Kultur 4, Yuntao Chen

In this week's Kultur readings, I read about the transportation systems and serval other aspects of culture in Germany. I found these articles very interesting.

The first few articles are about the bicycle culture in Germany. I could imagine that since many German cities and towns were built several hundred years ago, the streets can be narrow and probably were not designed for cars. In such situations, walking or taking a bicycle are surely the more logical solutions. By the same argument,  cycling can also more easily get one around the traffic jams in big cities. That is why in a lot of cities and countries where the population densities are high, bicycles or mopeds are usually very popular. Since the US is vast and most cities tend to spread out, it is also understandable that people here prefer cars over bikes.

Another article talks about abiding the street-crossing lights in Germany. I am very interested at this topic, because I always debate with myself when I am waiting in front of one of such lights while there is no traffic passing by. From an utilitarian point of view, one should cross it to avoid wasting time waiting and maximize the total efficiency. On the other hand, from a strict legal point of view, man should not cross the street at red light, with or without crossing traffic. And you can see the difference between the culture of countries from the behaviors of their people in such situations. I observed that Americans and Chinese are more likely to take the utilitarian approach, while from the article, the Germans would unsurprisingly take the latter one.

The articles talking about nudity in Germany are also new to me. I think the fact that many Germans won't feel unease when they show their bodies in public may have something to do with the culture of being blunt. Being proud of out-right honesty and straight-forwardness is one thing that I have come to know about Germans through this class.