Observing Cultural Differences — The Overlooked Everyday

In daily life, there are many manifestations of culture, and a cross-cultural perspective allows us to see our own culture's strengths and weaknesses from an outsider's viewpoint, enhancing our sensitivity to things we take for granted. I'm not sure when I developed the habit of observing cultural differences, but I've grown accustomed to observing life from an insider's perspective while discovering novelty through an outsider's viewpoint. Below, I will summarize my observations from three aspects: self-awareness, linguistic expressions related to food, and education.

Firstly, while studying and reading Western psychological counseling techniques and theories, I've often wondered if these theories are applicable in China. Psychological counseling requires visitors to be proactive individuals with good emotional awareness and expression skills. However, in a Chinese context, if we tell someone, "You seem agitated right now; let's discuss this topic once you've calmed down," would it trigger self-awareness? Would they realize they are experiencing strong emotions that might influence their judgment? Do we cultivate skepticism about our own feelings in our culture? Can counselors and clients interact under the premise of exploring their own feelings? It seems somewhat challenging, especially for the older generation who rarely had opportunities for self-exploration. In a collectivist culture, individual needs seem to be de-emphasized. My mother often says, "Back then, I just followed along with everyone else and never really thought about what I wanted." However, I've observed that our generation seems increasingly willing to cultivate and display self-awareness through social media platforms and the popularity of various psychological books. "Exploring the self" appears to be gaining importance, with my mother also beginning to explore yoga and meditation, which are excellent ways to discover oneself. Therefore, I believe that perhaps with the development of the times, self-awareness is increasingly valued.

Secondly, the relationship between language and food is fascinating. I encountered this in a book written by a foreigner about Chinese cuisine titled "Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper." The author mentions that no other country integrates food with meanings as deeply as China does, incorporating it into various aspects of the language system. For example, "raw" and "cooked" people, "eating bitterness," and "eating vinegar." This revelation struck me because hidden within our everyday language are such mysteries. Later, I came across a statement online: "Frying and stewing are both methods to enhance flavors, just like perseverance." When we dissect Chinese characters one by one, these various flavors of life encoded within the language system enter our bloodstream. It seems that by lightly touching our tongues, associated events and emotional fragments rush toward us, carrying the taste of worldly foods.

Lastly, there are cultural differences in education. Generally, it is believed that foreign education is more liberal, while domestic education tends to be more restrictive. In recent years, there seems to be a misconception that discipline in learning stifles children's creativity, equating good grades with rote learning. The belief that foreign children are so creative because their parents leave them alone to play in the garage, which supposedly led to individuals like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, is entirely mistaken! A psychologist who has researched child development for many years told us in class that many parents proudly say to her, "I don't control my child now; they are free-range!" She mentioned that this is actually a misconception. While foreign education emphasizes freedom, it is not unrestricted. Moreover, no research has found a correlation between good grades and lack of creativity. On the contrary, scholars abroad are curious about why Chinese children excel in areas such as mathematics compared to Western children. Thus, they conducted a cross-cultural study in China and found that Chinese teachers use strategies in the classroom to converge attention and focus on issues, such as emphasizing the importance of upcoming questions, which helps children improve their self-regulation. This is lacking in foreign classroom education, where children can be restless, and attention tends to be more scattered, hindering the development of their self-regulation.

In conclusion, I believe that by comparing cultural differences, we can recognize the strengths of our own culture and emphasize them while also acknowledging its deficiencies and seeking improvement. This is the essence of cultural differences.