A Study on the View of Marriage Between Chinese and American through The Wedding Banquet

In a world of international interdependence，the ability to understand and communicate effectively with people from other cultures takes on extreme urgency.However，because of different history and culture，there are so many different views towards the same issue between Chinese and people from West World.Among them，marriage is an issue worth investigating in intercultural communication.The objective of the study is to find the differences between China and America concerning the problem of marriage and the causes resulted in through analyzing the view of marriage of Ang Lees film The Wedding Banquet，so as to help people better understand the marriage culture between China and America and to decrease the barriers of intercultural communication.

In traditional China，Chinese people often pay more attention to the external conditions like family background，hierarchy and some material factors when choosing the companion.However，the position of love and marriage itself are less important.In contemporary society，the significance of external conditions is gradually decreased for those who have accepted the higher education.For these young people，the companions moral quality and character are more important than economic condition.In the film，when choosing the companion for their son，Mr and Mrs Gao follow the “properly matched marriage ” principle and select those girl who have high qualifications，wealthy family background and good healthy condition. Wai-tung knows the Chineses traditional view towards marriage and his parents thought，so when Mr and Mrs Gao come to America to see their daughter-in-law，Wai- tung fabricates a suitable identity for Wei-wei so as to satisfy his parents.After inquiring Wei-wei about her background，they are satisfied with her.This scene fully illustrates the Chinese view of marriage.

Under the influence of traditional thought，marriage is viewed as a voluntary union mainly for procreation of children.A Chinese adage “no offspring is the worst one of the three ways unfilial to our parents” deeply influence our view of marriage.In the film，after knowing the lie from Ai-tung，Mr and Mrs Gao still retain it in order to continue the family line.When Wei-wei decides to keep the baby，they express their sincere gratitude to Wei-wei.So we can see that children is an important and necessary part of marriage for the Chinese.

From an overall point of view，we can conclude that for the Chinese marriage is very important，and marriage is not a personal affair but an issue involve the whole family and their friends.Moreover，Chinese people pay more attention to the external factors when choosing the companion.

For Americans，marriage is the legalizing of a special relationship between a man and a woman，to which society give its sanction.It not only focuses on legal and social obligations to each other，but also emphasizes on the voluntary，namely a private relationship.In general，there exist at least two beliefs in society about marriage.One belief is that the two parties establish a life together and assume certain duties and obligations，with the meanings of marriage are embodied in the social responsibility.The other belief is that marriage is self-centered undertaking，and the meaning of marriage is to satisfy personal needs and development rather than social responsibility or others.They pay more attention the compatibility of each other，on the contrary，the external conditions are seem to less important.These views of marriage all reflected in the film which can give us a general impression about Americans.

Knowing the difference of the view of marriage between Chinese and American can improve the ability of intercultural communication and help us correctly understand the words and deeds of Americans.In the process of communication，only we fully understand each other and respect the customs of each other can we achieve the best communicative results.

References：

[1]Baldwin，Elaine，Brian Longhurst，Greg Smith，Scott Mccracken，and Miles Ogborn.IntroduingCultural Studies[M].Beijing：Peking University Press， 2005：83.

[2]Larry A，Samovar，Richard E.Porter，and Lisa A.Stefani.Communication between Cultures[M].Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2005：127.

作者簡介：

徐菲艳 （1989- ），女，汉，云南昆明人，12级研究生在读，云南大学外国语学院，研究方向：语言学。