Series of creative illustrations by talented graphic designer Yang Liu shows the differences between Western cultures and the Eastern world.
Chinese artist moved to Germany in 1990 and used personal experiences from her own life as an inspiration for the East Meets West project.
Punctuality
Problem Solving
Preferred Drink
Party
Expressing Opinions
Leaders
Daily Meals
Networking
Raising Children
Retirement
Tourism
Lifestyle
Mood and Weather
Noise Level in Restaurants
Popular Food
Ego
Ideal of Beauty
Shower Time
Waiting in Line
Transportation
Also check out: Paris vs New York and Words as Images
Fillibert
I thought Blue was West but then I saw chop sticks?
Dec 18th, 2013
Megan
Sushi is popular in the west and traditional western food is popular in the east…
Dec 18th, 2013
jacklyn
good job but i dont understand the raising children and the networking
Dec 19th, 2013
Pearl Lamie
In west, the nuclear family raises the children; in the east, the grandparents live together with the parents and all raise the child. In the west, networking is more specific and direct one-one-one which means fewer,stronger links; in east, it is more generalized within the group, more group cohesion and less individual.
Dec 19th, 2013
Mark
Awesome. Simply brilliant.
Dec 19th, 2013
Waleed
one of the best and creative illustrations i ever seen! enjoyed the most most!!!!
Dec 19th, 2013
paul
when i see the “waiting in line”… duh!
Dec 19th, 2013
HR
This is just wrong. East tourism is seeing by one’s own eyes while West just takes pictures? Really? That is WAY off! So are many other things. This is basically useless. One way to tell is that most people are confused by which is which.
Dec 19th, 2013
Paul Dann
I think the people who are confused by which is which are those who haven’t spent much time outside of Western culture :p
FYI, West is blue, East is red. Think Europe: Blue, China: Red.
Dec 20th, 2013
Dave
Yo “HR” are you stupid? Blue is west and red is east. You’re mixed-up sweetheart. Decent graphic but it is a shame when people try to distill cultures into simplistic diagrams.
Dec 22nd, 2013
Ru
The only one I don’t understand is the lifestyle one, though I’m not sure I agree with the noise level in restaurants one!
Dec 24th, 2013
ben
I don’t usually write comments, but some of this is wrong and some of this is almost offensive. Expressing options? really? And the problem solving one makes the “east” look as though they are unable to fix problems like the “west”, which just isn’t true.
Jan 8th, 2014
An asian
All are correct except Lifestyle.
I dont think that reflect both cultures. It varies with age. Another is shower time, Eastern mostly bath anytime they feel.
@ben
East do NOT say “Your mouth stinks” directly or even close their nose, they simply back a bit/pretend to look away/other non hand gesture movement.
Dignity and ego is precious (because its already small ?) in Eastern hence the “workaround”.
As exercise to future readers, see how Japanese girls talk, often covering their mouth, doesnt mean your mouth stink, but “Is there something on my teeth?” – body language translate – ashame/lack of self esteem.
All in all, can say pictogram 100% correct.
Feb 10th, 2014
Max Johnson
some chinese characters hidden in the networking one
Mar 4th, 2014
Captian
I found this to be very true and completely inoffensive. If one doesn’t understand Eastern philosophy or culture then one wouldn’t understand the graphic. If you look for offensive, bigoted, racism or any other trouble in this world, you will always find it. Especially if it isn’t there. It’s time to stop being paranoid and forget your prejudices and simply live life.
Well done
Jul 2nd, 2014