Why don't Chinese people bow to their elders like Korea and Japan?

为什么中国不像韩国人和日本人一样，对长辈鞠躬？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Brig Watch

I can give a different reason.

After the New Culture Movement (around the time of the May 4th Movement in 1919),Chinese people are educated to treat their traditional culture in a,”Discard the dross and take the essence”,way.

Now,the country name often goes by name of the new China，used to distinguish the past old China.

If one overemphasizes the past traditional custom,another may says he lives in the Qing dynasty.

我来说一个与众不同的理由。

新文化运动后(1919年五四运动前后)，中国人对传统文化采用了“去其糟粕，取其精华”的方式。

现在也通常用新中国来区别过去的旧中国。

如果一个人过分强调传统习俗，别人可能会说他是不是还生活在大清。

The new money in China started to grow up after the reform and opening-up policy.On the contrary,South Korea and Japan don’t go through a revolution of blood and fire to wipe out plutocrat and old and well-known family which often are the major force of maintaining traditional relationship in East Asia.

Of course,there are quite a few clan against modern in the south of China,but compared with the plutocrat in the the other two countries,it’s like “The moon is not seen when the sun shines”.

改革开放后，中国的新贵开始涌现。相反，韩国和日本并没有通过血与火的革命来消灭财阀和老牌名门，而财阀和老牌名门往往是维持东亚传统的主要势力。

当然，中国南方也有不少反对现代价值观的家族，但与其他两个国家的富豪相比实在微不足道。

iao Zhuang

There are some good answers here, but I think this can be simplified.

First of all, Chinese people do bow, just not as much or as often as Koreans and Japanese.

Deep bows, formal kowtows, etc. are reserved for special occasions such as in the temple, special festivals, martial arts tournaments or classes, weddings, funerals, etc.

我看到了一些很好的答案，但我认为原因其实很简单。

首先，中国人也还是会鞠躬的，只是不像韩国人和日本人那么频繁。

在寺庙、传统节日、武术比赛或武术课、婚礼、葬礼等特定场合，人们也会深深鞠躬，跪拜磕头等。

In daily life, Chinese people still do bow, but it is often more of a subtle head bow, perhaps closer to a nod. It is friendly and natural.

Though some people say Taiwanese Chinese and Hong Kong Chinese tend to bow “more often,” I have not found that to be the case. It has much more to do with the cultivation level of the individual and the situation rather than the geographical location.

在日常生活中，中国人也会鞠躬，但往往动作幅度较小，也许更接近于点头。这是一种友好和自然的动作。

虽然有些人说中国台湾人和香港人“更经常”鞠躬，但我并没有发现这种情况。主要还是和个人的修养和环境有关，和地理位置没有关系。

Lzagddsg

I’m a student in China and I bow to my teachers as the one of school rules.

Well, in China, people don’t like to bow to their elders because people think they’re independent and bow means living in a lower place in Chinese culture. For another reason, chinese don’t enjoy to show their ages to the others, so bowing is being harder.

I don’t know why Koreans and Japanese bow, but I guess that’s because of the rules or the tradition.

我是中国学生，学校就规定学生要向老师鞠躬。

在中国，人们不喜欢向长辈鞠躬，因为人们认为大家都是独立的个体，鞠躬在中国文化中意味着地位较低。还有另一个原因，中国人不喜欢向别人表露自己的年龄，所以要不要鞠躬就很难判断了。

我不知道为什么韩国人和日本人会鞠躬，我猜是因为习俗和传统吧。

in Cai

Because we went through an egalitarian revolution.

While we still respect our elders, we do not submit to them.

So nowadays we bow only to the dead, which is a perfectly reasonable compromise to me.

Except kids are sometimes asked to bow to the elderly because those little fuckers need to be kept in line.

Cultural practices are rarely coherent.

因为我们经历过一场平权革命。

虽然我们同样尊敬长者，但我们并不屈从他们。

现在我们只向死者鞠躬，对我来说这是一个合理的妥协。

孩子有时候要向老人鞠躬，因为那些淘气包需要管束。

各地的文化习俗千差万别，不足为奇。

Wdnmd

Because the more a person bows, the cheaper his bowing becomes, just like inflation. Now the Chinese only bow to the heroes of the country.

As for the elders, what they need more is care.

因为一个人鞠躬的次数越多，他的礼节就越廉价，就像通货膨胀一样。现在的中国人只会向国家英雄鞠躬。

对于老年人来说，他们更需要的其实是关爱。

WindoMado?

In fact, it is not in line with the current Chinese tradition for people to kowtow or bow to their elders. Of course, this kind of kneeling and kowtowing still exsts in some rural areas. For really good elders, we will pay more attention to them. But for me my elders are my family, and I only visit the family I want to visit.

I will not get down on my knees and will not allow my children (if I ever have one) to get down on their knees, either to me or to the government or power.

事实上，给长辈跪地磕头或者鞠躬不符合中国现在的传统，当然在有些农村地区，这种跪地磕头的讲究依然存在。对于和蔼的长辈，我们会多关心他们。但对我来说长辈就是我的家人，我只跟我愿意拜访的家人来往。

我自己不会双膝下跪，也不会允许我的孩子（将来我有孩子的话）双膝下跪，无论跪拜的对象是我还是政府或某股势力。

The way I express my gratitude to people is to pass quickly after a car on the road asks me to touch the brim of my hat or bow slightly.

As for my ancestors, I have not knelt down to commemorate and burn the money given to the deceased for a long time. The highest respect is to live my own life well. Others, I give my thanks at most, but they will live in my memory and pass on through my words and words, so they have not passed away.

Frankly speaking, I feel very blessed to be with my family as long as I live, but I don't have to bow down.

The best way is a restaurant is delicious, then I go more and recommend it to my friends. A person is not bad, I will cooperate with him more.

我对别人表达谢意的方式，是在路上遇到车辆让我先过时，我会轻触帽檐或者微微欠身示意，然后迅速走过。

而对于祖辈，我已经很久没有下跪纪念他们，给他们烧纸钱了，我觉得对他们最大的尊敬就是过好自己的生活。

其他，我最多拱手致谢，但他们会活在我的记忆中并通过我的文字和语言传递下去，所以他们没有真的离去。

坦白来说，在有生之年陪陪我的家人，我觉得很幸福，但鞠躬就不必了。

最好的方式就是如果一家店好吃，我就多去光顾，多推荐给朋友。如果一个人不错，我就多跟他合作。

In addition, because it was in line with the United States and other European and Asia-Pacific countries, Chinese etiquette has evolved into a handshake ceremony or a medieval knight ceremony, as well as the traditional Chinese boxng ceremony and hand-crowding ceremony.

You can say that Chinese etiquette has long been passed down by Korea and Japan, and China has lost their traditions. It is true, but I don't think it's cool to follow the trend and wear Hanfu, people should have their own choice.

此外，因为中国跟美国和其他欧洲、亚太国家曾经接轨，中国的礼节已经演变成握手礼或者中世纪骑士礼以及中国传统的抱拳礼和拱手礼。

你完全可以说中国的礼节在韩国和日本代代相传，反倒是中国失去了他们的传统。确实如此，但我并不认为跟随潮流穿汉服很酷，人们应该有自己的选择。

The tea ceremony is also a kind of etiquette with bowing. But I hate tea very much, although I know how to make tea at 1.3. But if Wei and in are free and easy as a courtesy, why do so many etiquettes. I appreciate the people and the poise of making tea, but I can't make it myself.

Treat my homage as a cup of good tea or coffee, and drink as I please, that's what I want. Rather than buying a bunch of toys for which I don’t know what to do, it’s just consumerism.

茶道和躬身一样，也是一种礼仪。但我很讨厌茶，虽然我对泡茶略知一二。但如果以魏晋洒脱为礼，何必在意那么多礼节。我欣赏泡茶的人和风度，但我自己真的做不来。

用一杯好茶或香醇的咖啡表达我的敬意，随性饮乐，才是我要的。买一堆不知道怎么用的玩具不过是消费主义罢了。

In addition,. I believe in the Datong society. This is Chinese thinking, but it is not the mainstream.

The Chinese are indeed very strange. Each region has its own etiquette and thinking, and even its own beliefs and local languages. Maybe somewhere I don't know, there is the same etiquette practice as in Japan and Korea.

此外，我信仰大同社会。这是中国式思维，但并非主流。

中国人的确很奇怪，每个地区有自己的礼节和思维，甚至自己的信仰和方言。可能在我不知道的地方，也有着和日本和韩国一样的礼节做法。

inyang Niu

You know what? Chinese culture is hard to assimilate into other cultures. China will always embrace other foreign cultures, and even 'admire' easy civilizations with a 'self-prepared' mentality, so to speak, but China's oversized population as well as its oversized society creates a kind of magical racial gift-letting go of embracing other cultures, and as a result The result was that other cultures disappeared into Chinese culture.

You can also think of Chinese culture as a big ball of white cloth, a very, very big white cloth.

When Chinese culture encounters a mass of blue, we don't talk about "cutting off the blue-stained part", but rather open our arms to embrace it, and eventually it becomes a bigger mass of "very light blue-white".

Then we meet red, and we melt it away into a larger mass of a slightly more pronounced light purple.

你知道吗？中国文化很难被其他文化同化。中国会接纳其他外来文化，甚至会“欣赏”简单的文明，但中国庞大的人口和庞大的社会造成了一种神奇的种族天赋—接纳其他文化，最后其他文化逐渐消散在中国文化中。

你也可以把中国文化想象成一个巨大的白布球，一块非常非常大的白布。

当中国文化遇到一大团蓝色的时候，我们不会“剪掉染蓝的那部分”，而是张开双臂去拥抱它，最终白布变成“很浅的蓝色”。

然后我们遇到了红色，我们又吸收红色，融合成稍微明显一点的浅紫色。

One by one, the colors poured down, and in the end, there was still a very high degree of certainty that we would be called the "Chinese nation".

Back on topic, the tedious etiquette of bending and bowing when meeting and speaking in honorifics has been discarded as dross.

Isn't the Chinese handshake now more civilized than bowing and kneeling?

Nowadays, Chinese people do not bow and kneel to the rich and powerful people like in ancient times, but just bow to the deceased elders, so isn't it a progress of civilization?

颜色一个接一个地倾泻下来，但我们还是很有可能保持“中华民族”。

言归正传，见面时弯腰鞠躬、使用敬语的繁琐礼仪已经被废弃了。

现在中国人见面时会握手，这不是比鞠躬和下跪更文明吗？

现在的中国人，不像古代那样，对有钱有势的人顶礼膜拜，只拜已故的长辈，这难道不是一种文明的进步吗？

Jay Gordon

today’s China is rid of some of the shitty Confucius stuff that still exst in more developed places like South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong. Like Koreans and Japanese, Chinese people have the tradition of respecting elders, but not to the extent that have to bow. Despite being de ocracy class divide is more obvious in Korea and Japan than in China, in both countries you can be both financially wealthy and politically powerful, i.e., Samsung. In China you can only be one, billionaires have little politically power and officials can only be rich through corruption, which if caught are punished.

今天的中国已经摆脱了一些在韩国、日本、中国台湾、中国香港等发达地区仍然存在的儒家传统。

和韩国人、日本人一样，中国人也有敬老的传统，但还没有到必须鞠躬的地步。

虽然韩国和日本的皿煮阶级分化比中国更明显，但在这两个国家，你既可以在经济上富有，同时又在政治上强大，比如三星。

但在中国你只能二选一，亿万富翁几乎没有政治权力，而官员腐败被抓到就会受到惩罚。

ZHENG CHU

We do bow, but only in specific circumstances.

The Chinese saying about bow, is great respect. We don’t make bow a daily routine to show how precious it is.

So children bow to grandparents during Chinese new year, to wish elders happy and healthy.

Adults bow to elder for apologize or to thank for big favors.

It’s just a culture difference, no big deal.

我们会鞠躬，但只在某些特定情况下。

中国人认为“鞠躬”是一种尊重，但我们不会通过在日常生活中鞠躬来表现重视。

所以孩子们会在中国新年期间向祖父母鞠躬，祝愿长辈健康快乐。

成年人向长辈道歉或感谢长辈的大恩时也要鞠躬。

这只是文化差异，没什么大不了的。

Joanne Z

Chinese people seldom show respect to the elders in surface form, but a lot of effort has been made to make older people feel respected, starting with the small everyday things.

中国人很少为了表示对老人的尊重做些表面功夫，但为了让老人感受到尊重，他们会在日常小事中付出很多努力。