中西方婚礼在文化上的对比 论文 英文

学号：

1132207

毕业论文（设计）

（

2011

届）

题目

The Comparison of Wedding in Chinese

and American Cultures.

系

部

语言与传播系

专

业

英语

班

级

112

班

学生姓名

丁雪姗

成

绩

指导教师

郑艺

完成日期

2014

年

12

月

22

日

诚信声明

本人郑重声明：所呈交的毕业论文（设计）是我个人在导师指导

下，由我本人独立完成。有关观点、方法、数据和文献等的引用已在

文中指出，并与参考 文献相对应。

我承诺，论文中的所有内容均真实、可信。如在 文中涉及到抄袭

或剽窃行为，本人愿承担由此而造成的一切后果及责任。

毕业论文（设计）作者签名：

签名日期：

年

月

日

摘要

摘要内容：本文主要以婚礼为依 据，从婚礼上的服饰、仪式、婚礼前的准备工作

和音乐四个方面进行对比，

从而体现出中国和美国在婚礼上的差异。

其次又分析

了形成这些差异的原因。

主要的原因有三个：

思维模式的差异、

人生观和价值观

的差异以及宗教信仰的差异。随着改革开放的发 展，中西方的交流越来越频繁。

所以本文通过这些差异的对比，

让大家清晰地了解中国和西方国家在婚礼上的差

异，

从而体现出 中西方在文化上的差异。

只有这样才能使不同的民族更良好地沟

通，也只有这样才能更好地进行跨文化交际和跨文化传播。

关键词

：中美婚礼

；差异；文化；跨文化交际；跨文化传播

Abstract

内容：

The article is based on the wedding. It is from four angles to narrate the

differences between Chinese wedding and American wedding. I will go with an idea

to contrast the costume, the ceremony, the preparation of the wedding and the music

in Chinese and American weddings. And then I will display the reasons of forming

these differences which are the different thought patterns, different philosophy and

values and different religious belief between Chinese and American people. We will

understand the differences and the reasons mentioned above clearly through these

comparisons. In my opinion, the purpose of knowing the differences of China and

America is to make the different nations communicate better. And only in this way

can we do better in the intercultural communication and the cross-cultural

transmission.

Key words:

Chinese and American wedding; difference; intercultural communication;

cross-cultural transmission

Contents

Ⅰ

Introduction

……… ………………………………………………………………

1

1.1 The Significance of Wedding

…………………………………………………

1

1.2 The Origin of Chinese Wedding

………………………………………………

1

1.3 The Origin of American Wedding

.....2

Ⅱ

The Comparison of Wedding Between Chinese and American Cultures

………

...3

2.1 The Differences of Costume in Chinese and American Wedding

……………

.3

2.1.1 Costume in Chinese Wedding

……………………………………………

..3

2.1.2 Costume in American Wedding

……………………………………………

4

2.2 The Differences of Ceremony in Chinese and American Wedding

…………

...5

2.2.1 Ceremony in Chinese Wedding

……………………………………………

5

2.2.2 Ceremony in American Wedding

…………………………………………

.6

2.3 The Differences of Preparation before Chinese and American Wedding

……

.7

2.3.1 Preparation before Chinese Wedding

……………………………………

...7

2.3.2 Preparation before American Wedding

…………………………………....

8

2.4 The Differences of Music in Chinese and American Wedding

………………

.9

2.4.1 Music in Chinese and American Wedding

………………………………

...9

Ⅲ

The Reasons of Forming These Differences

………………………

.< /p>

……………

10

3.1

The

Difference

of

Thought

Patterns

Between

Chinese

and

American

Cult ures.............................................. .................................................. .......................10

3.2

The

Difference

of

Philosophy

and

Values

Between

Chinese

and

American

Cultures

……………………………………………………………………………

...11

3.3

The

Difference

of

Religious

Belief

Between

Chinese

and

American

Cultures

……………………………………………………………………………

...11

Ⅳ

Conclusion

…………… …………………………………………………………

..12

Ⅰ

Introduction

1.1 The Significance of Wedding

Wedding

is

a

legitimate

or

a

religious

ceremony.

It

is

for

celebrating

the

beginning

of

a

marriage.

Each

country

and

each

nation

has

their

own

traditional

wedding. Wedding is the most important ceremony in our whole life. There are three

influential

wedding

in

the

world:

Confucianism

wedding;

Hindu

wedding

and

Christian wedding. Confucianism wedding is a traditional wedding of China and the

Christian wedding is a tradition wedding of America. In Christianity, there is a clear

significance of marriage. It is said that marriage is a decree from God. In my opinion,

marriage is a new life for people who love their lovers and the wedding is a ceremony

for people to verify their sweet affection.

1.2 The Origin of Chinese Wedding

The origin of Chinese wedding is from a myth and legend. It is said that in

remote antiquity, there was likely to be some heavy flooding, almost all animals and

human died except Nuwa and Fuxi. The God of Venus who is an immortal of Chinese

ancient mythology asked them to get married to reproduce human, but both of them

disagreed with this because they were brother and sister. However, if they didn

’

t get

married, mankind would deracinate. At the same time, Nuwa and Fuxi came up with a

method

that

if

they

can

connect

the

bamboos

which

were

cut

down

and

then

they

would get married. It was unexpected that those bamboos were connected. But they

were

still

not

willing

to

marry

each

other.

Therefore,

they

thought

out

another

way

that if two millstones which rolled down from two mountains rolled together and then

they would get married. Sure enough, the two millstones rolled together. But they also

didn

’

t want to get married. Finally, Nuwa figured out a way that Nuwa ran first and

then

if

Fuxi

caught

up

with

Nuwa

they

would

get

married.

However

Fuxi

can

’

t

1

overtake Nuwa. Fuxi met a turtle afterwards and the turtle taught him that he can run

oppositely to catch up with Nuwa. Fuxi did what the turtle told him and he overtook

Nuwa eventually. In the end, they got married. Chinese wedding was taking shape.

1.3 The Origin of American Wedding

When mentioning the origin of American wedding, we must first talk about

the

origin

of

Western

wedding

because

American

culture

is

influenced

by

Western

cultures. The origin of western wedding is a legend. It is from the Bible of Christianity.

It

is

said

that

God

created

world

in

seven

days.

Jehovah

God

made

a

man

named

Adam with mud at the sixth days and blew some breath to him. Then Adam was alive

suddenly.

Jehovah

God

built

the

Garden

of

Eden

and

asked

Adam

not

to

eat

the

fruitages of wisdom. Afterwards, Jehovah God wanted to make a spouse to help Adam,

so he made a woman called Eve with one of Adam

’

s rib. Since then Adam and Eve

lived in the Garden of Eden happily. According to the original idea of Bible, that era is

the golden age of human. However they couldn

’

t resist the lure from a snake and they

ate the forbidden fruits. They understood the shame and they began to love each other.

Ultimately

Jehovah

God

realized

that

both

of

them

went

against

with

his

order.

Jehovah God was very angry and dislodged them from the Garden of Eden. Since then

there

had

appeared

the

ethnic

group

with

love,

enmity

and

warfare.

From

the

discrimination mentioned above, people in primitive times got married with no more

love

and

responsibility.

With

the

development

of

social

productivity

and

the

perfection

of

political

system,

marriage

had

appeared.

Western

wedding

had

taken

shape progressively.

2

Ⅱ

The

Comparison

of

Wedding

Between

Chinese

and

American Cultures

2.1

The Differences of Costume in Chinese and American Wedding

It

is

obvious

that

costume

in

Chinese

wedding

and

costume

in

American

wedding is as different as chalk and cheese. For example, the color and the style of

Chinese wedding costumes are different

from

American

’

s.

Now let

me demonstrate

this contention.

2.1.1 Costume in Chinese Wedding

At the mention of the costume in Chinese wedding, we have to date back to

ancient China. In Zhou Dynasty, people thought that the color of black represented the

universe. Therefore,

the

tone of their

costumes

at

the wedding is

black

with

a little

crimson. It

’

s very solemn and simplicity. It is said that in Qin Dynasty, the color of

wedding gowns is as same as that in Zhou Dynasty. In Han Dynasty, the color of the

wedding

dress

is

like

that

in

Zhou

and

Qin

Dynasty.

But

there

are

also

some

differences. The bridegroom and the bride needed to wear the warped shoes and the

bride had to adorn the hairpin to comb up her hair. In Sui and Tang Dynasty, the style

of

wedding

gowns

is

as

same

as

that

previously.

But

the

tone

of

the

costumes

had

changed a lot. The bridegroom wore crimson clothes and the bride wore cyan clothes.

It

seems

very

jubilant

and

enthusiastic.

In

Ming

Dynasty,

Ming

emperor

Zhu

Yuanzhang

made

a

new

institution.

When

the

common

people

got

married,

the

bridegroom

can

wear

the

fake

official

robe

like

an

officer,

the

bride

can

wear

a

phoenix coronet on her head and wear a red long dress and also wear a robe of rank

on her shoulders. It just looks like an empress. Besides, before the bride get into the

bridal sedan chair she must wear the red veil to cover her head and embroidered shoes

on her feet. The tone of all clothes at the wedding is red during that time. The style

and tone of wedding gowns in Ming Dynasty is from generation to generation. Since

3

then this kind of wedding gowns has been used for more than 500 years. Nowadays at

some traditional weddings, there usually appear phoenix coronet and official robes. In

Qing Dynasty, the bridegroom usually wore a skullcap, a long gown and a mandarin

jacket like a Manchu. And except phoenix coronet and robes of rank, the bride also

wore a long red dress with an embroidered gown. In my opinion, the most beautiful

wedding

costume

is

Ming

’

s

style.

It

is

not

only

enthusiastic

but

also

dazzling

and

charming. Besides, I think all the costumes in each dynasty are also treasures to show

about the traditional culture of China.

2.1.2 Costume in American Wedding

The bride in America always wears a wedding dress and the bridegroom

wears western-style clothes. It is unbelievable that there are only 200 years for brides

to

wear

white

wedding

dress(

吴国华，

2006).

The

wedding

dress

was

a

ceremony

dress

of

Catholic.

When

people

got

married

they

must

accept

the

prayer

or

the

blessing from priest because western people thought that the marriage was an order

from God and the priest is envoy of God to convey the order. Therefore, the bride had

to

wear

the

ceremony

dress

of

Catholic

to

express

that

she

was

pure

and

honest.

However before 19 centuries, the style and tone of the bride wedding dress weren

’

t

unified.

Some

of

brides

wore

flaxen

long

dress,

and

some

of

them

wore

blue

long

dress, others wore pink long dress with some jewels on it. In 1840 Victoria wore an 18

feet

white

wedding

dress

and

was

unfolded

before

everyone

’

s

eyes,

and

all

people

were fascinated by the white wedding dress(

吴国华，

2006). Therefore white wedding

dress played an important role in wedding dress of western countries. In addition, the

bride had to wear a veil to cover her face. It is because that only in this way can they

keep away from the demon. Also it is said that the bridegroom needed to hold a sword

on his

right

side formerly

because of dueling with

the guy

who wanted

to

rend the

bride away from

him.

Generally, the

traditional

costumes of American

wedding

lay

stress on the four key points,

”

new

”

;

”

old

”

;

”

borrowed

”

and

”

blue

”

.

The”

new

”

means

the new white wedding dress, which signifies the beginning of new life.

The “old” is

4