A Comparative Study Of Chinese And Western Creation Myths Based On Hofstede's Value Dimensions

Purpose– The paper aims to understand whether some contemporary cultural value differences between Western and Chinese societies as indicated by Hofstede have an ancient root in creation myths. In other words, the paper tries to understand whether there are linkages between key features of Biblical and Chinese creation stories and qualitative indicators of Hofstede's first five cultural value dimensions.Design/methodology/approach– Creation myths reflect ancient cultural values. They deal with fundamental questions of the culture. Although the answer may not be correct, creation myths reflect the rationale and expectations of the early people on themselves and their surroundings. Because of the vast span of time between ancient creation myths and contemporary cultural values, their linkages seem not obvious. However, scholars such as Zhong Jian (钟健) (2008, p.6) believe that the differences of creation myths reflect initial differences of the cultures. Such initial cultural differences may have been influencing, shaping, and directing the development of the cultures at later stages. Therefore, this paper adopts qualitative, analytical, and comparative methods to discuss and compare narratives of Biblical and Chinese creation stories and then analyze them based on Hofstede's first five cultural value dimensions.Findings– The result of this study shows that some key differences between Chinese and Biblical creation stories are very similar to differences on qualitative indicators of contemporary Chinese and Western cultural values as indicated by Hofstede. This paper therefore suggests that it is very likely that these contemporary cultural value differences have originated since ancient times.Originality/value– This is the first study in English to compare creation myths based on Hofstede's first five cultural value dimensions. By understanding the linkages between creation stories and contemporary cultural values, it is possible to provide IC scholars a new perspective to understand the historical factors shaping modern cultural values of Western and Chinese societies.