Analysis of the Selfidentity and Cultural Selfcognition in Pushing Hands

周佳睿

Abstract：Pushing Hands is the first movie filmed by Ang Lee.In this film， the old Chinese man couldnt find his identity when he came to live with his son in America.This paper aims to analyze the Chinese and western values and beliefs so as to construct self-identity and cultural self-cognition of their own culture. In this multicultural world，the self-identity and self-cognition are of importance for the development of people.

Key words：Interculturalcommunication；self-identity；cultural；self-cognition

1 Introduction

Chinese director Ang Lee，who has long explored the differences of the Chinese and Western cultures，tried to find the balance between them.Pushing Hands，as well as his Wedding Banquet and Eat Drink Man and Woman are the three representatives of intersections and conflicts of the Chinese and American cultures.The tolerance of the other culture is what the Chinese culture always advocates，harmony but not sameness（Fei Xiaotong，1999）.

Both the collectivism and individualism have no clue of what to do if they dont understand each others cultures.Ethnocentrism is the “view of things in which ones own group is the center of everything，and all others are the scaled and rated with reference to it”（Gudykunst，2008）.In a fixed cultural circumstance，peoples beliefs，values，behaviors remains stable.English scholar George Larrain once pointed that as long as there are the crash of two cultures，conflicts and unbalance will exist no matter what the forms for communication，and the identity problem will happen（2005）.

2 The Construct of self-identity

Mr Chu is the master of Chinese Tai Ji，he came to American and live with his son after retirement.His son is a typical Chinese who still complies with the filial piety though he has been living in American for long time.Because of the barriers in language communication and cultural values，Mr Chu and his daughter-in-law have unpleasant feelings towards each other. From the eating habits to language，they sticks to their own way.Each of them dont accept their cultural values and customs.

Mr Chu teaches people Tai Ji in Chinatown where he can spare his time without the company of his son.He feels alone.The collectivism in Chinese shows that when he was young，he shouldered the responsibility to raise children，and its natural for him to depend on his children when he gets older.

3 The Construct of the Cultural Self-cognition

Cultural self-cognition refers to a specific individual or group find some sameness or similarities in the cultural communication and crash from each others history，cultural characteristics，values and humanistic connotations so that to promoter the closeness and cooperation（Li，2008）.People who first come to a multicultural environment could suffer the problem of this cultural self-cognition.Mr Chus son，Xiao Sheng，has been well-lived in America，but in his inner heart，he still manifested the traditional Chinese way of life.Xiao Sheng wants his wife to take care of his father like him.The couple couldnt find the way to solve the cultural divergence.At last，Xiao Sheng compromised to the reality，he wanted his family harmonious，he must sent his father away.Mr.Chu left his sons home voluntarily，and worked in a Chinese restaurant where he could only earn subsistence wages.When he was fired because of bad performance of the duty，he refused to leave and he use his Chinese Kung Fu Tai Ji to the rogues and policemen.In there，Mr.Chu found his cultural self-cognition and make Chinese Tai Ji famous.He constructs his cultural self-recognition.He maintains the essence of Chinese Spirits and know he could only live with Chinese characters.

4 Conclusion

The process of coding and decoding other cultures is the process to deconstruct and reconstruct a persons own identity and cultural self-cognition.The deconstructing and reconstructing the identity are a long journey.No matter the countries belong to collectivism or individualism，there are the shining parts which can be inherited.

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