Adopting comparison and analysis, the paper makes an detailed introduction to Chinese three main ghost festivals and Halloween in the west and does an analysis of them from the time, origin and customs。 There are three ghost festivals in China, namely, Tomb-sweeping Day, Hungry Ghost Festival and Winter Clothing Festival。 Chinese ghost festival is mainly used to worship our ancestors, express thoughts of love for dead relatives and its form is very solemn and quiet。 For example, tomb-sweeping and worship must be in an attitude of respect。 Going to a temple to pray and kowtowing need to be very pious。 In the entire process, all of the ceremony was presided over by a family of your elders and people involved in it take it seriously。 All objects from the ghost festival service for worship。 So people are not used to playing jokes on the “ghost”, more not used to purposely making a mystery of simple things because God is respected but feared by them in China。 In their opinion, ghost and death is also a taboo。 Halloween is the main ghost festival in western countries。 Life and death is regarded as the law of nature in the western culture so death is not terrible。 Meanwhile ghost festival can be celebrated。 People will dress as a “ghost” and make practical jokes in order to increase the festival atmosphere。 Otherwise, people will make up ghost stories, decorate haunted houses and watch ghost films for fun。 Whether adults or children, people heartily go on a spree on Halloween day with shrieks and laughter echoing in the air。

    Then the paper does an deep comparison and analysis of cultural value orientations of Chinese and Western countries on the basis of Hofstede’s Value Dimensions。 Hofstede, a honorary professor of Maastricht University in Holland, proposed three value orientation theories, namely, Power distance, Uncertainty Avoidance and Inpidualism and Collectivism, which fully explain the differences between Chinese and western culture for people。 This paper is designed to help people better understand Chinese and Western ghost culture and cultural values, which can help people respect other cultures。 Only doing this can we seek agreement while reserving differences on different culture。 文献综述

II。 An Overview of Chinese Ghost Festivals

As the three main ghost festivals in China, Qingming Festival, Zhongyuan Festival and Hanyi Festival are all mainly used to worship our ancestors, express thoughts of love for the deceased and its form is very solemn though they are different in time, origin and customs。

2。1 Tomb-sweeping Day

    Tomb-sweeping Day, also known as Qingming Festival in English, is a traditional  Chinese festival during middle of spring and late spring。 In other words, it is on the 108th day after the winter solstice。 The festival is established by Chonger, Duke Wen of Jin, during the Spring and Autumn, and it was in memory of Jie Zitui, a retainer of Chonger, who had loyally followed Chonger during his years of exile。 Supposedly, he once even saves Chonger’s life by serving a piece of his own leg。 When Chonger succeeded in becoming the ruler of a small principality, he invited his faithful follower to join him。 However, Jie didn’t accept his invitation, preferring to lead a hermit’s life with his mother in the mountains。 Duke Wen went to the forest in 636 BC but could not find them。 He then ordered his men to set the forest on fire in order to force Jie out。 To his surprise, Jie chose to remain where he was and was burnt to death。 To commemorate Jie, Duke Wen of Jin ordered all fires on each and every family to be put out on the anniversary of Jie’s death。 Thus began the “cold food feast”, a day when no food could be cooked since no fire could be lit。 The “cold food” festival occurs on the eve of Qingming Festival and is often considered as part of the Qing Ming festival。 As time went by, the Qingming festival replaced the “cold food” festival (Wang 9)。