The concept of “happiness” in Russian and Chinese linguistic cultures in the era of globalization

The article presents a comparative study of the Russian and Chinese traditional concepts of “happiness” from a linguistic-cultural point of view. The author analyzes similarities and differences of the concept “happiness” in Russian and Chinese linguistic cultures by examining the etymology of the word “happiness” and its use in proverbs and sayings, as well as interprets the reasons for these differences. On the basis of sociological surveys the author investigates current ideas of happiness of Russian and Chinese youth in the context of globalization and analyzes the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on the perception of the concept “happiness” by young people of the two countries. The article concludes that the views of the happiness among young people in China and Russia are somewhat similar, but at the same time have individual characteristics. The concept “happiness” for Chinese youth is mainly focused on the personal and family aspects and is more susceptible to external evaluations. Some young people show a strong attraction to material goods in their pursuit of happiness, while Russian youth see happiness as their own unique experience, attaching great importance to inner harmony, self-actualization, and self-esteem. The article notes that most young people in the two countries believe that the coronavirus epidemic has had an impact on their perception of happiness, with more emphasis on such factors as “health”, “family”, and “peacefulness”; under the influence of globalization and the coronavirus epidemic, Russian and Chinese youth have developed a complex perception of happiness, characterized by both the priority of spiritual values and passive consumer utilitarianism, which has given rise to a variety of models for young people in China and Russia to achieve happiness.