AcknowledgementsMany people deserve my sincere thanks for helping me in various aspects and at various stages of completing this paper. First of all, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Du Qiaoge, who has generously given me so much of her time to read through the whole thesis and has offered me warm support and great encouragement. I cannot thank her enough for her constructive suggestions, word- for-word scrutiny, and other expert guidance. Without her painstaking instruction, the completion of the present thesis would not have been possible.My thanks also go to the scholars who have done a lot of research work on the comparison of different family values, and to the authors whose works I have quoted directly and indirectly.Furthermore, I should also record very special thanks to my teammates Lei Pan and Liu Sa who gave me their patience and time in helping me with my work as a leader of this team during the tense course of the thesis.Last but not the least, my thanks would go to my beloved parents for their loving considerations and great confidence in me all through four years. Without their understanding and mutual support, I do not think I could enjoy the four-year university life. I also owe my sincere gratitude to my friends who supported me and accompanied me during the difficult course of the thesis.AbstractThe core proposition of this paper is the comparison of Chinese and American family values. As is well known that family values are the core of the research system of cultural values that play a decisive role in guiding the behaviors of family members. The family is the epitome of social formation and the basic unit of a society. Therefore, family members’ values directly affect their speeches and behaviors in society, i.e. values of the whole society lie on family values to a large extent and the role of family values is obvious. This paper adopts the intuitionistic method of paralleling comparison, and sets up a bridge of communication between two entirely different family values through a series of comparative discussion from the roots. It aims at promoting mutual understanding of the core orientation of family values between Chinese and American people, and makes it easier to understand each other’s behavior al patterns, hence to generate common value orientation on the basis of seeking common points while reserving differences，and have reference when dealing with family issues.This paper chooses the comparative study of Chinese and American family values as the theme, and makes the following analysis from the aspect of family structures and relationships. Part one gives a brief introduction of the concept and meaning of family values as well as the general structure of this thesis. Part two is the comparative analysis of effects of both family structures and relationships on family values between China and America, combining with the causes forming the differences. Part three comparatively studies a series of family issues under different family values. Part four puts forward some solutions of these family issues accordingly. In part five the author sums up the whole thesis and once again points out the importance of comparative study in this thesis.Key words: family values; family structures; family relationships; family issues内容摘要本文研究的核心命题是中美家庭价值观之比较。
众所周知，家庭价值观是文化价值研究体系的核心，对家庭成员的行为起着决定性的指导作用。
家庭是社会形态的缩影，是社会组成的最基本的单位。
因此家庭成员的价值观直接影响着他们在社会中的言语和行为，也就是说整个社会的价值观很大程度上取决于家庭价值观，家庭价值观的作用可见一斑。
本文采用最直观的并列比较方式, 通过一系列追本溯源的比较性探讨，在两种截然不同的家庭价值观之间架起一座沟通的桥梁，使中美两国人们更容易弄懂对方的家庭价值观的核心取向，进而更容易理解对方的行为方式，从而在求同存异的基础上产生一种共同的价值取向，并在处理家庭问题时有鉴可寻。
本文选择中国与美国家庭价值观差异对比为论文主题，从家庭结构及关系方面对两种家庭价值观进行解剖与分析。
第一部分简要介绍家庭价值观的概念和意义，以及本论文的基本结构；第二部分比较分析中美各自的家庭结构及家庭关系对家庭价值观的形成与发展的影响，并分析差异形成的原因；第三部分比较分析不同的家庭价值观影响下产生的一系列家庭问题；第四部分则针对产生的家庭问题提出相对应的解决方案；第五部分总结全文，再次指出本论文研究课题的重要意义。
关键词：家庭价值观；家庭结构；家庭关系；家庭问题ContentsAcknowledgements (i)Abstract (English) (ii)Abstract (Chinese) (ⅲ)1.Introduction (1)2. Comparison of Sino-US family values from family structures and relationships (2)2.1 Chinese family values (2)2.1.1 The influence of family structures on Chinese family values (2)2.1.2 The influence of family relationships on Chinese family values (3)2.2 American family values (3)2.2.1 The influence of family structures on American family values (4)2.2.2 The influence of family relationships on American family values (4)3. Family issues under different family values (5)3.1 The rise of divorce rate (5)3.1.1 Influence on the couple’s future life (5)3.1.2 Negative impact on children’s growth (5)3.2 The impacts of unreasonable educational values on children’s growth (6)3.2.1 Influence of Chinese family educational values……………………….6.3.2.2 Influence of American family educational values (6)3.3 Potential problems of supporting old parents (7)3.3.1 Chinese values on supporting the aged (7)3.3.2 American values on supporting the aged (7)4. Suggestions to solve various family issues (8)4.1 Lowering the divorce rate (8)4.2 Improving family education (9)4.3 Perfecting the conditions of supporting the old (9)5. Conclusion (10)Works Cited (12)1. IntroductionThe word value, introduced into English since the fourteenth century, has been frequently mentioned and argued about in different times and different places. Values, the plural form of value,is a more popular word when people are talking about cultures and society. Values are the state of individual or social standard and it is natural to associate to family values when values are discussed.Families are the quintessential institution of a nation, providing both biological and social continuity as they simultaneously shape, and are shaped by the larger society. Therefore, the values possessed by a family usually illustrate the core spirit of a country which is of great significance for people to understand its culture. Family values are political and social beliefs that hold the nuclear family to be the essential ethical and moral unit of the society. Life and people are always changing, but the main values and bases of the concept of family should always remain present. The reasons that the influence of family values on people is great are as follows: firstly, family values are the starting point of people to accept the education of value; secondly, once the family values are formed, they will not easily change and will exist for a long period of time and even affect a person for a lifetime. For this reason, the influence of family values on people is deeper, wider and longer. Thirdly, family values are closely related to social development. In a word, the study of family values is indispensible and significant.America is the most developed capitalistic state in the world and China is the largest developing country with the biggest population. Both America and China have vital impacts on the world’s politics, economy, etc. and they are also affecting each other. Therefore, it is significant and meaningful to s tudy the two countries’ inner values so as to understand their cultures and impacts.This paper mainly adopts comparative and analytical approaches to interpret the differences between American and Chinese family values from the aspect of family structures and relationships. The thesis consists of three parts besides the introduction and conclusion. Part one is a comparative study of Chinese and American family values and the influence of different family structures and relationships on different family values. Part two lists a series of family issues caused by different family values. Part three puts forward some suggestions to solve thefamily issues.2. Comparison of Sino-US family values from family structures and relationshipsFamily values are a set of generalized concepts that include several aspects, and values that are related to the relationships of family members, family or marital affairs etc. can be called family values. The main contents are values of marriage, education and supporting old parents.2.1 Chinese family valuesChina is a country with five thousand years of ancient civilization. The feudal doctrine had imprisoned Chinese people for over two thousand years from Qin to Qing Dynasty with the Confucianism as the representative. Confuciu s’ teachings had deeply rooted in Chinese culture and have been more or less influencing people’s behaviors.2.1.1 The influence of family structures on Chinese family valuesChinese people attach great importance to their families and the kinship. In the feudal society, large families with several generations were quite common which usually consisted of the old parents (parent), adult children and grandchildren and the man had several spouses. Generally, the higher the social status of the family was, the larger the family would be. People valued family honor and regarded marriage as an important way of acquiring or keeping family status especially in large families. Divorce and remarriage were shameful and despised especially for women because of their low status. Old parents lived with their children and grandchildren and possessed the supreme privilege in the family.As families in the past usually had many children and the economic situations were various, it was not possible for children to equally acquire the chances of education and the courses were also different. The first child usually the son was given higher expectation on education than others. They were taught to learn extensive knowledge, to respect and obey their parents and to make contribution to the country and their families.In the modern society, large families that have many members are not common because of the progress of people’s concepts and the “one-child” policy implemented in China. The prevailing family patterns are nuclear families and families with old parents. The marriage lawemancipates people’s minds and free love become s popular. With the decrease of family members and sources of their income, it has become a burden for adults to support their old parents only by their fami lies. People’s view on supporting the old is changing and they are seeking other helps to improve the dilemma. In modern families, people pay great attention to their children’s growth and education and excellent grades are especially expected in order to live better life in the future.2.1.2 The influence of family relationships on Chinese family valuesChina has formed unique family relationships under the influence of the feudal concept of lunli(伦理), the principal ethic principle:The ethical principle of Confucianism is its discovery of the ultimate in the moral character ofhuman relationships in which Confucius offered the solution for the ills and evils of his day.That is the well-known Three Relationships: ruler-minister, father-son, husband-wife. Theresponsibilities ensuring from these relationships are mutual and reciprocal. A minister owesloyalty to his ruler, and a child respect to his parents. (Ma and Chen 23)In a family, the collective interests are laid on top position and marriage is not personal affairs. It includes various elements such as morality, responsibility, sense of honor etc. and many couples will not attach most importance to personal interests. Therefore, China has low divorce rate and stable family environment.At the same time, parents strictly control their children and almost arrange their children’s lives. Children’s school work is not only concerned with their prospect but also family interests. The educational contents are mostly arranged by their parents out of the consideration of making a living instead of their interests. As Chinese value kinship and blood lineage, lineal relatives usually live together, and supporting old parents is also regarded as an action of gratitude.Nowadays, under the influence of democratic concepts, people’s family status tends to be equal. People pay more and more attention to personal happiness and their children’s ideas are paid attention to when decisions on family affairs are made.2.2 American family values。