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Abstract This paper makes an analysis of the cultural difference between America and China — American individualism and Chinese collectivism from the perspective of prisoners of war and then discusses the importance to foster the spirit of individualism in today’s China when it encounters two setbacks in its reform and development. One of the two setbacks is weak ability to innovate in Science and technology and the other is slow process of rule by law. With openness and positive attitude of drawing on other civilizations’ strong points, China would avoid detours in its double social transformations from the type of farming to industry and from industry to information. 摘　要本文试从战俘的角度分析中美文化的不同 — 美国的个人主义与中国的集体主义，并结合现阶段中国改革发展中出现的科技创新能力弱和法治建设进程缓慢两问题，探讨发扬个人主义精神的重要性。笔者相信在中国进行从农耕社会向工业社会过渡，工业社会向信息社会过渡的双重社会转型过程中，只有以开放和学习的心态积极地借鉴其他文明的优点，中国的改革发展才能少走弯路。 Introduction On July 22, 2003, after nearly four months in a military hospital, American Private Jessica Lynch finally returned home. The small town of Elizabeth, West Virginia, celebrated her arrival with a display of local pride, pomp and pageantry. Another heroic story took place in China’s Hebei province sixty-two years before that on September 25, 1941 during the War of Resistance Against Japan (1937-1945). Five Chinese soldiers committed suicide by jumping off a cliff when they ran out of ammunition and all the reachable stones. They are the later Five Warriors on Langya Mountain who are remembered and respected by Chinese people till today. Those are two completely different ways of being heroes. But what are worth of being taken notice of are soldiers’ different attitudes towards surrender and people’s different attitudes towards prisoners of war (POW) from their own country. For an American soldier, it is natural and understandable to yield when he fights to the bitter end and has no bullet. But for a Chinese soldier, to lay down his arms and surrender seems more disgraced than to die, especially when the enemies are from other countries, such as Japan. And what are the ordinary Chinese people’s attitudes towards the prisoners of war from China? Ge Zhenlin, one of the five soldiers, who has luckily survived because of the branches in the cliff, was once asked by his fellow villager, “Did you really jump off from the cliff?” according to his son. That is to say, if Ge Zhenlin did not jump off from the cliff, he has no honor to be regarded as hero, even with the fact that he had fought to the bitter end. In China, if you were a POW, still alive, you would very probably face one question “Why didn’t you die in the battlefield?” It must be an unacceptable question in the western countries, but it is a fact in China. The reason behind such phenomenon is that the core of American values is individualism and that of Chinese is collectivism. So, when there is a conflict between collective glory and individual life, Americans choose individual life while Chinese choose collective glory. This article does not aim to argue for that the five soldiers should not jump off from the mountain or Chinese people should not expect such heroic action from them, but to make a relatively objective discussion on the cultural reason behind it and then make an analysis of the importance to foster the spirit of individualism when China encounters some difficulties in its present reform and development. I．Definitions and Explanations of Individualism and Collectivism There are many differences be