China

America

Resources

Education: Top
School Tuition

Education: Top School Peking University Shenzhen Graduate

Tuition
School. (2012). Retrieved October 22,

(2013-2014) Beida
(Peiking)
Annual Tuition:
$4,000~$6,000

Religion:
Christianity
(2013)
87 million

(2015)Harvard
Annual Tuition:
$45,000~$61,000

2015, from
http://english.pkusz.edu.cn/index.php?
m=content&c=index&a=lists&catid=131
Cost of Attendance. (2015). Retrieved
October 22, 2015, from
https://college.harvard.edu/financialaid/how-aid-works/cost-attendance

Religion:
Christianity
(2015)
70.6 percent of
Americans identify
themselves as
Christians.

Lee, J. (2015, May 7). Christianity in

China. Retrieved October 23, 2015, from
http://www.cfr.org/china/christianitychina/p36503
Harvest, A. (2014). China: Christian
Percentage. Retrieved October 22, 2015,
from http://asiaharvest.org/wpcontent/uploads/christians-in-china/mapof-chinas-christians.pdf
Religious Landscape Study. (2015, May
11). Retrieved October 23, 2015, from
http://www.pewforum.org/religiouslandscape-study/
Americas Changing Religious Landscape.
(2015, May 11). Retrieved October 23,
2015, from
http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/ame
ricas-changing-religious-landscape/

Highest Paid Actress:

Fan Bing Bing
(2015)US$21 million

Highest Paid Actress:

Jennifer Lawrence
(2015)US$52 million

Best-paid Hollywood actresses 2015 |

Statistic. (2015). Retrieved October 23,
2015, from
http://www.statista.com/statistics/264476/b
est-paid-hollywood-actresses-in-2012/
Na, L. (2014, September 4). Top 10
highest-paid actresses in the world in
2015. Retrieved October 22, 2015, from
http://www.china.org.cn/top10/201509/04/content_36482226.htm
Jones, I. (2015, August 24). 2015 List Of
Worlds Highest Paid Actresses Brings
Attention to Gender Pay Gap. Retrieved
October 23, 2015, from
http://www.rsvlts.com/2015/08/24/highestpaid-actresses-of-2015/

Social Media: Highest

Users
Tencent QQ
830 million users
(2015)

Social Media: Highest

Users
Facebook
158 million user
(2015)

Facebook: North America MAU 2015 |

Statistic. (n.d.). Retrieved October 22,
2015, from
http://www.statista.com/statistics/268136/t
op-15-countries-based-on-number-offacebook-users/
2015 Chinese Social Media Statistics And
Trends Infographic - Set Up a Blog Today.
(2015, February 25). Retrieved October
22, 2015, from
http://www.setupablogtoday.com/chinesesocial-media-statistics/

4. Attitude Scale Survey with link

http://goo.gl/forms/KBLHDHLDLW
1. Do you agree that fast food is more popular in America than in
China?
2. Do you agree that Chinese celebrities can never be as well known
as American celebrities?
3. Do you agree that American popular actresses are better paid than
Chinese popular actresses?

4. Do you agree that there are more people with a college degree in
China than in America?
5. Do you agree that the standards of beauty for women are the same
in both China and America?
6. Do you agree that American college education tuition is too
expensive?
7. Do you agree that America and China both have the same amount
of religious freedom?
8. Do you agree that Americas SAT is more difficult than Chinas
gaokao (college entrance exams)?
9. Do you agree that America is more religiously diverse than China?
10. Do you agree that both Americans and Chinese people are equally
as attached to social media?
5. Attitude Scale Survey Result with table and link
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZvnYKpcZkqCV8qfDHeEv2gHcqePGbJauk3pQ7qq7Wcc
/edit?usp=sharing
Attitude scale questions

Strongly disagree

Disagree

Agree

Strongly agree

1. Do you agree that Americas SAT

is more difficult than Chinas
gaokao ()?

10

2. Do you agree that both Americans

and Chinese people are equally as
attached to social media?

12

3. Do you agree that American

college education tuition is too
expensive?

15

4. Do you agree that America and

China both have the same amount of
religious freedom?

5. Do you agree that American

popular actresses are better paid
than Chinese popular actresses?

6. Do you agree that there are more

people with a college degree in
China than in America?

7. Do you agree that Chinese

celebrities can never be as well
known as American celebrities?

8. Do you agree that the standards of

beauty for women are the same in

both China and America?
9. Do you agree that fast food is
more popular in America than in
China?

10. Do you agree that America is

more religiously diverse than China?

11

25 responses
6. Data Analysis
Our data varies among our responses, for our first question there are equal amount of
respondents who agree and disagree that SATs and Gaokao are more difficult. More respondents
agree that both American and Chinese are equally attached to social media. More respondents
agree that American college tuition are more expensive compared to Chinas. More respondents
disagree that America and China have the same amount of freedom. More respondents agree that
Americas actresses are better paid than Chinas actresses. There are equal amounts of
agreements and disagreements that there are more people with a college degree in China than in
America. More respondents agree that Chinese celebrities can never be as well known as
American celebrities. There are equal amount of disagreement and agreement that the standards
of beauty for women are the same in both China and America. A little more respondents agree
that fast food is more popular in America than in China. The majority of the respondents agree
that America is more religiously diverse than China. Analyzing all the responses, it shows that
plenty of the responders believe that America is a lot more different than China in terms of
money, freedom, publicity, food, and diversity. Maybe it is our biased opinions that our country
is better or that we have not experienced the life in China, but it shows that we view America
better in general compared to China.
7. In-depth Interview Questions
a. What do you think is the most different aspect between Chinese
and American education?
b. Nowaday, westernization is a very prominent process, how do you
think it has impacted Chinese culture? Do you like it or do you think its more
important to preserve local cultures?
c. Recently, China had a red warning for pollution, do you think it
will continue to be a problem in the future for China? Had action be taken to
decrease the amount of CO2 emitted in the air? How has it affected your life now?