中西方文化价值观差异对馈赠行为的影响-英语专业毕业论文设计.doc

本 科 毕 业 论 文

Differences in Cultural Values between China and the West and Their Effects on Gift-giving Behaviors
中西方文化价值观差异对馈赠行为的影响

学 院：
外国语学院
专业班级：
英语 083班
学生姓名：
王文玲
学 号：
080811309
指导教师：
王聿良（副教授）

2012 年 6 月

Acknowledgements
I would like to take this opportunity to give my sincere acknowledgements to all the teachers who have taught me during the four year’s of my study. Their excellent teaching has illuminated me and helped me lay a solid foundation for this thesis and my future work.
My deepest gratitude goes first and foremost to Professor Wang, my supervisor, for his constant encouragement and guidance. He has walked me through all the stages of the writing of this thesis. Without his consistent and illuminating instruction, this thesis could not have reached its present form.
Second, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Professor Gong, who led me into the world of translation. I am also greatly indebted to the professors and teachers at the Department of English.
Last my thanks would go to my beloved family for their loving considerations and great confidence in me all through these years. I also owe my sincere gratitude to my friends and my fellow classmates who gave me their help and time in listening to me and helping me work out my problems during the difficult course of the thesis.

毕业论文外文摘要

Differences in Cultural Values between China and the West and Their Effects on Gift-giving Behaviors

Abstract: The further global economic integration is often associated with cultural diversification. Nowadays China’s integration with the world has been intensified especially after China became a member of WTO. Meanwhile, there are comprehensive cross-cultural communications between China and Western countries in various fields. In international exchanges, whether official or non-governmental exchanges will inevitably have to give gifts or accept gifts which convey the emotion and sincerity of the people .In this case, the cooperation will be strengthened, and friendship developed. Gift giving is a common courtesy observed in many cultures. However, people of different cultural backgrounds，worldviews and values may inevitably encounter diverse problems and consequently misunderstanding and conflict may arise in cross cultural communication．The paper based on Hofstede’s cultural dimension--individualism and collectivism，aims to illustrate how gift-giving behaviors works and differs a cross-cultural values；specifically, in the Confucian collectivistic nature of China, and the individualistic nature of the West．

Keywords: cultural value; culture difference; gift-giving; individualism; relationship

毕业论文中文摘要

中西方文化价值观差异对馈赠行为的影响

摘 要：当今世界经济一体化程度不断加深，随之而来的是文化的多元化.如今中国与世界各国的交往进入到了一个崭新的阶段，尤其是自从中国加入世贸组织以来。同时，中国与西方在各个领域都进行着广泛的跨文化交际。在国际交往中，无论官方的还是民间的往来，免不了要馈赠或接受礼品，这种活动传递着人们的情感或诚意，使合作得到加强，使友谊得到发展。送礼行为是一种普遍存在的文化现象。然而由于文化差异，不同国家间的礼品馈赠习俗也不尽相同。不了解收受方的文化和习俗的送礼行为会产生误解与争议。本文从传统价值观角度和现代价值观变迁的角度，浅析中西方文化价值观差异对送礼行为产生的重要影响。

关键词：文化价值观；文化差异；馈赠；个人主义；关系

Contents

1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………….1
1.1 The significance of the study……………………………………………………...1
1.2 Aims of research…………………………………………………………………...2
1.3 Framework…………………………………………………………………………2
2 Literature review…………………………………………………………………….2
2.1 Culture and value………………………………………………………………….2
2.2 Hofstede’s valued dimensions: individualism and collectivism…………………...3
2.3 Definition of gift…………………………………………………………………...3
2.4 What makes a gift …………………………………………………………………4
2.5 Why do we give…………………………………………………………………....4
2.7 How to give a gift………………………………………………………………….5
3 Chinese cultural values and gift giving ………………………………………….....6
3.1 Origin of Chinese cultural values…………………………………………………6
3.1.1 Confucianism……………………………………………………………………6
3.1.2 Taoism…………………………………………………………………………...6
3.1.3 Buddhism………………………………………………………………………..7
3.2 Chinese cultural values in modern societies………………………………………7
3.2.1 The Chinese concept of “guanxi”……………………………………………….7
3.2.2 The Chinese concept of “mianzi” ………………………………………………8
3.2.3 The Chinese concept of”renqing”………………………………………………9
3.2.4 The interrelationships among “guanxi”,”mianzi” and “renqing”…………….....9
3.3 Relationships between Chinese cultural values and gift giving…………………...9
3.3.1 Chinese “LI” culture and gift giving………………………………………….....9
3.3.2 “guanxi” “renqing” face and gift giving………………………………………10
4 Introductions of western cultural values…………………………………………10
4.1 Individualism independent self and implication for self conscious emotion...…..11
4.1.1 Individualism…………………………………………………………………...11
4.1.2 Independent self………………………………………………………………..11
4.1.3 Implication for self conscious emotion………………………………………...11
4.2 The history of gift giving in the west …………………………………………....13
4.2.1 Early ages gift giving…………………………………………………………..13
4.2.2 Middle Ages gift giving………………………………………………………..13
4.2.3 Modern gift giving……………………………………………………………..13
Conclusion………….………………………………………………………………15
Bibliography………………………………………………………………………...16

淮海工学院二〇一二届本科毕业论文 第 16 页 共 15 页
ⅠIntroduction
1.1The significance of the study
With the advancement of economic globalization, the interactions between different cultures have been increasingly intensified．The further global economic integration is often associated with cultural diversification. Nowadays China’s integration with the world has been intensified especially after China became a member of WTO. Meanwhile, there are comprehensive cross-cultural communications between China and West countries in various fields. In international exchanges, whether official or non-governmental exchanges will inevitably have to give gifts or accept gifts which convey the emotion and sincerity of the people .In this case, the cooperation will be strengthened, and friendship developed. People of different cultural backgrounds，worldviews and values may inevitably encounter diverse problems and consequently misunderstanding and conflict may arise in cross cultural communication．This calls for our research into different cultures so that we can find out problem-solving methods and strategies．As the core of invisible culture, values are guiding people’s thoughts，behaviors in language and communication．The nature and structure of values has become an ever more interesting topic in intercultural communication．Gift giving has been a prevalent tradition among most cultures．It is considered a very virtuous and simple act of kindness a medium of personal expression of emotions towards interpersonal relationships．With the increase in cross cultural integration ,it has become very important to understand the gift giving behaviors in different cultures．This thesis studies the influence of cultural values on gift giving behavior. Beatty Kahleand Homers believe that cultural values influence gift giving behavior across cultures .Moreover, sociological and anthropological theory and research have also made it increasingly evident that the understanding of gift-giving behavior requires a sound knowledge of characteristic of various cultural values. As the basic structures of cultural values, individualism and collectivism respectively play a pervasive role in the eastern and western world, and are always the theory dimensions for studying the gift giving behavior in the cross—cultural communication．
Examining gift giving behavior from cultural value’s perspective can be a guide in the practice in intercultural communication ,and amplify the importance of knowing and acting especially on different contexts．For example，what and when a gift is expected，what people’s views from different culture concerning gift giving, and etiquette of gift giving ceremony, and so on. It is also helpful in our usual practice of foreign language learning and teaching. It can promote learners’ cross cultural sensitivity and raise their awareness of cultural values so as to monitor and adjust their behavior to cope effectively with those of diverse cultures and develop cross cultural communicative competence eventually
1.2 Aims of research
This is an exploratory cross-cultural study. In this study, the first objective of this dissertation is to investigate the difference in cultural value of Chinese and the westerners which provides basis for dissertation. Both the origin and modern shifts of the cultural values will be explored specifically. The second objective is to examine the differences in cultural values between China and western countries affect the gift giving behavior. From a sociological perspective, it analyses ever a ideologies which related to the gift giving behavior in different cultures．Here，individualism and collectivism are focused on and their influences on gift giving behavior are discussed.
1.3 Frame work
There are five chapters in this thesis. The first chapter is a general introduction includes the significance and the aims of the study; the second chapter is literature review. In this chapter, the previous researches on cultural values and gift giving are reviewed. The concentration of this study will be the second and the third chapter which deeply investigate the relationship between cultural values and gift giving both in China and western countries. In the last chapter, implication and limitation of the thesis are included. From a cross-cultural view, based on a comparative and analytical method, this thesis reaches a conclusion, under the influence of traditional Confucianism，the Chinese views include guanxi, mianzi ,renqing, etc have a strong influence on their gift-giving behaviors. On the contrary, the western individualism is highly valued. In western cultures, the purpose of gift giving is to reinforce all individual-based self-concept．
Ⅱ literature review
2.1 Culture and value
Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving. Culture is the systems of knowledge shared by a relatively large group of people.
Value is thought of as a basic component of culture as we have discussed in the definition of culture besides being considered as a cognitive part. In addition, the founder of cross-cultural communication, Hall holds that culture can be divided into visible one, and value system is the core of invisible culture. He considers the term” culture” in two senses: one refers to the visible civilization such as that manifested in arts, architecture, tools, and other concrete and tangible forms of human creativity and behavior(often called material culture); the other refers to invisible ideology such as belief ,value ,norm and other abstract and intangible forms of human creativity (the non-material culture).”Culture”, in its latte sense, has been targeted by sociologists as an implicit feature of social interaction. Culture is characterized primarily in terms of norms and values by functionalists. The concept of culture ,for instance, for Parsons & Shils, as well as for C.Kluckhohn,“was functionally equivalent to values”.Although each individual could have a unique set of personal values, cultural values, ”the governing ideas and guiding principles for thought and action”(Srikandath,1991), tend to permeate a culture. As functionalists assert that society is comprised of interrelated, interdependent and multi-influenced parts. One of the most important mechanisms that integrate these parts is the commitment of a society’s members to a common set of values and beliefs. These cultural ethnic or community-based values form the basis of that culture’s particular way of life. These are cultural values. Cultural values are derived from the larger philosophical issues that are part of culture’s milieu. They are transmitted by a variety of sources (family, media, school, church, state, and so on) and therefore tend to be “broad-based, enduring, and relatively stable” (Samovar, Porter & Stefani, 2003).Most important, they guide both perception and communication, and get translated into action. Thus, an understanding of cultural values can surely help to appreciate behaviors and speeches of people from different cultures.
2.2 Hofstede’s value dimensions: individualism and collectivism
Hofstede and Triandis contribute a lot for individualism and collectivism in value system. According to Hofstede (1991), individualism stands for a society in which the ties between individuals are loose: everyone in an individualistic society is expected to look after himself of herself and his of her immediate family. On the other hand, collectivism stands for a society in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-group, which throughout people’s lifetime continues to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.
In culture individualism is an “I” consciousness prevailing which encouraged competition rather than cooperation and personal goals over group goals. Every individual has the right to his or her private property, thoughts and opinions. These cultures stress more in individual initiative and achievement, and their individual decision making which are quite different in collective cultures.
Collectivism put more emphasis on (a)the views , needs, interests ,goals of the group than oneself (b) social norms and duty defined by the group rather than behavior to get pleasure;(c) beliefs shared with the group rather than beliefs that distinguish self ; and (d) great readiness to cooperate with group members.
2.3 Definition of gift
Gift-giving is defined as the voluntary transfer from one person to another without compensation. Gift giving is not only an economic transaction, but a process of high-context communication that conveys rich, symbolic meanings and is a medium for social interaction and personal expression.
In The American Heritage Dictionary(2003),Gift is defined as: something that is bestowed voluntarily and without compensation．Though this is an accurate definition, it is far from a complete picture as gift has complex meanings in our life.

2.4 What makes a gift
Anything can be a gift in some occasions. For example, if you visit Germany for the first time, you can bring the hostess a bouquet of flowers to show your gallant to the hostess. Then, a bouquet of flower is a gift.
Sherry (1983) claims that,“the transformation from resource to gift occurs through the vehicles of social relationships and giving occasions”. In Sherry’s description, the vehicles of transformation can be either a social relationship or