Cultural Differences and Integration between China and the West in A Grandson from America

【Abstract】：With the development of human globalization and informatization， people with different cultural backgrounds communicate with one another more frequently than ever before. Intercultural communication leads to wide variations between each country in mode of thinking， sense of value， and ways of eating and so on.Through A Grandson from America， people can have a better understanding of enjoyable entertainment and cultural distinctions between China and the West.

【Key words】： cultural differences， integration， conflicts， intercultural perspective

Part one ：Different Ways of Thinking Reflected in A Grandson from America

In A Grandson from America， first， when Lao Yang knows his son gets married to an American woman who has already divorced， he feels so humiliated that he announces his son is still single.Lao Yang’s son takes his wife and “American son” both back to China. It is obvious Brooks is much more different from any other boy in Lao Yang’s village. For the sake of his reputation， Lao Yang takes Brooks to downtown to change his hair color from blond to black， what’s worse， Lao Yang isn’t willing to go back home until it is dark. At last，although villagers find Brooks’ existence， Lao Yang still lies to others that Brooks is from Xinjiang. Maybe this kind of circumstance could be called “facial value” in China. By contrast， Brooks comes from the U.S.， he is taught to be independent and brave when he was a child. So when Brooks wets his bed， he doesn’t ask Lao Yang for any help at all and he airs his quilts by himself. Differences about modes of thinking between China and the West lie in places where people are in danger. On the one hand， Chinese people are ready to seek help from other persons rather than solve problems by themselves； on the other hand ，contrary to former， Americans are more willing to settle disputes by coming up with solutions.

Part two ：Eating Habits Reflected in A Grandson from America

In A Grandson from America， Lao Yang comes from Shanxi Province which is famous for pasta， especially Youpo Noddles. However， Brooks is growing up in the U.S.， so he is more likely to have American traditional food， especially hamburgers and potato chips. During Brooks’ life in China， because of poor living condition， he couldn’t eat any kind of American food at all， what’s worse， he isn’t able to understand what Lao Yang says when they meet at the first sight. Whenever Brooks sees Lao Yang eat a kind of Chinese pasta with garlic， which he is deeply shocked. At the beginning of Brook’s life in village， he prefer to have instant noddles rather than the food Lao Yang has prepared for him. In order to make Brooks eat more food， Lao Yang has to find some American food. With the help of a shop owner， Lao Yang uses his own way to invent a kind of “Chinese hamburger” which is similar to the American hamburger. To Lao Yang’s delight， Brooks is so fond of it and he chooses that instead of instant noddles. With time goes by， Brooks falls in love with Chinese food， and he can even use chopsticks to eat noddles. That indicates no matter American or Chinese food， differences lie in eating habits or ways of eating， and of course， those variations won’t influence communications and intercourse between China and the West.

Part three：Diversity of Language Reflected in A Grandson from America

In A Grandson from America， Lao Yang is a typical traditional Chinese. Even though Brooks has learned Chinese before， he couldn’t understand what Lao Yang said because of Lao Yang’s accent. For example， when Lao Yang meets Brooks at the first sight， “you look differently from other children， which will let villagers laugh at me.” he says But at the same time， Brooks doesn’t know Lao Yang is complaining to him， he wants to make sure why other villagers laugh at him.Lacking in knowing about Chinese culture may cause that kind of problems. Most researches are about verbal analysis， people pay little attention to nonverbal ones. However， people must admit that nonverbal communication also ranks an important part in communicating. In A Grandson from America， Lao Yang can’t speak English， so he couldn’t talk to Brooks in a normal way. Most of the time， Lao Yang depend on nonverbal communication to judge what Brooks’ words mean. Lao Yang has to learn some English so that he can make a better communication with Brooks. In terms of American culture， American English has its own rules to from a sentence， however， Lao Yang was born in a small village in China， and he knows nothing about American culture， finally he chooses a traditional Chinese way to speak English. “dog” and “sun” are the two words he has learned from his friends， and Lao Yang decides to combine these two English words to mean he isn’t satisfied with Brooks.Although one can speak another language， without knowing about culture of its target language and it is a useless movement. After living together for some time， Lao Yang and Brooks both begin to learn each other’s language and culture. At the end of the movie， overcoming difficulties between them， they become friends at last.

Part four： Conclusion

Conflicts and discrepancies between China and the West are an indisputable fact. Facing those differences and having a better understanding of them is one of the best ways to shorten the distance between China and the West.In A Grandson from America， people can not only see the conflicts， but also integration between China and the West， so it is worth being watched in a sense of intercultural communication.

References

1. Brown P，Levinson S. Universals in Language Usage：Politeness Phenomena[M].

Cambridge University Press，1978.

2. David R.KnappZhou Zhen. Experiencing Another Culture[M]. Kunming：

Yunnan People’s Press， 2007.

3.Gudykunst， William B.， Young Yun Kim. Communicating with Strangers[M].

NewYork： the Mcgraw-Hill Companies， Inc.，1997.

4. Goffan Erving. Interaction ritual： Essays an Face-to Face Behavior[M]. New York： Garden City/Anchor Book，1967.