One-Eyed Fat Man said:

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Thanks. Glad someone was astute enough to get the point. And for those who made a a political issue out of this when that was not my intention, get off your damn high horse. Look to family detention, separated families and caged children for a dose of our humanity. Flame away.

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I understand and have been trying to respect the rules of this board, and I do think some of the reaction to your original post was a bit harsh.


But you may want to delete this comment. Or maybe get a book on China. Or both.

"why no panic buying and hoarding here in China? What is different?"

No concept of hording in China. No opportunity to hoard in China...Even if you defeat the welds.

Just realized the girl your quoting is Australian. Ooo boy do we have a conflict of interest here. China has Australia by the short hairs now and for the foreseeable future. You ain't gonna see any Australian bashing China.



Once again, everyone should be happy that they are American, where the bill of rights stands alone on the world stage. And our geopolitical position allows us to call out evil we see in this world. We're not perfect by any means but name a country that is ambitious enough to desire America's position that would do a better job. Russia? China? No thanks.

As a side note, watch how silent Germany is on Russian aggression. Spoiler, its because 40% of their energy needs come from Russia and they are about to get even more dependent on them.

I'm really confused - we'll call out human rights violations in other countries, but not our own?

I know China has terrible policies regarding human rights. I've spent time in DR Congo, Peru, Vietnam and now Zambia. And yes, on a personal level, people are very much the same. They want to live in peace, they want to have a place to live, food to eat, education for their children and they care for their neighbors.

I've got a lot of friends on this board but that doesn't mean I'm not capable of critical thinking and doing my best to follow Christ.

1agswitchin4lanes said:

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DisAg said:

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I have friends who have done time in China for one reason or another. "looking after one another" is not something they have ever used to describe the culture there.

If someone is doing you a favor, you are now "in debt" to them. Everything done for one another is done for a price, and it is expected that you will do what you can to repay the debt.

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THIS.

I was transferred there for four years and change.

Folks that you have a relationship with, will bend over backwards to help you, but you never know if its because their intentions are genuine or if there was another motive. Most of the expats stuck together and did look out for one another. I rarely socialized with local folks outside of co-workers that I made friends with.

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I'm going to take the bait on this. I don't know why I feel I need to, but for some reason I do.

It's a lot deeper and complex than your conclusion, but I can totally understand how you believe that. The core problem is Confucianism. It teaches subservience. Westerners think Confucianism is parent-child, but it's more than that. It's subservience to authority, and not to question authority. This is why in the thousands of years of Chinese history, they've had 40 years of democracy.

When you put a person in power, it breeds narcissism. You do that generations over generations, and it becomes ingrained. If you read stories about children abused by narcissists, you're going to find a lot of overlap from Asian kids who cut contact with their parents, or who have strained relationships. Westerners frown upon narcissism, but Asians don't. The result is that you have family units who are tight-knit, but the bond is based on narcissism and a feeling of superiority over others. The care for family is genuine, but the care for others is superficial.

I didn't say that. But we aren't blameless either. Again, it was never my intention for this post to be political but some turned it into that. I was just trying to share a perspective from someone in another country who's experienced what we're going through. And yes, I think it's stupid as **** to fight over a roll of toilet paper.

Thanks for the kind words regarding our work. We are at the Lusaka airport and will depart in an hour. Our connection is in Jburg and we're not sure what we'll run into there - things seem to be changing by the minute.

Regardless of our differences of opinion regarding my post, you guys and your families are un my prayers. Please pray for our friends in Zambia.

Update - I was just told our flight out of Lusaka is the last SAA international flight until May 20.

Quote:

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I'm going to take the bait on this. I don't know why I feel I need to, but for some reason I do.

It's a lot deeper and complex than your conclusion, but I can totally understand how you believe that. The core problem is Confucianism. It teaches subservience. Westerners think Confucianism is parent-child, but it's more than that. It's subservience to authority, and not to question authority. This is why in the thousands of years of Chinese history, they've had 40 years of democracy.

When you put a person in power, it breeds narcissism. You do that generations over generations, and it becomes ingrained. If you read stories about children abused by narcissists, you're going to find a lot of overlap from Asian kids who cut contact with their parents, or who have strained relationships. Westerners frown upon narcissism, but Asians don't. The result is that you have family units who are tight-knit, but the bond is based on narcissism and a feeling of superiority over others. The care for family is genuine, but the care for others is superficial.

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Thanks for the reply. No baiting or trolling intended. Just my brief (probably very shallow) 2 cents and observation of living there for a few years. I could write a book on the things that I saw and observed and learned over there, but I my intent was to just echo the previous reply. I apologize if it came off that way. The middle kingdom is a very complex and deep knit culture that I barely understood when I went there and after a few years, I still have barely scratched the surface before I had enough and had to tap out.

I'm also of Chinese descent but was born and raised in the USA, and my parents were what I considered a decent mix of Chinese culture and also letting western culture into part of our lives. You're correct that there is a strong sense tight knit-ness, part of it is 'filial piety', but I think the narcissism (in a family setting) varies. I have a few friends that, like you mentioned, have cut ties with their parents, or have 'strained' relationships with them, and feel awkward etc around them.

I agree with the narcissism statement in the workplace. I observed (while over there) many people being promoted up the chain of command, not because they were capable, but because they were loyal. Often times, I'd ask why they were given the position, or what qualifications they had, only to be returned with a "they're loyal to the company" ,or "its their turn" or blank stares. The big problem with that, especially in a state owned enterprise, is that your subordinates are afraid to question this persons skill (or lack there of) so this person that has risen into power doesnt know wth to do, other than sit in the 'position' of (insert title), and then his subordinates end up seeing and feeling "well, when I become (insert title) I can sit around and drink tea, surf the web and play on my phone all day...." and so on, so forth.

> No baiting or trolling intended.

Ah, sorry if it sounded like I was accusing you of that. It was a poor intro I chose. I just have very strong opinions about this, and didn't really want to delve into it late at night.

It sounds like you're pretty familiar with the issues faced. I'm technically FOB and experienced all the crap with parenting. I've had way, way, too many conversations with people that have or are experiencing the same things. The cycle keeps continuing, but I'm hopeful awareness will start cracking it soon.

Cheers pal! Keep safe!

I work in international trade finance and have been to China multiple times. Moreover I grew up mostly overseas and have a great affinity for different cultures. There are great people in China, individually. Having said that, as a group and as a country they are rude, backward, unsophisticated people with terrible / disgusting sanitation, hygiene and dietary habits compared to the U.S. Europe and most of the Americas, to go along with really poor social skills and manners.

Aggie-Clausewitz said:

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Spare me this asinine propaganda.

The Chinese will leverage the Wuhan virus to take care of the Uighurs in Xinjiang province. They will use this crisis to increase surveillance of their own population while simultaneously using it to press their claims in the South China Sea.

They've been lucky that we've been too preoccupied with killing terrorists for the last twenty years. However, we're changing that now.

They haven't fought a war since the Vietnamese bloodied their nose in 78.

I look forward to the competition. Bring it.

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Wow, very interesting post.

Watch the documentary One Child Nation

No one would question the morality of China at that point...they have none