For most people, they generalise the East and the West as polar opposites without any similarities. However, after decades of technological advancements and the open-mindedness of both countries, we can see various similarities between both states starting to surface in recent years.

Though there might be some similarities between the East and the West, I agree to a great extent that both societies are still largely different regardless of in culture, way of management etc. One distinct difference is the differing practice in both societies. It is evident that the Chinese government now is actively promoting Confucian values to the people of China and one of the more important point of Confucian ideology would most probably be harmony. For China, the government promotes harmony amongst the people of China so as to foster closer bond and bring up the growth of the country and we can thereafter infer that collectivism does bear a major role in this.

Collectivism, as the name suggests, it emphasizes on groups and think more in terms of 'we' and this is extremely important as harmony and loyalty within any organization plays a crucial role and should always be maintained so as to avoid confrontation. More importantly, the Chinese feel that a human being is an integral part of the universe and the society and people are fundamentally connected and duty towards all others is a very serious matter, thus minimizing conflicts amongst people.

However, in a Western society, the philosophy that they have adopted draws closer to individualism. In individualistic cultures, people are more self-centered and emphasize mostly on their individual goals and people from individualistic cultures tend to think only of themselves as individuals and as “I” distinctive from other people.

Therefore, we can apparently see that both Eastern and Western societies have contrasting principles and practices with regards to collectivism and individualism.

Also, people in the East have a certain inclination towards males when it comes to gender equality unlike in the West where people judge both gender equally. With reference to statistics, the male to female ratio in modern China now is currently 120:100 and this numbers evidently reflects on the problem of gender inequality.

On the other hand, we can infer with clarity that the West emphasizes a lot on gender equality and promotes equal rights for all gender. This can be seen from the Statue of Liberty that is erected in New York City. Also, the laws that the Western government has enforced have also boosted gender equality in the country with reference to a report by the U.S. Census Bureau where in 1999, the literacy rate of both male and female is equivalent and this shows equal emphasis that is put in to education regardless of gender.

Thus, the previous paragraphs have clearly illustrated the stark contrasts between an Eastern society and a Western society and this proves that they still bear major differences when put together for comparison which is a contributing reason to why I feel that the East and the West are still largely differentiated.

Although so much have been said about the East and the West being different, after several class discussions as well as researches that have been conducted, I have came to the realisation that there are also factors that bind them together.

One point that both the East and the West share in common would be their aims and goals. Generally speaking, we would have to agree that no matter what happens, people from both the East and the West would always strive for the best. This can be seen from the cast study on the Tenneco company in Michigan and Shanghai. Although the two workers stated in the news article were brought up from different backgrounds, live in a completely different environment and have many dissimilar points between both of them, their ultimate goal is still to work hard and earn money for the family. Thus we can evidently see that no matter how different you are, you would aim for the best and what contributes to the difference would be the way/method that is used to achieve the end product.

In all, I feel that though the Eastern society and the Western society may be separated by a non-exhaustive list of factors due to endless amount of reasons, they somehow still share a few mindsets in common due to the result of globalization. Nevertheless, I agree to a great extent that up till now, people from both the East and the West truly are different and it might probably take a few more decades before both society can integrate into one.

- Tuea Jia Wen 3L2(11)

¶ 4:31 AM