Questionable questions

1. How is the United States portrayed in China?

Depends on how the CCP wants at the time and who you ask.

2. What do native Chinese think about American people?

I covered this in an earlier post, although as said this is going to be a mass generalisation as my view is limited

3. What did you like most about Chinese Culture?

Very little these days. Maybe the go getter attitudes of people, i.e. you see people try and fail try again and fail again try again and fail and they keep on getting up and trying again.

On the flip side:

A lot of the traditional values of Chinese culture I do not share and I abbor completely. Like being a typical Chinese parents i.e. being a dick to your children. Automatic respect for being old which I hate even more. Veneration of the dead when I don't believe in life after death and stupid Confucian values like YOU MUST HAVE A WIFE AND children (my dad argues with me frequently when I say I want neither and he can't get his head around it). I also utterly hate the concept of face which means people do incredibly stupid things to save face. While apparently reputationless rascals like myself who apparently have no face do the eminently sensible thing, i.e. admit I am wrong and thus seek to correct my deficiency, or not starve to death type situation.

4. Was it easy to get an education in China?

Unknown as I've been in and out of private education there and in the UK.

5. Where did you live in China?

In the South, north of the Border from HK and in HK itself somewhere along the Pearl River.

6. What dialects do you speak?

A mishmash of Cantonese, Hakka, Wu and bits of borrowed Mandarin. People often ask me to repeat myself a few times because of this.

7. What about China would surprise Americans?

Up frontedness of many questions. Almost to the extend of people on the street asking how long your penis happens to be. People will be that abrupt and job interview you on the street. They'll ask questions about your life people in the western world are uncomfortable or feel impolite answering like their salaries and ages.

8. What about America would surprise Chinese?

Not sure not been to the US probably the huge amount of space as everywhere you go in other than the empty desert bits and the mountainous regions in the middle there are people EVERYWHERE. There is always somebody around in almost any city in China at all hours. Not even up mountains can you find peace, because there are tons of tourists clambering all over the mountains and Sherpas hauling things up the mountains as well for the tourist traps.

Thus privacy and isolation are a premium.

9. What is young life in China like?

Lots of school lots and lots of school because of the obsolete thinking that schooling = success. Which has been proven wrong many times over and over again but the belief is still ancient and ingrained in the people.

10. Are different dialects seen differently in China?

China is sort of like the USA, not in terms of politics but it is less of an entire country it is more like a union of provinces which form a.... non voting, non free press type republic. Europe would be a more apt example except Europe is not politically unified. They pretend it is but generally countries act unilaterally. In effect some dialects are very similar and quite close much like German, which is close to Dutch, Danish, and Scandinavian languages as well. For example a Cantonese speaker can understand a Hakka speaker as they are close somethings are even identical. Some things are different.

Ah Por = granny in Hakka on fathers side
Ah ma = granny in Cantonese
Nai Nai = granny in Mandarin
(all on the fathers side)


11. What is changing the most in China?

This is too wide a question tbh. But if I could stick it in a nut shell, I would say everything which happened in the USA between 1945 and 2000 has pretty much occured in the last 15 years in China. Sexual freedome (yay) , gold diggers (nay). General ownership of whitegoods in homes. Families becoming divided, credit, loans, abandoning parents in old folks homes. Food improving

12. What is a communist nation like?

This is pretty irrelevant, as China isn't communist. Much like the USA isn't a democracy (says my buddy from Illinois) it is a Republic. China is communist in name only and going through the notions but China represents more of a corporate state than anything else. With some communist leanings.

http://www.comtourist.com/

Has some interesting views. Of course the cynic in me says that it is exactly same as living in a western nation. I.e. we have tons of corruption and voting changes absolutely nothing as the corruption and pork barrelling still goes on. But people are fooled into thinking they can affect change by voting. When change can only come about via events which occurred post Boston Tea Party and the bloody war which occurred afterwards.

13. How did people in China handle the attention from the Olympics?

Another too wide question tbh,

14. In America wealth and fortune are high priorities is it the same case in China?

Pretty much except in China it is MUCH MUCH more overt and people show it off for face issues. You see 50 cent show off his bling bling? In China a LOT of people are like this.

15. What is the climate like where you lived?

Insanely hot and humid 24/7 from March to October with regular hard rain from April for a few hours a day. Cool(er) in the period from October to February but still fairly humid and uncomfortable.