Investigating the Chinese cultural mind through Chinese-American cross-cultural films

Abstract The importance of teaching cultural perspectives or cultural mind is now widely recognized in the field of foreign language education. Meanwhile, language teachers and scholars are also aware of the difficulty of implementing this aspect of cultural instruction in the classroom because the cultural mind tends to be abstract, intangible, and invisible. As Chinese-American cross-cultural films often foreground cultural differences and conflicts caused by underlying systems of values, beliefs, and behaviors in Chinese and American societies, they serve as tangible discussion points for guiding students in exploring the Chinese cultural mind. Therefore, this paper utilizes Chinese-American cross-cultural films as a springboard to analyze four key themes reflective of the Chinese cultural mind as depicted in the films (i.e., collectivism vs individualism, saving face, filial piety, and the role of women) and discusses pedagogical implications for cultural instruction, especially the teaching of cultural perspectives or cultural mind in the Chinese language classroom.