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24 Funny Illustrations That Show The Cultural Differences Between The East And The West Made By This Artist
Since we can travel around the world and visit different countries, people noticed cultural differences that are here to this day. That is what makes traveling fun, to change your usual setting with something new and unexplored.
Yang Liu a young artist from Beijing currently living in Germany illustrates the social and cultural differences between her Eastern and Western worlds in her project “Ost trifft West,” or “East Meets West,” which conveys a strong message on the differences she personally experienced.
"Ost trifft West" is a series of infographic posters that compare German and Chinese people in accurate and humorous ways. The infographics highlight important human elements such as self-perception, opinion expression, and mood.
So without further ado, we invite you to explore the differences captured by this incredibly observant artist.
More info: yangliudesign.com | amazon.com
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#1
The Boss
Headless Roach 1 year ago
Meanwhile in China: "Sorry, you're just not tall enough to get promoted "
If you wonder how Yang Liu gathered information, such as whether she used interviews, research, or theories, her reply is this: “The fact is that every single illustration is my very personal experience in the past 13-17 years, and this work was made as a documentation of my own life,” she said. As an artist who was raised in multiple cultures, she doesn’t feel like she belongs to any of them: “I am feeling myself more as a person who belongs to all the places I have been,” says Liu.
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#2
Means Of Transportation
#3
Expressing Opinion
Sure, we are all aware of cultural differences around the world, such as social norms, family structure, religion, cuisine, and the more day-to-day ones that Liu has depicted in her illustrations. Historical, geographic, economic, and social factors are just some of the ones that form differences in the way we perceive and interact with the world around us.
#4
Standing In A Line
#5
Attitude Towards Punctuality
When moving to a new country, no matter how close or far from your home, the beginning can be quite challenging and time-consuming. In order to adapt might require some adjusting to a new culture and adopting its values, beliefs, customs, and behaviors. Building new relationships and keeping an open mind is the right way to start.
#6
Dealing With Problems
#7
Expressing Feelings
In Liu’s illustrations’ on one side, we might recognize ourselves more than on the other one, and it might raise questions: what else is different? How does that affect our mental health? Could I maybe learn new things and include them in my life to make it easier?
What do you, Pandas, think when seeing Liu’s depiction? Share your thoughts in the comments.
#8
Traveling
#9
What’s Trending
#10
Noise Level At The Restaurant
Headless Roach 1 year ago
*noise level everywhere in China. Chinese cities are full of sounds coming out of absolutely everywhere.
#11
Everyday Life Of Elderly
#12
Mood And Weather
#13
Self Perception
Hannah M 1 year ago
People, this isn't saying that Chinese have low self-esteem or don't value themselves. It's comparing the individualism of the West to the collective mindset of the East. To a westerner the self is the primary consideration; in the east the self is a small part of the wider community
#14
Cultural Perceptions: Germans vs. Chinese
Phoenix the Frog 1 year ago
I mean the Chinese one is not wrong. Saying as someone who lived in Germany
#15
At A Party
BlueEyesWhiteDragon 1 year ago
I'm one of the little lonely dots on the German side. I would say I wish I lived on the circle side, but I would probably get overwhelmed by my nearest dots and try to leave early.
#16
Children In The Family
#17
Three Meals A Day
Lyone Fein 1 year ago (edited)
More variety in Germany? Oh no, I get it. Cold and hot meals. Ok.
#18
Contacts And Connections
#19
Cure For Stomach Ache
#20
Sundays On The Streets
#21
Lifestyle: Independent vs. Dependent
Autistic McWolferson the Forth 1 year ago
So basically "disappoint your family in any way and be disowned" in China. No real chance to develop your own genuine personality in a world like that
#22
Ideal Of Beauty
Ian Reynolds 1 year ago
Is this to do with skin colour or tone? Germans prefer darker skin and Chinese prefer lighter skin tones? If it is not, I don’t get it.
#23
Shower Time
#24
Novelties
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Mr Old School Cool 1 year ago (edited)
Attention trolls: please stop calling this Beijing-born Chinese artist a racist, or that she is stereotyping her own country
kool mudkips 1 year ago
Just goes to show there are things to be learned from both (and other) cultures. Once we get further down our shared timeline, hopefully we can choose the best of all and further humankind.
Nonna_SoF 1 year ago
I feel like this should be titled differences in China and Germany rather than East and West. Both areas are culturally diverse enough that using one country as a metric isn't really fair.
Nick Murphy 1 year ago
Yep. Acknowledging differences between cultures is the exact opposite of racist unless it's done with a disdainful or xenophobic undertone. It's so gross that it's become the norm to cry racism for any humor relating to or observations of CULTURAL variations. Hell, it is almost never coming from a racist place when people make jokes or discuss differences between actual races in today's day. 99.999% of what many people have tantrums about and call racist only shows their inability to process the literal definition of the term. It's basically always about their fragile egos being damaged due to a lifetime of privilege making them weak, narcissistic and simple enough to still do something so obviously embarrassing, wrong, dividing and...just f****n gross. It's regressive fragility masquerading as progressive. I can't imagine anyone is still so enslaved by their delusion as to believe this contemporary bastardized version of social consciousness and tolerance is progressive.
Nocturnowl 1 year ago
It took me 4 pictures to realize that this wasn't talking about the East and West coast of the U.S 🤦🏻♀️
Ari Keeper 1 year ago
The art is neat, but most seem more like judgements than observations. Very interesting.
Phyzzi 1 year ago
It seems to me that a lot of the negative reactions are to Yet Another BP Post That Lacks Subtlety. It's strange to me that the title of the series was painted is such broad strokes: Berlin vs. Beijing would have been more poetic and reflective of the observed differences, and it would also recognize that painting something like half of all humans vs the other almost half of all humans is probably too broad of a stroke. I also, personally, dislike this from an infographic perspective because a good graphic condenses complicated information while making it more accessible and the graphics... do the opposite? These observations, without cultural context, and presented as a full card each seem to be adding space and removing information, and I can tell from other comments that I wasn't the only one who found some of these counterintuitive or confusing.
Ugh_What_Now 1 year ago
It's quite odd, as this infographic could almost be used for the opposite East/West scenario if you were to swap countries. Japan would easily take the place of Germany, and the US would easily take the place of China in pretty much every one of these infographic situations.
Azazels Child 1 year ago
There's a lot to be said about a "we" mind set and "me" mind set. I remember how people took what they needed from the stores for their families to eat after the earthquake/tsunami. I wondered if in western culture if people would just raid everything for themselves. I don't operate on a "me" mentality and people will take advantage of your lack of selfishness. It's sad.
Bob Collins 1 year ago
Blue vs. Red? I couldn’t find anywhere an explanation as to which was East and which is West. Being from neither country/region/nationality/compass point, I am not familiar enough with either culture to recognize them. A simple key statement would have been helpful.
Irish woman abroad 1 year ago
Most of these could just as easily be the difference between Northern and Southern Europe, so the title is wildly inaccurate.
Nazz reth 1 year ago
She is a racist because she has claimed Chinese cultural habits as the same for all of Asia.......... The article is labeled wrong. It should be the EU and China not west and east
Mr Old School Cool 1 year ago (edited)
Attention trolls: please stop calling this Beijing-born Chinese artist a racist, or that she is stereotyping her own country
kool mudkips 1 year ago
Just goes to show there are things to be learned from both (and other) cultures. Once we get further down our shared timeline, hopefully we can choose the best of all and further humankind.
Nonna_SoF 1 year ago
I feel like this should be titled differences in China and Germany rather than East and West. Both areas are culturally diverse enough that using one country as a metric isn't really fair.
Nick Murphy 1 year ago
Yep. Acknowledging differences between cultures is the exact opposite of racist unless it's done with a disdainful or xenophobic undertone. It's so gross that it's become the norm to cry racism for any humor relating to or observations of CULTURAL variations. Hell, it is almost never coming from a racist place when people make jokes or discuss differences between actual races in today's day. 99.999% of what many people have tantrums about and call racist only shows their inability to process the literal definition of the term. It's basically always about their fragile egos being damaged due to a lifetime of privilege making them weak, narcissistic and simple enough to still do something so obviously embarrassing, wrong, dividing and...just f****n gross. It's regressive fragility masquerading as progressive. I can't imagine anyone is still so enslaved by their delusion as to believe this contemporary bastardized version of social consciousness and tolerance is progressive.
Nocturnowl 1 year ago
It took me 4 pictures to realize that this wasn't talking about the East and West coast of the U.S 🤦🏻♀️
Ari Keeper 1 year ago
The art is neat, but most seem more like judgements than observations. Very interesting.
Phyzzi 1 year ago
It seems to me that a lot of the negative reactions are to Yet Another BP Post That Lacks Subtlety. It's strange to me that the title of the series was painted is such broad strokes: Berlin vs. Beijing would have been more poetic and reflective of the observed differences, and it would also recognize that painting something like half of all humans vs the other almost half of all humans is probably too broad of a stroke. I also, personally, dislike this from an infographic perspective because a good graphic condenses complicated information while making it more accessible and the graphics... do the opposite? These observations, without cultural context, and presented as a full card each seem to be adding space and removing information, and I can tell from other comments that I wasn't the only one who found some of these counterintuitive or confusing.
Ugh_What_Now 1 year ago
It's quite odd, as this infographic could almost be used for the opposite East/West scenario if you were to swap countries. Japan would easily take the place of Germany, and the US would easily take the place of China in pretty much every one of these infographic situations.
Azazels Child 1 year ago
There's a lot to be said about a "we" mind set and "me" mind set. I remember how people took what they needed from the stores for their families to eat after the earthquake/tsunami. I wondered if in western culture if people would just raid everything for themselves. I don't operate on a "me" mentality and people will take advantage of your lack of selfishness. It's sad.
Bob Collins 1 year ago
Blue vs. Red? I couldn’t find anywhere an explanation as to which was East and which is West. Being from neither country/region/nationality/compass point, I am not familiar enough with either culture to recognize them. A simple key statement would have been helpful.
Irish woman abroad 1 year ago
Most of these could just as easily be the difference between Northern and Southern Europe, so the title is wildly inaccurate.
Nazz reth 1 year ago
She is a racist because she has claimed Chinese cultural habits as the same for all of Asia.......... The article is labeled wrong. It should be the EU and China not west and east
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