Cultural Differences Between China and America in Ghost Festivals 英语专业毕业论文.docVIP

Cultural Differences Between China and America in Ghost Festivals Abstract: This paper compares the different ghost festivals in China and America, which reflects the different cultures. We can discourse on the different characters ,concepts, and sense of value from the prospective of the origins, the ways of celebrating the spirit festivals and different attitudes towards ghost between China and America .The origin of Chinese Ghost Festival has its own history while that of America derived from Atlantic. Chinese spiritual practice is mainly to visit ancestors or to offer the wild spirits .The atmosphere is a little severe and the custom maintains. American spiritual practice is mainly revelry. It indicates that Chinese are steady and cautious while the Americans are quick-changed and humorous. Chinese ways of celebrating ghost festivals and people’s fear to ghost reflect their sense of collectivism and concept of hierarch. The Americans’ attitude towards ghost festival reflects their sense of individualism and concept universalism. Thereby, we can expound the cultural differences. Key words: ghost festivals；sense of value；concept；cultural differences 摘要：本文比较了中国和美国的鬼节，从它们的起源及庆祝方式和对鬼的不同态度中反映了中美两国鬼节的差异，阐述了中西方人性格，价值观和观念方面的差异。中国鬼节的起源是本土的，并有两个不同的形式。而万圣节不是起源于美国本土，且鬼节只有一种；中国鬼节的活动主要是祭祀祖先，扫墓及中元节祭祀孤魂野鬼，气氛较严肃且从古至今未改变过，美国鬼节的活动从以祭祀为主发展为以狂欢为主。这表明了中国人沉稳、严肃谨慎的性格及美国人多变幽默的性格；中国鬼节期间的扫墓及对鬼敬而远之的态度体现了中国人的等级观念和集体主义，美国人对鬼节轻松的态度表现了他们的平等观念及个人主义。由此本文从中美两国鬼节的不同文化阐述了中西方文化的不同。 关键词：鬼节；价值观；观念；文化差异 Introduction: Spirit Festival means the day which the main theme is spirit .And the festival is mainly related to the belief of spirit. Chinese spirit festivals are composed of Qing Ming and Zhongyuan Festival. American spirit festival is Halloween. From the aspects of the festival origins, the ways of celebrating ghost festivals and the attitudes to the festival, this essay introduces the characters, the sense of value, the concepts about the Chinese people and the American people. The Chinese peo