Abstract:

This study probes into how to balance the two cultures when we are carrying out intercultural communication by analyzing the collision and integration between Chinese and American culture in the Movie The Joy Luck Club. The paper mainly studies the collision between the two cultures from these aspects: education, marriage, etiquette and culture misunderstandings; the integration from the relationship between mothers and daughters and the agreement with each others ’cultures. At the same time, the paper also introduces the definition of the intercultural communication and representative differences between Chinese and American cultures. Actually, although different cultures have differences and collisions, integration is inevitable under the impact of globalization. Thus, on the basic of researches and scientific theories, the paper puts forward three practical suggestions for realizing the integration of Chinese and American cultures.

Key words: intercultural communication; The Joy Luck Club; culture collision; culture integration

摘要：

本文通过分析电影《喜福会》中展现的中美文化的冲突与融合，探讨在跨文化交际中，如何实现中美文化的适应与共生。笔者主要是从教育观，婚姻观，礼仪观以及影片对中国文化的扭曲等四个方面来讨论电影中体现的中美文化主要冲突。对中美文化融合的分析主要是从电影中母女关系的缓和以及电影里的人物对彼此文化的接受与适应这两个方面进行。同时，本文还介绍了跨文化交际的含义以及中美文化差异的突出表现。研究认为，不同文化之间虽然存在差异与冲突，但融合也是不可避免的趋势，因此，笔者提出了三条切实可行的建议来实现中美文化的适应与共生。

关键词：跨文化交际；喜福会；文化冲突；文化融合；

1. Introduction
Culture is composed of a countless number of elements: such as history, religion, values, social organizations, language and etc. Culture is a kind of knowledge acquisition, which helps people to adapt to surroundings better. Communication and culture are correlated. It is proposed that culture is the formation and development of communication. (Wu &Yan, 2009). Each nation owns its unique culture. Intercultural communication arises when people in two different cultures begin to communicate. Intercultural communication is defined as “interaction between people whose cultural perceptions and symbolic systems are distinct enough to alter the communication event.’’(Larry et al,2012:12). On one hand, due to different historical origins, social customs and values, culture conflicts and misunderstandings exist in intercultural communication all the time. On the other hand, under the influence of globalization, culture penetration and integration among countries are becoming more and more universal. Therefore, intercultural communication study has become increasingly important.