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Q: Lack of Hobbies?
-Have you noticed a lack of hobbies among people aged oh...20-30 let's say? Although there are exceptions, many women here seem to think that shopping online is an acceptable substitute for hobbies. I mean a woman who is 25 who does nothing...no exercise, reads little if at all, and does neither needlework nor other useful things of any kind...
-Men are similar, although many play games, they seem to play games that have play-to-win, ie if you buy a bigger gun you win, no skill. City building games or strategy games are unpopular with my students...
-However, older people seem to have more of a life, flying kites, dancing in parks, playing er-hu, and other things. Is this lack of hobbies due to the education, which allows no time for hobbies? But wouldn't the huge amounts of free time students have in university cause them to take up something?
I've wondered this too sometimes, but then again, maybe you are not looking hard enough. I often visit some people who live in a school campus, and there is lots of stuff going on in the afternoon, evenings. Dancing (modern, not granny style) there is at least one musical practice room, different kinds of sportsball, flying model planes etc.
This is of course slightly younger people. My wife and her friends pretty much all do nothing. (that'd be the 25-35 group)
This question is built on some ridiculous gender bias. Women have to do needlework?! If they don't read? Or something else useful? While men should be playing strategy games instead of ones with guns you can buy bigger ones of?
Mate, I think you need to rephrase your question. Your question is technically valid but these examples are awful. Also, to answer your question, this seems true around the entire world.
Scandinavian:
yeah. dafuk is this. women, needlework, when the heck would they have time for that with all the dishwashing they have to do ?
expatlife26:
I see what he's saying. He wrote "play to win" when he meant "pay to win" at least I think.
And that's valid. I think that spending $1000 on world of tanks to get the best tank and win consistently (actually I have no idea how that game works) is less stimulating and valuable than say, playing Risk against a friend. Or sim city 2000.
Well... does sleeping count as a hobby in China? Because it seems so. Just ask some girls what they like doing in their free time.
expatlife26:
yeah I agree with that completely.
I've never met anyone, who given a block of free time in the middle of the day (on a normal day, so like not sick or jetlagged or anything) decides to seek sleep and not any kind of stimulation who isn't mostly useless otherwise.
That's not saying anybody is a bad person, but it's a dead giveaway that person isn't going to be super effective at life, if their priority is just to shut down whenever given the opportunity.
There are strategy gamers and people with more noteworthy hobbies out there, but their peculiar habits must remain behind closed doors. Many of the games I play have been modded, and Chinese gamers make some very good modifications to old strategy games, and free if you can believe that! Using your mind in any active capacity can be construed as threatening, and China is just 1-2 generations past a great population purge that targeted nonconformity.
My Chinese wife has developed an interest in baking (the culprit of my weight going over 100kg now, though my wife preferst to blame it on beer). I consider baking a rather banal interest, but in China it is pioneer-level risquee. You should hear the kind of demotivating, indoctrinated Red Guard reactions she gets from relatives: "This cake (whole egg) is not soft (they mean like egg-yolk cake should be)" "The butter smells of cow fat. (many farmers dislike anything cow-related)" "Cream too sweet." "Bread not sweet enough." "This pizza is wet on top (duh. it's tomato sauce)."
At first I wasn't very impressed by her hobby, but now I understand that baking foreign style cakes is fairly rebellious here, in a follow-recipe-precisely-with-electronic-weightscale kind of way. We may even start a bakery in the future, so her skills will come in handy.
-I wasn't very clear, I mean needlecraft is a fairly popular hobby in China, in that I see supplies and samples/cross-stitch for sale in most markets, so it is popular, but not with younger people. As for women doing needlecraft, um, they do...almost all of the practioners are female. I know this cause my mom does this and I have read quilting, and a few other needle craft magazines...
-I meant pay-to-win thanks for calling that out...
-Baking and cooking are hobbies certainly...good ones too, since you can use them every day.
-I knew a group of graduate students all female, and none of them seem to do anything other than sleep, shop, and work...maybe I don't know enough people...
I dont know, I think hobbies are over rated. What do any of us do thats so great and worthwhile? You go to the gym?? Is that a hobby? Is it really for health? Or so you can look good for teenage drunk girls?? ( I have nothing against going to the gym, point is you can devils advocate any interest)
How is some girl on an iphone reading the links in Moments on Wechat and writing comments really any different or worse then us reading these dumb articles on echinacities and writing comments here?? In my opinion, reading is reading. Doesnt matter if it comes from a phone a computer or a book. Hell I read books all the time, but i spend the vast majority of my time reading Grantland, Car and driver and ESPN. Yahoo is gone now.......
My wife has zero hobbies if you ask her, but that doesnt mean people dont do shit. Sometimes I come home and there are cupcakes, other times shes painted a picture, or random pages of caligraphy everywhere. Not a hobby , not "usefull" but doesnt seem any better or worse than someone who has a badminton hobby.
