China and Western countries have cultural differences in values, code of conduct and lifestyle etc, due to the different cultural background and tradition. There are no surely words to conclude which one can dominate until now. However, it is believed that the two cultures will finally create a harmonious world or split. This paper will give a thorough analysis about the cultural clash and differences between China and Western countries through the movie “Guasha Treatment” and try to emphasize that in the cross-cultural communication the clash in different cultures are inevitable, but finally the two cultures trend toward reconcilability. The introduction part gives general research background information and discusses the significance of cross-communication. Chapter Two briefly introduces the development of cross-cultural communication in China and Western countries and the harmony and reconcilement between Western culture and Chinese culture. Chapter Three mainly begins with the movie introduction, then analyzes the conflicts and reconcilability between the two cultures, and try to explores the sources of the differences from the aspect of health care belief, code of conduct and values. The conclusion part summarizes the whole body adopting the cultural persity and building intercultural awareness, and suggests to promote effective communication and create a harmonious world by our efforts.
2 Cross-cultural Communication in China and Western Countries
Cross-cultural communication is a field of study that looks at how people differing from cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among themselves, and how they endeavor to communicate across cultures. Its core is to establish and understand how people from different cultures communicate with each other. Its charge is to also produce some guidelines with which people from different cultures can better communicate with each other.
2.1 Development of Cross-cultural Communication in China and Western Countries
Intercultural communication is a phenomenon since ancient time; today it has begun to draw more and more attention because of the progress of transportation. With a history about 50 years, the study of cross-culture first started in the United States. This is because United States is an immigrant country, every nation has its own cultural traditions and customs and all ethnics are emphasized to maintain their own culture. Hence the United States formed the multicultural pattern. How to deal with the different cultural customs and values has become a problem that cannot be ignored. The field of intercultural communication has been noticed since a well-known American anthropologist Edward T. Hall published a book named The Silent Language in 1959.Which is marked the birth of cross-cultural. His work had far-reaching influence on the study of intercultural communication.(胡文仲,2002:19)
In western countries, more coming works published on this issue such as Culture and Communication by R. T. Oliver in 1962, Intercultural Communication: A Reader by Larry Samovar and Richard Porter, An Introduction to Intercultural Communication by John Condon and Fathi Yousef in 1970s. The reason for people have enthusiasm about the issue of cross-communication is as Samovar stated rationale of his book Communication between Cultures: worldwide interest in cross-cultural communication grows out of two assumptions. First, we live in an age when changes in various aspects have created a world in which we increasingly interact with people from different cultures. Second, those interactions will continue to grow in both frequency and intensity since the world has grown so small that we all depend on each other now. (Samovar& Porter, 2000) 电影《刮痧》折射的中西文化冲突和差异(2):http://www.751com.cn/yingyu/lunwen_29947.html