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Comparison of Chinese and British and American Cultures
Meaning of culture
In your opinion what is culture
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Lights up. What is culture, how can it be performed? Can two communities perform different culture but still define as same country? Is our identity mostly determined by culture or origin? As a Hong Kongese, these questions always bother me because there is no absolute statement to define who I am. Hong Kong (HK) is a unique region that mostly influences by two different countries: China and Britain. Interestingly, these countries hold a totally opposite social practice towards one another. From liberalism to communism, these political ideologies have a major impact on the foundation of a country, and how the world perceives them as a performer. With such a high contrast in cultural practice, Hong Kong finds its own balance and performs as …show more content…
Through the examination in languages, education system and political circumstances, I will discuss about the ideas that encourage this island to be independent, and how the community performs these social beliefs. Like Schechner states: ‘performance is a restored behavior with previous experiences or references’ (Schechner,29). The term Hong Kong represents the previous history of British and Chinese, in which the identity of Hong Kongese are deeply influenced by these two cultures. Before we get into in-depth discussion regarding to the topic, I would like to briefly discuss about the term performance from a Theatre major perspective. Performance not only associates with physical actions, in which the term could be decoded as vary meanings. Performance could be showcase through behaviors, languages or any circumstances. In any performances, my primary concern is how the audiences react to it. Regarding to cultural performance, citizens are often promoting social beliefs through mass communication. For example, media like television has a significant impact on manipulating the viewer’s opinion, and those accepted beliefs will turn into mass practice. Culture is like the circumstances in a play, it has various effects on character’s development and the outcome of the story. For instance, Hong Kong is performing on stage where it is …show more content…
Since there were possibly two to three generations being involved with this transformation, citizens were resulted with cultural disconnection towards China. Among all the aspects in cultural performance, the use of language is a major influence in defining the identity of Hong Kongese. Kenneth Burke once comments on language as performance: ‘Language and thoughts could be seen as situated modes of actions, in which every text serves as the tool to express one’s identity’ (Carlson,14). If language is the definition of who we are, then citizens in Hong Kong should be considered as British-Chinese. In the stage of national performance, Hong Kong introduces itself as a character who speaks both Chinese and English. This statement might confuse some audiences because of the dynamic between English and Asian appearance. How can a Chinese society associates themselves with a practice that belongs to British? Or is this island intellectually favors British over China? These questions always challenge my opinions toward the way I perceive mainland people. Are we intellectually related or just the appearances. As the later generation in Hong Kong, we’ve been living in a mixed environment of Cantonese and English since the day we were born. The first word that I ever spoke was probably “Daddy” or “Mammy” with the same pronunciation in English. Additionally, society also
The essay “Being a Chink” was written by Christine Leong for her freshman composition class at NYC and was later published in Mercer Street. Leong begins with the affect that language has on people, how it can define us, make us feel, and differentiate us. She recalls the first time she saw the word chink, one summer while working in her family’s Chinese restaurant. While dusting some shelves she came across a white bank envelope with the work chink written on it in her father’s handwriting. Consequently she was upset by this finding; since she was not sure if her father was called this name by a customer and he wrote it down to find the meaning of this word. Since her family was one of two Asian families living in the area, she was not surprised
By juxtaposing both the English and Mandarin language, Wong is effectively showcasing and questioning the institutional dominance the English language may possesses over both worldwide linguistics as well as individual’s freedom of expression; Stating we may need to break free from the constraining borders English may pose on an individual, and instead write or speak in any way we wish in hopes of effectively getting our point across. The narrator wants herself and others to break free from the strict dominant borders, empowering others to live a life filled with full freedom of expression regardless of one’s style of writing or minority
Canada, G. o. (2013, 05 13). Defining Culture. Retrieved 03 12, 2014, from Statistics Canada: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/87-542-x/2011001/section/s3-eng.htm
Chinese-Americans authors Amy Tan and Gish Jen have both grappled with the idea of mixed identity in America. For them, a generational problem develops over time, and cultural displacement occurs as family lines expand. While this is not the problem in and of itself, indeed, it is natural for current culture to gain foothold over distant culture, it serves as the backdrop for the disorientation that occurs between generations. In their novels, Tan and Jen pinpoint the cause of this unbalance in the active dismissal of Chinese mothers by their Chinese-American children.
Varma, Rahul. “State of Denial: Cultural Diversity as a Resource for Alternative Globalization.” Canadian Theatre Review, Vol. 157. January 2014. Web.
Canadian identity has always been difficult to define. This definition is essential in order to evaluate theatre in Canada. French Canadians appear to have no difficulty in establishing their own identity, both on and off the stage, as they share a distinct tradition. We, as English-Canadians, have continued to define ourselves by reference to what we are not, American, rather than in terms of our own national history and tradition. For English Canadians, this tradition comes not from the nation but instead from community and region. Because English-Canada has such a great cultural diversity, nationality and relevance to our outstanding values and attitudes must define the Anglophone Canadian identity, both on and off the stage.
These days, many migrants gather together and make their own small place to hold their cultures. Because their cultures are more a blend of multiple cultures rather than a traditional, they are different each other. However, even though a mixed culture seems like a unique non-traditional, it is as same as one strong culture. In the story, Culture is Ordinary, Raymond William says, “every human society has its own shape, its own purposes, its own meanings. Every human society expresses these, in institutions, and in arts and learning” (93). I have visited Little Saigon, Westminster where was a little town for Vietnamese immigrants. This little society has built unexpected strong identities by creating many Vietnamese business stores and other cultural materials. Little Saigon people have built and shaped their own strong mixed cultures and identities by accepting new observation and learning of American and other Asian different cultures.
In conclusion, culture can shape one’s identity but also confuse people. The perfect balance of mixed culture can be found with just some guidance of an adult, song, or even a girlfriend. Culture is a very important and individual aspect of everyone’s
Hong Kong has been one of the most prosperous cities in the world for many years. The idea of Hong Kong being returned to China was frightening many Hong Kong people in the early 80s, but the handover turned out to be a memorable moment for most of the citizens. Today, Hong Kong is no longer a colony of Britain and Chinese are holding most of the top positions in the government. Not only the political and economic issues have been changed a lot, but also the school system has. Before 1997, most subjects at schools were taught in English. Although it has been hard for students to learn materials with their second language, they have been pushing themselves to move along with it. However, after Hong Kong was returned, many of the secondary schools had been forced by the Chinese government to change almost all the subjects to Chinese. It is true that the contents of the books would be more understandable for the students, but the sad thing was that everything would be changed back to English at universities, which would course a pain for the students.
Who am I?”- Michael Ngo. This writing piece examines the author’s dilemma between his empirical relationships and cultural identity. Ngo concluded with choosing to stay rooted in Canadian culture and gave up hope in bonding with his original Chinese heritage. On the contrary, here is the answer in solving his current situation. It is a clarification in which strengthens his bond with his mother and assists Ngo in finding a balance between both cultures as a Chinese Canadian.
The quest for identity quickly finds its place in the construction of the notion of ‘Hong Kong-ness’ in films. The local cinema has remained as a powerful cultural institution, both reflecting and intervening in the discourses of alterities and selfhood. It is therefore not surprising that in local films, the cinematic representations of Hong Kong have been seen as inextricably interwoven with the triangular relationship between the British coloniser, the Chinese motherland, and Hong Kong itself. Since its inception in the 1910s, the Hong Kong film industry has enjoyed much independence from colonial control, yet simultaneously much association with Western culture. Many films openly deal with the theme of ‘East meets West’ in which ‘Hong Kongese’ identity is often expressed in "transnational settings" against the existence of a Western Other, in particular through the portrayal of Westerners visiting Asia, and vice versa. After the handover, "Hong Kong" as a geopolitical en...
The United States is a country with a diverse existing population today; this country is known as a melting pot of different cultures, each one unique in its own respect. Culture; differentiate one societal group from another by identification beliefs, behaviors, language, traditions, Art, fashion styles, food, religion, politics, and economic systems. Through lifelong, ever changing processes of learning, creativity, and sharing culture shapes our patterns of behavior as well thinking. The Culture’s significance is so intense that it touches almost every aspect of who and what we are. Culture becomes the telescope through which we perceive and evaluate what is going on around us. Trying to define the perplexing term of culture with varying component of distinguishable characteristics is difficult to restrict. Presenly, culture is viewed as consisting primarily of the symbolic, untouched and conception aspects of human societies.
I looked at common shared behaviors and peoples’ adaptation coming into the theatres from the outside culture. My main objective in this assignment was to understand their cultural norms and behaviors with both an emic and etic outlooks.
(Icosilune, 2009) Back in years, Western thinkers believed that they knew excatly what was and what was not a performance. ‘But in fact, there is no historically or culturally fixable limit to what is or is not “performance”. (Schechner, 2006, pg. 2) Schechner explains the difference between four performance categories, which are being, doing, showing doing and explaining showing doing. Being is an existance, just being who we are without any effort to do or pretend something. Doing is any act done in daily lives. Showing doing is an actual performance, when the actors act and represent the reality. And explaining showing doing is the theory, talking about the performances and commenting the art. He brings out the issue of the theory ´is´ or ´as´ performance, and describes how do they distinguish. There are some limits to what ´is´ performance. To qualify a performance as ´is´ performance, it must be said so in historical and social context. Any performance cannot be determined that it ´is´ a performance if it does not refer to specific cultural circumstances. On the other hand, ´as´ performance can be studied round about everything. But ultimately, it can be decided independently, if one considers it ´as´ or ´is´a performance. This leads to another topic, which is...
The word 'culture' is often described in terms of concrete ideas or social artifacts. Gary R. Weaver describes some common conceptions such as "good taste," "art or music," or "something that people in exotic foreign lands had."1 However, culture in the context of international assignments relates to how people perceive the world and the influence this perception has on their actions. It is culture on the interpersonal level. Different cultures can perceive the same thing differently, which leads to miscommunication and misunderstanding when one crosses into another culture not their own.