These were sent to me by a friend working at Reuters. They are all the copyright of Yang Liu, a Chinese raised in Germany, and appear in her book “Ost trifft West” (East meets West). Her biography is at the end of this post. These images depict differences & commonality between groups in their approaches, perspectives, and moments in history.
In the images, Blue –> Westerner and Red –> Asian.
Confronting a Problem
Sense of Self
Weekend Activities
How to Express Anger
Queue when Waiting
Status of Leader
Relationships
Punctuality
Transportation
Update: See this JapanNewbie.com’s additional narrative on the pictures.
Update II: at the request of the artist, a number of images were removed from the original post. Please visit the artist’s webpage below to see more and learn about shows of the artist’s work.
Update III: Yang Liu drew my attention to an “interview” with me in a Chinese newspaper. The “reporter” of that article never contacted let alone interviewed me.
Images are from the book “Ost trifft West” (East meets West)
Hermann Schmidt Verlag Mainz
-Differences between Germans and Chinese
- A diary of Yang Liu
@Yang
Liu Design, www.yangliudesign.com
BIOGRAPHY: Yang Liu was born in 1976. In age of 13, she moved with her parents to Germany. At the age of 17, she started her studies at the University of Arts in Berlin. After her master degree, she worked as a designer inSingapore, London, Berlin and New York City. 2004 she has started her own design studio. While she is giving workshops and lectures on several international conferences, she was as well as teaching at the Central Academy of Fine Arts and theGlasgow school of Art. Her works had been awarded with several international design awards and are shown in Museums and became partof the collections.
Kartik says:
Her name is Yang Liu and her website is here:
http://www.yangliudesign.com/
Timo says:
I am a German living in Thailand, and I can recognize many of my own experiences of the cultural differences between ‘East’ and ‘West’.
Those pictogramms are simplifications, but I think they are quite cleverly made. They are easy to understand (well, most of them), and they invite to think about your own culture, and how you perceive the other.
Are they degrading either the ‘Eastern’ or ‘Western’ way of seeing the world? I don’t think so … but they show some (fundamental) differences in thinking that both have strengths and weaknesses … if you like slamming those pics because they degrade either one side, perhaps you should start asking yourself how open to other cultures you are … :-)
mahmood shah says:
yes iagree
nonct says:
I feel many people here consider Asian=Chinese. Many of above do not apply to Japanese.
Joshua says:
About the restaurant. You may consider a normal Chinese restaurant for Chinese as a pub for American. People go there are not just for food, they go there to hang out, chat and drink, so it explains why sometimes a group at a table can last a few hours. But it also depends on what kind of style the restaurant is.
معتصم محمود الطميزي says:
look
some of these information true but the other is false
so please dont laugh about other people and other cultures
Christine says:
haha. It’s ridiculous but it’s describe quite similar to the reality. Cheers:D
PinkDevilita says:
DIFFERENCES IS GOOD FOR KNOW EACH OTHER
Anonymous says:
Interesting!
I agree with almost all sections
daffy says:
I cant agree to some of the pictures regarding the west, because the western countries differ a lot, it may apply to one country but not to others.
I’ve been living in Asia for quite sometime now,at first its hard to adopt, but as soon as I became part of their society I am starting to value it! Marrying an Asian brought me to a new world.
I was impressed with their value of relationship, although it may differ in movements and terms, but it ends up valuing and respecting one another. Its really fun staying at a resto for two hours just talking bout not so important stuffs, just for fun.
I agree with ANGER, they are one of the happiest people, even though they suffer many disasters in a year and a still striving economy, but I think one reason behind it is their faith to their religions.
With regards to shower time, I have another opinion, most people I encounter here shower twice a day…in the morning, and then at night.
They have many differences, but they end up at the same point(using different paths).
jaya says:
hi,i agree with those pictures.i like the way that your friend explain about the topic.this pictures will useful for the project items.
hello to all who they are opening this page.
Aman Bandvi says:
Excellent pictorial representation. However some follow stereotypes…I dont agree with all, but they raise a debate in a unique manner. :-)
PTE51201507 says:
When our world becomes more boundless, we can communicate with many countries around the world. So, the changing of the culture has happened between the western and the eastern in many ways. In my view, I classify the way of copying the culture from the western into two types. The first is advantages and the second is disadvantages.
First, I divide the advantages into two parts. First part of advantages in the harder work. The western people spend on the time with their work more than eastern. The next is the education. The western people concern about the improving of their country by the education process.
Second, I divide the disadvantages into two parts. First part of disadvantages is the sex. They show their love in the public. For example, kissing hugging, and others. The way of eating. They always eat fastfood as their main meals. That are why get fatter than the eastern people.
In conclusion, we need to think before copying their culture because there are advantages and disadvantages from the western culture. We should choose the advantages to apply with yourself life.
PTE51201507
Alex says:
I think both are very good and differents from people who beleive in… i love all between west culture and Asian culture/
maggie says:
I totally agree with the pics say. very good artical
herbert samuel booth says:
I’m British, live on an island, seems to me we might have lot more in common with the Japanese than many other landlocked nations or continents. When Japan was our ally in WW1, they modelled their navy (with our help)on ours and with no apparent problems (a navy is very complex not like a ship. Also I believe they are very good at swearing as are the English!
Also I disagree with linear and lateral thinking; I mean how do we know how we think? We do not know that these thinking patterns are and therefore cannot be quantified. However,I believe logical thinking has been quantified to some extent but I’m not sure. Nevertheless the Japanese peoples also think logically. Hope I’ve made myself clear?
Anonymous says:
i agree
Anonymous says:
I think this is very true. as I live in America now, I find so many different things. there have good things and bad things on both sides. what I need to do is just to adjust to the enviroment
Janet says:
I was just wondering what is the exact year you’ve been in China, and I do think the manner and situation has been grately improved in China. It is a tough task since you have never lived in a country of 13 hundred million population , you would never know how hard it is.
yudi says:
I come from the east, and I agree with the picture