Psychology Of Chinese Social Issues - Scholarly Study

AssassinsMace said:

Well some of the stuff I've read about Mainland behavior on Hong Kong's metro system, I just have to laugh. The San Francisco/ Bay Area metro transportation system is rated one of the best in the US. I know someone who works there and tells me what happens on the trains by passengers. If it were true that bad behavior of Mainlanders were at the heart of complaints, then they should start organizing hate organizations against Americans. But we know bad behavior being highlighted is not the reason, it's an excuse. They're just pointing at anything even superficially different as the difference.

I have friend where he and his family travel to Thailand a lot for vacation. They always have a stop-over at Taiwan. My friend's wife hates Taiwan because of their behavior. Taiwan is not immune to bad behavior. All this talk about superior culture is about snobbish elitism and nothing else. And ironically that attitude is a part of the same problem.

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Completely agreed.

Furthermore, culture has nothing to do with bad behavior by individuals. No culture tells its people to go and be an ass to others. All human culture is based on the need to work as a community.

The only differences are the social norms. It might be considered impolite to eat on subways in Hong Kong, but there's no such taboo in Toronto. North Americans will typically drive 10-20 km above the speed limit, while Chinese won't hesitate to cross a street if the opportunity arises even if the light is red. Singaporeans use drastic measures to enforce their city's clean image, measures that would be condemned as barbaric and inhumane in the US. Most British Commonwealth states consider the capital punishment to be immoral, while the US ranks 4th in the world for executions. The examples are endless.

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Mace's comments make a lot more sense as a rebuttal to Ko Wen-je's statements about colonialism and culture, and not as a standalone comparison.

In that context, your point for point retort is a little odd to me.

kyanges said:

Mace's comments make a lot more sense as a rebuttal to Ko Wen-je's statements about colonialism, and not as a standalone comparison.

In that context, your point for point retort is a little odd to me.

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Actually I was about to agree with him. The earlier comment is reserved for something else and edits, but this system doesn't lemme edit after a while.

AssassinsMace said:

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How wonderful it is to be colonized yet colonization means a denial of democracy and human rights. Mainland Chinese bad behavior is due to lack colonization, therefore denial of democracy and human rights must be a good thing. Good well-mannered behavior just means how much more you're a lemming. It has nothing to do with being free and independent. A basic lack of understanding of true freedom but instead a brainwashed spin of it for followers only and not the leaders.

Basically it has nothing to do with what they advertise it is. No common sense.

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That guy's words are very strange and made some very very terrible comparisons. At the very least, some are very politically incorrect and insensitive. I have almost never seen anyone compare cultures that way, save for Huntington who wrote Clash of Civilization, which is another major mess.

One can't simply compare culture and rank are them as if there's an actual good and bad. Everyone's got different values, and how/where one place cherish one thing or some place can be different from another. I'd equate this to how locals at Sichuan region prefer more spicy in their food but southern areas prefer more sweet. Therefore it's very cultural subjective, and to use one's own standards to compare/dictate whether they are good should only be reserved for personal preferences. Of course there's also the whole issue of cultural shock, which requires positive attitude, compromise, learning, understanding, for proper integration.

Colonization will result in interactions of culture and something beneficial/costly can come out of it, but to label it's good is very politically incorrect. His notion is equivalent of saying that Chinese on their own can't grow and require foreign guidance, which again is very insensitive and skewed/biased view of perceiving/seeing Chinese.

Again, I can't believe he actually attempts to rank cultures. He should just say that's his preferences and opinions and leave it as it is.

AssassinsMace said:

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How wonderful it is to be colonized yet colonization means a denial of democracy and human rights. Mainland Chinese bad behavior is due to lack colonization, therefore denial of democracy and human rights must be a good thing. Good well-mannered behavior just means how much more you're a lemming. It has nothing to do with being free and independent. A basic lack of understanding of true freedom but instead a brainwashed spin of it for followers only and not the leaders.

Basically it has nothing to do with what they advertise it is. No common sense.

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The guy is a politician so gotta take his words as those of one, and FP is known to be quite Western/US ethnocentric. I do think there is validity in his opinion that co-operation is more important than re-unification when it comes to China and Taiwan, and in my opinion the former will lead to the latter.

PanAsian said:

and FP is known to be quite Western/US ethnocentric.

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It is in spades.

PanAsian said:

The guy is a politician so gotta take his words as those of one, and FP is known to be quite Western/US ethnocentric. I do think there is validity in his opinion that co-operation is more important than re-unification when it comes to China and Taiwan, and in my opinion the former will lead to the latter.

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Yet, it can be argued that the public statements of a politician reflects the sentiments of the public. The more popular the politician, the greater fraction of the public he represents.

Therefore, it is quite ironic that he believes Taiwan has a better culture when he displays such provincialism.

solarz said:

Yet, it can be argued that the public statements of a politician reflects the sentiments of the public. The more popular the politician, the greater fraction of the public he represents.

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He may be popular with his constituents for some of his policies and principles, but not for others that are not mentioned in his election manifesto. There are many facets to a persona and not all may jive well with the greater fraction of the public. But the people elect him for being the sum of all his parts.