[Name of the Writer]

[Name of Instructor]

[Subject]

[Date]

Culture Shock: Chinese Students Live In University of Denver

Introduction

Globalization has led a lot of economies to transform, among them China is the one that has developed in very fast pace with the rapid changes in global economy. With the rapid changes in the economy, there are a lot of other changes including technology and education etc. Now the Chinese students have a lot more options to get an access to better education, now they can go abroad because of the perception that western countries provide better education opportunities as compare to China. Most of the students tend to go for western countries and get settled their along with their families in order to have better standard of living (Culture Matters, www.china-nafsa.aief-usa.org). Culture shock is not a disease, but is a reaction to stress which causes the new and what is unfamiliar. The term "shock" is therefore not suitable as generating reactions occur gradually and unconsciously, while the English term refers to a reaction that occurs immediately and consciously. This research paper focuses on the cultural shock of Chinese students studying in the University of Denver, United States.

Rationale for Research

In the University of Denver, there are 1300 international students by the fall 2011 and hundreds of them are Chinese. By this huge number of Chinese students, we started to think, why Chinese want to study abroad and how they live in a foreign country. Also, by the observation, we can see most Chinese students are crowded together with other Chinese. And, they almost not get into the community of American. It makes me curious and wander why it is hard for Chinese to get into American community.

As it has already been known that, China had totally different culture as compare to any western country. And, these differences in terms of culture, tradition, beliefs, customs and values makes Chinese and American dissimilar and influence the style of education and life style of the people living in these two countries (Baoyan Cheng, 2012, pp 3-6). From the students who are studying in the University of Denver, majority of them completed their high school education in China. Therefore, studying for them in United States would be very different for them, in coping with the American education system in the University of Denver.

Review of Literature

Culture shock is not a disease but the adaptation process in the period following the move to a different culture. This phenomenon is related to the collection and processing of foreign rules of behaviour and patterns, customs and traditions as well as with the person's own psychological reaction to the new and unknown place. In a globalized world where there is frequent mobility between individuals of different nations is essential to recognize and understand the concept of culture shock, the justification for its existence and its stages, and symptoms in order to perform a more successful in multicultural environments. The phenomenon of culture shock is better understood as the tensions and feelings of discomfort resulting ...