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| Can Westerners Understand China?- The Basics |
By:
chinamaze.com |
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Chinamaze.com can offer the following very brief ideas authored by an expatriate English person in China:
"Can you sum up what China is all about?" - When asked this, of course I have to say no, but the following ideas include some of the things I have begun to realise from living in China a few years.
Everything in Chinese culture is a reversed, flipped, inside-out, scrambled, encrypted version of what we think we know. Modern China is a mass of contradictions and mysteries that would take a hundred lifetimes to figure out... that is, if it stopped changing every second.
The most important things to know about China (everything in China should come in 8s):
1. Chinese people think China is the origin, centre, and pinnacle of world civilisation, and who is anyone to argue...? (Tip: Don't try to argue.)
2. As a result of (1) Chinese people are not that interested in any other cultures, although they would like other nations to respect them.
3. China is not a communist country and never was in the way we think of it from e.g. Soviet Russia.
4. Food in China is nothing remotely like the "Chinese food" we get in the West.
5. Chinese personal relations are all about relative position and giving and losing 'face', which is a highly complex thing to even be able to recognise as it is happening, let alone understand or master.
6. Chinese people are the unquestionably the smartest in the world when it comes to money.
7. In many other fields, it is mind boggling how un-smart Chinese people can be. But this can often be seen as a different logic rather than lack of brain power.
8. (disclaimer: subjective generalisation coming up)
For a Chinese man, here is the official order of priority / loyalty in their life:
1st - Child
2nd - Parents
3rd - Self
4th - Wife
For a woman:
1st - Husband
2nd - Child
3rd - Husband's Parents
4th - Own Parents
5th - Husband's family and other relations
6th - Own extended family
...nth - Self
My overall experience in China is learning not to judge anything here by any preconceived western standards. Things westerners think are "normal", "true", "obvious", "common sense", "logical", "fair", "ethical", "sensible", "honest", "meaningful", and just about any other value word you can think of... are worthless for assessing or understanding China.
If you are interested in reading about China, here are the best books I've read and recommend for getting inside the Chinese experience (and these aren't the books that a Chinese person would know or recommend by the way):
- Beijing & Shanghai: China's Hottest Cities, Second Edition (Odyssey Illustrated Guides)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9622177646/sr=8-2/qid=1155655897/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-2139619-5096902?ie=UTF8
It's a city travel guide but full of rich experience and wise observations about modern China and how it got there.
- The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400030803/sr=1-1/qid=1155656109/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-2139619-5096902?ie=UTF8&s=books
A book by a radio presenter which isn't the feminist angle you'd expect.
- Mr. China: A Memoir
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060761393/sr=1-2/qid=1155656280/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-2139619-5096902?ie=UTF8&s=books
A cautionary true story about how western business thinking doesn't work in China.
- China, Inc.: How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743257529/sr=1-1/qid=1155656346/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-2139619-5096902?ie=UTF8&s=books
About the economy and politics of China but not a dry book - essential reading to understand the current state of affairs in China, even for people who aren't normally into global things.
- Life and Death in Shanghai http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/014010870X/sr=1-1/qid=1155656455/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-2139619-5096902?ie=UTF8&s=books
An autobiographical account of one woman's experience of persecution in the Cultural Revolution and an essential insight into that period of history which formed modern China but is still partly unmentionable in China.
Some photos of the modern growth city of Shenzhen in China can be found here:
http://photo.shenzhenweb.com/v/szcityviews/
For more understanding about China, start browsing the recommended sites at http://directory.chinamaze.com ! |
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