Essay Outline Question #1

I.

INTRODUCTION
A. Background Information
1. General background information
2. More specific background information to lead into the thesis
B. Thesis: China and the United States cultural values are oceans apart, both
literally and figuratively, such had profound impacts on the countries relations
during the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries.
1. Topic
2. Outline key points

II.

BODY
A. Writing
1. In Chinese culture writing was key to communicating, not just with
other people, but more importantly with God.
a. In American culture writing was simply a way to communicate
with others that existed around you, especially important for
communication in the Western Frontier of the US. (Mail)
2. The Chinese sought answers from God, the only way they knew how
to achieve this was to write to him and ask him for help in order to
solve their problems.
a. Largely pictographic writing in China, compared to simple
characters and an easy to navigate alphabet in the US
b. Only the Elites could write in China, where anybody in the US
could write so long as they had a basic understanding of the
language
3. Writing in China evolved over time, not unlike that in US where
writing has maintained the same basic structure for over 200 years.
B. Subservience to those higher up in the social order in China was crucial to
understanding Chinese culture, deviance from this order was deemed
unacceptable.
1. In China, especially under Confucius thought, family order was
extremely important. In the US it was more a sign of respect and less
an actual imprinted ritual of the society, not nearly as important in
US as in China.
2. The major importance of the social fabric in China is evident during
the Opium Wars with Great Britain and other western countries
(including the US).
a. The opium epidemic tears down social order in China.
b. Younger brother now exercises power over older brother,
mother over elder son etc.
c. In the United States respect for elders was important, but not
nearly as important as in China.
3. Summarizing/Concluding/Transition sentence
C. The people of China had little say when it came to rulers, where as in the US
the people ruled by selecting a leader with whom they trusted.

1. In the United States the peoples approval meant everything, without

it a leader did not exist. In China the leader meant everything, and
without his approval the people did not exist.
a. The United States restricted a rulers power with several
branches of government, created a balance.
b. In China the ruler had the final say and all who opposed were
subject to violent punishment.
2. China and the United States differed greatly on the roles the citizens
of the country would play in the countrys government.
a. In the United States people always possessed the right and
ability to overthrow any government they deemed unworthy of
protecting their rights.
b. Such thought would have been laughed at in China, as the
people were frequently and violently crushed in every
undertaking they attempted until the 20th century.
c. In China there were periods of time where they were ruled by
outsiders.
d. The sole purpose of the creation of the United States was to
allow the people to exercise power themselves.
3. The United States and China both achieved superpower status
through very different types of rule.
D. Maybe even another Support Paragraph 4
1. Thesis statement
2. Supporting Ideas
a. Reason/Detail/Fact and transition
b. More information and transition
c. Maybe even more information
3. Summarizing/Concluding/Transition sentence
III.

CONCLUSION
A. Summarize/Review key points
B. Concluding thought