To See Ourselves: Comparing Traditional Chinese and American Cultural Values

This study compares the ever-changing cultural values of contemporary China and the contemporary United States. Surveying 2000-Shanghi area residents and villagers as well as 2500 US citizens, the authors examine to what extent there has been a loss of traditional values in the United States. The book looks at value systems in both cultures associated with family relationships, kinship ties, male-female relationships, and general interpersonal relationships - the fundamental social relationships comprising the social fabric of a society. The authors conclude that although both societies have experienced changes in this century, they have followed quite different paths. In exploring the extent to which this process has differed, the authors address the following questions: what traditional Confucian values persist in China after 40 years of communist indoctrination and the recent invasion of Western culture? How are fundamental human relationships viewed in the United States? How do these two societies differ today, both in adherence to traditional values and in the dynamics of value change? These and many more issues are explored.