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
Attitude Towards Punctuality
I AM Germany and China makes me go crazy.
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The title East vs West is so inaccurate. Lots of Western countries are not punctual (Spain) and most Eastern countries are extremely punctual (Korea)
It isn't east vs west, it is Germany vs China as it says in the description. But yea the title BP added is confusing (isn't it always...)
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Foreign living in Germany. They told me that if you come on time you are already late 😅. As Italian you would generally expect people to arrive 20-30 minutes AFTER the agreed time
By bf who was from Germany would take any measure of time very literally, meanwhile I'm from the United States Midwest and we have the midwest minute which is an incalculable measurement of time which drove him insane
lol the Midwest minute is the perfect way to describe it. "Just a minute" could be anywhere between 15 seconds and a few hours 💀💀
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If you're doing business in China, you'd better be at least 10-15min early and never late
I tend to be an early bird. If I'm ever late...something went wrong.
Honestly, I'm more of a hybrid between both. I want people to be on time, but i dont care if they're like 10-15 minutes early/late
Same in Africa. People in corporate sector are fussy about punctuality, but outside of that time is just meh.
that is Germany vs China and not East vs west. If it were Italy and Japan , it would be opposite
I am generally at least 15 minutes early everywhere. If I am late, it will ruin my whole mood/day.
Being from two countries (UK and Greece) that see punctuality completely differently I can appreciate both views and I think both have their pros and cons. :)
Some professors in China lock the door at the precise time for the test, but few in the U.S. do......
Ireland is western and supposed to be on the left side but with punctuality it is extremely on the right side, if they say two minutes, it means two hours. You can’t rely on them at all.
Punctuality literally means "point." Show up at my house at 12:00. Not at 11:55, I'm still tidying up. Not at 12:10, you clearly don't respect my time or prioritize spending your time hanging out with me. More than a 60 second variance proves you are a mess who didn't figure out how to get places on time like everyone else and is surely an immature wreck in all other aspects of life. -- what I always think to myself when trying to arrive on time
There's a term for this called Desi Standard Time in India for this, except it's ALWAYS late.
The boss always sees it as blue, and the workers always see it as red. Especially in the red for those with long commutes.
Most of the time, I am China 😂 I am supposed somewhere to be at 11:30? I LEAVE MY HOUSE at 11:30 ngl-- The only exception for this is medical appointments and exams, where I can be ready to go up to an hour before I actually need to. Everything else... I can't do this, sorry, I'm terrible at playing the punctuality game.
In Germany, this might be true for official appointments. On a private level, I can assure you that most people these days have a very lax attitude towards punctuality.
That usually works this way, but due to obvious circumstances when you have to go around the city for the whole day.
You think German is bad! In Switzerland, if you don’t show up 15 min earlier than the agreed time, you are considered late!
The Swedish would kick me out. LOL I had an anxiety attack over that one!
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i think: nr 2 to nr 5 schould read: germany and italy/ greece/ turkey...
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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