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In Andrew Nathan's article, "Is Chinese Culture Distinctive? - A Review Article, " he attempts to compare and contrast two types of research approaches to answer the question, is Chinese culture truly unique. Nathan analyzes the hermeneutic approach versus the positivist approach. The article explains the differences and similarities between the two approaches and uses Chinese Culture as the means to explain the approaches. Although the topic of the uniqueness of culture is an interesting topic, Nathan does not specifically state what makes culture, moreover Chinese culture, unique. Instead the article describes the difference of opinion in the hermeneutic argument versus the positivist argument. The article uses comparison to define the differences of Chinese culture versus other cultures.
Nathan states in the beginning of his paper, "In analyzing differences, two operations are involved: abstraction (of characteristic to be compared) and comparison. These moves are often made in order to take a third step: to use the differences in culture to explain a difference in some societal outcome... " (Nathan, 924). Obviously, Chinese culture, like any other culture, is filled with its' own traditions and history which makes it unique to its people. What is lacking, however, is the comparison of Chinese culture to other Asian, or Eastern, cultures. Western culture versus Eastern culture is filled with greater differences then that of within Eastern culture.
However, what makes Chinese culture different from that of any other Asian culture was not explained. Furthermore, comparing the differences between two Eastern cultures would better answer the question of whether or not Chinese culture truly is distinctive. Nathan states that the hermeneutic approach "views culture as a historically shaped, socially shared set of symbols... " (Nathan, 924) while the positivist approach view .".. culture as a distribution among a population of specifiable and identifiable attitudes, values, and beliefs" (Nathan, 928) and further goes to say that the correct method of studying culture is neither one approach or another, but rather a mixture of the two. Within his analysis of the two approaches, characteristics of Chinese cultures are touched upon. Nathan, however, never goes passed the normal stereotypes of Chinese culture and thus does not analyze Chinese culture in depth.
The article mentions the stereotypical characteristics of Chinese culture such as ancestral worship and universal kinship. Both ideas, however are not unique to merely Chinese culture, but are evident in most Eastern cultures. Therefore, although the definition, difference, and similarity between the analyzing processes of different cultures are evident and easily understood, the specific distinctiveness of Chinese culture is not truly discussed. Vague generalizations are filled within the article. Such statements as "Although China-U. S.
differences exist, the comparison also demonstrates that networks built out of personal relationships are not unique to China" and "The findings show that the cultural options for political action are distinctive in each of the six places, yet the range of possible approaches to political influence is basically similar" (Nathan, 929) lead the reader to believe that Chinese culture is in fact not truly distinctive. However, Nathan does state that within the analysis of cross-culture, no culture is truly unique because the context between the two cultures is different. Therefore, although Nathan discusses the point that the uniqueness of a culture is hard to research, analyze, and explain, he does little to actually explain the distinctiveness of Chinese culture. Although his point of further research to understand the distinctiveness of Chinese culture is well understood, he does little in aiding with the explanation of what exactly does make the culture distinctive and what makes the culture not distinctive. When choosing this book from the reading list, I hoped to gain a general knowledge of what made Chinese culture unique and distinctive.
In doing so, I hoped to find an aspect of Chinese culture that would truly appeal to me and that I would want to learn more about. Because I am Korean-American, my own viewpoints and experiences with Chinese culture seem less foreign to me then that of a European. I hoped that this article would better explain to me the subtle uniqueness of Chinese culture compared to that of another Asian culture. It was disappointing that Nathan's article stood more as an explanation of two different types of approach when studying culture rather then explaining how Chinese culture truly is distinctive.
Furthermore, his article did not explain the question he initially set to answer and thus I feel that the title of his article serves very misleading.
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Research essay sample on Answer The Question Chinese Culture
