The Presentation Of Chinese Cultural Elements Throughout The World

With the rapid economic development and the important role of China on the international stage, Chinese culture has been widely accepted by other countries. Chinese elements, which appeared for the first time in2004, and totally displayed at the grand opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games in2008, suddenly became a hot topic, and are widely used in advertising, architecture, movies, literature, and other fields. In the field of movie industry, it is the American Kung Fu Panda that leaves the deepest impression, where the cute image of Poe is favored by the people all over the world. This Hollywood blockbuster sets its stage at ancient China. The Chinese culture is almost infiltrated every corner of the movie from the beginning to the end, with American values incorporated. The ultimate presentation of the Chinese cultural elements and the integration of the Chinese cultural elements with American culture is the key to its success; not only the movie present a culture feast, but also sparks a discussion over Chinese and Western culture. This thesis mainly focuses on the unique Chinese traditional cultural elements and analyzes the Chinese and American cultural elements presented in the film from different angles by combining theory of cross-culture, explaining the cultural connotation reflected in the film, exploring how Chinese culture and America culture interact and merge together. Aiming at raising people’s awareness of native culture, this thesis also puts forward suggestions on cultural transmission of Chinese elements.This thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter One is a brief introduction to the Chinese elements from Beijing Olympic Games and the Shanghai World Expo under the background of globalization with the progress of science and technology, and the frequent intercultural communication. It also analyzes the necessity and academic significance of the topic. Chapter Two lists the literature review elaborating the intercultural communication and the characteristics of culture, of Chinese culture and of Chinese cultural elements both at home and abroad. Chapter Three is the methodology using a case study of the Kung Fu Panda to show the Chinese elements and Chinese philosophy, esp. philosophy of Confucianism and philosophy of Taoism. Meanwhile, it compares that with the American cultural essence such as the American dream and individual heroism etc. Chapter Four is mainly to analyze the cultural differences between China and America in the film of Kung Fu Panda by combining the theory of Hall’s high-low context culture with Hofstede’s value dimensions. Chapter Five tries to find out the merger point between cultures in the light of Kung Fu panda, and some suggestions are put forward under the principle of intercultural communication. The last chapter, Chapter Six, is the conclusion, which summarizes the research findings and comes up with the limitations of the research as well as some suggestions for further study on Chinese elements.