Cultural Difference Between Germany and China

Cultural difference between Germany and China

In my study excursion in Frankfurt, I was really experiencing a great cultural shock. The cultures between Germany and China are so different, in every way. In the following essay, I shall examine this in different aspects regarding lifestyle, way of thinking, punctuality, etc.

Lifestyle

German people like to live independently, especially when they are grown up, they would like to move out of their parents’ house. But we Chinese are more of living with families, for us, family is the most important thing in our lives. Many Chinese even live with many generations in the same house. I met some German young guys in Cafe, they are colleges students, and all have already moved out and lived in their own apartments.

Individualism and Collectivism

Germans are more of individualism, they prefer to work alone, think independently. While Chinese prefer to work with a group, the more, the merrier.

Punctuality

German are really strict with time, they always want to be on time, and they expect others to be punctual. While the concept of being on time, for Chinese, is around the appointed time, sometimes it could be around 15 minutes later or more, but that’s unacceptable for German.

Sightseeing

When traveling, German people prefer to see and experience the nature with their eyes and feelings, while Chinese are more of capturing the beautiful moment and sceneries with their cameras. You can always Chinese tourists making different poses in some famous tourist interests.

Queuing

German people are more of keeping in a line while queuing, while Chinese would sometimes crowd and swamp to the front.

Bathing

German like take a shower when they wake up in the morning, but we Chinese prefer to take a shower before we go to bed, because we think that after a long day’s work, and being out for some time, we need to clean up ourselves and then go to bed.

Way of thinking

German people are more direct and straightforward, they always talk about their opinions directly. While Chinese are so direct. Like if Chinese want to borrow money, they do not talk about it directly, they would begin with talking about the counterpart’s life and everything, and at the end of the day, they then talk about their actual purpose.

Senior people’s lives

Senior people in German are more of living on their own or move in the nurse home, with the company of dogs and cats. While Chinese senior people are always living with their family, and for most of the time, they always help to take care of their grandsons and granddaughters. Family-bonding values much in China.

Cultural difference could never be avoided as long as there are different nationalities. However, if we could be more open-minded and more tolerant, we could always find our ways to deal with the difference.