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East vs West: cultural differences by Yang Liu

east-vs-west.jpg
The perception of each other - how Germans see Chinese

Yang Liu was born in China but moved to Germany to be educated. Having grown up in two very different places with very different traditions, Yang Liu was able to experience first-hand what the underlying differences were between the two cultures.

With a people’s perspective on it it all, Yang Liu has created these posters and images using simple symbols and shapes to convey just how different the two cultures are. The blue side is Germany and the red side is China.

When I first saw this project, I was immediately amazed at how true it all was. Of course, these are still large generalizations of a culture as a whole, but the fact that I recognize just about every single one of these is just a bit funny to me. Even funnier is that I can not only relate to the Chinese portion of the image, but I can relate somewhat to the German side too since this semester was basically German-town for me here in Australia (the bulk of my friends were from Germany).

Click inside to see some of my favorites from this project.

traveling.jpg
Traveling and recording memories

restaurant.jpg
Noise level inside a restaurant - Chinese people do talk really loud — ALL THE TIME.

party.jpg
At a party - This is so true.

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Queuing on a line - The only place I’ve ever seen Chinese people line up is at the bus stops in Flushing. Somebody tell me: WHAT IS THAT?!

contacts.jpg
Connections and contacts - This is probably the most true one of the bunch. An Asian will know an Asian will know an Asian who knows an Asian who knows an Asian…etc.

punctuality.jpg
Punctuality - We run on “Asian time”.

telling-the-truth.jpg
Telling the truth - Most Chinese will avoid confrontation as much as possible. Hence this illustration.

Thanks Jo for sending these over!


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This entry was posted on Friday, January 18th, 2008 at 11:23 am and is filed under Art & Design, Information Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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5 Responses to “East vs West: cultural differences by Yang Liu”

  1. amr Says:
    January 18th, 2008 at 3:05 pm

    i’m surprised anything ever starts on time. flex time is also a factor in the black and hispanic communities as well. can’t speak for any others…

    [Reply]
  2. your big brother Says:
    January 18th, 2008 at 9:27 pm

    “The blue side is Germany and the red side is China.”
    really??? am i missing something here?

    [Reply]
  3. your big brother Says:
    January 18th, 2008 at 9:29 pm

    ok, i get it.

    [Reply]
  4. Jane Says:
    January 18th, 2008 at 11:53 pm

    as for the queuing on line, Hong Konger’s do a pretty good job queuing for the bus.. but mainland China is chaos. You can also tell from getting on a train at Canal or Grand Street. Them Chinese grannies bust through the door trying to get those seats.

    [Reply]
  5. ADC Festival Berlin 2008 | shu and joe Says:
    April 11th, 2008 at 9:00 am

    [...] seen this piece by Yang Liu sent around as a powerpoint slideshow in Beijing previously, but never as a book. Using the most [...]

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