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Q: What's a typical response from the locals if you make fun of a wealthy person?
I make jokes about how bad their decision making, and (as a teacher) their parenting skills.
I told the staff at the office of my school that I often feel like a dog sanctuary owner whose customers haven't taught their pets not to shit inside. It was like I'd blasphemed in a church because the parents of the students are all very wealthy folks when compared to the teachers, most of whom ride bicycles to work at 6am and leave after 5pm.
Many Chinese use the label "tuhao" out of spite, when really they're just jealous and want to be the tuhao. I, on the other hand, genuinely don't begrudge men like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and even Larry Ellison their wealth. They did something I can't and traded products and services freely to people who freely chose to buy them.
China's marketplace is not the same. I genuinely fear that this society will collapse if its values don't change, and the only way to change anything peacefully is through gentle mockery in the hope that things gradually evolve.
Any of you artistic or creative folks have ideas on how China could amend the irresponsible behaviour among its population? Create some archetypal figures who they're most wary of possibly being seen as emulating? They are status conscious types so this must work in the favour of the artiste.
Think of a Chinese Bertie Wooster or even a Hyacinth Bucket.
Money is face, face is king, face is everything!
It doesn't matter what you do, who you do over, who you step on....just get the money.
Money gives you face, money secures your family.
There is no safety net, as we in the west will soon see too.
If there was ever a country that was a perfect match to a consumer society, it has to be China, they just started too late.
The more it costs the better it is, the better it is the better I am!
More importantly it shows that I am better than you!
We see OTT displays of wealth as tacky and tasteless, no such quarms in China.
Some of my students said they were impressed with Wendi Deng and that she was a good role model....Ha!...a dried up souless vampire, who married another one.
Their decision making cant be that bad if they are rich.
Lots of people here are rich because they supply cheap labour to Western Bankers.
I agree both are stupid... but hey, they are smarter than me because I am not rich.
That makes me stupid stupid 
laowaigentleman:
Until the irony key is invented, our American friends will be taking you at your word. Someone down voted you, and it wasn't me.
Have an upvote because I know what you actually think and I'm using that as a juxtaposition.
ScotsAlan:
Ha ha. Having money is not the issue. Its how you use it that matters :)
Money is face, face is king, face is everything!
It doesn't matter what you do, who you do over, who you step on....just get the money.
Money gives you face, money secures your family.
There is no safety net, as we in the west will soon see too.
If there was ever a country that was a perfect match to a consumer society, it has to be China, they just started too late.
The more it costs the better it is, the better it is the better I am!
More importantly it shows that I am better than you!
We see OTT displays of wealth as tacky and tasteless, no such quarms in China.
Some of my students said they were impressed with Wendi Deng and that she was a good role model....Ha!...a dried up souless vampire, who married another one.
Most Chinese rich are no different from peasants - they just happen to have more money but their daily behavior and habits are largely identical. I've encountered tuhao who scream, spit, bark, litter, smoke in enclosed spaces, drive like assholes and have no respect for anyone except tuhao with more money than them. However, there is a growing class of the educated elite that is more like the elite in other countries - people with advanced degrees who have spent time abroad and brought a lot of the ideas and values they encountered in waiguo back to China. From my observations, these people instill better values in their kids although they still have a ways to go with parenting. They certainly behave better day to day and actually have some class. As for the crass tuhao, I don't really mock them more than anyone else. Actually, when I'm around Chinese I tend to hold my tongue in order to preserve harmony. But the few times I have pointed out the ridiculousness of the tuhao the Chinese will typically agree with me - i.e. some Neanderthal walking into a room and announcing to everyone that he has a Hermes belt that he spent x thousands of kuai on. Now, whether the other Chinese actually saw him for the monkey that he was or were just jealous that they don't have a bling belt is hard to say but such people are generally scorned by Chinese as well.
Their reaction can summed with "They are rich, respect them".
Money is the only value remaining in China, if you have a lot it's okay to behave like an asshole, poorer locals will still worship you expecting to get a part of your wealth in exchange.
Most don't seem to get it when I do not worship some tuhao just for having money. Well I might worship him if he did something beneficial for society using his money, what he won't.
Some of the more educated rich parents at my school actually like me because I treat them like I would with anyone else, they feel it and they are tired of the hypocrisy of the local staff who suck their pecker just because they are rich.
It's the result of a society based on Leninism-Marxism which embraced austere authoritarianism switching to consumer driven hyper-capitalism in only one generation.
I fail to see the difference between upper-class twits here and the upper-class twits back home.
laowaigentleman:
The upper class remind me of the fourteen year old dropout DPB aspirants back home that you described to me earlier.
thought about this time and again, but it seems to me that Chinese folk are inherently craven, insecure and weak. this makes it nearly impossible to cultivate community spirit, ethical culture, solidarity, responsibility/accountability and so on.
back when i studied Biology at university, there was a computer model about altruism/egoism. i've been wracking my brain trying to remember the name of the model program, but alas.
it was a grid of blocks, black represented egoism, red was altruism. altruistic gridblocks grant benefit to all neigbouring blocks, and collect benefit from other neighbouring gridblocks. but only if they are red. the black gridblocks collect benefit from red blocks nearby, but give nothing in return.
you could alter a great deal of settings, but most important was the value gained from altruism. if the benefits were too low, the grid would become all black in just a few iterations. set it high enough, and pockets of red gridblocks would persist longer and longer. it took a very high value for egoism to completely disappear.
returning to China: compared to other societies, the reward value for mutual altruism is set very low here: it's because people do not punish egoism, and have little appreciation for altruism. it's a widespread systemic problem.
regarding the cravenness: it's important to determine how much of it is "nurture". the human brain evolves faster than our physical appearance, and having a culture of egoists for too many generations will result in a larger percentage of people born with a craven predisposition. the sooner the CCP is gone, the better it is for the people.
a final thing i should mention about the grid: the program also measured the amount of "benefit-transfer", and it shouldn't surprise you to know that an all-black grid is a very unwelcoming place. i shudder to think how a society of 100% egoists would be able to function. it would revert back to the Stone Age.
If Chinese people want to keep getting the nice things that excite their empty hearts so much, they need to realise that the polluted air, poisoned ground, toxic culture and depleted resources is a direct result of egotistical attitudes.
Shining_brow:
Your computer model seems to suggest laissez-faire capitalism is doomed to failure...
coineineagh:
if the benefits are seen as coming from government subsidy and regulations, perhaps. but government funds have a tendency to end in the pockets of egoists more than altruists. social interactions among people are more effective at rewarding altruism, if you ask me. people are also adaptive, and will react in kind to system abusers. government has rigid laws that are static and easy to circumvent. but it's definitely up to governments to create the playing field. rule of law >non-interference>corruption.
SwedKiwi1:
Your model reminds me of a variation of the game theory, whereby actors (countries, corporations or individuals) can make decisions on the basis of altruism or egoism. The decisions that are made then influence the de facto rules of the system to create either a sustainable model of cooperation or an unsustainable one of competition.
This model is mainly used in history and sociology classes though so I am not sure whether or not it applies to biology.
Spiderboenz:
Came across this on yahoo this morning, it seems applicable.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/aspiring-asia-leader-china-takes-no-role-rohingya-141240497.html
coineineagh:
swedkiwi: that might be the same game i played in an ethics course, to illustrate tragedy of the commons. only they were fisheries in our game.
