Revealing Eastern-Western cultural differences

Scientists have long wondered why the US and Europe have so different cultures from East Asian countries, such as Vietnam. Researchers eventually found the answer in a surprising field: residents' different methods of farming in the East and the West.

While Western people are known for their individuality and analytical way of thinking , Eastern people tend to prefer the type of interdependence and value collectively.

Hypotheses to explain this difference include the notion that wealth and education have embraced individualism in the West, while the high rate of infectious diseases in the East has caused residents. Here, watch out for people outside.

The way to grow rice (left) and wheat (right) is thought to be the cause of the difference in East-West culture.(Photo: Corbis)

However, according to a new study, the real reason may simply be the way people in the second half of the world grow different rice and wheat crops.

The researchers said that rice could not grow without abundant water supplies, forcing neighbors to cooperate to irrigate their crops. In addition, rice cultivation also requires many hours of labor, twice the time compared to the process from planting to harvesting wheat.

In contrast, wheat farmers can rely on rain and operate much more independently.

To test their hypothesis, the team assessed the level of collective and individuality in 1,000 people in different rice and wheat growing areas in China. The results published in the journal Science show obvious psychological differences, similar to differences between Eastern and Western people.

Expert Thomas Talhelm from the University of Virginia (USA), who led the study, stated: "It's easy to think that China is a unified culture. However, we found that China has The cultural divide between the north and the south clearly shows the history of rice cultivation in southern China can explain why the inhabitants of the south of this country are more interdependent than the wheat farmers. in the north".

Mr. Talhelm affirmed that the above discovery proves that the legacy of agricultural activities continues to affect people in the modern world.