论文总字数：33049字

摘 要

在20世纪下半叶，美国梦在美国诞生了。2009年11月29日，中国国家主席习近平提出了中国梦的概念。尽管中国梦和美国梦都是国家梦，但两者是有区别的。为了给大家一个清晰的说明，本论文主要比较分析了两个梦在具体内涵，文化背景，基本价值观，实现途径，国家前景以及对世界的影响六个方面的不同点。此外，本论文还提出一些对实现中国梦有利的启示，帮助提高我国在世界上的综合国力和国际地位。

关键词：中国梦；美国梦；对比；分析；启示

Contents

1. Introduction............................................................................................1

2. Literatere Review ..................................................................................1

3. Similarities Between Chinese Dream and American Dream .............3

3.1 Based on Real Life ................................................................................3

3.2 Aiming to solve the realistic problems...................................................4

4. Differences between Chinese Dream and American Dream .............5

4.1 Concrete Connotations ..........................................................................5

4.2 Cultural Backgrounds ............................................................................6

4.3 Fundamental Values ..............................................................................7

4.4 Realization Approaches .........................................................................8

4.5 National Prospects .................................................................................9

4.6 Influences on the World ........................................................................9

5. Implications to Realize Chinese Dream...............................................10

5.1 Adhering to the dominant position of people........................................10

5.2 Unswervingly taking the road of peace and development.....................11

5.3 Firmly casting the spiritual pillar of the common endeavor..................12

6. Conclusion………………………………………………………….......13

Works Cited ...............................................................................................14

1. Introduction

In the second half of the 20^th century, the words such as American Dream, British dream, Japanese Dream and others were once prevalent in Western society and today only the American Dream is still located in a strategic place of national development. In the recent two years, Chinese government pointed out the concept of Chinese Dream, which is to achieve the great rejuvenation of China, including national prosperity and revitalization as well as her people"s happiness. We can say that, Chinese Dream not only embodies the ideal of the Chinese people deeply, but also deeply reflects our glorious tradition of no stopping advancement. Coincidentally, the President of the United States Barack Obama repeats the concept of American Dream in a number of speeches, that is, everyone has the right to pursue personal happiness.

China and the United States, the former is the largest developing country and the latter is the largest developed country. There are many differences on basic conditions, social systems and degree of development, path of success, ways of thinking, values, spiritual beliefs and customs of these two countries. The world is originally colorful, just the same as China and the United States that located in each side of the Pacific. Different countries have their own different dreams, but they are both great and irreplaceable nations; at the same time, they all have a strong national complex as well as an endless emotion of family-country. In particular, they are willing to create impossible miracle to cast a great country and share the golden opportunity in the development of their country.

In this thesis, there are two main parts. The first is the differences between Chinese Dream and American Dream, including concrete connotation, cultural backgrounds, fundamental values, realization approaches, national prospectives and the influences on the world. The second is about some implications to realize Chinese Dream.

2. Literature Review

American Dream was originally proposed by American historian Adams (James Truslow Adams) in 1931 in his book American Epic. American Dream is a belief that people will be able to enjoy a better life in America if they can work hard and make arduous efforts.

Many historians and sociologists hold different points of view on American Dream and give different interpretations and explanations. Professor Norman Mailer(2001) at the University of California Los Angeles believes that American Dream is equal to all the Americans and they have the same opportunity of success. This view should be combined with the historical background of the United States and it is inseparable to the country"s history.

Most famous historians believe that the reason for American Dream pursued by most people is that they have a desire to pursue wealth. Matthew Warshall(2012), the famous history professor of Connecticut State University, considers that the eternal theme of American Dream is the pursuit of money. As more and more people think and worship money first, American Dream is not so charming as before. For example, the early Americans advocated honesty and diligence to get rich; but today, Americans are increasingly keen to seek get-rich-quick. Nowadays, the American President Obama raises a new concept of American Dream from the perspective of a president, taking his own development and life experiences as a clue, as well as considering the factors of values, constitution, policy, opportunity, fate, race and family. With the changing times, more and more people are becoming not keen on the American Dream. The autocratic tyranny and hegemony, economic bubble and speculation of America in the world make American people fear that their own dreams and fortune will suddenly disappear one day.

Chinese Dream is a big idea and a big goal for China and it is also a high enrichment of China’s ambitious development goals in the hundred years of the 21st century. Chinese Dream runs through modern and contemporary Chinese history and becomes a kind of spiritual power which inspires people to strenuously and constantly strive to become stronger. When a dream is possible to gather together all the anticipation and pursuit of the whole nation all the time, this dream is endowed with a profound connotation of a common vision and a powerful charisma to mobilize the whole nation to hold perseverance and inheritance. To achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is the great dream and common wish of all the Chinese people, as well as the theme of modern and contemporary Chinese history.

About the realization approaches of Chinese Dream, Liu Bo and You Guozhen(2013) believe that the key to realize Chinese Dream is the leadership of the Communist Party of China, that is, we must adhere to the core leadership of the Communist Party of China to achieve Chinese Dream, which is not only an inevitable choice of modern Chinese history, but also a realistic choice for people to strive to comfortable life.

Yan Wen(2003) holds the view that the realization of Chinese Dream must follow China"s own road, to organically consolidate Chinese Dream, Chinese road and socialism with Chinese characteristics. He also points out that the realization of Chinese Dream must carry forward and particularly cultivate the national spirit to concentrate the power of China. The socialism with Chinese characteristics is the great undertaking of hundreds of millions Chinese, so Chinese Dream is her people’s dream all in all and must closely rely on the masses to achieve.

1. Similarities Between Chinese Dream and American Dream

Chinese Dream and American Dream are both national dreams, which reflect the mainstream value of their own country. So they have the following two common characteristics.

3.1 Based on Real Life

A country is composed of a great number of people, so the national dream necessarily reflects the common ideals of the masses. The state power of People"s Republic of China was established by proletarian revolutionary under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. The political nature of China inevitably reflects the political will of the proletariat and the proletarian masses occupy the vast majority of our people which is the dominant force of social development. Therefore, the dream of the proletariat becomes the mainstream values of China and a concrete manifestation of Chinese Dream.

The United States is an emerging country with only 200-year history, of which the vast majority are immigrants from all around the world. Although they have different national backgrounds, religions, languages, cultures and external characteristics in this new land, they have a common purpose, which is to seek and establish an equal, free and democratic society, and they also believes that they can get a comfortable life through their tireless efforts and persistent struggles in America. Therefore, this common goal is the mainstream values of American society, which specifically reflects the American Dream.

3.2 Aiming to solve the realistic problems

Chinese Dream and American Dream included in the field of culture aim to solve the realistic problems in the two aspects.

Firstly, both Chinese Dream and American Dream are proposed to further develop national soft power as a strong support to increase national hard power. The Americans living in economic prosperity try to seek a spiritual strength, which can improve national cohesion and restore American confidence and better development. The proposal of American Dream is in response to this reality. On one hand, it is the accumulation of material prosperity and power; on the other hand, it is the improvement of bumpy nonmaterial forces, so the U.S. needs the support of dream. American Dream stimulates the vitality and energy to revitalize economic takeoff and maintain international status. The power of American Dream not only plays a role of maintaining the group cohesion of American society, but also helps to build international status matching with the United States in the international arena. Likewise, the proposal of Chinese Dream aroused because of the desires and beliefs of compatriots towards national recovery. Materially, more affluent people need spiritual acceptance and abundance to gather under the banner of the great rejuvenation of China. Chinese Dream strengthens the common ideas and beliefs of Chinese people and indicates clearly to the world that our position is the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Secondly, the national dreams of these two countries are proposed to face with the challenges in all aspects of government affairs and to bring necessary sense and passion to the state. The yearning and acceptance of Americans on American Dream relieve the impact of social ethos and public opinions on central authority. American Dream actually consolidates the central authority and effectively promotes the development of American society (Joseph S. Nye, 2004). At the same time, the proposal of Chinese Dream is helpful to have a more comprehensive understanding of China"s basic national conditions from the historical context in order to analyze and solve practical problems encountered in our country rather than blindly complain. Chinese Dream will help us to resolve the realistic problems in a sense way.

From above we can see that Chinese Dream and American Dream both have a very special relationship. In the critical period of the economic growth and comprehensive enhancement, China and the United States both point out their own national dream. Their dreams express their spiritual aspirations of increasing national soft power, which becomes an important driving force for people to unite and move forward. Of course, when talking about the relevance of these two dreams, this thesis is not to prove there are no fundamental differences between them, but to try to explore the huge role of national dream in promoting social development and how to realize Chinese Dream.

4. Differences between Chinese Dream and American Dream

Although Chinese Dream and American Dream embody the people’s aspire for a better future in the world, there are also many differences.

4.1 Concrete connotations

The essential connotation of Chinese Dream is related to national prosperity and revitalization and people"s happiness, emphasizing the close link of personal fate and nation in order to highlight an all-round development. In this year"s two sessions, the new state leaders of China conducted a comprehensive discussion of achieving Chinese Dream. To realize Chinese Dream has become a governing philosophy about national development strategies, policies and measures. The realization of Chinese Dream is being led and promoted by the state. The main content of Chinese Dream includes three aspects, including national prosperity, China’s revitalization and people"s happiness, of which the root is to realize people"s happiness. People of all nationalities in China are the main force to achieve Chinese Dream and the direct beneficiaries of Chinese Dream. Therefore, Chinese Dream is the dream of her people and it is a transcendence of American Dream. The concept of Chinese Dream is a manifestation of China’s self-confidence and strength, exciting people’s mind and inspiring people’s fighting spirit.

The goal of American Dream is to achieve individual success, to pursue a unipolar world from the national level in order to maintain his hegemon position in the world. The realization of American Dream mostly depends on individual power and success. From the perspective of concept and connotation, American Dream is taking freedom and prosperity as a label, claiming that as long as he came to this New World of North America anyone can achieve his own dream by his own struggle no matter what his background is. But it cannot stand the test of time, for the existing gap between different social classes and the widening wealth gap make more and more American people feel American Dream unreal.

4.2 Cultural backgrounds

Since ancient times, Chinese people had formed the concept of family-and-nation and had a very strong sense of community, because it is the harmonious family that can lead to the success of everything. When the members of a family have harmonious relationship with each other, they will be happy and well-being. Chinese people"s happiness is a group consciousness, so for the Chinese people in the nation, happiness is shared. Therefore, the Chinese President Xi Jinping describes the vision of Chinese Dream with three characteristics, including enjoying the opportunity of brilliance in our life, enjoying the opportunity of realizing dreams, as well as enjoying the opportunity of growth and progress together along with our motherland and the era.

However, the United States was greatly influenced by the culture of immigration, so the prevalence of various trends of thought such as individualism and neoliberalism become his natural feature (Matthew Warshauer , 2012:21). American culture advocates individual liberty and happiness as well as national concept, so American Dream emphasizes individual wealth, success and social status.

4.3 Fundamental values

The cornerstone of Chinese Dream is collectivist. Chinese Dream is a nation and a collective dream of all Chinese people, so it requires every Chinese people to endeavor and achieve it. Collectivism emphasizes that we should subordinate our personal interest to the collective and nation. At the same time, collectivism requires every member of the society should coexist harmoniously and struggle together. At present, collectivism has a modern manifestation which is harmonious society and harmonious world.

While the American Dream emphasizes individualism, it is common to take the wealth as the criteria of success. American Dream stresses freedom, equality and democracy. American scholars generally believe that the Declaration of Independence is the foundation of American Dream and the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of American Dream. American Dream emphasizes that personal interests should get the greatest satisfaction, so the excessive emphasis of individual values will naturally be transformed into a hegemonic dream.

China is a multi-ethnic nation with more than five thousand years of history, referred to as the Chinese nation. Since ancient times, all ethnic groups have known to share weal and woe and they have a strong collective consciousness and establish a deep emotion on this land. Chinese people have a consensus that a weak country will suffer others’ bullying, so it is not possible to talk about individual dignity, life, property and even the happiness.

We know that the condition of the United States is rather complicated than China. Under the social background of polar opposites between the black and the white, the black people suffered a long-standing discrimination. Although they are legally equal, the descended unequal consciousness is unable to eliminate immediately, so even a little thing can cause intense internal ethnic conflicts. The United States is a nation of immigrants, so the people do not have local attachment and lack national concept and it is natural to talk about individual success.

4.4 Realization approaches

The realization of Chinese Dream depends on socialism with Chinese characteristics, peace and development, as well as the wisdom and efforts of all the Chinese people. China is based on principles of good-neighborly friendship. Even after new China was founded, we uphold our independent foreign policy of peace, so the realization of Chinese Dream is based on China"s peaceful rise. Thus, the international path of achieving Chinese Dream is to promote the building of a harmonious world with lasting peace and common development. China is a big country with 1.3 billion people and it is impossible to develop the country relying on a large number of imported foreign talents, so the Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasizes that the realization of Chinese Dream must follow China’s own road, must carry forward the spirit of China and must unite various forces. The core of Chinese Dream is to realize the prosperity of Chinese nation, which emphasizes collectivism, so the only way to achieve Chinese Dream is the joint efforts of all the Chinese people.

However, the realization of American Dream is based on the capitalist road, focusing on foreign expansion and encouraging individuation. American Dream is to achieve the best value of a person and emphasizes each person as an individual. Each has his own natural rights, equality and freedom. In order to achieve personal interests or national interests, they can scarify other individuals or countries, which is the manifestation of hegemony. We can see it from a series of historical events, from Westward Movement to the Spanish-American War in 1898 to the war between Iraq, Libya and the military attack against international terrorism. They are all realized by a certain foreign expansion and hegemony. Historically, the United States develop their own country by repeatedly exploiting the power of other nations. There were many examples, such as the early introduction of a large number of blacks from Africa to engage in cultivation, the use of Chinese labor in nineteenth century to build railways, and now the employment of numerous labors from Mexico and Eastern Europe to engage in a variety of physical work, so that many Caucasian adult become the leisure class and enjoy playing golf all day.

剩余内容已隐藏，请支付后下载全文，论文总字数：33049字