Abstract: With the sustainable and rapid development of Chinese economy, more and more people pay attention to the issue of consumption. Consumption, as a means for humans to meet individual needs, is determined by the subjective element of consumers, so it has the brand of culture more or less. Culture is an important factor which influences the consumption in customers’ behaviors or concepts. The paper aims to compare Chinese and American consumption conceptions from five aspects: conservatism and adventurism, future consumption and excessive consumption, frugality and enjoyment, practicability and form, collectivity and individuality from the perspective of culture. It reveals that the influences of geographic elements, social development, values and traditional family education as well as entertainments play a very important role in the formation of Chinese and American consumption conceptions. The study in this paper will help people further realize the different consumption conceptions in different cultural background, treat their own culture and consumption conceptions correctly and rationally and establish a correct concept of consumption.
Key Words: Chinese-American culture; consumption conception; differences; reasons

摘要：随着中国经济持续、快速的发展，越来越多的人开始关注消费这一话题。消费，作为人类借以满足个体需要的手段，主要是由消费者个体主观因素决定，但多少都烙有文化的印记。文化是影响消费者行为和消费观的一个重要因素。本文从文化层面比较了中美两国人们在消费观上五个方面的差异：保守主义与冒险主义，未来消费与超前消费，节俭与享受，重实用与重形式，从众与个性。本文揭示了地理因素、社会发展、价值观和传统家庭教育以及娱乐因素的影响在中美消费观念的形成中起到了非常重要的作用，使人们进一步认识到不同文化背景下会产生不同的消费观念。我们应该正确、理性地看待本国文化与本国人们的消费观念，并能树立正确的消费观。
关键词：中美文化；消费观；差异；原因