如何了解中国文化？ - 龙腾网移动版

Chris Ebbert
Fascinating question.

有趣的问题

Having lived in China for several years, and being married to a Chinese wife, I think my first impulse is to say, “don’t expect to ever fully understand Chinese culture.”

我在中国生活过几年，娶了一位中国老婆，我想我的第一反应就是 "别指望能完全理解中国文化"。

Not because they are so hard to understand, but because that thing we call China is a huge place, with a long history, and it would be wrong to expect to ever fully grasp what it means to be Chinese, or do things the Chinese way.

不是因为他们很难理解，而是因为我们口中的中国是一个辽阔的地方，有着悠久的历史，期望完全理解作为中国人意味着什么，或者以中国人的方式做事是错误的。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

All that hedging aside, I do think you could be pragmatic about it.

撇开这些不谈，我觉得你应该务实的看待这个问题。

Presuming you are simply trying to get on in modern day China’s culture, I would give you the following list of tips:

如果您只是想在现代中国文化中有所作为，我会给您以下建议：

1. Know your place; in China, family always come first. Then come relatives and old friends. New friends are welcome, but won’t be prioritized.

了解自己的身份，在中国，家庭永远是第一位的。随后是亲戚和老朋友。欢迎新朋友但是不会被优先。

2.Food is China’s unofficial religion. You will be asked “have you eaten?” in the same way you will be asked “how are you doing?” in the anglosphere, and they mean it. Never downplay the importance of a meal. They dedicate an amazing amount of time, resources, and energy to making, eating, and procuring meals. If you’re French, you’ll understand.

美食是中国的非官方宗教。你会被问到 "吃了吗？"，就像在英国被问到 "你好吗？"一样，他们是认真的。千万不要轻视一顿饭的重要性。他们在做饭、吃饭和采购方面投入了大量的时间、资源和精力。如果你是法国人，你就会明白。

3.“Saving Face” is everything. There are a hundred ways in which the Chinese can acknowledge or humiliate you, and it all boils down to small details like who sits where, when do you get to speak, what sort of dishes are served… if you can read that code, you know your place with them.

"面子 "就是一切。中国人有上百种感谢或羞辱你的方式，一切归结于为一些小细节，比如谁坐在哪里、什么时候可以发言、上什么样的菜......如果你能读懂这些暗号，你就知道自己在他们心目中的位置。

4.Negotiation; the Chinese will offer you a choice even when it is clear what you want. It’s one of the prime directives of China. The other person must always have a choice. That way, you may find yourself playing cat and mouse with other pedestrians many more times than you would in the western world, because one indication of intended direction just isn’t enough; no, you will have to swerve around fellow pedestrians in the last moment, because they will keep offering you options till the last second. Whenever I sit in a restaurant with my wife, she drives me crazy with the question “… or would you like THAT dish instead?” To which my retort tends to be, “no, goddammit! I want the thing I said I wanted the first time!”

谈判；即使你清楚自己想要什么，中国人也会给你一个选择。这是中国主要指令之一。对方总是有选择的余地。
这样，你可能会发现自己与其他行人在玩 "猫捉老鼠 "的游戏，这可要比你在西方世界遇到的多得多，因为仅仅一个方向的指示是不够的；不，你必须在最后一刻绕过其他人，因为他们会在最后一秒前不断为你提供选择。每当我和妻子坐在餐馆里，伴随着她的问题"......或者你想换成那道菜？”能把我整疯，对此，我的反驳往往是 "不，该死的！我要吃我第一次说要吃的那道菜！"

5.Final agreements are not final. How many times did we put a final signature under something, only to find ourselves reconvening over a lavish meal for a complete re-negotiation.

最终协议并非最终协议。很多次，我们在某件事情上签了字，结果却发现又组了一局吃大餐只为了重新协商。

6.Change your spokesperson, and you start from scratch. The Chinese build relations with a company or institution based on a personal, individual relationship. Take that person away, and you are back to zero.

换了主事人，你又要重头再来。中国人和公司或者机构简历关系是基于个人关系的。
换了这人你就得从零开始。

7. Wastefulness is a sign of idiocy. I have yet to see a respected Chinese person with a wasteful attitude. Economy and efficiency are the pillars of Chinese success, and those who are successful there will possess them.

浪费是愚蠢的表现。我还没有见过一个受人尊敬的中国人有浪费的态度。节约和效率是中国成功的支柱，在中国取得成功的人都具备这两点。

8.Nature is beautiful - but only few have a realistic understanding of nature. Instead, there is a highly domesticated image of nature in China, sporting talking, vegetarian cats, highly polished flower arrangements, and so on. The Chinese romanticize nature, but don’t understand it.

大自然是美丽的--但只有少数人对自然有现实的认知。相反在中国大自然的形象被高度的驯化，玩笑话、吃素的猫、精美的插花等等。中国人将自然浪漫化，却不了解自然。

Outlooks are strangely short term and long term at the same time. The business world expects fast turnarounds and quick growth, while politics and others allow for long time spans for things to develop.

短期和长期的前景同时存在。商界期待快速周转和快速增长，而政界和其他领域则允许事物有较长的发展时间跨度。

On the whole, I like Chinese culture. When you are there, you feel a new mellowness, surrounded by abundance and the dynamics of an old culture that is mercifully pragmatic and philosophical.

总的来说，我喜欢中国文化。置身其中，你会感受到一种新的愉悦，被丰饶和古老文化的活力所包围，而这种文化又是务实而富有哲理的。

Thomas Pauken II
BEIJING: I prefer to answer the question by explaining my life story when coming to China over 11 years ago in October 2010. Although I had lived and worked in Seoul, South Korea from 2001 to 2007, I continued to have very strong American cultural traits.

北京：在回答这个问题时，我更喜欢讲述一下我在11年前的2010年10月来到中国时的生活经历。虽然从2001年到2007年，我一直在韩国首尔生活和工作，但我身上仍然有很强的美国文化特征。

I was like many Americans in which I was emotional, a big talker, impatient, and a typical “know it all,’ who lacked the humility to recognize I did not “know it all.”

我和许多美国人一样，情绪化、爱吹牛、缺乏耐心，是典型的 "无所不知 "的人，缺乏谦虚的态度，无法认识到自己并非 "无所不知"。

South Korea is an Asian country with different cultural traits than the US but South Koreans are similar when it comes to the traits about myself I listed above.

韩国是一个亚洲国家，与美国有着不同的文化特征，但韩国人与我上面列出的自己的特征是相似的。

However, the Chinese are not this way and when first arriving here I had struggled to adapt to the culture.

然而，中国人并非如此，初到这里时，我曾努力适应这里的文化。

I had gotten so accustomed to being surrounded by braggarts, loud mouths and arrogant blowhards that I just assumed most people were the same, including myself.

我已习惯了周围人都是吹牛、大嘴巴，自大狂以至于我认为大多数人都一样，包括我自己。

I am Texan and spent a lot of time in the US East Coast so my close networks were people filled with confidence. A good story teller, even if you inaccurately describe yourself, will make you more popular than being a quiet person.

我是德克萨斯人，在美国东海岸待了很长时间，所以我的亲密人际网络中都是充满自信的人。一个善于讲故事的人，即使你对自己的形容不准确，也比沉默寡言的人更受欢迎。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

I recall my friends in USA mocking quiet, reserved types who were hard working and refused to boast about their achievements.

我记得我在美国的朋友嘲笑那些沉默寡言、矜持内敛、勤奋工作、拒绝夸耀自己成就的人。

We would say, “the quiet ones are the most dangerous” or “if you ain’t bragging it’s because you have nothing to boast about.”

我们会说，"沉默的人是最危险的"，或者 "如果你不吹牛，那是因为你没什么好吹嘘的"。

In other words, the Americans have a “look at me” mentality and we find nothing strange about it.

换句话说，美国人有一种 "关注我 "的心态，我们对此并不感到诧异。

So when coming to China I had huge “Culture Shock.” The Chinese are more reserved, quiet and very reluctant to talk about their personal issues.

因此，来到中国后，我遇到了巨大的 "文化冲击"。中国人比较拘谨，沉默寡言，非常不愿意谈论个人问题。

The office atmosphere is relatively quiet here, unlike South Korea where office politics and drama take center stage and there’s no such thing as a dull moment in Seoul.

这里的办公室氛围相对安静，不像韩国那样，办公室政治和剧情占据着中心位置，这里没有在首尔那种乏味时刻。

So when adapting to China it was very hard for me during the first couple of years. But I stayed here because I discovered a certain charm to the quiet ways of the Chinese. In the US and South Korea, I felt like when meeting people I was under a spotlight and under scrutiny.

因此，在适应中国的最初几年里，对我来说非常艰难。但我还是留在了这里，因为我发现了中国人安静的生活方式的某种魅力。在美国和韩国，我觉得在与人见面时，我是在聚光灯下，受到审视。

Americans are quick to make jokes at your expense and they do so by observing your quirks and different mannerisms. While South Koreans would insult you directly when spotting your weaknesses.

美国人很快就会拿你开玩笑，他们通过观察你的怪癖和不同的举止来开玩笑。而韩国人在发现你的弱点时会直接侮辱你。

But the Chinese I don’t feel like they are placing me under a constant spotlight when meeting them. In return, I have turned more quiet and do not feel compelled to entertain people with wild stories or jokes.

但我不觉得中国人在与我见面时总是置我在聚光灯下。作为回报，我也变得更加沉默寡言，不觉得有必要用天马行空的故事或笑话来取悦别人。

However I do miss the laughter and the story-telling in the US. Nevertheless, I have matured a lot in China and feel proud I have become more calm, humble and patient.

不过，我还是很怀念美国的欢声笑语和故事讲述。尽管如此，我在中国已经成熟了许多，并为自己变得更加冷静、谦逊和耐心而感到自豪。

To take a closer look at cultural differences between the Americans and the Chinese you can read an article posted by Verge. The lix is here:

要更深入地了解美国人和中国人之间的文化差异，您可以阅读 Verge 发布的一篇文章。链接在这里：

“In the United States, we value things like freedom and individuality. But Chinese culture is very different. Over there, individuality is probably seen as strange and even dangerous. After studying Asian philosophy as an undergraduate, I have learned that Chinese culture, in particular, places a lot of value on the good of the group. This group can be the family unit, the workplace or society as a whole. In America, we like to showcase one particular person’s experiences rather than the groups and we do not often talk about America as the diverse mix of experiences that it is.

在美国，我们重视自由和个性。但中国文化却截然不同。在那里，个性可能被视为怪异甚至危险的东西。在本科学习亚洲哲学之后，我了解到中国文化尤其重视群体的利益。这个群体可以是家庭单位、工作场所或整个社会。在美国，我们喜欢展示某一个人的经历，而不是群体的经历，我们不经常谈论美国的多元化经历。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

Chinese culture also has a different concept of privacy than we do in America. From what I’ve heard, it is common to speak about age, income and marital status while in America, but it can be seen as gossip or taboo to talk about those things in public. In China, it is looked down upon to show feelings in public, but in America we see that all the time (especially in Dorchester; couples fight on the regular).”

中国文化的隐私观念也与美国不同。据我所知，在美国，谈论年龄、收入和婚姻状况很常见，但在公共场合谈论这些事情会被视为八卦或禁忌。在中国，在公共场合表达感情会被看不起，但在美国，我们经常看到这种情况（尤其是在多切斯特，夫妻经常吵架）"。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

We should respect the differences in other cultures, because if we were all the same that would be so boring.

我们应该尊重其他文化的差异，因为如果我们都一样，那就太无趣了。