Thinking Patterns

After long term cultural accumulation, thinking mode has obvious differences between western and eastern and it exerts a significant influence on human social lives. The east culture favors comprehensive thinking, i.e. uniting various parts of the object as one entity. English and American cultures favor analysis thinking, i.e. decomposing one complete object into various composing parts and aspects from idea. The east culture emphasises unification and gives priority to the entity of thinking, and the west culture emphasises opposition and gives priority to the part of thinking. In the negotiation process, occidentals generally incline to divide the main content of negotiation into various parts and consider and analyze them one by one, and finally obtain the conclusion. Whereas oriental emphasises the negotiation pattern first principle then detail and they like to set up one basic principle frame first and then discuss recapitulative proceedings.

Reference: Eric Horowitz,  2012; Why do East-asians and Westerners think differently? Available at: http://www.peerreviewedbymyneurons.com/2012/04/06/why-do-east-asians-and-westerners-think-differently/

Festivals, Celebrations and Holidays  

Asian countries celebrate a number of different and colourful celebrations that are not regularly seen in Western countries. For example, China has unique celebrations including the Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Moon Festival and National Day. As we move further west, countries like India celebrate things like Diwali and Holi, as well as some Islamic celebrations such as Eid-ul Fitr. Although Western countries like the US, Australia and countries in Europe have their own holidays many people in these countries celebrate festivals from Asian culture and vice versa. Personally I love that we can embrace and enjoy all these different celebrations from cultures all around the globe. I believe that learning and respecting cultural differences allow us too come together as a human race.



Reference: Kidzworld 2015; Asian culture. Available at: http://www.kidzworld.com/article/5001-asian-culture-and-traditions

Time Sensitivity 

Crossing cultures for business can be frustrating when it interferes with getting the job done. Most Western are very time sensitive when it comes to meetings and deadlines. If the meeting was to commence at 2:00, then all parties are to be present at that time. The Asian do not view time as an absolute but more as a suggestion. Concern is not expressed for a meeting starting late or ending at a different time. The same can be applied to deadlines. If a report is due on Friday, an American(western) would be waiting for that report to be received before end of business day. The Chinese(Asian) would not worry if it showed up several days later.

Reference: Sandbox 2015; Asia population, culture and economy. Available at; http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/world/asia-population-culture-economy.html

Growing Old 

Physical signs of human aging tend to be regarded with distaste, and aging is often depicted in a negative light in popular culture, if it is even depicted at all. In Asian cultures, most country like Korean, Japan. Younger members of the family have a duty to care for the aging members of the family. And even outside the family unit, Koreans(Asian) are socialized to respect and show deference to older individuals as well as authority figures. It's also customary in Korean to have a big celebration to mark an individual's 60th and 70th birthdays.

Reference: Arthur Hu; Introduction to basic Asian values. Available at; http://www.asianweek.com/2012/04/28/introduction-to-basic-asian-values/

Business Relationships 

Chinese(Asian) business people want to develop relationships with the people they buy and sell to. While Americans(western) aren't opposed to strong relationships, the value of the transaction comes first. However, for Chinese, relationships are generally more important. For this reason, Chinese businesspeople often want to get to know the person they're doing business with and tend to prefer face-to-face interactions. While this can slow down the pace of business, trust is at a premium in the Chinese business culture. Don't be surprised if a business partner asks you about your personal life or even your finances. This is a sign of interest, not indication of rudeness or disrespect.

Reference: Sandbox 2015; Asia population, culture and economy. Available at; http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/world/asia-population-culture-economy.html

Education

The culture and tradition of the society shapes the development of Western and Eastern (i.e. Asian) education philosophies. When comparing student involvement within classroom activities, Westerners stress on active learning on their learners, whereas the Easterners prefer passive learning. In the teaching process, the roles of students are recognised in Western education philosophy by giving them the rights and respects. Students are given the opportunity and freedom to take charge of their own learning process. And teachers play their role as a facilitator than the knowledge producer in guiding students to discover and develop their abilities and potentials. In contrast, Eastern education philosophy holds on to the concept of teaching. Students in a way receive knowledge in a rigid way as they only seem to learn and study straightly from the teachers. In the Western education philosophy, students learn by understanding since westerners believe that the best education is mean to form the society to become a cultural nation in regard of their education and education aim. Therefore, they will critically evaluate rather than just memorizing. Nevertheless, in Eastern education the students practice the concept of memorizing, as this philosophy focuses mainly on book learning and memorization within the teaching and learning process.

Reference: Hassan, A & Jamaludin, NS 2012, Approaches & values in two gigantic educational philosophies: East and West, Faculty of Educational Studies, University Putra Malaysia,