Shuo Xiong ENG3080J Matthew Vetter 29 May 2013 College Writing in China and America Writing as a special skill plays an important role in college life. Any ideas or thoughts finally have to be written in a paper form to share with people. A good writing always make readers feel that they are under that situation, and make them have many special feelings; A good writing can be regarded as a weapon to argue against people who have opposite thoughts; A good writing can make people feel that reading is not such boring. Most people pay attention on their content of their papers, and think that it is how this article attracts people. However, sometimes the style of paper is also a factor to attract people. The way person writing is based on cultural influence in general, and different cultural backgrounds usually make people have different writing style. There is no doubt that culture influent people since they were born. Culture is the one which consist by social behavior, beliefs, customs, minds through conduct human working and daily life. Cultural influence make people imitate what other people do until they become a habit that you never forget. It is shown in many places from body to mind, such like the way we dressing, favorite food, the way of thinking a problem, etc. Many different cases affect people grow. Language is another factor reflect the characteristics of a country, which involves history and political. Language is varied in different countries, and is a symbol of countries. Not only Eastern countries are different with Western countries, but different countries in same part have
their own living style. Here, I pick China as a representative of Eastern country, and pick America as a representative of Western country. As I mention before, Language is a typical factor to represent culture, and it is shown through writing. Language is varied, and definitely will be reflected in writing. Writing style of each country is quite different, more or less. To better realize the writing style of a country, it is better to review its history, literature and political issue. History usually reflects the humanity of a nation, and controls its open level of topic. Literature always reflects a form of writing like poem, essay, etc. There are many form of article have been used, but one of them should be used frequently as a popular form, which is related to literature of a nation. Political reflects the mind of people, different political system will affect citizen’s attitude towards life. To view a style of writing, there are several parts to look at. The first thing is to look at format. The format of Chinese writing and America writing is quite different in some parts. The way of formatting is based on cultural cases. Secondly, kinds of articles’ genres are also different between China and America, but most frequently used forms are similar. Then, looking at content, the way of proving a point or arguing a point is not quite same, which is based on humanity of a nation. The last thing we care about is to look at citing outside sources, which is completely different between China and America because of different view of personal value. According to “College Writing in China and America: A Modest and Humble Conversation, with Writing Samples”, authors demonstrates that writing in different countries are separated by thousands of miles and shaped by centuries of very different cultural, political, economic and artistic traditions.
First of all, formatting in writing is not necessary in Chinese writing. When Chinese professor look at Chinese students’ writing, the only requirement is to make sure your name on it and write it neatly. Chinese professors usually do not get points off in formatting as long as it is looks comfortable. However, American professors have serious requirement on formatting such like words font, indentation, words type, etc. If students cannot meet professors’ requirements, it is no doubt that they will lose much point on formatting. Also, there are many named formatting way in America such like APA, MLA, etc…Each type of essay has its own special format, and they are being used in different situation or depends on special requirement. The attitude of formatting in China and America is totally different. One is serious, and other is casual. The next point, which may be the most similar point, is the genre of article. The most frequently used form in Chinese college writing is argumentative writing since debate is common in college. Students should practice their logical mind and own opinions on everything. To persuade people with proper explanation is an important skill which students should learn because reasonable explanation is only way to make people trust you in future work. For America writing, argumentative writing is also a popular form which student used in writing. It seems that argumentative article is a common form in college writing no matter in China or America. Content is a key point in writing, which reflects on author’s opinion, idea and own understanding. Assuming give a same topic to America and Chinese Students, their content of showing personal opinion or arguing a point may not be same. In general, Chinese writing is more likely to argue it from other side to show it implicitly. In other word, Chinese writing characteristic is more humble and modest because of cultural characteristics. Chinese people often feel shame if their work is not excellent even though this work might not should be done by
him or her. This kind of shameful feeling we call it “face”. Chinese people are afraid of “losing face”, which may prevent people do something which he or she can be well done. Only in cases like Chinese people have 90% or above sure of making things splendid, they can do it without carrying a burden. However, often time Chinese people have this burden, they like go finishing things from other sides, but not go directly. If they go directly and do not get this job well done, they will lose “face”. Meanwhile, this humble characteristic reflects on their writing tone. In their argumentative writing, they like to introduce may other things first which may just have a little relationship to this topic because they think that showing other things make people think that they do not have so much creditability on this topic, which means if they get something wrong, they will not lose “face”. These complicated feelings make Chinese people think so many before getting start on one thing. It is a kind of shyness. In “Moving Away or Fitting in?: Understanding Shyness in Chinese Children”, Xu indicates that shyness is understood or defined in non-Western setting, and it is mainly shaped by cultural beliefs and values. However, America style is like when encountering a problem, they go directly to solve it without thinking other so complicated feeling. If getting something wrong or wright, American people just say “sorry” or “thank you”, but it seems kind of hard to say “sorry” or “thank you” from Chinese people. It is a weird feeling if hearing Chinese people easily to say “thank you” or “sorry”. These straightforward characteristics also reflected in their writing. American way to arguing a point is just go directly finding reason or sources to support, which do not like Chinese way. These two ways of writing style are more related to cultural background. The last point is about citing sources in writing. The attitude of using outsides source in your own person writing is completely different between China and America. For using outsides sources, Chinese writing do not have to write a reference page to show these sources are from
which person. Moreover, there is no need to write in-text citation in your paper. In other words, you just write down what you need without citing. It does not mean you can copy anything you want, and it just means that you do not need to have things like references and in-text citation. The only thing you need is to just mention whose work you are using if you try to use much from that person. However, the attitude of America writing about citing sources is so serious. If you do not follow the rules of using outsides sources or citing in a wrong format, it is easy to be regarded as plagiarism. Plagiarism is a serious problem in American college, which even causes students to get out of college. Since American paper have many formats like APA, MLA, etc.., they have many different ways of citing sources corresponding to each format, and you should really care about your citing. This concern would not exist in Chinese writing. When the first time I came to America, I was so confused about references and citations and why we should add this in our own personal writing. Since I have been studied for a several years, I realized that it possibly related to personal value. The creditability of people is so respected and valued in America. Likewise, you can use credit to consume without pressing password in America. It means that if someone picks your credit card, he or she can get money without knowing any information about this credit card. This kind of thief is similar to plagiarism, and both of them will receive a serious penalty. In” Citing Sources Correctly”, Richardson points out that “Although not a crime, plagiarism is frowned upon and often considered a moral offense, which may evoke liability for copyright infringement” (4). Creditability plays an important role in America, and other people’s value is being protected. This is why we should cite other people’s work because it is kind of respect. Otherwise, it is kind of stealing. Currently, this creditability does not fit in China, and all consume is based on pressing in correct password.
In conclusion, writing as a way of expressing idea has many differences between China and America. In “College Writing in China and America: A Modest and Humble Conversation, with Writing Samples”, the authors indicates that “writing serves as an educational tool that shapes and nurtures people’s thinking, and thus confirms and reinforces well-established moral code”(8). It should be emphasized that how strong influence culture make on everything. Writing is a one part to reflect a nation’s characteristics. No matter how big difference in writing between China and America, we should respect both of them because it is not formed in several days. It is formed by thousands years’ history, which can be a symbol of a nation.
References Sullivan, P., Zhang, Y.,& Zheng, F. (2012). College Writing in China and America: A Modest and Humble Conversation, with Writing Samples. College Composition And Communication,
64(2), 306-331. Truluck, C., &Richardson, D. (2013). Citing Sources Correctly. Radiologic Technology, 84(3), 311. Xu, Y., Farver, J. M., Chang, L., Zhang, Z., & Yu,L. (2007). Moving Away or Fitting in?: Understanding Shyness in Chinese Children. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly: Journal Of
Developmental Psychology, 53(4), 527 -556.
