Introduction
According to Spencer-Oatey (2012), culture refers to behaviors, beliefs, values, and attitudes common to a particular group of individuals and are passed on from one generation to the other. In other words, culture entails implicit and explicit behavior patterns acquired and disseminated by symbols and signs, encompassing particular achievements documented, for instance, in artifacts. Ideally, a culture’s essential cores entail historical ideas and traditions attached to cultural systems, attached values, and impacts of deliberate actions (Spencer-Oatey, 2012). Eagleton (2018) indicates that although culture is a complex term, it has some fundamental senses, including a body of intellectual and artistic works, intellectual and spiritual development process, and symbolic practices, beliefs, customs, and values governing the lives of specific individuals. As a Chinese female student majoring in early childhood education, I can assert that culture plays a crucial role during childhood and adolescence. This paper reflects on the cultural issues during my childhood and adolescent stages. The work builds on the thesis statement that particular cultural orientations, like beliefs and customs around religion, language, artistic expression, and food that children and adolescents react to from birth, impact their physical, social, and emotional development.
The Meaning of the Chinese Culture
The Chinese culture consists of predominant behavioral beliefs and norms common to most Chinese people (Chan & Leung, 2014). From my close examination, Chinese culture is founded on traditional civilizations incorporating religious traditions, philosophical ideas, and folk culture. Culture fundamentally influences individuals in the transpersonal, interpersonal, and intrapersonal domains. Throughout its extensive history spanning over four thousand years, China has evolved and created an advanced and complex culture whose practices, beliefs, and norms affect every child’s life (Chan & Leung, 2014). Although I understand that China’s cultural landscape is as extensive as its geographical coverage, a significant portion of its conspicuous features stem from the practices and philosophies of Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. Having been brought up within the traditions of China, the Chinese culture considerably impacted my immediate family (entailing my parents and a sister).
The Chinese Culture’s Influence on My Family Members and Me
One of the ways the Chinese culture has affected my family members and me is through the preferred parenting styles. Confucianism significantly characterizes the Chinese culture and emphasizes filial piety and collectivism via obedience and conforming to norms, social interdependence, the need to care for family members, and respect for elders and parents (Zhang et al., 2017). During my childhood and adolescence, my parents made it clear that belonging to a family is a crucial aspect of anyone. A family is deemed a vital social support source, something that I always acknowledge. Respecting the elders and parents is not an option for children and adolescents in Chinese culture. Learning these cultural orientations at a tender age shaped my emotional, linguistic, social, and physical development. I understand that I must respect my parents and elders and always be close to my family members. For instance, I must check on my immediate family members at least once a day; they are my first support system in case of any emotional or physical hurdles.
Huang et al. (2017) confirm that according to the traditional Chinese culture, kids are required to listen and respect adults, self-monitor themselves, be sensitive to other individuals’ criticisms and evaluations and follow the rules. Therefore, the parent’s obligation and responsibility always remain to ensure that children are disciplined and sensitive to appropriate social rules and norms. From personal experience, the Chinese culture makes any individuals who disregard the rules and expectations feel that it is an unforgivable mistake not to obverse the defined cultural norms and requirements. Notably, due to the Chinese culture, training is essential to shaping children and adolescents’ future lives. The Chinese culture demands that young people be trained early to be responsible citizens and society members via consistent guidance and behavior monitoring (Huang et al., 2017). Training requires guardians or parents to ensure sufficient support, concern, care, and involvement to shape a productive generation.
Society’s Relationship with the Chinese Culture
Ideally, Chinese societies encourage maternal involvement, directiveness, love/shaming withdrawal, protection, and modest behaviors among children and adolescents. These aspects are well-defined in Chinese culture. Huang et al. (2017) indicate that promoting modest behaviors entails encouraging children and adolescents to behave humbly and moderately conform to social dictates when interacting with others. Throughout my life, my parents have always encouraged us to hold modest behaviors like being humble and honest, virtues that continue to be helpful to my present life. In the contemporary connected world, virtues like honesty and respect for others are crucial to beneficial social interactions. Parental protection is also another essential tenet of Chinese culture. My parents, like any other Chinese parents, have an irresistible urge to protect their children by creating a favorable environment that encourages them to depend on their adults. Even when making fundamental decisions, my parents always need to be consulted and must approve the decisions before implementation. This is reflected in the Chinese culture, assuming that children cannot make critical decisions autonomously because they have limited understanding (Huang et al., 2017).
When children and adolescents misbehave, shaming has always been used as an ingredient to rectifying destructive behaviors. During my childhood and adolescence, shaming helped me be sensitive to other people’s judgments, evaluations, feelings, and perceptions. Huang et al. (2017) indicate that embarrassing or shaming helped parents to demonize destructive behaviors and make children avoid them in the future. I can assert that till the present, I try very hard to avoid bad behaviors like dishonesty and disrespect because I fear being ashamed or embarrassed by my parents and elders. Directiveness is also a crucial tenet in Chinese society. This is reflected in the sense that parents and elders are responsible for controlling children and adolescents’ academic performance and behaviors. This cultural requirement is still effective in the current Chinese society. Since I started school till now, my parents have always checked my academic performance, and their guidance continues to be a crucial support in my studies. Huang et al. (2017) assert that directiveness is crucial in Chinese societies since the prevailing cultural orientation assumes that children must be guided because they are incapable of understanding and making wrong decisions. On the same note, the Chinese culture has influenced societies to encourage maternal involvement to ensure the proper upbringing of children and adolescents. This aspect is critical since the Chinese culture maintains that parental involvement is unavoidable in children’s early development since it provides a conducive environment for proper physical and emotional growth among kids.
The Chinese Culture’s Influence on Significant Others
The Chinese culture has influenced many people around me, including my cousin, who was born in the United States of America. Despite being Chinese, my cousin grew up in a different cultural orientation, negatively impacting his behavior and self-regulation abilities. According to Cheah et al. (2013) and Huang and Lamb (2015), when people move to different countries, the varied acculturation approaches in the host societies, their behaviors, and attitudes differ from their original culture. This explains why my cousin could readily disrespect elders and was frequently dishonest in his dealings. However, whenever he visited Chinese-dominated societies, for instance, when on holding, the predominant Chinese culture played a crucial role in shaping the needed wrong behaviors. Through sufficient training and support, the young man learned the important Chinese culture and realized the need to respect others and be honest when dealing with others. I can assert that the influence of the Chinese culture on the individual worked since he is always considered the most honest and respectful person in the extended family.
Conclusion
Culture is an important tenet, reflective in particular societies and among different groups of people. It entails behaviors, beliefs, values, and attitudes defining specific individuals. In a family of four, the Chinese culture significantly shaped my childhood and adolescent development stages. Chinese culture predominantly reflects philosophical and religious ideas. The culture has influenced my family and me on various levels, including intrapersonal, transpersonal, and interpersonal. The culture predominantly reflects Confucianism, which demands filial piety and obedience. In my entire life, the culture has demonstrated the need to obey parents and elders, be socially interconnected, care for others and respect every individual. All these aspects were taught during my childhood and adolescent stages, and their impact is fresh in my life. Through the Chinese culture, many associated societies have adopted necessary behavioral molding tenets, shaming, maternal involvement, and protection. These cultural aspects have successfully helped many parents and guardians monitor and regulate children and adolescents’ behaviors, creating morally upright young people. Through interaction with the Chinese culture, various people, like my cousin, learned to respect people and be honest, just like the Chinese society directs. Indeed, it is undeniable that culture is an essential ingredient in shaping children and adolescents’ behaviors, guiding their emotional, physical, and social development.
References
Chan, C. L., & Leung, P. P. (2014). Chinese culture. Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research, 833–839. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_3416
Cheah, C. S., Leung, C. Y., & Zhou, N. (2013). Understanding “tiger parenting” through the perceptions of Chinese immigrant mothers: Can Chinese and U.S. parenting coexist? Asian American Journal of Psychology, 4(1), 30–40. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031217
Eagleton, T. (2018). Culture. Yale University.
Huang, C.-Y., & Lamb, M. E. (2015). Acculturation and parenting in first-generation Chinese immigrants in the United Kingdom. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 46(1), 150–167. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022114555763
Huang, C.-Y., Cheah, C. S., Lamb, M. E., & Zhou, N. (2017). Associations between parenting styles and perceived child effortful control within Chinese families in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Taiwan. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 48(6), 795–812. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022117706108
Spencer-Oatey, H. (2012). Global pad – what is culture.
Zhang, W., Wei, X., Ji, L., Chen, L., & Deater-Deckard, K. (2017). Reconsidering parenting in Chinese culture: Subtypes, stability, and change of maternal parenting style during early adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 46(5), 1117–1136. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-017-0664-x
write