Contents

Foreword��1
Part I East and West
Unit 1 Why Contrasting Chinese and Western Cultures?��2
I. Ancient Civilizations and Cultures��2
II. Cross-cultural Comparative Studies in China��4
III. Imperatives to Contrast Chinese and Western Cultures��7
IV. A Note on Some Key Concepts��11
Unit 2 Traditional Characteristics of Chinese and Western Cultures��14
I. ��There Are All Kinds of Birds When a Forest Gets Large����15
II. Traditional Chinese Cultural Characteristics��17
III. Traditional Western Cultural Characteristics��24
Unit 3 Affinities across Cultures��29
I. An Unexpected Affinity��30
II. Reading for More Cultural Affinities��30
III. A Note on Some Key Concepts��38

Part II Cultural Differences in Silent Languages
Unit 4 Time��43
I. Time in China and the West��44
II. Two Time Modes��48
III. Past-oriented Societies vs. Future-oriented Societies��54
IV. Two Time Orientations��57
Unit 5 Space��61
I. Spatial Language��62
II. Spatial Language and Culture��65
III. Spatial Language and Life��71
IV. Changes We Cannot Afford��73
Unit 6 Smiles, Nods and Silence��75
I. Smiles��75
II. Nods in the Intercultural Communication��80
III. Silence in the Intercultural Communication��82

Part III Cultural Differences in Thinking
Unit 7 Intuitive vs. Logical Thinking��89
I. Definitions of Intuitive and Logical Thinking��89
II. Philosophy and Thinking��90
III. Application of the Two Thinking Modes��94
IV. Impact of Thinking Modes on Writings��98
V. Logic in China and Intuition in the West��100
Unit 8 Dialectical vs. Analytical Reasoning��104
I. Proverb Preferences across Cultures��104
II. Dialectical Reasoning��105
III. Analytical Reasoning��109
IV. More about the Two Reasoning Modes��113
Unit 9 Holistic vs. Atomistic Visions��116
I. A Detention Room Incident��116
II. Prominent Attributes of Holistic and Atomistic Visions��117
III. Vision and Cognition��122
IV. Vision and Language��123
V. Zhengshan Xiaozhong and Lipton Black Tea��128
Unit 10 Categorizing Objects by Relation