Cultural shock and xenophobia

The author felt this "cultural shock" strongly shortly after arriving in the United States.

Although I studied sociology, I was fully prepared before I went to America, especially in social culture and lifestyle. I read a lot of books about American history, culture and social customs, and thought I had a good understanding of American society, but I still felt strongly uncomfortable after going to America. The reason is not only because of the huge cultural differences between China and the United States, but also because of the huge contrast of the whole social environment. For example, because I am used to living in a big city in China, I see a bustling crowd every day. Shops in the street are always open day and night to welcome guests (especially in Shanghai). However, due to the low temperature in winter in Michigan, USA, even in the most prosperous central city, I can hardly see anyone. All the shops are closed, which makes people feel as if they are closed. It is really not easy for newcomers to buy some daily necessities in the store. Larger shops and supermarkets are in the suburbs, so it is impossible to buy them without a car. However, if you look at the name of a smaller store, you may never know what it sells. Isn't the American market economy a model for the whole world? How to buy some small things is very difficult. Even though I live in downtown, I can buy any daily necessities downstairs in Shanghai.

In fact, it is very common for people like me to suffer cultural shock when they first arrive in the United States. Through the communication with many local friends in China, I learned that almost all China people have experienced this kind of cultural shock when they first came to the United States. Some people have been in the United States for more than 65,438+00 years or even longer, and it is still difficult to overcome the cultural shock and its sequelae. There are many differences between China culture and American culture. The essence of China culture is to emphasize harmony and peace, while American culture is based on Christianity, emphasizing scientific progress and the rules of the game of democracy and the rule of law, and attaching importance to development and change. China culture emphasizes the interests of groups and families, which is a communitarianism-oriented culture, while American culture pays attention to individual rights and privacy, which is an individualism-oriented culture. From a cultural point of view, we often say that the root of cultural shock mainly lies in the deep-rooted original cultural model. When a person is faced with a new cultural form, if he still understands and judges all the existing phenomena and behaviors based on the original culture, it will definitely have a cultural shock. But from a sociological point of view, I think this is just a cultural representation, and the deeper reason lies in the huge differences in social environment. In a narrow sense, culture is just a symbol, a form of expressing thoughts and objects, and it needs a carrier to create and inherit, and the social environment is the most profound and extensive carrier. If it weren't for the huge difference in social environment, the feeling of this cultural shock might be much lighter. Because culture can be learned (just like I learn American culture through books), but the social environment cannot be copied. For example, the first thing you see everywhere in China is people, while the first thing you see in the United States is cars. People who are used to living in the metropolis of China will first have a comparative perspective when they arrive in the United States, especially in small and medium-sized cities in the United States, where there are few tall buildings and crowds, and it is difficult to see buses and taxis shuttle. Except for the cars coming and going, almost no one is walking in the street, and it is even difficult to find a person who asks for directions. This is really a bit difficult for China people who are used to living in lively scenes and strong interpersonal relationships.

A serious consequence of this cultural shock is the direct appearance of xenophobia. Xenophobia, also translated as "xenophobia", is simply the fear and hatred of foreigners. When a person is in a foreign country or a different cultural area, his language is not fluent, and his cultural life customs are different, and the people around him are different from himself in appearance, clothing, behavior habits, lifestyle, and even skin color and race, it will lead people in a foreign country or a different culture to be at a loss when doing things for others, thus psychologically generating an unspeakable extreme fear, even being overly sensitive, worried and defensive everywhere, and finally generating a hostile attitude towards foreigners from fear. Xenophobia mainly occurs in individuals or groups of foreign cultures, mainly manifested in fear and hatred of Hakka culture, but it may also occur in individuals or groups already in the main culture, mainly manifested in fear and hatred of foreigners or foreign cultural invasion.

Due to the relatively closed geographical environment, China has been relatively isolated from the world culture by the three natural barriers of Himalaya, Siberia and the Pacific Ocean for thousands of years, except for a few short-term contacts with non-Chinese cultures (such as the introduction of Buddhism, the western culture brought by Genghis Khan's Mongolian Empire and the invasion of modern European and American strong cultures). In this relatively closed environment, the resulting culture and its socio-economic development consequences are either very developed (such as around the Tang Dynasty in ancient China) or very backward (such as after the late Qing Dynasty in modern China). The main reason is the lack of comparison and communication with other cultures and societies in the world, so that I don't know whether my development is fast or slow. Moreover, it has also brought more serious consequences in social mentality, that is, treating foreign cultures or foreigners is either contempt and rejection, or extreme fear, flattery and obedience. In fact, these two seemingly contradictory social phenomena are all manifestations of xenophobia in the final analysis, and there is no fundamental difference in essence.

Historically, it seems that the xenophobia of China people used to be very serious. Needless to say, since the Opium War of 1840, China people have shown extreme xenophobia, and they are afraid to see "foreigners". As a result, they had to cut land and lose money. Later, this kind of xenophobia began to evolve into a kind of foreign worship (essentially a kind of xenophobia), but the objects of worship were different. Some people worship Uncle Sam of the United States, and some people worship the big brother of the Soviet Union. They all prostrate themselves on the ground, and the final result will naturally be disastrous. Then we shouted for independence and enhanced national pride. Having said that, in fact, the conversion between "fear of foreign countries" and "worship of foreign countries" has become more frequent, that is, worship and fear. The sudden worship and fear have really hurt many people in China. Even today, when the country has been open for more than 20 years, many China people's foreign worship and xenophobia have not subsided.

In the United States, many China people feel very strange, and it is difficult to adapt to the ever-changing and ever-changing contemporary American society. Especially for most new immigrants from the mainland who come to the United States, 3P (pH.D, P.R., property means doctoral degree, permanent residence and real estate) is an important standard and goal for them to realize their Citi dream. In addition, marrying a foreigner is also a shortcut for new immigrants to achieve assimilation and naturalization. But in this process, xenophobia has undoubtedly become the biggest obstacle for them to realize Citi's dream. I have asked many China friends in the United States, and they all admit that they have this kind of xenophobia to varying degrees, especially when they first arrived in the United States. There is an China who has lived in the United States for nearly 40 years. He can speak fluent English and has excellent professional and social status. However, his social circle has always been developed only within the Chinese, and he rarely has contact with local Americans after work. This friend told me that there are roughly three kinds of China people in the United States, namely "CBC" (Chinese), CBA (Chinese American) and ABC. The former two groups are deeply influenced by China culture and can speak Chinese and English fluently, while the latter group is greatly influenced by American culture, and most of them can't speak Chinese. But no matter where the Chinese appear, their ethnic relations and cultural traditions cannot be changed. Perhaps, for many "ABC", the degree of worship and exclusion of foreign countries is much lighter.

In fact, in many cases, this kind of xenophobia is entirely a personal subjective feeling, and this kind of feeling, like cultural shock, mostly comes from one's own cultural centralism concept, that is, judging other social cultures by one's own social culture, sneering at inferior people and admiring superior people, which will lead to xenophobia over time, and so will Americans. A few years ago, an American white man shot and killed five ethnic minorities in Pittsburgh, killing Yafei China Restaurant, which caused widespread concern in the world media. Knightley News Agency, the second largest newspaper group in the United States, once commented and called for dealing with the xenophobia of Americans. Some American scholars even pointed out that, in fact, most Americans have suffered from xenophobia. You can see this symptom in politicians' speeches about strengthening borders and expelling immigrants. Ironically, the man who shot the minority in Pittsburgh was an immigration lawyer. On the one hand, he handles immigration affairs for many foreigners, on the other hand, he is extremely afraid and disgusted with these foreigners. This dual character just reflects the immigration policy of the United States: foreign labor is needed, but their population is not needed; Need foreign technology, but scoff at their food taste or face. Therefore, xenophobia, like cultural shock, is not innate, but caused by social and cultural environment, which is a cultural prejudice and psychological deviation when judging different cultures by self-cultural standards. When you look at different cultures and other countries from a straightforward perspective, you will naturally see the advantages and disadvantages of different cultures. Even if you realize the inferiority of your own culture, you will clearly realize that it is just a drop in the ocean and has no attraction, because since a culture can be passed down for thousands of years, there must be reasons for its existence and inheritance.

Nowadays, American society is working hard to cultivate a generation of "color blindness" and "racial numbness". Perhaps after countless racial conflicts and arguments, cultural diversity has been increasingly recognized by the younger generation in the United States. When I walk through the university campus with blue eyes and yellow hair, it seems that I seldom find strange eyes on me, because they have long been used to people of different races, colors and languages around me. Today's Americans come from more than 60 countries in the world, and no one has any reason to ask others to accept their own culture. This may be an unexpected consequence of openness and freedom. In contrast, China's "closed door" cultural habit has caused a lot of inadaptability to foreign cultures, and cultural shock and xenophobia are one of them (some scholars have pointed out that compared with westerners, China people are more serious in both cultural shock and xenophobia).

Of course, cultural shock and xenophobia are not a disease, but a learning process and complicated personal experience. Although they may feel uncomfortable or even painful during the period, they will not affect all people in the same way, or even have different effects on the same person at different times in the same environment. Therefore, for people who will or have been in different cultural areas, since the social environment cannot be temporarily changed by individuals, they should learn to adjust their own culture. When a person encounters cultural shock, he may have xenophobia. Although we can't prevent the recurrence of cultural shock or get rid of xenophobia for the time being, we can at least alleviate the adaptation pressure of entering a new Hakka culture. In a sense, even serious cultural shock and xenophobia can be called a new cultural experience and psychological feeling.