Comparing and contrasting China and Korea (about emotion) Essay

Comparing and contrasting China and Korea (about emotion) - Essay Example People tend to shy away from expressing their emotions and when they express, it occurs over a short period. In addition, a person suppresses emotions and only expresses minimal intensity of what he or she feels. This suggests emotional strength that allows for such a regulation even though cultural orientation also dictates it. Chinese culture preserves dominance of collective harmony in the society and established social hierarchies with which emotions should not interfere (Bond 245). Emotions among Chinese citizens also identify patriotism to their country and collectivism. Citizens, for example, have strong attachments to their country, are proud of their citizenships, and have positive attitude towards the country’s development. Strong attachment towards fellow citizens also exists, though not as strong as that towards the nation (Marsh and Lee 105). An understanding of Korean emotional orientation identifies similarities with, and distinctions from the Chinese emotional orientation. Korean cultural definition of emotion focuses on people and this suggest stronger ties to people, as opposed to the case in China in which stronger ties are towards the nation. Korean emotion is embedded in empathy in which a person feels an obligation to help a needy and feels guilty for failing to help under the circumstance. Korean emotional orientation, unlike the Chinese orientation, allows for freedom of emotional orientation, at least in such cases as funerals. The Korean concept that emotion does not interfere with a person’s rationale also suggest that social factors such as need for collectivism and social hierarchy does not constrain emotional expressions (Besemeres and Wierzbicka 121). Hofstede values for the two populations’ cultural orientation however establishes similarities of the two emotional orientations, despite the observed differences. Even though power distance, which is a significant constraint to