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" Oriental mysteries, Occidental dreams? : "
Li, Yue
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Latin Dissertation
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| Record Number
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1100088
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| Doc. No
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TLets601585
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| Main Entry
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Li, Yue
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| Title & Author
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Oriental mysteries, Occidental dreams? :\ Li, Yue
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| College
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University of Glasgow
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| Date
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2014
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| student score
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2014
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| Abstract
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This study is a qualitative analysis of direct cultural encounters between China and the West. It examines the subjective experiences of Chinese students in Britain and Western expatriate teachers in China from their own viewpoints – how they understood and interpreted different cultures and made sense of similarities and differences between one another, that is, how they experienced cultural translation. It employs focus group and individual interviewing methods. This study adopts an analytical framework of a before-during-after logic to answer three questions: 1) why did participants come to the host country and what did they think of it before arrival? 2) how did they relate to the host environment and make sense of differences? and 3) how these direct cross-cultural experiences influenced them as well as the wider context of cultural relations between China and the West? It presents the historical background of cultural and educational exchange between China and the West and identifies motives of participants coming to the host country under the current context of global cultural flows. Furthermore, it highlights factors that differentiated the subjective experiences of participants, such as gender, duration of time spent in the host country, relationships with local people and the subjects of study. The effects of participants’ experiences in the host country also varied according to these factors. What underpins the relationship between China and the West in terms of cultural and educational contacts, presented by Chinese students in Britain and Western expatriate teachers in China, is fundamentally an interplay between economic and cultural factors. Differences between China and the West are as much cultural as institutional. This study provides a detailed account of such differences. It discusses what aspects of Western cultural values have a strong influence on China and which traditional Chinese values still hold their importance during direct cultural encounters with the West. It reveals the internal struggle, caused by cultural differences and institutional limitations, amongst both Chinese students in Britain and Western expatriate teachers in China, but it also highlights the ways in which some differences have been exaggerated during direct cross-cultural encounters as well as the profound social and cultural similarities shared by China and the West, which tend to be overlooked.
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H Social Sciences (General)
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HM Sociology
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L Education (General)
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| Added Entry
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University of Glasgow
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