After a heavy conversation regarding this topic, I feel like this blog needs to be written. Because part of my role as a Peace Corps volunteer is to spread cultural awareness of the west to China, and of China to the west, the cultural misunderstandings taking place because of the Olympic boycott must be written and talked about in light of the current events taking place around the globe.
With the increase in protests, petitions, pleas of boycotts, etc. in the west, the forbidden topic of Tibet seems to be everywhere. As it is an issue that we are not to discuss, I am always afraid when people ask me "what is your opinion of what is taking place in Tibetan regions?" Generally, I do not answer the question, simply explaining that it is not my place to talk about the issue, and that I just want peace for all people, Chinese and Tibetans both. However, right now, with the huge protest in France, and the pressure America is putting on the US government to boycott, the issue seems unavoidable. I have had so many people say something along the lines of "Fei Fei, I know you love China, so I want to know how you feel, as an American who understands us Chinese, about the boycott."
In my responses, I try to help the Chinese understand the boycotts, so that they do not (as they currently are) take it personal. Now, I think it is time I try to help you westerners understand the Chinese.
First, I'm going to point out some things about our own culture that we may not even realize is part of our own. We in the west (and I am FAR from an exception) love to protest, to vocalize our opinion, to disagree, to argue, to dissent. Abortion, death penalty, taxes, free trade/fair trade, health care, education, environment, we yell out in dissent at any possible opportunity. When someone says something bad about our government, we do not (generally) take it personally, we either disagree, eager to talk about the issue, or agree, eager to talk about the issue. Our politicians do it, our talk show hosts do it, our celebrities and athletes do it, and we do it in our schools, in our work places, in our spare time. We are surrounded by individual opinions. We are direct, we are vocal, and this is our culture
But it is NOT the Chinese culture. In China, people do not protest, they do not vocalize their opinion, they are not eager to dissent, they are very indirect. Instead, they preach a "harmonious society" where most people agree on important issues, and if they do not agree, they keep quiet, as the Chinese believe it is important to put the "greater good" before individual interests. Now, of course your initial reading response is "it's wrong to keep quiet!" Trust me, as one who is far from being a pacifist, it was my initial reaction, too. But keep in mind (as I often have to do), that is your culture thinking; things here are not "wrong" they are simply different. Here, people are collective, they are not individualists. There was a study done where a picture of fish in a fish tank was shown to a group of westerners and they were asked to describe it. When we of the west (and I did this, too) looked at the photo, we talked about the fish, the grass, the shells, the individual features. When the Chinese were shown the same photo and asked to do the same thing, they described the tank and the photo in its entirety; they did not point out anything individual in the photo. Western and Chinese people process and even think differently (if you want to learn more about this, I recommend reading Richard Nisbett's book The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently and Why). Therefore, it is so important to try and understand each other, especially at such crucial times.
Right now, westerners are offended and concerned by what is taking place in western China. As we are trained to do, the west is speaking out, signing petitions, protesting, asking the government to not go to the Olympics. Of course we are; when we disagree with something, this is what we do, this is a part of who we in the west, who we as Americans, are. "Dissension is not unpatriotic" was my favorite quote in high school.
But the Chinese do not understand this. Because it is not in their nature to speak out, they are taking the protests very personally. Instead of it being an attack of human rights violations, the Chinese people see it as an attack on China, and on the Chinese people. They are hurt, they are confused, they are angry and, understandably, misunderstand the motives of the west. When the west yells out that China is not treating people fairly, the people of China don't think "the west cares about us and our wellbeing," instead they think "the west hates our China" and, as a very proud people, this is terrible for forming positive, peaceful, lasting relations between our countries. As Americans, we can understand and empathize with patriotism. As stated earlier, however, when someone bashes the American government, we can handle the insult, agreeing or disagreeing, rarely taking it personally, but here, when someone bashes the government, because China is collective, it is not just an insult to the government, it is an insult to every person within the country.
As you have read from my experiences in other blogs, China is run on a system of "keeping face" or "losing face." It's not like anything we can try to comprehend in the west, as "face" is so much deeper an issue than pride or a reputation. We in the west are accustomed to hearing (and vocalizing) insults of our own country, government and how things are run. When someone insults China, The Motherland, however, the people react in anger, as they are not accustomed to hearing negativity of their own country. Right now, people do not know how to handle the abundant amounts of criticism coming from the west, and they are angry. This, coming from a country that is so important for us to maintain positive, peaceful relations with, is not what we want if we hope to sustain friendship between our two countries (which we do).
The Olympics is China's pride. I wish I could explain how much the Olympics means to this country. People have given up their homes and jobs, China has undergone a huge fall in the stock market, cities across the entire country (even far from Beijing) have a huge display for the "Olympic Countdown", the Beijing 2008 Friendlies are everywhere, TV channels teach the Chinese people "sports English" so that they can have English conversations with foreigners during the games, in Beijing every taxi driver, police officer, bank teller, hotel employee, etc. is required to learn English. Here in Guiyang, far from the Olympics, I was asked to host an event for middle school students (who will probably never even get close to the Games) teaching them the history of the Olympics, and all about western etiquette and manners, so that the students are prepared to meet a foreigner during this important time for their country. Nearly everyone here is ecstatically anticipating the moment when China can prove their worth to the outside world, as China has been kept isolated for so many years.
I am not asking you to form one opinion or the other; I would never ask you to speak out when you wish to remain quiet, or to keep silent when you want to speak out. I don't pretend to know what the right answer in this situation is, as I hope for peace and human rights for ALL people. But I am asking you to try to understand your actions and your words; to use your voice responsibly. I am working to help the Chinese understand that the protests are not anti-Chinese, and are simply how we, of western culture, respond to situations we are not in favor of and do not think of it as an insult to the people. But now I ask you, of the west, to please try and undergo the same understanding and realize that the Chinese DO take it personally, and that reactions on both sides may have profoundly negative impacts on future relationships between the west and China. The actions of the Chinese government, just as the actions of the American government, are not a reflection of the people; the Chinese people, however, are the ones who are feeling (and hurting from) our words of protest.
"I do not want the peace that passeth understanding. I want the understanding which bringeth peace." – Helen Keller
"(Peace) can only be attained through understanding." – Ralph W. Emerson
No comments:
Post a Comment