Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
I.
INTRODUCTION
A. Background Information
1. General background information
2. More specific background information to lead into the thesis
B. Thesis: China and the United States cultural values are oceans apart, both
literally and figuratively, such had profound impacts on the countries relations
during the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries.
1. Topic
2. Outline key points
II.
BODY
A. Writing
1. In Chinese culture writing was key to communicating, not just with
other people, but more importantly with God.
a. In American culture writing was simply a way to communicate
with others that existed around you, especially important for
communication in the Western Frontier of the US. (Mail)
2. The Chinese sought answers from God, the only way they knew how
to achieve this was to write to him and ask him for help in order to
solve their problems.
a. Largely pictographic writing in China, compared to simple
characters and an easy to navigate alphabet in the US
b. Only the Elites could write in China, where anybody in the US
could write so long as they had a basic understanding of the
language
3. Writing in China evolved over time, not unlike that in US where
writing has maintained the same basic structure for over 200 years.
B. Subservience to those higher up in the social order in China was crucial to
understanding Chinese culture, deviance from this order was deemed
unacceptable.
1. In China, especially under Confucius thought, family order was
extremely important. In the US it was more a sign of respect and less
an actual imprinted ritual of the society, not nearly as important in
US as in China.
2. The major importance of the social fabric in China is evident during
the Opium Wars with Great Britain and other western countries
(including the US).
a. The opium epidemic tears down social order in China.
b. Younger brother now exercises power over older brother,
mother over elder son etc.
c. In the United States respect for elders was important, but not
nearly as important as in China.
3. Summarizing/Concluding/Transition sentence
C. The people of China had little say when it came to rulers, where as in the US
the people ruled by selecting a leader with whom they trusted.
CONCLUSION
A. Summarize/Review key points
B. Concluding thought