Friday, November 19, 2010

The differences between China and Germany in pictures.

I have come across a series of pictures which rather cleverly capture the differences between life in China and in Germany. The artist who made them, Yang Liu, was born in Beijing but moved to Germany when she was quite young.

Below are some of the pictures. The blue part represents Germany, and the red part China:

How emotions are expressed



How the weather affect emotions



The position of the Boss



How problems are tackled



Noise level in a restaurant



Relationships between people



Lifestyle


Sense of self


Modes of Transport in 1970 and 2006


The life of the elderly




The position of the child



Queueing




Punctuality




Although the series of pictures is specifically meant to represent the differences between Germany and China, most of them could also be applied to the differences between China and Britain or any other North European country, or the United States for that matter.
Interestingly, some of these pictures could also represent the differences between Germany and Italy, or between North European cultures and Mediterranean ones in general. The ones on punctuality, queueing and the noise level in restaurants certainly could be applied to Germany vs. Italy as well (actually when it comes to punctuality, I think the Chinese are somewhat more punctual than the Italians. However there's no beating the Germans on that one). Other pictures are more specific to China and Eastern cultures, for instance the ones related to expressing your feelings, the sense of self and the role of the boss.