Godwin C Chu - Böcker

This study compares the ever-changing cultural values of contemporary China and the contemporary United States. Surveying 2000-Shanghi area residents and villagers as well as 2500 US citizens, the authors examine to what extent there has been a loss of "traditional" values in the United States. The book looks at value systems in both cultures associated with family relationships, kinship ties, male-female relationships, and general interpersonal relationships - the fundamental social relationships comprising the social fabric of a society. The authors conclude that although both societies have experienced changes in this century, they have followed quite different paths. In exploring the extent to which this process has differed, the authors address the following questions: what traditional Confucian values persist in China after 40 years of communist indoctrination and the recent "invasion" of Western culture? How are fundamental human relationships viewed in the United States? How do these two societies differ today, both in adherence to traditional values and in the dynamics of value change? These and many more issues are explored.

This study compares the ever-changing cultural values of contemporary China and the contemporary United States. Surveying 2000-Shanghi area residents and villagers as well as 2500 US citizens, the authors examine to what extent there has been a loss of "traditional" values in the United States. The book looks at value systems in both cultures associated with family relationships, kinship ties, male-female relationships, and general interpersonal relationships - the fundamental social relationships comprising the social fabric of a society. The authors conclude that although both societies have experienced changes in this century, they have followed quite different paths. In exploring the extent to which this process has differed, the authors address the following questions: what traditional Confucian values persist in China after 40 years of communist indoctrination and the recent "invasion" of Western culture? How are fundamental human relationships viewed in the United States? How do these two societies differ today, both in adherence to traditional values and in the dynamics of value change? These and many more issues are explored.

This book presents a survey of rural and urban Chinese people examining the dramatic changes in traditional culture that have taken place, and documenting the nature of contemporary Chinese culture. Chu and Ju examine attitudes about family relations, social relations, job preferences and work ethic, organizational relations, community life, and belief systems.Although there remains some limited continuity with the past, mainly in family stability, the book shows how lifestyle and values in post-Mao China today reveal a radical departure from traditional Chinese culture. The authors discover that Chinese people no longer endorse the Confucian precepts of harmony and tolerance, nor do they submit compliantly to authority as previous generations did. They now demonstrate, in an environment of rising aspirations and mounting frustration, a new assertiveness, as seen in the tragic outburst in the Tiananmen demonstrations.