Intercultural Communication in Pushing Hands Pushing Hands is a maiden work of Ang Lee, one of the greatest Chinese directors. It is a film about culture shock and adaption. To some extent, the cultural differences between China and America are presented from different angles in the movie. It’s the movie I have watched by chance that impressed me and inspired my interest in intercultural communication. So I will show what I gained from my own perspective.The main plot of the film will be introduced as follow: Mr. Zhu, a retired Chinese Taichi professor went to America to live with his son, a computer doctor. Conflicts between the Chinese father and his American daughter-in-law, Marsha, a novelist, appeared and arose in their daily life. Finally, the two sides gradually understood each other’s culture after a painful process.Many comments and opinions about the film focus on culture shock and adaption that brings about the main contradiction in the movie. Nevertheless, I want to show the contrasts in family values between Chinese and Americans and a new analogy for intercultural communication.If it was a movie that describes a Chinese student studying abroad, the contradiction couldn’t be the same. What matters is just the identity of Mr. Zhu. He is an old man rooted in the Chinese traditional culture andthe head of the family. In China, a collective country, the old are a social group respected and protected by the whole society. This practice relies on the traditional culture education and moral restraint. The respects we give to the old who are not related with us are cultivated at the basis of the respect and love for our elder. In American culture, they emphasized on individual equality, the symbol of individualism. So people won’t offer extra care and attention to the elder. Relatively, the elder also prefer to choose financial independence and usually live in separate places from their children. So there are some scenes in the film showing the differences.In the movie, Marsha shouted at Mr. Zhu when he put silver paper into microwave oven within an inch of causing fire. At this point, Mr. Zhu is a little scared, for the reason that his authority as the top of the family, is challenged. However, Xiaosheng, his son, still remember his father’s demand even though he is still angry with his father when Marsha is sent to hospital. When Mr. Zhu gets lost because of Marsha’s carelessness, the talk between Xiaosheng and Marsha can explain the difference to some extent.Marsha: I was trying to write. I had a feeling that he was gonna get himself lost, just like a kid trying to get some attention.Xiaosheng: I grew up believing you should care for your parents the way they care for you. My father is a part of me. Why can’t you accept that?In this dialogue, it is obvious that Marsha concentrates on herself and explains this accident from her position. On the contrary, Xiaosheng’s words stand for many Chinese’s perspective. That is, our parents give their love to us, and we repay their love. We behave this way to set an example to our children, and then the relationships will last generation by generation. However, this practice has changed in China, because more and more old man are sent to nursing homes or forced to live alone, which becomes similar to the situations in America. At the end, Mr. Zhu also compromises American culture and choose to live alone.The main contradiction of the movie is based on the different attitudes towards supporting the old people in each other’s family values. Another part of the family values is the education given to children. The movie also involves the conception and reflects in Jerry’s education. In the movie, when Jerry returns back home, he shows his paintings to Marsha, and Marsha is content with Jerry’s work which tells a story with strong colors of violence. While, Mr. Zhu has the opposite viewpoint, that is, the violence in cartoons does harm to the children.The different opinions about Chinese education and American education are becoming tit-for-tat at modern time. In one hand, some Chinese begin to follow American teaching methods, and in the other hand, the successful examples like the Tiger Mother make more andmore Americans interested in Chinese education systems. As a student in China, I can clearly know about what the exam-oriented education brings to us. While, it don’t mean that American education is totally correct or appropriate for us. Just like what is displayed in the film, American children have more freedom and rights, but at the same time, it is more likely for them to contact such things like violence and drugs that do harm to them. Faced with different values or opinions, we should view them more rational. Only with reasonable criticizing and absorbing, can we gain the beneficial part.Pushing hands is like Taichi for two persons, which aims at keeping your balance and unbalancing your opponent. The ending of film has strong Chinese narrative style and the whole communication is just like pushing hands and embodies the characteristic of the communications in high-context culture. Especially the two same sentences said by Mr. Zhu, ”没事”, have different meanings, leaving enough space for us to imagine.In some aspects, intercultural communication is just like pushing hands. Only when the two persons have the same strength at the same direction, can the whole balance be kept. Once one exerts more strength, or the strength is in the wrong direction, the system can’t keep its balance. That is, intercultural communication needs both the two sides’efforts in the right direction. If one sticks to his own culture and expand his culture in the communication, the communication will leadmisunderstanding and even conflict. In the movie, both Mr. Zhu and Marsha make a concession to each other and try to understand the culture that is different from their own’s, which forms a happy ending.References:[1]贾勤，张倩倩. 基于跨文化适应理论的电影《推手》赏析. 湖北工业大学学报，2010.[2] 李东竹. 从语言的角度论电影《推手》中的跨文化适应过程. 德宏师范高等专科学校学报，2011.。