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Q: Who writes this crap?
Todays offering on the front page is just more PR rubbish ..sort of like an advert to make you feel good about a car you already bought.
How about a story about how Nationalists can influence the general population against other countries. ..or how the general population isn't told about things ? ....ohh right that is the Myth of China.
Many people’s first trip to China is filled with hopes, dreams and tonnes of preconceptions as to what life here is actually going to be like. You’ll also have plenty of preconceptions as to what Chinese people are like, as touched on in this article.
Several years ago I was relieved to find that Oscar winning director Danny Boyle, of Slumdog Millionaire fame, was just like me in thinking that China was summed up by Tiananmen Square when he first came here.
The Chinese newspapers were full of reports of how the famous Hollywood director headed straight from the airport to the infamous square. Photographed in front of Chairman Mao’s portrait, Boyle told reporters, “For me, Tiananmen Square is China; this place is the most iconic symbol of the power that is the PRC. I just wanted my first memories and impressions of this country to take place on this Square.”
My first impressions of Beijing were actually taking the airport bus and then lugging my suitcase to my university dormitories on a wet Saturday afternoon, but I can absolutely relate to those childlike feelings of excitement that come with that first impression of China.
I’d read Wild Swans, watched documentaries and pored over countless new reports about China before coming here, but my heart really did skip a beat on my first trip to Tiananmen Square. Now when friends and family come to visit I find myself distinctly nonplused with the whole experience, but there was a time when being there felt like I had arrived at the centre of it all.
But reading Danny Boyles’ comments brought to mind the common expat ideal of the “Real China”. While many of us have preconceptions about China before we come here, it’s very common for that notion to translate into a “Some things in China are more Chinese that others” attitude. Let me explain.
How often have you found yourself thinking, or heard others say: “This restaurant is very Chinese”, or “Look at all the designer shops, this isn’t real China.” I remember having the feeling when I was new to China that my relatively comfortable life in central Beijing, with Western restaurants, fast internet, heating and other expats milling around, was somehow not "Real China”.
Thinking about it now, I smile at my naivety. I’d come to China with one of the most common preconceptions of all — that China is a backward and alien society. There are of course very underdeveloped parts of the country (see: China’s Poverty Line) and it was those parts I thought I should be seeking out, as I slurped my milkshake at Grandma’s Kitchen.
The joke is that I missed the whole point of China altogether – that it’s developing, which of course means some parts are more developed than others.
The truth behind the “Real China” myth is that both Gucci stores to Guizhou villages are equally part of the China we find ourselves in today. They are two sides of the same coin and neither one is more or less valid than the other in terms of what makes up the PRC.
So the next time you find yourself sitting in Starbucks and dreaming of “Real China”, wake up… you’re already here!
5 years 24 weeks ago in Arts & Entertainment - China
I look at China asa feudal system where the peasant farmer migrant worker class provide the food, housing construction and infrastructure for the lucky ones who lived in a city before this 2 caste system was enforced. If you travel through the country, you realize it's the cities against the others, sort of like New York City, Boston, and the coastal cities of California, maybe throw in Chicago, against the rest of America, not much difference except civility is enforced by a rule of law and it's not laisse faire like it is in China. The sad part is most people think this is normal because they know nothing else to compare and know things could be different. It happens everywhere but not as extreme as China, I suppose some metro-sexual living in Toronto thinks his shit smells much better than an average worker in Alberta.
I think it's weird for tourists (laowei) to come to China. Thank goodness they don't for the most part. It also seems weird to see young people here to teach ESL. I liked it better back when u rarely saw another white guy and if u did they were old too and generally had kicked around in Asia for years. I think it's weird young Westerners come over here. I prefer the old days.
I agree with Phils post. The only part I dont agree with is the word 'expat'. I prefer migrant.
To add to what phil said, we will never see the real China. We are incapable of pure Yangism that we see every day.
For example, the story from this week. A dad took his new baby from the hospital and threw her off a cliff. Because he did not want another daughter, he wanted another son.
It could be argued that that is the real China. Hundreds of millions of Chinese probably see no fault in what he done. We all know the dispointment our inlaws fail to hide when we produce daughters. The real China is not hip or trendy, like the Indian Yogas of the 60s. To put it bluntly, real China is Fucking hard core illiterate superstition.
I prefer not to join in. I protest by drinking ice water. That relegates me to antiChrist barbarian level equivilent.
diverdude1:
haha,, good example. I still luv how they freak out me drinking cold beer, really cold beer. dummy,,, don't u know hot water cures everything!
ScotsAlan:
I take a kilo of ice to work most days. I like ice with a spash of coke. Or ice with a splash of OJ. Drives my colleagues mad that I dont drop down dead. But they do admire my Japanese made titanium mug. Deep down, they think my Japanese mug has far east powers better than theirs. 'It must be the devil Japanese mug that keeps the western mug safe from the devil ice', they mutter under their breath as I exit the kitchen with a mug of ice an Icelandic cod fisherman would be envious of.
diverdude1:
wow,, Titanium mug! I'd like to see that. I have a Titanium pen. Well, it's actually a stabbing weapon disguised as a pen. Carbon Fiber/Titanium
coineineagh:
The weird thing is, that daughters are becoming a much better investment. They can do business with other women, who are the major spenders in rich households. They don't need to drink or smoke to an early grave to make connections. Emotional women are given more leeway to do guilt-tripping and other techniques to gain unfair advantages. When they cross the line, gender bias will see mothers more lightly punished. In relationships, although technically the wife is "bought by dowry" from her parent's family, in practice she continues to be connected with them, and any family with money will continue to support the wife's parents financially. Add to that the strange practice of fathers keeping hold of their children as 'possessions' in a divorce (meaning the woman can separate with no further obligations, fully able to date and start a new family), and a woman has some real business negotiating power in China. But traditions mean more in China, and if people tell each other sons are better, they accept this as truth without question.
