An Analysis Of The Social Forces That Have Influenced The Formation Of Chinese Values

Values study has been a new focus in social sciences, especially in intercultural communication. The purpose of values study in this field is to solve intercultural conflicts caused by misinterpretation and misunderstandings. As China now reemerges on the world stage, the study of Chinese values is certainly of vital importance to both the outsiders and the Chinese themselves. However, China now is right in the middle of a unique social and historical juncture. On the one hand, it carries with itself a huge bunch of cultural heritage from its glorious past, while on the other, it is trying to catch up in the process of modernization and compete with the other big powers in the world. Nearly every aspect of Chinese people's life is experiencing great changes. The changes took place in social, political, and economic lives have provoked shift in Chinese people's values as well, a shift from traditional values to modern values. Some old values are abandoned, and some new ones come up. Yet it is argued and proved that some of the traditional Chinese values co-exist with the modern values in current Chinese societies. Questions then arise from these findings: what causes the co-existence of traditional and modern values? As modernization evolves into globalization due to the rapid development of the Internet and telecommunication technologies, will modern values eventually replace traditional ones completely? This thesis aims to answer these questions through analyzing the social forces that have influenced the formation of the Chinese values, both traditional and modern ones.