Chinese people don’t understand their own situation because (1) they’re not self-critical, (2) their point of view isn’t based on research, or discussion, or observations, and (3) they don’t have access to the relevant information or independent media.

1. China is not an analytical society. Chinese people are not curious about why phenomena exist. In Western society, people's basic attitude towards problems is “something has to change”. In China it’s either “there are too many people”, “you think too much”, or [blankface]. Chinese people’s willful ignorance and apathy regarding their own society is quite astounding.

2. Chinese people don’t consider the things they see every time they go outside to be “the truth”. The truth comes from slogans. China has a long history. Chinese people are very polite. Foreigners are curious about Chinese culture. Chinese food is very delicious. Western food is KFC. China is a peaceful country. China is becoming more democratic.

Discussing or researching these facts is utterly unnecessary. If something a foreigner observes doesn’t match the relevant slogan, clearly the foreigner “doesn’t understand China”.

I suppose the discrepancies between Chinese points of view and reality could be addressed by changing the slogans (e.g. “China has 2,500 years of history, most of it fabricated”). Slogans are a pretty retarded alternative to learning things though.

3. Aside from Chinese people’s unwillingness to engage in self-analysis, they are also prevented, by media restrictions and censorship of information, from grasping their own situation.

Almost all other countries (other than Eritrea and North Korea) allow people to watch independent media reports on TV. The result is that even flag-waving patriots have a basic understanding that disputes are two-sided. Chinese people do not.

In Western countries we have access to historical information (from books, the internet, TV, and the education system), not just patriotic stories. Most people grasp that terrible events in their country’s history (genocide of native people, black slavery, segregation, etc.) have socio-political implications. Chinese people do not.

Instead of understanding the historical and political context of their present situation, Chinese people are taught to recite vague excuses like “too many people” or “economic development”.

If Chinese people understood their own situation, they would start addressing the problems. Chinese people’s indifference to squalor, suffering, chaos and systemic dysfunction is the result of steadfast ignorance.

I have not even read the whole response, but I agree. My 48 year old wife is very, very smart. she finished middle school. she knows things. her family agrees, she is very very smart.. ... she sees me do things and questions the, how I do it. it is not the Chinese way!!! she knows, she is right.

It has been a couple years and she is starting to realize that maybe this guy she married is not as useless (in China) as she may have suspected early on.

an oven is a good thing

I can fix whatever is broken

clothes last longer if you don't wash them every day in a machine

woks have limited usefulness

just a limited few of lifestyle discrepancies we have/had. I am not a trained teacher, but I am a patient guy. I know she is "smart", just give her time to realize that some of them things she knows are truths, well, maybe there is another, better, way.

long term programming and I am re-programming my wife and she is doing well.

I am sure there are things that I have changed to a more Chinese way too ... can't think of any, but there must be.

who the hell else bakes bread in a mini oven???  I think I know. 

her dream was and is to go to Canada/overseas because she is so smart....instead I came here and while I am happy, she is struggling with learning new stuff, while still thinking the "old" stuff works fine.

Samsara more than nailed it. Foreigners don't have an insecurity complex with their national/ethnical identity the size of the Chinese one. Coping by denial... Rationality coming second after comforting oneself. The nation of the billion Ah Q, maintained in that state by a jealous, callous power bent on enforcing it's own reality over nature, like an Ah Q emperor would do it.

I met quite a few Chinese understanding all that, at least partially, but they won't say this openly... And they feel powerless about it. To not a alienate their friends and colleagues, they will show all the suitable appearances, even if deep inside, "they know".

Chinese people have a very different mentality on how they go about their issues. Most foreigners also do come to china ignorant about the culture of chinese people hence do that understand them when they take certain actions in resolving issues at face them.

I would never claim to understand Chinese people, but I do agree with Robk that there is a big difference in the levels of understanding between "old hands" and new comers.

It all comes own to the personality of the individual.  Some people open their minds and try to understand/ accept, while others stay in their "my way is the best way" bubble.

Oddly, I find it tends to be the more right wing minded people who spend their time in China getting more and more fustrated because they just point blank refuse to even try to understand.  Yup, the same people who will sit in a bar and complain about how their home country is being taken over by "foreigners" who refuse to integrate.

The sad thing is, the slogan *should* be correct, but it isn't. I *shouldn't* be able to understand Chinese culture, but I do. A nation of 1.3 billion with (still somewhat) diverse ethnicities, regional languages and cultures, *should* be rich in culture, too vast and complex to sum up in less than an hour of typing. But it ISN'T.

People here all look alike, think alike, behave alike. There is no depth of character or culture that allows their behaviour to be difficult to fathom. And we recognize all the bad behaviour all too well, because they are exactly the tendencies we were taught to avoid in our childhoods. There's nothing mystifying about show-offs, wannabes, bullies or cowards; they are very recognizable behaviorisms even without understanding the language.

Claiming that foreigners don't understand their culture is a double cop-out, both presupposing that there is a deep underlying culture at work, and also that introspection is unnecessary because a mere clueless foreigner made a wrong observation. In reality, the stubbornness, excuses and delusion are exactly what one would expect from a young child that needs to learn more impulse control and take responsibility for their own actions. But not even the rulers in this place will accept responsibility, and citizens learn to emulate them in this.

Samsara pointed out the mistakes in cognitive terms, and I can't agree more. As for DrMonkey's powerless-victims-who-know: Yes, people can hardly be blamed on an individual level for being unwilling to stand out in a mob that will cut you down, but those people also make a typical Chinese logical failing:

There are more options out there than complete unquestioning conformity and dangerous open revolt. They choose the safest of the two options they see at hand, but is there no middle ground? There are many subtle ways people can cultivate logic, compassion and civility on a daily basis, and encourage others to do so without invoking the wrath of the "conformity police". All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

In Holland, there is a statue remembering the WWII holocaust, and it starts roughly with "whenever evil manifests..." Note that it doesn't talk about foreign powers, Germans or even Nazis. The National Socialist Movement (NSB) was a Nazi-affiliated Dutch political institution that did exactly what the Red Guards did: Encourage the accepted culture to inform the Nazi occupation of any form of resistance, hunt Jews in hiding, and report any neighbours you suspected of illegal activities.

China admires the "efficiency" of Nazi German rule, their eradication of unwanted minorities and perhaps even the Hunger Winter they started. Sometimes I worry that the CCP have been taking pointers from history books about the Nazi occupation... I'm proud to say that there were many (but not all) Dutch people who lived through the holocaust soul intact. People helped each other survive, assassinated NSB agents, and kept people who were at risk safe from harm. There were even some conscientious Nazi officers who risked their own life, family and livelihood to help complete strangers stay alive. These heroes demonstrated their humanity and redeemed their own people from completely negative judgements. I rarely see any Chinese willing to even take minor risks for others besides family, for no profit or face-gain.

We in the west have better slogans to promote our own individuality, preserve our culture and way of life, and most of all to be brave in the face of adversity. People in China have a myriad of slogans and expressions (thanks Confucius, you son-of-a-concubine) encouraging them NOT to be brave, and merely stay passive and alive at all costs. Costs which quickly become higher once those in power realize they face no limiting consequences.

Even worse, there is a cruel streak in the people that far predates the communist atrocities. I equate this behaviour to bullying a weaker person, to pass on abuse you face from a stronger person. It might even be an historical trait, as Japanese people are also known for having a nihilistic tendency underneath their civil society. People in China and Japan surrender to oppression too readily. Whether it's denouncing your neighbour and seeing their execution, or merely accepting unhealthy 14-hour workdays and a marriage you're not emotionally ready for because boss/family says so. I remember news reports that bosses in Japan were giving employees days off and telling them to have babies, to stem the population decline. "Guh, our slave numbers are dwindling. We should make them breed more. It's panda porno time."

My summary of Chinese culture? Most of the myriad problems can be attributed to having low CONFIDENCE. Conformity and oppression. Victim attitude, slave mentality. Social inequality, conspicuous consumerism. Low social mobility and social capital (=trust). No independent thinking, decision making, or smart business enterprising. People encourage one another to display childish traits, because their vulnerability is what those in power desire, and perhaps it's even sexually arousing in this culture: Dependency, group confidence, rigid thinking, face, naivete, vanity, insecurity, narcissism, unfettered greed, childish wants, low education, backward thinking... and the amazingly dated, superstitious, Cargo Cult belief that your nice things make you a great (professional) person without further effort.

Chinese people are perhaps innocent victims, but it's innocence with a sidenote. They are partially responsible for contributing to the problems by offering no resistance. No foreign power messed things up for them; they did it all by themselves.