This thesis aims to analyze the formation causes of the fast food culture, the development and the characteristics of the fast food culture。 It aims to study and analyze the impact of fast food culture on people’s life so that people could understand the modern society and their attitudes towards fast food culture。

2。 Literature Review

2。1 Definition of fast food

     In the 1950s, the word “fast food” was familiar to people because of the success of McDonald in the USA( Brain 19)。 In the 1980s, McDonald forayed into the Chinese market and has caused a sensation in China’s catering market。 With the popularity of McDonald, ”fast food” has also become one of the most popular word during the twenty years of reform and opening up。 At present, there are three explanations about fast food。 (1)Fast food is pre-made meal which is readily available for customers。( Modern Chinese Dictionary 791) (2)Fast food is a convenient meal by the food and beverage department, which sells quickly to diners( Guo 729 )。 (3)Fast food is a kind of meal which is simple, fast and convenient。( Xinhua Chinese Dictionary 709)

     From the definition of the dictionary, the word “fast food” refers to the meal which is ready-to-drink or ready-to-eat。 And it is positive and fairly popular with people in the original。 Advanced societies expanded the definition of fast food。 It is not only single refers to fast food, but also can be used for reference to the things which are fast-growing or fast-eating, simple and east to carry out or fleeting。

     In the 1980s, fast food formally entered into China( Ritzer 53 )。 It is a product of communication between East and West。 Chinese chased after is as a kind of foreign goods。 At the initial stages for reform and opening-up, social production developed quickly and vigorously。 Under the slogan of “Time is money”, people viewed “high efficiency” as a leading guidance of life and work。 Fast food catered to people’s opinions instantly。 It not only represented the requirement for catering industry at that time, but also pointed out the overall atmosphere of society at that time。 Today, economy is becoming more and more developed and the competition is increasing fiercer and fiercer。 People in the pursuit of “high efficiency” are in setting up one and fast food has affected people more and more。

2。2 Definition of culture

     The concept of “culture” is very complicated。 The most concise definition is that “Culture is a collection that the meaning is produced, circulated and exchanged in the social process。” This definition is very general。 In the book Culture: Critical Analysis of Concept and Definition, American anthropologists Alfred Crowe and Clyde Crake Lotus pided culture into several basic types: philosophy, art, education, psychology, history, anthropology, sociology, ecology and biology。 This thesis mainly involved art culture。 Therefore, the culture can be defined as the collection that the meaning of art culture is produced, circulated and exchanged in the social process。

2。3 Definition of fast food culture

     It seems that fast food is used to describe a kind of cultural phenomenon——fast food culture。 Xinhua Chinese dictionary editorial board explains that fast food culture refers to those reading materials which are short in form and easy to understand。( Xinhua Chinese Dictionary 1001) In fact, the connotation of fast food culture has been beyond the scope of reading materials。 It has extended to the whole cultural and artistic level such as film and television and network。

     New Words Dictionary, compiled by some editors-in-chief such as Kang Shiyong, says that fast food culture refers to coarse culture which is churned out quickly( Kang 471 )。 For example, People’s Daily, 1995。2。11: Mass culture is mainly to meet the demand of the cultural market, to meet people’s shallow level of spiritual need such as leisure, entertainment, and vent, etc。 This expresses the characteristic of fast food culture——one-off consumption。