IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card 663 with Model Answer

Describe a foreign culture that you like

: You should say

what culture it is
how you know about it
what differences there are between that culture and your own
and explain why you like that foreign culture

: Model Answer

My father is a businessman and he owns some of the reputed clothing stores in India. Recently I went to China with him to open a branch there. The traditional Lion Dance attracted me most in my short visit to China

Every nation has their respective cultures and traditions. Similarly, Chinese people also have their respective norms and rules, and they follow the rules strictly. In fact, China is enriched with cultures and rituals and the citizens of the country are busy round the year to celebrate those. Lion Dance is one of the traditional Chinese dance and a part of Chinese cultural traditions. The dances are mostly during different festivals. Most of the Chinese citizens are on the view that the dance helps to bring good luck for those who arrange it and eliminates the impacts of evil powers from those specific organisers. So, they also organise the dance during different events like opening a new business or company or starting any activities that need the backings from the luck. However, the dance is enjoyable all of the times regardless of its arrangement either for a business opening or marking any local festival

Before visiting China, I was not familiar with the culture. In fact, I had no idea about this. In my land, people usually break coconuts before doing something good. The events may vary of size and shape but the activity is always the same. A coconut will be broken by the owner or any important individual so that all the barriers go away or get broken by the coconut. But when I came to China with my father, I was surprised about the Lion Dance. I had seen such types of dances on television and thought that the dance was something to be performed during the festivals. But when the dance took place before our branch in China, I was amazed by the dance. The dancing moves were also attractive and the performers maintained the perfect balance of their moves which made it enjoyable. The performers of the dance have displayed a varied range of dances with the large lion mask on them and they did it cheerfully so that the dance could be effective in eliminating the evil powers

In India, typically some religious activities are done during the opening of any business or something new. Even when people make a new house for them, they follow some religious norms. Almost all of the people from different religions follow their respective norms directed from the religious leaders. Breaking a hard piece of coconut is one of the most popular norms when people start something new for them. If the coconut is not broken in a single strike, it is considered that the initiative will not be fruitful for them who have organised the event. So, they try to leave the project or the initiative. But in China, the rituals are a bit different. The Lion Dance is organised in a large scale and a team of participants perform here. They are hired to perform the dance perfectly so that there are no chances of evil forces to come back there again

I think the Lion Dance is powerful as it does not require breaking coconuts in single strikes which often becomes risky. The people in India firmly believe that the first time failure to break the coconut will invite negative forces but in China, there are no such issues. Due to the performance of the Lion Dance, there are no such scopes for the evils to penetrate in the project

I like the Lion Dance for some specific reasons. In India, the religious activities or breaking the coconut occurs in a small scale. Only a few people who are intimately related to the project are invited to the event. This is not an attractive event at all. But the Lion Dance is entirely opposite to my culture. It begins with the walking of the lion before the business, company or the project. The lion opens its eyes on the doors of the project where some traditional fruits and food crops are hanged. The dance is performed by some professional service providers and thus the chances for mistakes are less. Besides, a couple of lions are used in the dance and each of the lions contains two men to perform it. The performers imitate the moves of the lions and take different shapes with the mask that a real lion makes. The dresses and the masks used in the dance are colourful and the performances are really wonderful. So, I like this culture in China