Chinese except friendships to be more lasting.Different foundations for friendships.Westerns expect friends to be independent. Chinese usually expect more from their friends. Chinese friends share “ things in common”: a task, a class, the hometown. Friendships are formed by people who work or go to school together. You may or may not like the person, but if he or she can do something for you because of his position or job, you can be friends. But in North America, business and friendship are kept separate. The friendships are usually tied to specific activities. A person may have work friends and leisure (休闲时) activity friends. Also friends tend to have similar financial circumstances, because friendship in the West is based on equality. Why? It’s because their friendship is mostly a matter of providing emotional support and spending time together, so they do not feel comfortable in a relationship in which one person is giving more and the other is dependent on what is giving. A westerner will respond to a friend’s trouble by asking “What do you want to do?” The idea is to help the friend to think out the problem and discover the solution he or she really wants and then to support the solution. Chinese friends give each other more concrete help. A Chinese will use personal connections to help a friend get something hard to obtain. They give each other money and might help each other out financially over a long time.
睿智杭州
