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Q: does chinese people suffer from inferiority complex?
towards westeners?
Inferiority? I don't think so. I think I would call it a "Novelty Complex". :) We are unusual to them, so therefore we are a novelty.
I think they are new to the concept of other countries. People fear that which they do not know.
I don't think Chinese people in general have an inferiority complex towards Westerners. Chinese people who have never left China don't actually know how the average "Westerner" lives, so if they feel inferior to anything it's their imagined perception of us. Now, more accurately, I'd say an outspoken minority (still not majority) of Chinese people DO feel inferior to Japanese people. In their minds, it's shameful that such a small country could be superior in so many ways, of course including past military conquests. But at the end of the day, MOST Chinese don't even care about domestic issues, yet alone international cock measuring contests, they tend to only think about daily problems such as their bosses ripping them off, or what to have for lunch. I have no doubt that is due a culture which encourages small-mindedness, but that's a whole different topic.
ambivalentmace:
yes , chinese all offended when i tell them japan is a better place to live than america and im an american, they cant comprehend the idea i would even say that and think i must be mentally ill, same reaction when i tell them i dont want a son but daughters only if i have to live in china, though i may be a great parent, i dont want my son raised around spoiled little emperor brats.
t91camp:
@ambivalentmace Yeah, Japanese emigration is so low (and immigration is so high) by comparison because it's generally a great place to live. Mainlanders tend to have the same reaction when I say I'm seriously looking at Taiwan as an option, too. The way I see it, TW has the good parts of China, Japan, and America, without most of the bad. They just get confused and somewhat insulted when I say that, which is especially funny when we consider those same people always claim TW is part of China.
MissA:
"only want daughters...." that must make people's heads absolutely explode!
The poor suffer from an inferiority complex. The rich suffer from a superiority complex.
OwainLW:
Wouldn't that be the same thing though? Rich people trying to conquer their insecurities and prove that they're not inferior by showing off and blatantly trying to distance themselves from this "inferiorty" concept?
bill8899:
I'm not a psychologist but in my opinion yes, they are almost the same thing.
I would say the media/education and the powers that be have a huge part part to play in this. Phrases such as the "100 years of shame" and the fact you can't turn on the TV without seeing a war drama about the Japanese etc etc don't help and only serve to create a whole "us versus them" complex ("them" being every other country which isn't China.) I recall one time when I was on a train to Beijing from Harbin and this one guy asked me where I was from, and after I told him I was British his first reaction was "all you western countries do is bully China." Now I'm not denying the atrocities committed towards China by other countries but I think that given that he (and many others) make comments like that just speaks volumes about how some Chinese view themselves in light of other countries. Turn on the TV, go on a Chinese news website, watch a Chinese film, even take a walk outside, and you get a feeling of what these people are being fed.
People are people. Do 'you' suffer from an inferiority complex? In my experience every country thinks it's the best. Every 'person' thinks 'they' are the best. This is a generalization of course but a truism nontheless. Someone living in riches thinks they are the great winner, someone living in poverty thinks they are more noble and righteous in their suffering, the middle classes think they have the great balanced view of the world, and I personally think that the whole lot of them are a bunch of c**ts. At the end of the day the question really is how do 'you' view others? Our view of others, being as it is a projected reflection of our inner self, is probably the most telling tale of who we really are as human beings. And seeing as I see the world as a bunch of c**ts.................hmmm, does not really say a whole lot of good about me. Oh well.
I think many Chinese people do, but I often point out to them about some of the foreigners in China, using them as an example of why the Chinese do not need to feel inferior. Except to Australians.
