ORIGINAL DATE OF WRITING: Early May

I’d like to bring light to a huge issue currently present in China. Just to reiterate information from previous writings, with China’s present-day government, the people only get limited access to information, nationalist curricula in schools, and further propaganda from those citizens who grew up with the propaganda created after the founding of the PRC.

A part of the propaganda creates what would best be described as a “clash of cultures.” It is largely witnessed in China that the people are always thinking that the “West” hates China and Chinese people must stay “harmonious” and “love China” in order to stand up against the “West.”

The first thing I hate about this is how Chinese use the term “West.” It’s amazing how ignorant of a term it is to use. For example, a common term in China is “Western media.” Most Chinese hate the Western media and think that all are “anti-China” and none can be trusted.

Firstly, the West is very diverse. It would be an insult to the Dutch to be called the same as the Americans, and vice-versa. Simply look at the European continent; there are huge diversities between countries (this can actually be used as one way to show how governments can strongly influence people, but that is for another topic). The West has different languages, cultures, political beliefs, religious beliefs, cuisine, standards of living; the list can go on for pages.

Do those in the “West” ever refer to those in the “East” the same way the Chinese do? Definitely not. Of course, there are some statements in which “East” and “West” are acceptable and the phrase “East meets West” is quite common. But what most of the world realises is that the cultures and countries in the East are very diverse.

The Chinese are always saying all the Westerners are pretty much the same. They will say there is pretty much no difference between the Swedish media versus the American media. What if the Westerners said that all Easterners were pretty much the same. What if they said that the Chinese and Japanese are pretty much the same? If some foreign media were to do that, it would cause an outrage among many in China. Now, of course, if the media just reports someone saying such, as was the case with Paris Hilton, it won’t have such a negative effect. Yet, if the media in general tried to always make it seem that China and Japan were the same, then that would be a cause of anger and outrage in China. This is what the Chinese media does to the West though and it goes anger me quite a bit. If only most foreigners could read Chinese… what a shock they’ll be in for.

Secondly, what Chinese fail to realise is that media in many countries, including most Western ones can be very critical of its own government and country. The little criticism of China and the Communist Party in Chinese media needs to be approved by the Party and the Party is very calculated in what criticism it lets out. Generally the only criticism that it lets out actually helps improve its image in many ways. For example, it lets out criticism on corrupt local government officials, yet the media reports will portray the huge efforts the Central Government are currently taking to tackle corruption, leading to pride amongst the Chinese people.

Yet, with many foreign media, the government has very few controls, and therefore much domestic news can be negative. Actually, looking at foreign media, I really think that there is a disproportionate amount of positive news relating to China, when looking at the little amount of positive domestic news they report. What’s wrong with the foreign media? Is it scared to exercise the free speech it is so lucky to have because of a backlash in China?

The more balanced reporting of foreign media is one reason Chinese hate the “Western media.” China simply does not report bad news in the same manner most media outlets do (actually it reports quite a bit of negative news on foreign countries, yet why would the Chinese hate that?).

Secondly, there is a saying that is something similar to, “a happy customer tells one person about a satisfied product purchase, while an unhappy customer will tell ten people about his or her dissatisfaction.” Anyone who studied marketing or business will know about this. This is especially the case in China (both in a political sense and a consumer sense, as word of mouth is a popular in China).

As an example, we could grab the 10 most recent BBC News reports related to China. Let’s say eight out of ten are generally positive (talking about economic growth, China becoming the second largest economy, a story on migrant workers now making more money at home due to government initiatives, a story on the success of China’s first business owners, etc.). The “negative” articles generally deal with China’s pollution problems or arrests of political activists such as Liu Xiaobo.

Let’s say a Chinese individual reads these ten articles. It’s highly unlikely that he would mention any of the positive ones to anyone. Yet, if a “negative” one angers him or her, then the individual is likely to express his anger to other Chinese.

In China, very few read foreign media actually, even those with excellent English skills. Therefore they won’t access sites such as BBC and CNN (which are actually accessible in China for reasons I explained in my Google post). The main way of seeing foreign media for Chinese individuals is if it is reposted on BBS, such as Sina or MOP. Yet, when foreign media is posted on these BBS, it is almost always because anger is being expressed at “Westerners” who “hate China.” Therefore the little foreign media which Chinese do see is just a small selection of those which are critical of China. Actually, in many cases, the articles aren’t even critical of China, but simply reporting on some event which shows a negative side of China. I must really warn my country citizens that failure to accept criticism and to criticise what you love (your country) will only make it worse. If you don’t want to criticise China, how do you expect it to improve? (Just to clarify, I realise that some types of criticism can get you arrested here, but what I’m talking about is that you have to stop blindly criticising those who criticise China and maybe take a good look at what they are saying and don’t just jump to conclusions that someone “hates China” just because they are reporting something bad about China. You can be arrested by the evil government which I work for some sorts of criticisms, but you can’t be arrested for not criticising those who criticise China).

With this example of foreign media, I am just trying to help my readers understand where the “culture clash” comes in. So, most Chinese think that they should retain their culture and avoid too much foreign influence. Well, this is generally an alright argument in such debates. Yet, in China’s case…

Let’s start with something which I love most about China. China arguably has had the richest history and past culture than any other country. While I won’t bore you with a history lesson, it is just unbelievable how rich and cultural the history of China is. Anyone reading about all of the dynasties and achievements of China is the past is bound to be captivated by our history. China’s historical influences can be traced to countries all over the globe. After all, we did provide the world with a number of great inventions, such as the compass, printing, paper, and gunpowder. These are generally called the “Four Great Inventions of China.” Yet, along with many scholars, I think that too much emphasis is put on these four inventions, as China provided the world with many more significant inventions. For example, while we largely use chopsticks to eat, the first known fork in the world was from China. We also invented toilet paper, which everyone can appreciate.

So with all of China’s great history (generally when Chinese speak about history they state that China has around 5,000 years of rich history), it can be understandable that some traditionalists may believe in some “clash of cultures.”

Yet, here’s the interesting thing, it’s not the older generations who are always talking about some “clash of cultures” and how China has to oppose the “China-hating West.” It’s the young ones which are always going on nationalistic fervours, denouncing those not from the Mainland who dare criticise China.

It’s crazy, can’t those Chinese who always use the “5,000 year history” defence, see that modern-day mainland China already threw away most of its culture and history? And I don’t view buying imported cars or bags as throwing away history either. People who use “China’s great history” in stating a “clash of cultures” are only hurting themselves with their poor knowledge and debating skills.

There are too many examples to provide about China throwing away its history to put many of them in this writing. Yet, I’ll provide a few:

Firstly, while most Mainland Chinese will not realise just how large the extent was, the Cultural Revolution pretty much just threw away most of China’s history. Currently in China, much of the Cultural Revolution is viewed as one of the very few mistakes Mao Zedong made. Yet, despite this official “mistake” statement, most Chinese just cannot realise how large of a mistake the cultural revolution was. The Revolution was launched in 1966, so many Chinese born after the Revolution will be unaware of the devastating effects it had on the country. In addition, many young adults, teenagers, and children fell victim to the propaganda machine and really didn’t quite grasp how horrible that period of time was.

I have friends who were in their youth during the Cultural Revolution. They were from intellectual families, who were sent to the countryside to become farmers during the Revolution. My friends stayed in the cities away from their parents, forced to the countryside, to attend school (which were actually just brainwashing machines). Their lives were torn apart due to the Revolution, yet they still support Chairman Mao to this day and don’t seem to harbour any bad feelings about the Revolution.

I am unable to speak my political thoughts to these friends of mine. Yet, when speaking to their parents, I am able to exercise my free speech. The older generations have seen a lot more. While times were not good in China before the founding of the PRC, they at least could see what the Communist Party was doing and avoid falling victim to the propaganda machine. In this world, it is generally the younger generations who move a country forward in the right direction, while the older generations are more conservative or cautious. In China this is not the case. Much of the older generation is much more educated, knowledgeable, and less hateful towards outsiders than the younger generations, which have been plagued by propaganda. Yet, this phenomenon is for another entry. I am simply trying to show that despite lives and families being torn apart, many Chinese just fail to realise the evils of the Cultural Revolution.

With the Cultural Revolution came the destruction of pretty much everything Chinese. Beautiful cultural sites were torn apart, writings and philosophy were burnt, culture related to ethnic minorities were destroyed (such as thousands of monastaries). The Party wanted to pretty much rid China of everything and start anew, with everyone following the thought of the party. The new China was only supposed to have Mao as its culture and lifestyle.

Even the Chinese language was ruined in the Revolution. The Chinese writing was changed to simplified-Chinese, which is still used today in the Mainland. Traditional Chinese was pretty much banned and books in traditional Chinese were burnt. The book burnings of language, culture, and philosophy always trigger my mind to a relation to what happened in Nazi Germany.

It may be hard for many to understand, but Chinese writing is absolutely beautiful. The characters have meaning and lots of history. When the Party changed the writings for political reasons to simplified Chinese, that history and meaning was thrown away.

Sure, simplified Chinese is easier to write, but that is not the reason it was introduced as many mainland Chinese may think. I grew up with simplified Chinese, yet after really taking time to study some traditional Chinese, I simply cannot stand simplified Chinese. The meaning of many characters have been erased, just as the history of China was erased in the Mainland by the government. I just have to thank Hong Kong and Taiwan for keeping traditional Chinese alive and not trying to erase history.

Since much of history in the mainland has been erased, what is modern-day Chinese culture? Well, that’s open to interpretation, but I’ll provide a few major points of what China is like today:

Sometimes I like to joke that the Chinese people are the most capitalistic people on Earth. Of course our economic system is still not super capitalistic, yet the minds of the Chinese people seem to be filled with red 100 RMB notes.

The rapid economic growth of China has just thrust the Chinese people into a more enjoyable lifestyle and standard of living. Yet, it seems that with China’s newfound wealth, enlightenment hasn’t followed. What has followed is unrestrained greed. Mass corruption has followed and people are doing whatever it takes to get that new car, flat screen TV, and other luxuries. The evils that have come along with our new wealth are apparent in nearly every aspect of our society.

Take the tainted baby milk formula incident for example. It is sickening to see that people will put babies at harm just for a little savings in cost. So, you kill babies for a few thousand dollars. What is wrong with my country’s people today? It is sickening that China has come to this today. Actually, I can’t even blame my government for all of this. It’s really more the fault of the people than the government in this case. Of course, the government is also largely at fault. For example, in trying to save its reputation in such a large scandal, the government largely said it would toughen up measures to prevent such. Yet, instead of having some third-party oversight team to evaluate the milk powder, the government had the company itself oversee the production and quality control. Pretty much, instead of having a government watchdog, the government made the company its own watchdog. This is perhaps the stupidest thing I have ever heard in the past decade. I don’t even need to further explain the ridiculousness of such.

Yet, the tainted milk is just one case out of countless that we do not know about. Recently there has been a scandal about restaurants buying used cooking oil which has been fished out of the sewer systems (easy to do, as oil is lighter than water and floats). Media reports in China have stated that around 1 in 10 meals you buy outside will have this sewage oil (and of course, there is always the possibility that the numbers could be much higher). This scandal actually occurred around a year ago and the government didn’t really act on it, and it has just resurfaced again recently.

Now let’s talk about the Chinese people. Wealth does not bring knowledge, education, or class in most cases. Many in China got wealthy by corrupt means (which is why many Chinese hate the wealthy, which is also somewhat of a problem in itself).

Much of the world learnt about some etiquette problems which Chinese have during the Beijing Olympics. The Chinese government actually had to publish guidelines to the Chinese people, such as not to spit, push in queues, litter, etc (of course those in the government also have the same etiquette problems. Walk into a police station and it isn’t uncommon to see the police smoking in the non-smoking police station). Not to be mean, but sometimes Mainland Chinese people are like savages. They’ll trample other Chinese just to get a seat on a bus. Wealth hasn’t changed that. Go to an upscale shopping centre. You have millionaires who spit onto the marble floors before walking into the LV store. Walk onto the street, and people are littering, always using foul language, drivers are overly aggressive to pedestrians, etc.

When the Chinese leave the streets, they go home, perhaps watch some propaganda on TV, and practise the horrible internet culture I wrote about in the entry relating to Google. There is just no class, concern for others or the environment, or etiquette whatsoever in modern day China.

Let’s discuss some family life now. Traditionally, family life has been strong in China. Elders are to be respected and children should take care of their parents when they reach old age. To some extent, this life is still present. Grandparents are still pretty respected. Children generally move out of their homes at a later age than those in many countries (yet, this may largely be due to the hugely over-inflated housing market in China). Yet, I must say, there is a lack of activity amongst families.

Many parents in China simply do not have good parenting skills. It seems as if parents yell at and hit their children for everything. It’s very common to see mothers screaming at and slapping their young children on the streets, stores, or other public places. Most of the times, the children have done nothing, except to accidentally trip or drop some candy. Mainland parents on holiday in Hong Kong or Singapore always attract attention to themselves to the disgust of the locals by abusing their children.

Then when the children grow older, school seems to take over their lives. I guess it is a good thing in one way. Many Chinese students study quite hard. There is a culture of doing well at school in China. This is especially true in today’s China, with so much more money and growth. Parents want their children to do well in school in order to have a good future and lots of money. Yet, the school system in China is absolutely horrid. It’s full of propaganda and doesn’t encourage independent thinking. In addition, it doesn’t make the students adept in communicating well with others. The Chinese school system largely just focuses on increasing nationalism and rote memorisation. It doesn’t push for innovation or problem solving. Therefore, I really feel that students are really just torturing themselves for no good reason by studying so hard. The pressure is immense on the students and the stress has actually lead many students to commit suicide. In addition, it takes students away from their families, as much time is spent on studying.

Now, let’s move forward to after education. Marriage is a highly discussed topic in China. There is strong cultural pressure on people to marry, especially women. Parents are always introducing their daughters to potential husbands. The problem is, in modern-day China, in many cases, marriage isn’t done out of love. It’s usually done for financial reasons. Many parents usually won’t let their daughters marry a man if he doesn’t have a car, apartment, and decent salary. That’s ridiculous. Firstly, many in China cannot afford to buy an apartment, and therefore must rent. Secondly, it’s love that counts, not money. I really wish Chinese people would stop thinking with 90% of their brains filled with thoughts about money. My parents and grandparents all married out of love and not financial reasons. I am lucky in that they have always allowed me to be with who I want and have never pressured me in such matters. The current generation of Chinese really have to put their priorities straight.

And talking about love and marriage, let’s talk about Chinese in extramarital relationships. Many outside of China will generally think of Chinese as very sexually conservative. In some ways, yes, we are. Yet, it is absolutely surprising how many Chinese have sexual relationships for money. I always joke around saying that China could drastically increase its GDP if it included all of the sex-for-profit that goes on in China.

First thing many foreigners may realise about China, is that it is filled with prostitutes, despite being illegal in China. I moved into a new apartment around two years ago in a pretty well-off district of a major Chinese city. Over the past two years I have collected hundreds of advertisements for sexual services that have been slid under my door. I generally get two to three a week. Actually this would generally be fine. If someone wants to go to a prostitute, it’s their own choice and government should not interfere in such. Yet, the problem in China is that prostitution is illegal and most girls are trafficked and slaves. If you use prostitution services which are not regulated strongly by the government, you are almost always likely to be committing an act of rape, as the prostitute will most likely be forced against her will. The way my government and society treats and views these women who are actually slaves is absolutely disgusting.

Now we move onto something quite interesting. It’s the high occurrence of mistresses in China. Many wealthy men and government officials in China have these “second wives.” Many have third or fourth wives as well. These girls are not forced against their wills. Actually, this is so common in China. Many guys have placed advertisements in public places for a mistress, asking for a CV to be sent to them. They generally receive quite a few CVs. A mistress is actually quite a desirable job in China. For pay even as low as 10,000 RMB a month, many would be willing to be a mistress. Again, I am fine with this practise. It’s really all about free choice. Now, of course, I do not advocate cheating on your significant other, but I do not believe government should interfere in these private matters. I am just showing this example to show that China really is money crazy now.

To sum it up, my take on modern Chinese culture is this: desire for money, not caring for others, having poor manners and etiquette, having poor family ties, and stressing yourself for a semi-decent future which could be easily attainable in most other countries, but not in China largely due to the government. In modern Chinese culture, I hardly see any of the traditional Chinese values (from the 5,000 years of history) which Chinese people always take so much pride in. We don’t even write proper Chinese anymore.

Let me discuss a recent event which I find absolutely silly. Recently the Chinese government required television stations to stop using English abbreviations (such as MP3, CPI, WTO, NBA, etc.) in broadcasts. The full Chinese name must be used. Most Chinese people disagreed with the government’s decision. They said that the Chinese names were too long and many Chinese are not familiar with the Chinese names, especially for terms relating to technology. In addition, a few of the highly educated opponents argued that China already does enough damage by changing all foreign names to Chinese (For example, in a football match broadcast in the UK, the commentators will say a French player’s name in French, albeit with an accent. Yet, in China, all the foreign names will be changed to a Chinese equivalent).

Those in favour of the government’s decision had a few reasons. First were the nationalistic reasons about how Chinese must be preserved (which is extremely stupid to say considering that you already use a ruined form of written Chinese). Then there were the more reasonable people. For example, many older Chinese or less educated Chinese won’t know what GDP or CPI means.

In the end, I concluded that the abbreviations should still be used, yet with the full Chinese name in brackets within the subtitles (mostly all television broadcasts in China include subtitles as there are many spoken dialects and languages within China). After all, even in Hong Kong the Chinese broadcasts don’t use terms such as “GDP” or “CPI,” even though almost everyone in Hong Kong know what these terms mean.

This leads me to Hong Kong and Taiwan, particularly Hong Kong. To me, Hong Kong is one of the most special places on Earth. There is simply no place like it. There is no mindset of a “clash of cultures” in Hong Kong as there is in the mainland. Hong Kong is actually very international in many ways. It is a food heaven, with foods from all over the world. There are imported products from all over the world. In addition, a lack of propaganda doesn’t lead to such silly thoughts which are held in the mainland. Pretty much, Hong Kong has a British influence mixed with traditional Chinese culture. It’s a beautiful mix and is one of the reasons Hong Kong is so successful. One thing that Mainland Chinese have to realise is that Hong Kong actually practises more Chinese culture than the Mainland does, yet it also practises somewhat of a “Western” culture. On the other hand, the Mainland hardly practises Chinese culture, yet a culture of greed, hate, and ignorance.

Taiwan is also beautiful for Chinese culture. Neither Hong Kong or Taiwan had their histories and cultures erased by the government. Go to Taiwan and you’ll see just how much traditional culture exists in a nice mix with modern culture. There are plenty of temples in Taiwan from ancient Chinese beliefs. In addition, these temples are free of charge. Donations are accepted, yet it is up to the individual. If an individual respects such culture and feels that he or she wants to help out in maintaining it, then that is what is really important.

In the Mainland, most temples require a charge to enter. That is not culture. That is greed. People should not have to pay to view history and culture. Such should be a basic right. Everyone should have equal access to knowledge and history. It’s absolutely disgusting for the Mainland to charge for such. The donation system should work in the Mainland as well and should definitely be used opposed to an entrance fee.

I’ll leave further impressions of Taiwan and Hong Kong in other entries. Yet, I am one of the very few who have been lucky enough to see what these places can teach China (I had to use a faked passport to travel to these places, which some may say is wrong to do, but I really had to learn the truth about these places, rather than the propaganda the Central government wants Mainland Chinese to believe).

In conclusion, this “clash of cultures” is just absolutely ridiculous. I do realise that it is not completely the fault of the Chinese people, but it really isn’t completely the fault of the government. Chinese people realise that their media is restricted by the government, but never really question why. In addition, they denounce foreign media. There is so little free thinking in this country, it pains me. I realise that the economic growth has made people quite content with the government and feel huge amounts of national pride, but please try to not always build up these ridiculous nationalistic fervours.

I’m worried because China is very likely to become a superpower in the near future. If the Chinese people always have false beliefs and thinks the entire world is against them and their recent development, the outcome could be very frightening. I really wish that my country was not filled with so much hate. History has showed us what nationalism has caused, and I really do not want to see my country cause such problems.

Have you never thought that maybe all of this anti-Western sentiment is just built up by our government to increase support of the government? How is it that Hong Kong and Taiwan can exist so well with both Chinese culture and foreign cultures without hatred? Have you never thought about that? Saying that Chinese culture is being ruined by the “West” is just pure stupidity. We Mainland Chinese have already thrown away our beautiful culture in our blind support for the government and “love for China.” What is there to love now; the greed, savage manners, inequality, unaffordable housing, students toiling away their lives learning fake propaganda? If you really love your country, you would have the decency to accept criticism and criticise it yourself. Otherwise, how will you improve it if you are so content with the way it is now?