A Research On The Differences Of Chinese And American Family Ethics From The Perspective Of Intercultural Communication

Ethics is a common cultural matter of all human beings. But due to the differences of culture,different countries’ ethics has different content and characteristics. With the continuous progress of Chinese society, the comparative study between Chinese and American culture is particularly important. This thesis regards the family, which is the basic unit and organization of the society, as research object, traces family ethics under different cultural backgrounds, and analyzes the differences of family ethics between Chinese and American culture and its cultural roots, in the meantime, provides some enlightenment on the improvement of Chinese modern family ethics.Literature originates from life, but more than life. This highly concentrated literary work is prone to focus or highlight life reality and social phenomenon. Ang Lee’s Family Trilogy which refers to Pushing Hands, The Wedding Banquet as well as Eat Drink Man Woman is to explore the differences of family ethics between Chinese and American culture from relationships between the generations, children education as well as love and marriage and other several aspects, hence providing this thesis with case and research material.Based on Triandis’ theory on Individualism and Collectivism, this thesis applies its three constructs, namely independent self vs. interdependent self, personal attitude vs. social norms,personal goals vs. communal goals. By using case study as the main research method, this thesis analyzes and explores the dialogues, content and plots in The Family Trilogy, which is aimed to discuss the differences of family ethics between Chinese and American culture and trace back its cultural roots through the analysis of contradictions in the film. In the meanwhile, this thesis explores how to absorb the advanced concept of American family ethics on the basis of carrying forward the essence of traditional Chinese family ethics in order to improve Chinese modern family ethics.By the comparison, it is found that the differences of family ethics between Chinese and American culture are mainly reflected in the following three perspectives: love ethics, marriage ethics as well as ethics between the two generations. When it comes to love ethics, the main differences lie in the pursuit of love and spouse choice. In the aspect of marriage ethics, Chinese and Americans have dissimilar views on the goals to marry, wedding ceremony and the relationship between husband and wife. In terms of ethics between the generations, there is a hugedifference between Chinese and American culture in such respects as between patriarchy and equality and the traditions of supporting the aged parents. What’s more, this paper finds that the truth of human nature contained in Chinese traditional family ethics needs to be carried forward,in the meanwhile, the reasonable elements in modern western family ethics should be also absorbed by Chinese contemporary family ethics. Therefore, this paper also put forward some enlightenment to improve Chinese modern family ethics on the basis of research.