What's the intrinsic difference between Chinese society and western society?

[Jeff Zhang]

(For this topic, Here the western societies I mainly refers to the conventional English speaking countries like US, UK, Canada, Australia etc. May it doesn't offend you. ) 

I am not sure whether it's appropriate to discuss this kind of topic here. I am curious. Hope it doesn't disturb you.  

Part of reason I am wondering about this, is because recently  I more and more have come to realize that even though I have learned English for so many years and mastered it pretty well, I still find that so often I still don't understand how the western think, how the Americans think.  

Take the recent news as example. Recently the US government passed the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act into law, which has outraged so many Chinese for US  "interference" into China's internal affair, and also the US's arrest warrenty of the China's giant Tech Company HuaWei's CFO Meng Wanzhou lady, causing so much protest against US in China.

Plus the current trade war between the countries.  

It seems now that the conflict of the countries has been up to the level of sort of Values, ideology, which it was only minor and hidden conflict before given the shared economic interest as the basic . 

The west criticizes China for its human rights abuse and lack of democracy and freedom, and China criticizes the west for their cultural, political, economic and military Superiority and hegemony. 

AS a native Chinese living in all my life in mainland China so far, although I think I am more open minded than my compatriots, and given the education I have received so far, still I am so confused for the conflicting messages I receive from my society and the western culture. I love my country also I know it needs improvement in some aspects,and I also love many amazing things of the west. 

 Maybe I am now really like a fish living in sea, without knowing I am in water or even I am wet actually,let alone the concept of "wet".

So, here, I really would like to ask:

What's really the intrinsic difference between Chinese society and the West?

Or what's the difference between Chinese government and the western/US one?

(Sorry for the wordings, it maybe a bit of messy and rash . I type it on mobile phone.)

Your ideas and comments are very appreciated , and I love this community to brainstorm with each other. thank you all. 

 

Edited December 21, 2018 by Jeff Zhang

[Zigzag Idiot]

Great question!

First off I think the west is tilted more into the pathological masculine and are more cut off from their feelings and subtle intuition.

It seems to me western culture really encourages men to repress their feelings more. Especially in the past. The west is too neurotic, thinking dominated. Mostly shallow thinking and too much glibness.

[Jeff Zhang]

@Zigzag Idiot really?

Can you elaborate on it, take some examples?

Thank you.

[shermano667]

All of Trumps b.s. is probably causing a lot of recent controversies you see. 

[Jeff Zhang]

@shermano667  sorry, I don't understand American politics very much.

why do people dislike Trump so much?  saying him an idiot or b.s.?

What's the point he caused so much controversies?

[Zigzag Idiot]

As a westerner, I can say this.

Were mostly a bunch of undisaplined,shallow, entitled, materialistic, complainers.

Trump is possibly a subset of Hopeless Idiot, the objectively hopeless idiot, because he was been consumed by his own egotism.

I don't think Trump is capable of putting himself 'in another's shoes'. He's cut off from his Conscience.

Edited December 21, 2018 by Zigzag Idiot

[Leo Gura]

Well, for one thing, we vote and China don't.

[Zigzag Idiot]

You got a point there. 

I always overlook the obvious,,,

[Jeff Zhang]

@Zigzag Idiot but the question, how could a such hopeless idiot like Trump be successfully elected as the president？  Does it mean its supporters are idiots like him？ 

From the non-Americans perspective, many think he is clever, he puts America interest first throwing the sword right into the heart of China, that's why China hates him and fears him. 

[Leo Gura]

@Jeff Zhang Trump does not put America's interests first. He puts his own interests first. That is the problem. And it will lead to his downfall.

[Joseph Maynor]

I think the biggest difference is China has a lot of customs and rules about relationships and about history and family that we don't have in the West.  I've been to China and Taiwan.  China has a lot of customs and culture regarding relationships that we don't have in the West.  In the West every person stands alone and every person is equal, at least in theory.  The West is more Individualistic and China is more Collectivist.  In China everybody knows what the rules are and follows the same rules.  In the West, there's no real enforceable cultural rules.  Each family has it's own set of rules.  I felt like when I was in China that I was part of a collective system where everything worked together in harmony.  I don't feel like that in the West.  In the West it's more like individuals all agreeing to tolerate each other and make deals with each other.  China is much more like everybody knows their place and does that place very well.  Even the guy sweeping the street is doing such a fantastic job.  In China it's all about doing the small things well.  And then just the massive amount of people in China too is very different from the West.  In China there's so many people that it's pretty easy to start taking other people for granted, like strangers.  In the West there's much fewer people so each person thinks he's a God basically and he doesn't have to deal with so many people and crowds of people.

Edited December 21, 2018 by Joseph Maynor

[Outer]

The western world has democracy - which means that anyone can start a political party like the Communist party, and in elections every four years or so, gain or lose support, with increased funding for the newly created party by the government as it increases its share of voters. This means that the people choose their government, and their ruling government decides the rules and the laws. Churchill has said: 'Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.'

 

 

 

[Rilles]

The difference is if you protest the government you will dissappear without a trace. I lived there for 2 years.

[Jeff Zhang]

@Rilles  generally speaking, here party comes first in many aspects.

How does your two-year experience in China lead you to this conclusion?  What really happened during that two years? 

Hopefully you have a wonderful days in China, though.  

[Rilles]

10 minutes ago, Jeff Zhang said:

@Rilles  generally speaking, here party comes first in many aspects.

How does your two-year experience in China lead you to this conclusion?  What really happened during that two years? 

Hopefully you have a wonderful days in China, though.  

I didnt partake in any protests, I had a great and sometimes very polluted time but I have Chinese friends who told me about this kind of stuff. I think you can look it up online too, Black Prisons, Falun Gong etc. Not to mention the extreme censoring, Youtube Banned, Facebook Banned, Whatsapp Banned... the list goes on and on

Edited December 21, 2018 by Rilles

[Jeff Zhang]

@Rilles so good, cities like Beijing, Shanghai are very polluted indeed.

Most of westerns in China are teaching English, and seldom can speak well Mandarin even after years' staying.  Language barrier and cultural difference make the fully immersion in locality difficult, most of whom stay in the compatriots circle.

[Jeff Zhang]

@Jeff Zhang @Rilles I live in Huizhou city ,near Shenzhen.    A bit of very rural  beautiful city, with extremely few westerns. Seldom locals speak English.

[Rilles]

22 minutes ago, Jeff Zhang said:

@Jeff Zhang @Rilles I live in Huizhou city ,near Shenzhen.    A bit of very rural  beautiful city, with extremely few westerns. Seldom locals speak English.

I think that Chinese need to learn English much earlier, I heard that the 80s generation started learning in High School! Thats crazy late! In Sweden we learn it in 3rd grade and then were surrounded by English movies and music. China has a long long history of anti-Westernism so I can see where its coming from but as it travels up the Spiral it will be more open.

China is an amazing country btw, definitely a country everyone should visit atleast once!

Edited December 21, 2018 by Rilles

[CreamCat]

2 hours ago, Outer said:

The western world has democracy - which means that anyone can start a political party like the Communist party, and in elections every four years or so, gain or lose support, with increased funding for the newly created party by the government as it increases its share of voters. This means that the people choose their government, and their ruling government decides the rules and the laws. Churchill has said: 'Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.'

That is the idea. In reality, politicians and various kooks may do various dirty things to dismantle your little party.

Also, the fact that people choose their government means an individual cannot easily choose one's own government by voting with one's feet or something else. Democracy is the rule by the majority.

Edited December 21, 2018 by CreamCat

[Jeff Zhang]

@Leo Gura @Outer @Joseph Maynor @Jeff Zhang @Jeff Zhang @Rilles

Thanks all. Now I have a better understanding .

For me,  a sharp difference is about marriage/individuality, that I feel pressed and closer.

My family presses me to get married during the past two years,  to the point that I have tried to avoid  visiting my rural hometown village which is the norm every festival, because the Culture here, a man close to 30years old being single is usually considered as a failure, shame for the family . Wherever you go in the family circle, you would be asked about this. (My mum even once questioned my sexual ability.) 

Anyway, I am on the way to handle it. 

When you are in it, You as an individual ,inevitably can feel that the surroundings/cultural norms are pushing you, you should do this or that at certain age etc. If you are different ,not follow the rules or norms, you would be considered as Geek, Strange,Insane.

Maybe it sounds silly  . But basically, this is most of the Chinese young generation face now after turning 20.

Of course cities like Beijing, Shanghai are more tolerant. usually the more rural cities, the more traditional cultural rules or norms are waiting and imposing for those inside it. 

Well, bit of like a rant, hope it doesn't disturb you.

Thanks all, advises are appreciated.

 

Update: You may wonder How come has this phenomenon?

Generally speaking, This phenomenon stems from two reasons:

1.Due to the deep-rooted son preference tradition,plus the strict Only-one-child policy implemented in the past decades, the population of Chinese males is at least 20million larger than the female. (Many girls fetus were aborted deliberately in the past few decades) . So, female in this society is kind of a very limited "resource". ( I guess you have read some news like tens of millions Chinese men are desperately to looking for wives.) Maybe a bit of exaggerating, but basically tells some truth.

2. Unlike most developed countries, here is much more like a highly competitive jungle survival mode, . Chinese has basically the most working hours annually and pretty way low wages among the world.Much pressure is on everyone,Many resources are in shortage except the population. 

plus the serious corruption everywhere, the resources are much unevenly distributed.

Edited December 21, 2018 by Jeff Zhang