Abstract

Family refers to the living unit of the society among relatives which is a production on the basis of marriage relationship, blood relationship and the adoptive relationship. Culture is a system related to the relationship between people and people, people and nature, people and concepts. And family culture is one of the important parts of culture. With the advancement of the step of globalization, China and America as the typical representatives of eastern and western civilization, the cultural communication is increasingly closed. However, the history, geography, culture, religion and language differences result in the frequent friction in cross-cultural communication. Different family culture will directly affect the social communication, therefore it is necessary to compare the different family culture in China and America.

This paper selects the excellent movie Pushing Hands directed by Ang Lee as an entry point to discuss the differences and the relative reasons of family culture between China and America in order to provide some suggestions of the development of Chinese family culture. The first part discusses the relationship between personality and family, and this paper refers that China emphasizes the family as a center, while America respects personality. The second part discusses the relationship between parents and children, Chinese families pay attention to the patriarchy, while American families respect the view of children. The third part discusses the different family education, and this part refers the different educational concept and view in the two countries because of the different family culture. The last part analyzes the reasons of the different family culture, including religion, history and patterns of family.

Keywords: family; culture; Pushing Hands; China and America

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-1

1.1 The Background of the Research-1

1.2 The Significance of the Research-1

1.3 Organization of the Paper-1

2. Literature Review-2

2.1 Definition of Family Culture-2

2.2 Study on Family Culture in China and America-3

2.3 Summary-3

3. Family Culture Differences in Pushing Hands-5

3.1 Introduction to Pushing Hands-5

3.2 The Representations of Family Culture Differences-5

3.2.1 The Relationship Between Personality and Family-5

3.2.1.1 The Family as a Center in China-5

3.2.1.2 Respecting Personality in America-6

3.2.2 The Relationship Between Parents and Children-7

3.2.2.1 The Patriarchy in Chinese Family-7

3.2.2.2 Respecting the View of Children-8

3.2.3 The Differences in Family Education-9

3.2.3.1 The Chinese Family Education-9

3.2.3.2 The American Family Education-10

4. Reasons for Family Culture Differences-11

4.1 Religion-11

4.2 History-11

4.3 Patterns of Family-12

5. Conclusion-14

References-15