Transformations of Wang Qiming’s Social Values in  A Native of Beijing in New York Abstract A Native of Beijing in New York, as one of the typical works reflecting the phenomenon of the immigration boom in the 1990s, vividly tells the story of a group of Beijingers struggling and surviving in New York when China was in a relatively open situation. This thesis analyzes social values in this TV series through Wang Qiming, who is the most important protagonist and has remarkable transformations of social values from the beginning when he came to America for the first time to the end when he still struggled in New York. Generally speaking, there are three stages of Wang’s social values, which can roughly reflect the whole process of the transformation of his social values. Focusing on the protagonist Wang Qiming, questions need to be explored is why Wang Qiming’s social values change. Moreover, this thesis further explores the primary causes of the transformations of social values and provides some suggestions in dealing with culture shock and culture conflict. 48007

Keywords: social values; A Native of Beijing in New York; culture shock

从“北京人在纽约”看王起明社会价值观的转变

摘  要《北京人在纽约》作为20世纪90年代移民热潮现象的典型作品，讲述了在中国处于相对开放的状态时一批北京人在纽约奋斗与挣扎的生存故事。本文通过电视剧里最重要的角色王起明来分析社会价值观。从初到美国到结束时继续在纽约挣扎，王起明的价值观有明显的转变，并且整个社会价值观转变的过程大致上可以分为三个阶段。对于主角王起明，需要探讨的问题是为什么王起明的社会价值观会转变。此外，本文进一步探讨了社会价值观转变的主要原因，并提供了应对文化冲突和文化冲击的一些建议。

毕业论文关键词：社会价值观； 北京人在纽约；文化冲突

 Contents

1. Introduction 1

1.1 The Background and Brief Introduction of A Native of Beijing in New York 1

1.2 Literature Review 1

1.2.1 The Perspective of Culture 2

1.2.2 The Perspective of Society 2

1.2.3 The Perspective of Characters 3

1.2.4 Summary 4

1.3 Significance of the Study 4

1.4 Outline of the Thesis 4

2. Research Method 6

2.1 Research Questions 6

2.2 Data Collection 6

2.3 Data Analysis 13

2.4 Summary 13

3. The Transformation of Wang Qiming’s Values 14

3.1 The Traditional Chinese Value: Wang’s Values at the Beginning of the TV Series 14

3.2 The Influence of American Value: Wang’s Values in the Middle of the TV Series 14

3.3 The American Value: Wang’s Values at the End of the TV Series 15

4. Conclusion 16

4.1 Review of Main Findings 16

4.2 Implications for Culture Shock 17

4.3 Limitations of the Study 18

4.4 Suggestions for Further Study 18

References