24 Funny Illustrations That Show The Cultural Differences Between The East And The West Made By This Artist
Since we can travel around the world and visit different countries, people noticed cultural differences that are here to this day. That is what makes traveling fun, to change your usual setting with something new and unexplored.
Yang Liu a young artist from Beijing currently living in Germany illustrates the social and cultural differences between her Eastern and Western worlds in her project “Ost trifft West,” or “East Meets West,” which conveys a strong message on the differences she personally experienced.
"Ost trifft West" is a series of infographic posters that compare German and Chinese people in accurate and humorous ways. The infographics highlight important human elements such as self-perception, opinion expression, and mood.
So without further ado, we invite you to explore the differences captured by this incredibly observant artist.
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The Boss
Meanwhile in China: "Sorry, you're just not tall enough to get promoted "
If you wonder how Yang Liu gathered information, such as whether she used interviews, research, or theories, her reply is this: “The fact is that every single illustration is my very personal experience in the past 13-17 years, and this work was made as a documentation of my own life,” she said. As an artist who was raised in multiple cultures, she doesn’t feel like she belongs to any of them: “I am feeling myself more as a person who belongs to all the places I have been,” says Liu.
Means Of Transportation
Expressing Opinion
Sure, we are all aware of cultural differences around the world, such as social norms, family structure, religion, cuisine, and the more day-to-day ones that Liu has depicted in her illustrations. Historical, geographic, economic, and social factors are just some of the ones that form differences in the way we perceive and interact with the world around us.
Standing In A Line
... I have heard that Chinese tourists have to take classes before they're allowed to travel because their queueing behavior is so different from the western type. I was literally SHOVED OUT OF THE WAY by adult Chinese tourists in Europe (men, mostly) so they could reach the head of the line faster.
I was going to say the same. Except at the pub, when we go red
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But how do you know who's next? I feel bad for the cashier/ticket taker, etc.
The cashier is supposed to mentally track the 5-10 faces in front of them. This method of queueing is to maximize efficiency and not allow for one unprepared idiot to hold up the entire line and waste time. Think of it more like a hawker's stall...which, there are gazillions of in Asia. In the US say you have a person who gets to nearly the front of the line, and still has no idea wtf they want, or maybe they are reading their cellphone to check what their friends ordered....that is 30seconds or 5 minutes wasted...and the whole line wastes that time. That time-waste is cumulative. By the time you reach the front of the line, as a customer yourself, you've personally already lost maybe 15minutes from inefficient customers. The increased customer-surface-interface allows the vendor to skip the person still trying to decide, and circle back to them later, rather than wait. There are 4, maybe 5, or even 10 people that are ready with their orders, waiting on the person with the goods.
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In Greece as well. Little old ladies still dressed on funeral black will elbow your kidney to get in front of you in an airplane queu with their assigned seat ticket in their hand…
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And France. Waiting for a bus there: everyone shuffling around nonchalantly, de-clustering. Bus arrives: able-bodied men push to the front; women and children trampled--this is, after all, France, not the Titanic.
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I feel kinda bad for snorting. Probably because I’m Chinese.
Load More Replies... In the US, we are trained our entire lives to cue up in straight lines. Not so much in some other countries. I have heard that when they built Disneyland in Paris, it was a confusing mess on opening day because the French do not cue. The park had to revamp how to let folks onto rides.
The Chinese line looks like the queue for the #30 Stockton bus in San Francisco. Don't try to be polite and let the little old ladies on ahead of you; they will elbow you aside and step on you. Just get on the bus!
It's funny. Germany is the line for "I have a secret to tell you" and China is "I just got an email from (insert famous person)"
This really made me laugh! Now I can’t look at it any other way lol
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Lived in South Korea for a while. Can confirm that this line rule applies to auto intersections as well. See a stop light? Grab a position on the starting line and wait for the race to begin to see whose car is fastest to squeeze into the single lane of traffic on the other side of the intersection.
Drive in Manila but never put as much as your pinky finger outside the window. No blinks and it’s gone!
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This is why amusement parks make me angry. Or waiting for the bus. We all have to go thru the same door, folks.
Every line in America turns into the red one as soon as they see a sign saying "limited availability."
Blue straight line is the Only way to go in Sweden. If there is no line when queuing, for example where you sit and wait, we still remember who came before you and would Never cut ahead. Red cluster, pushing eachother, trying to get ahead, wouldn't happen even in a crisis...
Yeah. People tend to get worried about things running out before they get to the end of the line. In populous countries, the lines tend to be so long that if you don't get there fast enough, the bus may leave without you, or you won't get a seat, or the food will be over etc. And that shortage-anxiety often extends to other situations like airports - where you know you have a seat reserved on the plane, but you still feel the need to rush.
I encountered the Chinese version often at the truck stop where I worked. A customer would push their way to the sales counter, dump all their purchases, & ask "How much?" before I even had a chance to ring up their purchase. On the whole, very pushy & rude!
I love a good British queue. They have to be grand champions of all those who queue after they long lines to pay respect to the beloved late Queen.
West Indians abroad. They queue up for buses etc when they're home they crowd.
How the pharmacy I work for used to be until we got the rope lane things like at the bank.
Elderly Belgians like to jump the line as well. Its easy because the average Belgian will just mumble something but never speak out loud. Thats where the Dutch people come in. "oh i didnt see you!" sure, you just literally pushed me aside?!
I’m pretty sure this is Brits in blue and Americans in red. BET. I mean, come on. Google ANY pic of a train station right now literally anywhere in the world vs England for instance. Count the pics showing people lined up vs not and tell me England doesn’t win by like a gazillion.
American here, line up individually or as couples, with family members in a loose line next to each other.
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A Flock of sheep. We used to get called that when we went somewhere in school
"china" is how the dutch stand in line, especially at the metro
The one on the right is definitely Spain, no need to go to Asia to see this!
I totally disagree with this - the queues in Japan are very orderly
if the blue was the UK, that line would be ramrod straight with bigger gaps inbetween.
No way, the line should have drawn in East . Just have a look how people behave in Japan.
no way ! the line should have been drawn in the East. Have a look in Japan.
This is so wrong. Germans have no understanding of how to form an old stand in an orderly line. Believe me, I've lived in Frankfurt for 12 months.
In Germany? People waiting to board politely wait for the ones to get out the door! But there is no line for trains
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So true, Indians are always like pushing each other to get to the front of the line. Me:”What’s the hurry?”
In the East ppl tend to give themselves the rights to go first/be first. In the West, it’s simply who arrived first.
You know what do they have in common? (Bosses) They all white xD
In elementary schools here(Canada) we were always taught to walk on the right side of the hall. Single file. Only time people cluster like the right side is when there isn't room in a public area to single file
Same in Africa, but more complicated. You do lines where there are middle class people present or lining up to get on a bus, as the western habit is followed. However in a bar, sports event or club etc., not so much, then it's a free for all.
not like the Germans I came across, crowded to the front and pushed my 3 year old aside. But not for long x
The cluster is an accurate representation for Swiss behavior on boarding trains/buses, too! :(
In Beijing, someone pushed in front of the person who had pushed in front of me at the ticket window.
When I came back to Japan from China, I was bustling to get in the train like people at right, and then realized I'm in a whole different world
That's wrong. Germany is just like the Chinese graphic. Except the people need to be somewhat closer together.
at the metro: yes. but at the bakery etc there are lines
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At the end, everybody got what they went there for, at almost the same time. Total waiting time is the same.
Attitude Towards Punctuality
When moving to a new country, no matter how close or far from your home, the beginning can be quite challenging and time-consuming. In order to adapt might require some adjusting to a new culture and adopting its values, beliefs, customs, and behaviors. Building new relationships and keeping an open mind is the right way to start.
Dealing With Problems
Expressing Feelings
In Liu’s illustrations’ on one side, we might recognize ourselves more than on the other one, and it might raise questions: what else is different? How does that affect our mental health? Could I maybe learn new things and include them in my life to make it easier?
What do you, Pandas, think when seeing Liu’s depiction? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Traveling
What’s Trending
Noise Level At The Restaurant
*noise level everywhere in China. Chinese cities are full of sounds coming out of absolutely everywhere.
Everyday Life Of Elderly
Mood And Weather
Self Perception
People, this isn't saying that Chinese have low self-esteem or don't value themselves. It's comparing the individualism of the West to the collective mindset of the East. To a westerner the self is the primary consideration; in the east the self is a small part of the wider community
Cultural Perceptions: Germans vs. Chinese
I mean the Chinese one is not wrong. Saying as someone who lived in Germany
At A Party
The one on the right actually reminds me of typical Dutch birthday parties 😁
Children In The Family
Three Meals A Day
More variety in Germany? Oh no, I get it. Cold and hot meals. Ok.
Contacts And Connections
Cure For Stomach Ache
Sundays On The Streets
Lifestyle: Independent vs. Dependent
So basically "disappoint your family in any way and be disowned" in China. No real chance to develop your own genuine personality in a world like that
Ideal Of Beauty
Is this to do with skin colour or tone? Germans prefer darker skin and Chinese prefer lighter skin tones? If it is not, I don’t get it.
Shower Time
Novelties
Attention trolls: please stop calling this Beijing-born Chinese artist a racist, or that she is stereotyping her own country
I love her (accurate) take on things and I think it's so true that it actually makes it humourous. ..... I haven't read every comment but a lot of them seem to be 'defending' the west! Why?? These pics are just some general sweeping statements to make us smile .... Well it worked for me! Happy Tuesday 😉
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Just goes to show there are things to be learned from both (and other) cultures. Once we get further down our shared timeline, hopefully we can choose the best of all and further humankind.
Again, wish I could upvote this comment at least 100 times. (Hopefully, fingers crossed, but not holding my breath 😪)
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I feel like this should be titled differences in China and Germany rather than East and West. Both areas are culturally diverse enough that using one country as a metric isn't really fair.
I relate completely as a middle eastern living in the west.
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Yep. Acknowledging differences between cultures is the exact opposite of racist unless it's done with a disdainful or xenophobic undertone. It's so gross that it's become the norm to cry racism for any humor relating to or observations of CULTURAL variations. Hell, it is almost never coming from a racist place when people make jokes or discuss differences between actual races in today's day. 99.999% of what many people have tantrums about and call racist only shows their inability to process the literal definition of the term. It's basically always about their fragile egos being damaged due to a lifetime of privilege making them weak, narcissistic and simple enough to still do something so obviously embarrassing, wrong, dividing and...just f****n gross. It's regressive fragility masquerading as progressive. I can't imagine anyone is still so enslaved by their delusion as to believe this contemporary bastardized version of social consciousness and tolerance is progressive.
It took me 4 pictures to realize that this wasn't talking about the East and West coast of the U.S 🤦🏻♀️
well you DO live in a country that calls its indigenous sport tournament the "world series" so we're quite used to you guys thinking usa is the world ;-) /jk
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The art is neat, but most seem more like judgements than observations. Very interesting.
It seems to me that a lot of the negative reactions are to Yet Another BP Post That Lacks Subtlety. It's strange to me that the title of the series was painted is such broad strokes: Berlin vs. Beijing would have been more poetic and reflective of the observed differences, and it would also recognize that painting something like half of all humans vs the other almost half of all humans is probably too broad of a stroke. I also, personally, dislike this from an infographic perspective because a good graphic condenses complicated information while making it more accessible and the graphics... do the opposite? These observations, without cultural context, and presented as a full card each seem to be adding space and removing information, and I can tell from other comments that I wasn't the only one who found some of these counterintuitive or confusing.
It's quite odd, as this infographic could almost be used for the opposite East/West scenario if you were to swap countries. Japan would easily take the place of Germany, and the US would easily take the place of China in pretty much every one of these infographic situations.
well yes but Japan was colonised by America in the 1800s (Perry et al) so it's pretty much following western standards on most things except humility and manners, where it's more eastern.
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There's a lot to be said about a "we" mind set and "me" mind set. I remember how people took what they needed from the stores for their families to eat after the earthquake/tsunami. I wondered if in western culture if people would just raid everything for themselves. I don't operate on a "me" mentality and people will take advantage of your lack of selfishness. It's sad.
Blue vs. Red? I couldn’t find anywhere an explanation as to which was East and which is West. Being from neither country/region/nationality/compass point, I am not familiar enough with either culture to recognize them. A simple key statement would have been helpful.
I don't think any of them were designed to make either side seem preferable. For most of them, I personally liked the West becuase that's what I'm used to. It's just meant to show the contrast between different cultures.
Load More Replies... Most of these could just as easily be the difference between Northern and Southern Europe, so the title is wildly inaccurate.
She is a racist because she has claimed Chinese cultural habits as the same for all of Asia.......... The article is labeled wrong. It should be the EU and China not west and east
So, are you racist for saying all of the EU is one cultural block? Because all of the EU is not the same, so you would be incorrect to say that. You could ask for clarification rather than assuming the worst.
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It's also important to recognize generalities. For example, the west queuing and the eastern cluster. Many Chinese tourists actually take a class which involves learning about queuing along with other things so that they are on the same page with others when they travel. I don't recommend going to a new country and assuming everyone is just as unique and independently minded as you. There is a thing called culture and it's not the same across the world lol..
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you need to substantiate your argument otherwise people downvote you.
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What the heck is this comment thread? Are you people tinfoil hat nutters?
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How do you know? Do you belong to both cultures?
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Seriously? How is it mean? How can you possibly take offence, and if you didn't, why are you taking offence on behalf of others when no one specific is being portrayed, and all of the comments from those of the portrayed nationalities are finding humour and things they can relate to, rather than taking offence? Not everything that isn't rainbows and sunshine needs to be seen as mean or offensive.
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The artist lives in Germany, where two cold meals a day are normal.
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Look up where the artist was born and where they live. Clues in the picture.
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Attention trolls: please stop calling this Beijing-born Chinese artist a racist, or that she is stereotyping her own country
I love her (accurate) take on things and I think it's so true that it actually makes it humourous. ..... I haven't read every comment but a lot of them seem to be 'defending' the west! Why?? These pics are just some general sweeping statements to make us smile .... Well it worked for me! Happy Tuesday 😉
Load More Replies... Just goes to show there are things to be learned from both (and other) cultures. Once we get further down our shared timeline, hopefully we can choose the best of all and further humankind.
Again, wish I could upvote this comment at least 100 times. (Hopefully, fingers crossed, but not holding my breath 😪)
Load More Replies... I feel like this should be titled differences in China and Germany rather than East and West. Both areas are culturally diverse enough that using one country as a metric isn't really fair.
I relate completely as a middle eastern living in the west.
Load More Replies... Yep. Acknowledging differences between cultures is the exact opposite of racist unless it's done with a disdainful or xenophobic undertone. It's so gross that it's become the norm to cry racism for any humor relating to or observations of CULTURAL variations. Hell, it is almost never coming from a racist place when people make jokes or discuss differences between actual races in today's day. 99.999% of what many people have tantrums about and call racist only shows their inability to process the literal definition of the term. It's basically always about their fragile egos being damaged due to a lifetime of privilege making them weak, narcissistic and simple enough to still do something so obviously embarrassing, wrong, dividing and...just f****n gross. It's regressive fragility masquerading as progressive. I can't imagine anyone is still so enslaved by their delusion as to believe this contemporary bastardized version of social consciousness and tolerance is progressive.
It took me 4 pictures to realize that this wasn't talking about the East and West coast of the U.S 🤦🏻♀️
well you DO live in a country that calls its indigenous sport tournament the "world series" so we're quite used to you guys thinking usa is the world ;-) /jk
Load More Replies... The art is neat, but most seem more like judgements than observations. Very interesting.
It seems to me that a lot of the negative reactions are to Yet Another BP Post That Lacks Subtlety. It's strange to me that the title of the series was painted is such broad strokes: Berlin vs. Beijing would have been more poetic and reflective of the observed differences, and it would also recognize that painting something like half of all humans vs the other almost half of all humans is probably too broad of a stroke. I also, personally, dislike this from an infographic perspective because a good graphic condenses complicated information while making it more accessible and the graphics... do the opposite? These observations, without cultural context, and presented as a full card each seem to be adding space and removing information, and I can tell from other comments that I wasn't the only one who found some of these counterintuitive or confusing.
It's quite odd, as this infographic could almost be used for the opposite East/West scenario if you were to swap countries. Japan would easily take the place of Germany, and the US would easily take the place of China in pretty much every one of these infographic situations.
well yes but Japan was colonised by America in the 1800s (Perry et al) so it's pretty much following western standards on most things except humility and manners, where it's more eastern.
Load More Replies... There's a lot to be said about a "we" mind set and "me" mind set. I remember how people took what they needed from the stores for their families to eat after the earthquake/tsunami. I wondered if in western culture if people would just raid everything for themselves. I don't operate on a "me" mentality and people will take advantage of your lack of selfishness. It's sad.
Blue vs. Red? I couldn’t find anywhere an explanation as to which was East and which is West. Being from neither country/region/nationality/compass point, I am not familiar enough with either culture to recognize them. A simple key statement would have been helpful.
I don't think any of them were designed to make either side seem preferable. For most of them, I personally liked the West becuase that's what I'm used to. It's just meant to show the contrast between different cultures.
Load More Replies... Most of these could just as easily be the difference between Northern and Southern Europe, so the title is wildly inaccurate.
She is a racist because she has claimed Chinese cultural habits as the same for all of Asia.......... The article is labeled wrong. It should be the EU and China not west and east
So, are you racist for saying all of the EU is one cultural block? Because all of the EU is not the same, so you would be incorrect to say that. You could ask for clarification rather than assuming the worst.
Load More Replies... It's also important to recognize generalities. For example, the west queuing and the eastern cluster. Many Chinese tourists actually take a class which involves learning about queuing along with other things so that they are on the same page with others when they travel. I don't recommend going to a new country and assuming everyone is just as unique and independently minded as you. There is a thing called culture and it's not the same across the world lol..
Load More Replies... you need to substantiate your argument otherwise people downvote you.
Load More Replies... What the heck is this comment thread? Are you people tinfoil hat nutters?
Load More Replies... How do you know? Do you belong to both cultures?
Load More Replies... Seriously? How is it mean? How can you possibly take offence, and if you didn't, why are you taking offence on behalf of others when no one specific is being portrayed, and all of the comments from those of the portrayed nationalities are finding humour and things they can relate to, rather than taking offence? Not everything that isn't rainbows and sunshine needs to be seen as mean or offensive.
Load More Replies... The artist lives in Germany, where two cold meals a day are normal.
Load More Replies... Look up where the artist was born and where they live. Clues in the picture.
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