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Q: No Connection Between Words, Actions and Consequences
I recently moved into a newly constructed apartment building at my university. Nice area, surrounded by gardens. Because renovations were still underway at the time I moved in, there was a large pile of concrete rubble and renovation-related rubbish on the lawn outside the entrance. Other residents threw their rubbish bags on the pile, because it was already a pile of rubbish. Fair enough.
Then one night all the debris was cleared up, leaving a quite attractive lawn with thick green grass. Anyone who has observed the Chinese mainlander in its natural habitat knows what happens next. Residents continue throwing their rubbish on the lawn. Not just garbage bags, but any random shit. Bottles. Newspapers. Food. When I came home last night, strong winds had distributed rubbish across the lawns on three sides of the building.
30 metres from the entrance is a large plastic bin which is emptied every day. But apparently the Chinese people’s constitutional right to throw rubbish everywhere outweighs the prospect of living in a nice place. Or perhaps walking 30 metres is more challenging for Chinese bodies.
The other residents of my building are mostly teachers. These are the so-called Chinese “middle class” who will look at a picture of Provence and say “Wooooow, it’s so romantic.” Yes. I’m sure it’s magical. Possibly due to the fact that it isn’t covered in garbage.
Is there literally no logical connection for Chinese people between how they act and the conditions they live in? Are they aware that if they didn’t throw rubbish everywhere they wouldn’t be surrounded by rubbish? I feel like my mental capabilities are declining merely by having to explain something this stupid.
It’s like having a glass of water in front of you which you intend to drink, urinating in it, then lamenting how people in other countries have better drinking water.
Here is a simple psychology test devised by Samsara:
Link the actions on the left with the consequences on the right
You let your kid shit on the floor. There is garbage on the lawn.
You don’t use protection. Your house smells like shit.
You throw garbage on lawn. You get pregnant.
If you perceive no conceptual lines, you are a Chinese mainlander.
Moving into more theoretical territory now:
Whenever I ask a Chinese person “What would you do [in situation X]?” they always give the obvious, simplistic moral answer. “I would do [the right thing]”. Every single time. They don’t need to contemplate what would actually happen in the real world, their own psychology, self-interest or human nature, because they know the “correct” answer.
Example #1
Samsara: “If you found 100rmb on the ground what would you do?”
Student: “I would take it to the police.”
Samsara: “What. I don’t even...”
Example #2
Samsara: “If your classmate asked if she could copy your test answers, what would you do?”
Student: “I wouldn’t let her and I would tell the teacher.”
Samsara: [kills self with katana]
Their mental state is one of utter detachment from reality. Questions and answers exist in a purely fictitious space that has no connection to the world they physically live in.
Behaviour in theory Behaviour in reality
Laowai Ranges between Ranges between
self-interested and self-interested and
quite decent quite decent
Mainlander Exemplary Barbaric
The fact that they can (verbally at least) identify the “right” thing to do suggests that they do know. But why is there no connection between this inner fantasy world where they act on principle and the real world where they don’t?
Is this dichotomy the result of the Communist education system where people are forced to give answers that they don’t believe or understand, resulting in the notion that answers are purely perfunctory and not related to reality?
For Chinese people, are positive words actually more important than the world they live in?
Do Chinese people consider language not as a tool to explain reality, but as a tool to say the expected thing? (I think they genuinely do. This is a really interesting topic.)
Does having one’s autonomy taken away (by one’s parents, school and the state) result in having no sense of responsibility?
Is Chinese people’s tendency to despoil their own environment the result of fatalism? (Like “I have no power over how things are, so why does it matter what I do?”)
Is the Spirit of Yang looking down on my lawn with great satisfaction?
Interesting questions.
I think a big part of the problem is that people here often aren't responsible for their decision making or looking after themselves.
Kids are often literally spoon fed when they're at the age when they're more than capable of doing it themselves, I've seen parents standing in the bathroom supervising when their kid is using the squatter, wipe his bum then flush the toilet for him/her.
The family decides what after school activities the child will be doing, picks up his trash when he leaves it on the living floor while watching TV, wipes his chin when he eats, finds him a wife, buys the house and car, raises his kids... while all the time the kid is passively accepting that others run his life, form his opinions and clean up after him. He goes about his business while others take care of the pesky details.
People throwing their trash on the grass is probably just more of the same behavior... yes 'littering is bad' is a slogan they heard somewhere but when you've always had someone clean up after you I guess thinking about the mess you leave behind would never occur to you.
Interesting questions.
I think a big part of the problem is that people here often aren't responsible for their decision making or looking after themselves.
Kids are often literally spoon fed when they're at the age when they're more than capable of doing it themselves, I've seen parents standing in the bathroom supervising when their kid is using the squatter, wipe his bum then flush the toilet for him/her.
The family decides what after school activities the child will be doing, picks up his trash when he leaves it on the living floor while watching TV, wipes his chin when he eats, finds him a wife, buys the house and car, raises his kids... while all the time the kid is passively accepting that others run his life, form his opinions and clean up after him. He goes about his business while others take care of the pesky details.
People throwing their trash on the grass is probably just more of the same behavior... yes 'littering is bad' is a slogan they heard somewhere but when you've always had someone clean up after you I guess thinking about the mess you leave behind would never occur to you.
-They say they would do the right thing to gain face...
They do the wrong thing because nobody will praise them for NOT throwing the rubbish away, NOT cheating on exams, or NOT being a mistress to some rich dude...
...As my wife found out, all the girls who cheated on exams still got into the same grad school with her. Why work hard, clean up trash, or do anything if you aren't going to gain the benefit here and now?
Is this dichotomy the result of the Communist education system where people are forced to give answers that they don’t believe or understand, resulting in the notion that answers are purely perfunctory and not related to reality?
Yes. Xi recently said China welcomes Western Media. How he can say that while blocking western media is simply, insane. It is like saying I don't do drugs while waving a blunt...
For Chinese people, are positive words actually more important than the world they live in?
Yes. Face
Do Chinese people consider language not as a tool to explain reality, but as a tool to say the expected thing? Not always. China has had philosophers and poets. Using language as abstraction. Also see Lu Xun
Does having one’s autonomy taken away (by one’s parents, school and the state) result in having no sense of responsibility?
Yes. Not only in China. Rich kids have problems poor ones don't.
Is Chinese people’s tendency to despoil their own environment the result of fatalism? (Like “I have no power over how things are, so why does it matter what I do?”)
Environmentalism took a long time to grow in the west. See London Fog, and Silent Spring. Look at climate change denial.
Is the Spirit of Yang looking down on my lawn with great satisfaction?
Do a shot?
I often use this exact line of thought to stop myself getting too angry whenever I see this sort of thing. The fact they have to live with the mess they makes is punishment enough. I have to live with it too, but at least I could leave tomorrow if I chose too, most Chinese can't.
Could be something to do with the herd mentality. They have it drilled into them from when they are very young that "everyone else does this so I should to". For it to change one person needs to stand up and lead the way by making a conscious decision to be different and not follow the herd, and that is something that is actively discouraged in these parts.
Ummm, yes...? I'm surprised you need to ask.
What surprises me even more is that these are the 'teachers'... so what do you think they'll be 'teaching' to their students? Many of the teachers I've met to have a certain sense of consequence, and Cause & Effect. But then, I probably shouldn't be surprised, because that's the way things are, because that's what's been taught.
These questions unearth tons of complex beliefs, the full answer even has something do with remnants of old religious beliefs (Buddhism and Taoism primarily as far as traditional china i.e. NOT this one, is concerned).
"But why is there no connection between this inner fantasy world where they act on principle and the real world where they don’t?"
Let's stick to the recent decades, i.e. communist china for the moment.
Let's start from the very beginning. When Mao (CCP) forcefully took over (old, or traditional) China CCP called out to overseas Chinese (needless to say the wealthy ones with money, preferably knowledge too) to return to his "new China", stroking their emotional strings using patriotic slogans such as "Motherland needs you". Many fell for the entrapment and rushed back to "re-build motherland". Turned out it was a nightmare, and worse, PRC closed the gate. This is your FIRST generation of the cheated who learnt the hard truth of communist CCP, "it's your fault that you aren't smart enough, it is never our fault no matter how low we are". So, these 'stupid fools' who got disconnected with reality and thus being played emotionally got a rude awakening. Some managed to escape, many got trapped.
The same drama continued to be repeated, old wine in new bottles. At school, CCP praised itself to be the savior of China, how great it was, how great Mao was, how corrupted the imperialistic, capitalistic laowais were, .......blah..blah...blah.... Whoops, out of school, in no time, they saw how corrupted CCP was, the guanxi/bribery network. Wait a second, didn't you guys say your were against the corrupted, filthy, old KMT, and that's why you had us joined you to fight for OUR liberation from their enslavement? Wake up, kiddo. Everybody for himself. Those with guanxi and guns sit on the top, those without clean the toilets and spread their legs, as simple as that. Time you learn the real lessons, those that matters....
So you see, what's the lesson here? Saying one thing to make a sale, tearing up the contract after you get the full payment and refuse delivery is PERFECTLY RIGHT. Who says so? The one with guns.
This is how Utopia and Reality gets connected, in PRC.
This is also why you notice mainlanders say one thing and do exactly the opposite when it suits them. They have many 'highly successful, wonderful teachers'! Cosmetics to look attractive enough to lure buyers, then grab their money and pull out a gun and say "what are you going to do about it?"
You ask, don't they have religions that teach them about spirituality? Sure, before Mao's China. To be fair, Buddhism teaches reincarnation, you pay for what you get if not this life then your next. So, it is still minding your own business (and only your immediate circle). Taoism encourages being one with the whole, defined as the universe/divine/the way (tao)/whatever you figure the whole is. That's more like it but you still don't see basic tenets such as 'you are here to make THE WORLD a better place', nope.
So you say, "fine, I only mind my business". But then what exactly is your "business"? Answer: In PRC, guanxi! So you pry into everybody's business, elicit info. Now everybody's business is your business, hahaha.
Then our friend Samsara shouted, "So why TF do you dump all those garbage out there if everybody's business is your business?" Answer: No contradictions here. This time I am reeeaaally minding my own business, can't you laowais see that? No? You don't understand china, not our fault.
Splits you into two halves doesn't it? Schizophrenic? Deceitful? Violent? When you manage to mix them up perfectly you can say you have graduated from the PRC school. What's the next level? Laowailand, where the green pasture is!
earthizen:
@lewn Good job you are doing to expose your lack of mental acumen.
lewn:
Your incredibly poor China bashing with long winded answers based on some shackled together theories with zero evidence or observation of actual Chinese people is just utter utter crap.
Just because you came to China and didn't have a good time, eventually you need to get a grip and get on with your pathetic life.
earthizen:
@lewn The answer was not for you in the first place. Your pointless rant merely proved it was beyond your mental acumen and shallow PRC experience to comprehend the answer, let alone raising questions of such depth. You are the kind of rookie that is the laugh of locals and a disgrace to professional, seasoned china expats.
It's how things are. It sucks, but it's the reality.
Best thing you can do is set an example, go through the pile that the litterers thought 'someone else' would recycle or landfill and pick out all the easy recyclables in full view. Glass, steel aluminium, plastic bottles, paper and cardboard and get money for them, get huge kudos for doing the right thing and embarrass the locals into doing the right thing, they are pretty sensitive about foreign related affairs usually, and questions will get asked, remember that the locals are not a 'hive mind' a or 'all the same'. A massive minority or even majority probably feel exactly like you do, but feel powerless. As a foreigner you can safely shake their cage. The govt mantra is 'we are all responsible' for preventing forest fires/for a clean environment and in reality we all are, except maybe air pollution, which is directly due to their policy of preferring money to healthy air although usually within a safe limit thank f......
