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Q: Ever seen a nationalist twit have a moment of realization?
A friend of mine who grew up in the US said he and his father, who was a nationalistic Chinese type, went to Rome and when his Dad saw the coliseum he said, "now I see why they don't respect out history. The Forbidden city is nothing compared to this." And he said when it comes down to it the Great Wall is just a long wall.
Not saying Chinese don't deserve respect. But, it's amazing what some outside exposure will do for a brainwashed nationalist. Ever seen anything like this? That is to say have you seen a brainwashed wu mao typed having a moment where they actually see the truth?
Again, not that the FC isn't amazing, but the way the Chinese government makes it out you'd think it was landing on the moon. I don't know why the guy doesn't think the Great Wall is an achievement, but whatever.
There are monumental Roman amphitheaters in El-Jim Tunisia, Aspendos Turkey and Aries France. Lebanon, Israel, Croatia, Spain, Syria, Libya, Jordan, Portugal, Morocco and Britain still have well preserved ruins. There are Roman roads still in North African and Arabia.
The Chinese I talked to know nothing about ancient Greece, Rome or Egypt. Nothing in China compares to buildings of those eras, the Pyramids, the sculptures. Even Mexico has more impressive ancient ruins than China.I don't know what was in China then.
I passed up a deal for an African safari a couple of years ago, always wanted to see Egypt. That's partly why I ended up in China, i didn't think it was a good time to go to. Egypt.
kchur:
The oldest building in China that is still standing and has a roof - not just rubble - is dayanta, which goes back to the late 600s. In Portugal I've been to a dozen buildings - still standing, with roofs - older than that. I've also been to churches turned mosques turned museums, entire preserved Roman towns, castles, legal and illegal Roman churches, a Roman bath down the street from where Julius Caesar signed a treaty in a city that still bears his name. And that's just backwoods, out of the way Portugal. In Roman times its population was probably a few thousand, and even today it has less people than Shanghai, for example. I also met more Portuguese people who could read Latin than Chinese who could read classical Chinese. Try finding the site of the Han or Tang palaces in Xian. You barely marked, mostly ignored.
The relationship between China and ancient China is about the same as the relationship between modern Iraq and ancient Babylon. Whenever some fool screamed "five thousand year history" I felt bad for him, because he had no idea how much he was embarrassing himself.
TedDBayer:
I declared myself Emporer when I went to FC, spent the day interviewing for 300 wives. All the place needs is some furniture, really big screen TV, BBQ, hotub and a western toilet. I can't believe they couldn't show me where the former Emporer went. I believe it was the prayer alter circles at each end. That's where going on the street comes from.
No, I have never seen such a thing. Sorry.
981977405:
actually I still find this question needs a good translation into something resembling the Queen's English.
They recently found the oldest settlement in Europe...in Bulgaria.
Look it up 
Over the years, I have worked in several universities and colleges in Australia, and had the chance to talk to Chinese students living for the first time outside China. While not considering them twits, without exception, they were surprised and happy at the better quality of life in Australia compared to China. From the conversations, I assume it would have been the same if they had been in USA, UK, Canada or even, dare I say it, New Zealand.
Over the last couple of months I have formed a friendship with a Chinese woman who has come to Australia to do her Masters in Education (TESOL). She also becomes quite excited when we go somewhere, especially at the orderly behaviour, and small numbers, of the people compared to China. Her reaction to this change, of what she accepted as normal behaviour in China, was quite positive.
She was also a little taken aback that her uni lecturers were reluctant to use her teaching experience in China as case studies, because they regarded it as inferior, and not relevant to the modern theories being taught in a western university at that level. After completing her first semester, she now understands why. The lecturers grudgingly allowed her to use her teaching experiences, given that she had to use something.
After her initial disappointment that the education system she had been taught all her life were fairly meaningless in the west, she is now quite excited at the prospect of gaining employment, and staying, in Australia and doing teaching that she now considers more meaningful than the teaching she did in China.
We even got to go to a function where former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was addressing a small group of Labor supporters, and making a YouTube video. This was probably the hardest thing for her to comprehend, the informality of the entire situation. She said such things are unheard of in China, and leaders are not approachable. She was especially unnerved when others joked with him, and shared conversation. How could common people do that with a former leader, and call him informally by his first name?
To her, these three, and other, incidents have been a culture shock, similar to what most of us experience when we first go to China. However, my take on it is that, after the initial shock, she has found the Australian (and western) way far preferable.
I wish her well in her endeavours to find employment in Australia, but think it will be difficult. One area where Australia is much stricter than China is with employment of TESOL teachers. While she has the required degrees, experience and an IELTS level of 7.0, it is extremely difficult, at least in the private sector, for a non-native English speaker to be employed as a TESOL teacher. I am also wondering how she will feel about China when she returns.
MissA:
It is possible to teach if you're not native. I'm working in a small Aussie college - and out of our teaching staff of about a dozen, two are non-natives. I must say, though, that both of them are totally fluent with only the slightest hint of an accent.
Traveler:
I am also aware of non-native speakers having jobs, but they are rare compared to the number of people seeking them. I don't think an IELTS of 7.0 is high enough for most people, even though it satisfies the minimum requirements for immigration. For teaching English, she will need probably need higher. But we will keep trying. There are a few options available other than teaching.
I guess being able to pass as a native speaker in an English speaking country would definitely help. Market demand is, not surprisingly, for native speakers. Few people reach native or near-native ability in more than one language. It happens, but it's comparatively rare.
Getting back on topic, it was interesting to watch her reaction the first time she sat in on a TAFE (college) class that was teaching English to many nationalities. She had never even considered that, assuming at some level that all foreigners speak English, either as a native language, or as a lingua franca.
are you absolutely sure the "twit" was not using sarcasm ?
