The Comparison of Cultural Ethics Between China and United States

The Comparison of Cultural Ethics between China and United States

Ethics exist everywhere. However, different country embraces different moral beliefs because of the cultural background. People may treat the same thing very differently according to their recognition which was developed throughout their growth processes. One important aspect of cultural ethics that could give rise to various opinions is love and marriage.

In China, people are urged to get married in their twenties. The one who doesn’t get married before thirty years old will be deemed as unfilial. Because this will make his or her parents worried a lot, parents may have no appetite for food and stay awake all night, which is contrary to Chinese traditional ethics. There is also a word designed for those single guys, called “The Left Fighter”. As Chinese New Year is coming, a lot of single young people are afraid of the reunion among family members and relatives, which is something that is supposed to be nothing but joyful. They are going to answer plenty of questions repeatedly, such as “Do you have a boyfriend (or girlfriend)?” “How long have you been in love?” “When will you have him (or her) over?” “When will you get married?” so on and so forth. If you do not have a boyfriend or girlfriend, then your parents and your relatives will arrange different blind dates for you, making you feel overwhelmed. I have a close cousin who is twenty-eight years old. Recently, he complained to me that he was so anxious for the upcoming reunion of Chinese New Year. He does not have a girlfriend yet and is unwilling to be pushed to have blind dates. He has no interest at all but doesn’t want to let his parents down as well. Therefore, he is having his hard time and I really feel sorry for him.

In contrast, parent’s desire to see their child get married is rare in United States. Once I was chatting with two American girls and told them that the prevalent view in China is that twenties is the best age period...