In this thesis, the author attempts to objectively study and analyze the tea culture of both China and British。 Through further comparison, the author gets the production that their tea cultures share similarities and differences。 After introducing the origin and development and displaying their formation, the author explains in detail the similarities and differences of Chinese tea culture and British tea culture from the aspects of the symbols of tea culture, the rituals of tea culture and the values of tea culture。 Finally, the author makes a conclusion of the thesis and extends the thesis to the fields of cross-culture communication。 In order to deepen the cultural understanding of both the two countries and further the study of tea culture, the author manages the thesis with the methods of literature review, comparison and narration and so on。 The significance of the thesis is grand and profound。 It will not only contribute to the professional study of culture and cross-culture communication, but also will help develop the relationship of the two countries and their people。 Above all, the thesis will finally reach the connotation of Chinese tea culture and British tea culture and will summarize their similarities and differences which make great difference to cross-culture communication。

2。 Literature Review

Throughout the history, tea culture has achieved the attention of scholars from both Chinese and British。 As the thesis is intended to make a comparison of Chinese tea culture and British tea culture, which is strongly based on the theories of cross-culture communication, in this part the author will explain in detail these theories and give a general review of the literature and proofs cited before。

Firstly, Spradley and Mccurdy provide us with the view that culture stands for the system of learned beliefs and customs that characterizes the total way of life of a particular society。 Therefore, differences in societies can be explained as the outcome of different cultures。 (Chen 9) So in consequence, the author lists social application and facts in the comparison。

Then, according to the Geert Hofstede’s points about cultural differences, the reason why different groups, the people in different countries and regions have different modes of thinking is that they receive different education and have different work and social intercourse。 Geert Hofstede compares culture to an onion which has a lot of layers。 The out-most layer are symbols which are easy to see such as dresses, buildings and languages。 ( Chen 25) So the author chooses to make the comparison in the aspect of the symbols of tea culture in China and Britain。 The second layer are the characteristics of heroes。 In a culture, the personalities of the heroes that most people support represent the personalities of themselves and even national personalities。 The third layer are rituals which show each culture’s attitudes to nature and people in unique, different ways。 (Chen 25) As a result, the thesis makes a comparison of the rituals between China and Britain。 The inner-most layer are values。 They mean the abstract conceptions of truth, kindness and beauty, which are the hardest parts to understand in culture。 (Chen 26) So last but not least, the thesis compares Chinese tea culture values with British tea culture values。论文网

     In a word, the “onion theory” is of great significance to cultural differences。 The thesis will lay emphasis on it and use the theory all through the comparison between Chinese tea culture and British tea culture。 

     Besides, the thesis gets the basic knowledge of Chinese tea culture and British tea culture from the famous tea magazine “Fujian Tea”。 The author chooses some professional and famous authors with their thesis about Chinese and British tea culture。 Based on their former study, the thesis makes a comparison of Chinese tea culture and British tea culture。