Is It Because We Don't Understand China?

One World, One Human Race, One Love, Ignorance Never Nurtures Love




















Today's post was lifted directly from Quora, the question answering site.  
The author of the piece Ray Comeau, provides a unique perspective on China by answering a question he posed. . The piece is of interest because this blog has posted Caribbean perspectives of how we as West Indians, or Caribbean people view the Chinese people here. The latest post 3rd World War China vs America, even if it is a remote possibility, demands that we know more about China. 
The fact is though, that it does not matter what we think, or think we know, only love can bring peace.  We must take the time to understand, it is only fair to learn how other people, especially people who have lived in China, think and feel about China.
The question the author asked is:

"How Misunderstood Is China By the Outside World"

China is so misunderstood there should be a television program on understanding China.

IMO most of the misunderstanding is plain ignorance versus willful mischief. Ignorance is not a put down; it only describes a lack of knowledge. We are all ignorant about certain subjects. As one of many writers on China; it is evident worldwide there is a large ignorance about China.

Most interesting is that several billion people who have never been to mainland China and never researched the country; consider themselves knowledgeable about China. How does that happen? What people have is a (plus or minus) bias about everything; and they choose to hear or read is anything that supports their bias.

My role is to try to inform the misinformed, based on my experience of living in China. As one of a number of writers on China; we all respond to a flood of questions demonstrating a general cluelessness about what China is TODAY. So this time to be brief here is a condensed version of what China is like today:

1- Chinese gov’t propaganda and media manipulation is similar to Western gov’t propaganda with it’s media all politicized. Remove the names and you can’t tell the difference.

2- #1 Chinese people want a stable society, a safe environment and a good economy.

3- Voting for the Chinese is a low priority, at this time; even though they vote at the village level.

4- Chinese want a better future for their family, education for children, a positive future and make a decent living; followed by a relatively uncorrupt gov’t.

5- 80% of citizens thinks the gov’t is steering the country in the right direction.

6- Nearly 30% of the Nat’l Peoples Congress (their parliament) are not members of the CPC.

7- The gov’t is NOT run by politicians, it is run by technocrats. People with experience and education in fields like economics, engineering, agriculture, finance, etc.

8- Gov’t corruption does not touch most citizens. Bribes etc do not happen in the lower ranks of gov’t. The police are trusted by the citizens and do not carry guns or batons.

9- Crime is very low. Women can walk outside at night without fear. Culturally China is not a violent society.

10- China has Sedition Laws and implements them. Everyone in China knows this. Only the reckless and those who think they are self-important will challenge China on this.

11- Religious practice in China is allowed as long as the “organization" follows the laws. I have been to Churches, Mosques, Temples all over China. They are all open to the public. For some reason certain Christian churches seem to go out of their way to challenge local gov’t and get themselves in trouble, then whine like babies. The church led foreigner leaves; but maybe the congregation is painted as trouble-makers. Christians are a very small minority and locals tend not to pay them any attention.

12- Chinese follow lifestyle philosophies - Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Folk religions. It could be appropriate to refer to them as spiritual, rather then religious. Christianity and Islam is very small maybe 3% of population each.

13- Most Chinese are very proud of China.

14- The Chinese are not suppressed by the gov’t and it is not a police state. Majority of people are not interested in leaving China. Yes some criminals want to, to avoid punishment and others for job opportunities.

15- Chinese people are very practical and do not follow any ideology or dogma. Culturally family and friends are very important.

This is China today:

Written Aug 4 · View Upvotes · Answer requested by Luis Martinez

Read the post on Quora

Here is another perspective...

I feel that the most significant disconnect between foreign perception of China vs. reality is the over-generalisation of China based on media reports and the false assumption that somehow the Chinese hold a greater monopoly on negative things in the world.

China is a big, populous country and the Chinese are a 4,000 plus year old civilisation with numerous different dialects spoken today, even though most are able to speak Mandarin. There are a lot of news about China that gets reported in the foreign press that over time paints a specific picture about the country depending on how one subconsciously wishes (or as influenced by one's family, friends or colleagues) to see them as:

• Chinese products are inferior and unsafe. While there are more than enough real incidents backing up this view, many don't realise that the inferior goods are produced precisely because foreigners are willing to buy them at inferior good prices. The Chinese manufacturers are asked to produce low cost goods and so they produce low cost goods! If you pay them to produce iPhones, they will produce iPhones for you. You get what you pay for. Most laptop chargers are made in China and they don't break down or fry your laptop much. China runs half of the world's high speed rail network and they experienced the Wenzhou accident where 40 people died. There were 3 other high speed rail accidents involving fatalities, in Germany, Spain and France. This suggests that given their share of the world's high speed network, their track record seems to be on the positive side.
• The Chinese are stealing our manufacturing jobs. The Chinese are currently willing to work for longer hours at lower salaries than people in developed countries. You can choose to see it as they are job stealers or that they are hungrier than you and you have to think of how to be more productive via automation etc. Or you can see it as the Bangladeshis and Vietnamese work for even lesser manufacturing salaries so they are worse job stealers.
• The Chinese eat dogs and other disgusting things. Yes some Chinese eat dogs but the vast majority just don't eat it. Also the Vietnamese, Koreans and even some farmers in rural parts of Switzerland also eat dogs. And what about food eaten outside China like Casu marzu (rotten cheese), Rakfisk (fish fermented for up to a year),Smalahove (boiled lambs head) for Christmas etc. that are stomach churning for most of us.

So it's not so much misunderstanding as the reports in the foreign press are for the most part true but rather, the taking of some negative reports or incidents and assuming that most of the Chinese are guilty of them or have the same negative traits.

What do you think?