I have to admit to a fascination with rather simple-minded movies, sometimes I will go so far as to hold the likes of Karate Kid or Kung Fu (the TV series) responsible for setting me on the path that led me here.
High theory be damned; shallow movies and TV series can be fun and they tell the world more – and more about the world, I sometimes think. They are certainly received better than high-brow theories.

So, let’s have a look…

Link

Okay, obvious problems:

• First of all, it’s a bit too much of a regurgitation of the original plot (but the way it’s set, I don’t know if it’s meant for people who remember the original…).
  Apparently, if you shanzhai (copy) yourself, paying the original creators of the idea their fair due, and make money off customers with old wine in new bottles, it’s not copying, it’s creativity. Recycling of intellectual property, with proper payment – very ecologically-minded?
• Then, is that really a 12-year old in a story that is decidedly having a romantic twist? Or do kids nowadays really take middle school friendships that seriously? The original Karate Kid remained an immature weiner through the whole trilogy, in my opinion, but at least he was a teenager.
  I wonder if there is some influence to the whole “if your (American) kid is to have a good future, let it loearn Chinese”-attitude in that. Teenagers today might be too unruly…
• For that matter, getting a rather romantic twist set in a Chinese high school doesn’t talk to much appreciation for how those work…Sorry, but even university students get told that they should just be studying, not dating. But okay, let’s just call it a merely “friendship” story, as the makers seem to want it. – Though the Chinese are, again, not necessarily big on male-female friendship in school. Gender roles and socialization are one of the more fascinating issues (post upcoming).
• Most blatantly, getting the Great Wall to yourself, on a restored part? Nice cinematography (from a purely “nice scenery”-standpoint), but, wow, what an idea…

Then again, movies aren’t meant to be documentaries, and there is always the possibility of looking deeper. In keeping with that spirit, I won’t go into the stale “all Chinese know Kung-Fu, right?”

Dre immediately falls for his classmate … but cultural differences make such a friendship impossible
Quotes from the movie description on the official website

Well, seems a usual overrated problem. Easy to say, to make a plot point of, but friendship can be hard in a new place, anyways. And the cultural problem here seems to be another boy who is a bully – haven’t we seen that in other teen movies, regardless of culture?

…his mother’s latest career move has landed him in China
[and as she says when he utters the necessary complaint about his wanting to go home:]
This is home now!

One could talk quite a bit about (possible) racism and attitudes towards foreigners in China, and to what extent a foreigner would therefore feel at home, but there’s something deeper, more in-tune with the recent discussion in here: As the New York Times suggested, in an article that made it sound all too easy, Americans seem to increasingly head for China, the new promised land of economic opportunity.
No wonder people don’t quite know what to make of China when much of the information they can read or see about the country is of economic strength in a country with a single-party government seemingly hell-bent on keeping its power. Reality is more complicated than that, but who wants to see complications?

Especially in the movies, kiss. Or k.i.s.s. – keep it simple, stupid.

In all the simplicity, one thing is certainly noteworthy:

Japan seems to have become established. Kid goes to Tokyo, discovers it’s a pretty different and funky place, but not so funky after all (The Fast and the Furious, Tokyo Drift). Hell, Japanese even seems to have become a normal language that might just be spoken by kinda normal people: Hiro in “Heroes” is the prominent example; “Flash Forward” in one sub-plot recently also “went Japan,” and actually found that people speak Japanese there (whereas in Hong Kong, hardly anything other than English was spoken).

China, on the other hand, is the new rising-star of existent mythical realms. Mythical not just in the fascination and opportunity that the foreign, exotic, “other” offers for telling stories, but also in simple, cold-hard economic opportunity.

A question still to ponder:
What makes the situation so different nowadays that there is no “Rising Sun” about China?

Japan, it was feared, would outright buy up the USA. (In Europe, there was far less to none of such a fear.) Interestingly, this still worked even at a time when Japan had apparently already entered its “lost decade.” – I was in the USA in 1993/94, and the first high school I attended offered Japanese classes; articles on the Japanese way and threat were still around, as was the influence of the book/movie(Rising Sun).

China is holding treasury bills, is the workbench and wanting to become more than that, buying up foreign and keeping domestic raw materials, apparently making foreign business harder recently – not to mention the aforementioned attitude towards foreigners which is somewhere between totally open and xenophobic, maybe even both at once, depending on point of interpretation. And yet, it seems less of a discussion; certainly a different one, this time around…

Finally, if you happen to have an interest in cultural intelligence (such as David Livermore talks about, or maybe even more theoretical, “thicker,” as per Clifford Geertz), consider the “catching a fly with chopsticks”-scene in the trailer. It’s rich. Just two words: Pragmatic Chinese.

With people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, it’s only too clear that there will be differences. First of all, in the languages we grew up with and learned to speak; what subjects are considered topics for everyday speech, and which are rather sensitive; to what extent the communication is meant to support a social relationship or to be just the facts.

Intercultural communication has come to be of ever greater importance. Some people marry between cultures; some do international business; most come into some contact with people from other backgrounds. Maybe it has been given too much importance.

There are obvious blunders, areas of cultural sensitivity which one should know about. Most issues, however, are not all that sensitive. We may have misunderstandings, and more easily so when what we consider normal is different. Still, the differences between cultures hide both the variability within each and every culture, and the misunderstandings that can occur when people are supposed to understand each other anyways, coming from similar backgrounds, making them all the less aware and careful.

The trouble is that intercultural communication training – at least the kind you get from books and lectures – means only too well… Many times, it teaches all too many small things.
Knowing not to stick your chopsticks into the rice isn’t going to help you much in China when you find that people actually do, and don’t care. Or maybe they don’t, because they stick them in sideways, not truly upright. Knowing that an East Asian may not want to directly say “no” could be helpful, but when it makes you see every “I’ll think about it” as a “no,” it’s taking you too far.

The situation at hand is the important thing to consider: it is not helpful to communication not to know anything about the likelihood that a person from a different background will react differently to what one is used to. The things which are noticeable and noticed are less likely to be the problems, however. The trouble are the small things which go unnoticed except as a nagging issue, where both don’t know why the other is acting the way s/he is, but both are doing things only “the normal way.”

Intercultural communication, in most situations which truly matter, is direct communication between persons.

Listening, getting to know one’s opposite, as an individual person and not a representative of a culture, is one of the things that count most. The diversity between people, within culture, is always greater than the diversity between cultures. We are human beings, not machines, after all. Yet, we tend to act just the way we learnt to act, as if on-program – and when something outside the normal program happens, we react defensively.

Thus, maybe the most overlooked aspect of intercultural communication is the person in the mirror: oneself.

Many of the misunderstandings arise from the simple problem that we learn most about the other culture, what people of that do – but not always so much of what our own preconceptions are, let alone how to deal with them.

“Cultural intelligence” – like in David Livermore’s Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The New Secret to Success – goes there, focusing on the person in question and his/her psychological faculties. Training for these may be harder than simply reading some books about the wondrous ways in which those strange others from exotic lands talk and act, but more of a journey of self-discovery. It will also prepare you better to actually listen to what the other is communicating, and where you are reacting in ways that may not be appropriate for the new context you find yourself in.

First up: ChiliCult’s “Chilli-Laboratory” will get Chinese cooking class (or at least notes about cooking in China) added; a quick introductory post is online

Decided to discover the decade by making a clean slate… removed most of the earlier posts I had on here, from the time I used this blog to chronicle my time with Campus Europae in Latvia (see my write-up of experiences here), ending with my participation in the Bergmarathon 2008 (mountain marathon).

Now, for a focus truly on my experiences in China, seeking to become at home in this fascinating country.

One of the troubles with modern eating habits is that it is just too easy to go to a supermarket and buy meals which require not much more than to put them in the microwave. My personal béte noir for this is the “just add water”-pancake batter in a bottle.

Excuse me? Pancake batter?
That’s a cup of milk, an egg, and enough flour whipped in to make it a batter of desired consistency!

China, in this regard, fascinated me from the first day on.

There is something to say for being “backwards,” underdeveloped: it’s rather easier to go to the local market, buy fresh greens, vegetables, fruit, some tofu, a fish or a bit of meat. Okay, you can get the meat alive or butchered for you, you can also get dog (sometimes). Still, it’s a welcome change from having to get everything at the supermarket.

Thinking of Michael Pollan, that is how his “food rules” are implemented easily: Eat Food.
Not processed stuff. No high-fructose corn syrup.
Junk food? All you want, as long as you cook it yourself.
More greens.

Or is it easy?
Most of last year, I have been cooking. Now, I wonder if things have changed and can be tweaked a bit more.
So, I have decided – now that Spring Festival is coming up – to embark on a little experiment:
Except for the things which I already have at home (which is not much), the rest of the month I want to cook or bake myself, and otherwise do without processed foods. Make it from scratch, simply put.

I may have to make an exception for chocolate, but otherwise:

• fruit and nuts for snacks, not potato chips and Snickers bars;
• vegetables and, when called for, bits of meat as companion dishes to rice, not… well, actually, China doesn’t really have much in the way of ready-made meals, so that is already usual;
• self-baked cookies, if need be, not cookies with dubious ingredients which are expensive and gone within seconds

I’ll keep you updated and, with that, want to start blogging more how-to’s for Chinese cooking, as well…

http://opinion.globaltimes.cn/foreign-view/2010-01/501145.html

The Chinese countryside is scattered with posters urging people to remember that “Girls are just as good as boys,” but the surplus of men keeps rising.

According to a study released in April 2009 by the British Medical Journal, currently, 117 boys are born in China for every 100 girls, a rise from earlier figures of 108 to 100.

Gender screening during pregnancy, and follow up abortions, may be illegal, but they’re still common. Traditional thinking has combined with modern tools to create a gender gulf. But what impact will the imbalance have on Chinese culture?

Traditional Chinese society placed higher value on men, and thus sons. It was the sons who would continue the family name, go on working with their parents and support them. This is not just an aspect of Chinese culture, but is common in other societies as well. In fact, when my brother married and took his wife’s family name, some people asked me if I now had to keep mine – at which my mother immediately shook her head.

Women still face the “glass ceiling” in many careers too. Even in school, it is common to assume that men have more aptitude for the “important” subjects such as mathematics and sciences, whereas woman are better in the “soft” subjects such as languages. Often, this even goes to the point where it is thought that men were simply more talented and intelligent.

From actual data, however, we increasingly see that it is, in fact, the girls who study better at school, let alone at university.

Yet, there are still more boys than girls being born, because education isn’t the only value here. The one-child policy is clearly having an effect; families may only value boys a little more than girls, but if they only have one chance, they don’t want to waste it.

Another quality of Chinese social thought is the high value placed on family. A life is seen as incomplete without marriage and children. Typically, parents are also looking for a great match for their child. A potential husband has to be able to care for his wife, while a wife has to be cultivated, a good mother, and preferably pretty.

A part of that traditional thought is also that love takes second stage, at best, after practical considerations. The two potential partners have to be seen as fitting together. Character plays its part in that, but so do material, social status, and ethnic background.

Where does that leave the millions of Chinese men who, by 2020, will not be able to find a Chinese wife? What effect will this have on the culture?

Clearly, something has to give. Most analysts writing about this issue have been somewhat pessimistic, predicting a rise in human trafficking and prostitution, especially the import of foreign women from poorer countries and regions, such as Southeast Asia and eastern Russia, into China. Increasing numbers of young men may also make society more aggressive.

But let’s take a more positive approach. Regard for daughters will probably rise as well, as people recognize that daughters are usually easier than sons to raise into good adults who will learn well, work hard, and not forget about their parents. Most importantly, as the rarer of the sexes, they will have a better shot on the marriage market.

For the men things will get harder: The chances that the woman will have to be a foreigner will be better as there are simply too few Chinese women. The men will have to work particularly hard to attract and keep their partner, whether Chinese or foreign, since the women will have more choice.

The sooner it is realized that it is increasingly better to have a girl than to have a boy, and the sooner the old prejudices against women being educated too highly or reaching too powerful positions are abolished, the better it will be for China.

Women can’t be seen just as producers of the next generation of sons. Culture may change slowly, but the regions of Hong Kong and Taiwan, with similar cultures and traditions, both have low birth-rates and balanced gender ratios. The Chinese mainland clearly has the potential to change fast.

Here at university, the importance is easily apparent.
In contrast to Europe and the USA, where spring break is also important, but has nothing to do with that “family” festival of Christmas (let alone New Year’s), Chinese students’ spring break can end up being as long as summer break; it is the time for family reunion in celebration of the new year, and marks much more of a turning point in the annual cycle.
A small sign of that is how students can get train tickets to get back home a bit more easily than others. This is what we can see in the “20 sec China” video: As the local train station is not in operation now, ticket booths were opened on campus itself.

It is not just students, though. Everybody who has family will try to get together, even if it means a long journey on crowded transportation. And that’s if you get lucky enough and get a ticket. Indeed, everyone is expected to get back home, back together with their family, in one of the typical Chinese “scripts” for life (which will be further explored in a later post).

Foreigners who stay in China during both Christmas and Spring Festival are seen with some puzzlement. True, Christmas and New Year’s holidays are basically one, and Westerners do like to get together with their families for exchanging gifts at Christmas, and to visit relatives around Christmas or New Year’s. Chinese oftentimes seem to get misled by the proximity of the two events in time, and the similarity with Chinese New Year in appearance, though. This is evident in how Christmas banners in Chinese stores may be wishing Merry Christmas in English and a Happy New Year in Chinese, and often stay up until Spring Festival is over.

Whereas Christmas, as a religious celebration at heart, is actually not a festival shared by all members of Western countries, Chinese society is much more uniform.
As a result, Spring Festival produces the well-known virtual stand-still – and war zone-like sputter of fireworks – all over the country. Where it is much more of a personal decision how (or even whether) you celebrate Christmas, it is a matter of course that Spring Festival will be celebrated by all. And where the meaning of family, when it comes to Christmas, is mainly connected with parents and young children – so that young adults are at least as likely to celebrate with their parents as they are to just get together with friends or their partner, – family in China is still a very strong unit, in thought and in practice. (In fact, although there is more thought about oneself as member of a group in China than in the West, it may be more appropriate to talk of a Chinese “familialism” rather than collectivism.)
It is, thus, also a matter of course that students and even young couples would be getting back home to their parents. For migrant workers, Spring Festival may even be the only time in the year when they return to their home province, their parents, even their children. It is also the time when workers oftentimes decide whether they will stay at home, return to their former work, or take up new employment.

Christmas and New Year’s, in the end, have many things in common with Spring Festival: there are traditional foods, there are gifts, there is the idea of families getting together, and they both mark the change to a new year. These commonalities, as is so often the case between China and the West, can provide links to understanding. They can also easily be misunderstood and lead us to think we know each other when, in fact, we do not truly understand. These differences are far from insurmountable, but it takes an open mind and a careful consideration of the respective “other.”

One obvious thing first: it seems common for Chinese *not* to wait in line but to follow a “me first”-attitude. Obviously, it’s not always so.

Secondly, if you ever had to buy train tickets in China as spring break is getting closer, you would appreciate being cut a bit of slack. Sorry, but it’s just for the students, and only because Xiangtan train station currently doesn’t operate.

And, anyways: why does everyone have to get back home for spring festival? Read more on Chinese New Year and what it tells about China’s society here.

So, what does it take to feel at home; does it make any sense for me to be writing a blog entitled “at home in China”? (I realize one issue with the latter is that I haven’t been the most prolific writer; it’s my unmade new year’s resolution to write regularly.)

Let’s get to two quotidian, and at the same time central, issues first: language and food.

Chances are, when you go to a foreign country, you are and feel like an adult, but you are also rather like a small child. After all, you can’t talk yet. Even having studied the language, you talk differently, in ways that are not quite conventional and probably don’t (immediately) understand all that much. In China, in particular, there are different regional variations of the Chinese language, and even more dialects. Of course, one can still live comfortably in many places, knowing just the basics – if that. Thinking of deeper issues, however, the importance of language returns with a vengeance.

In my case, being here as German teacher, there is way too much contact with languages I already know, and far too little need to go beyond the bare essentials of Chinese. I am working on it, and noticing more and more just how appropriate the Chinese way of learning (which seems to be one of the main impediments to foreign language studies in China) is to the study of the Chinese language. There is a very strong need to sit down and practice writing, review and practice by reciting, go on – and review, then repeat…

The other major issue one encounters more than once-a-day is, of course, food. There is no coming home in a different place if it is not accompanied (or, more likely, preceded) by a liking for the food. In a place like China, this can be particularly striking.

Much non-Chinese food is hard to come by outside of the bigger cities in China, and when it can be found, it’s very expensive in comparison to normal food.

Tastes are also, of course, noticeably different; Chinese sweets are oftentimes decidedly not-sweet to the European palate, meats on the market are oftentimes so fresh, they could still run (or fly, or jump, or swim) away, and people actually like to see that meat is not grown in a vat – so, of course there are bones (and fish heads, and chicken feet).
Meat is also a more-expensive ingredient, and therefore oftentimes used as more of a spice, cut very small, in as many dishes as possible. The importance is best illustrated by the variety of fake meat dishes one often finds around Buddhist temples. No meat in them, but at least the taste of it – surely, you wouldn’t want to do without that, would you?

Then, there is the issue of the rather peculiar tastes and things one may encounter. Hunan’s chile pepper-laden dishes are not a problem for me, they are a reason I’m here; but, of course, not everyone would concur. At the beginning of my time here, I was decidedly not fond of chou doufu (“stinky tofu”). To the uninitiated, it’s a great dieting method: sniff, and you don’t feel hungry anymore. Except, I recently noticed my mouth watering upon a waft of freshly frying chou doufu…

Lastly (at least for now), there is the matter of conditions and orientations: Speaking as an ecologist and anthropologist, this is particularly fun for it is, in a way, a matter of environment and adaptation; the bread and butter of my disciplines.

As for environment/conditions: living in China makes it obvious that China is, in most respects, still a developing country. Most of the time, the accusations which are leveled at the country don’t play much of a role. Youtube and Facebook are blocked, but basically all news sites can be accessed; you have a one-party government, but usually what counts is that the situation is stable. Still, it is cold now, and of course there is no heating, basically no insulation to the houses; electricity sometimes gives out, and so on…

Not least, the country’s opening has not been far enough back for foreigners to have become a truly normal sight. Thus, and also given that further socio-cultural aspects make for a society that manages to be rather closed and over-accommodating at the same time, one is not usually integrated too well.
Still, it is possible to work with cultural competence, and be made to feel very well at home. The language, of course, is a major influence in this regard.

Personal orientations, in the end, play at least as much of a role as the host societies’ openness: Some (many, actually) expats apparently come to China for the adventure, feel quite at home in the bars, and think they have experienced China; some (maybe) want to be accepted and treated as absolute equals, without any cross looks and comments about the “laowai.”

My personal attitude, maybe due to personal factors, definitely also a side-effect of my professional training, is that there needs to be a second socialization into a host culture, and that – as long as it is open enough for that – it is always possible to reach a point where one is culturally competent enough to be a functioning member of that society. So far, I’m definitely just at the point of being able to take (most) things as they are, go on, and feel at home notwithstanding the downsides and paradoxa there are.

Okay, so sometimes I also just go for a touristy shot - I must admit, though, it made me realize that I truly am in China. Also the Communist China one hears about in the news, with military parade at Tiananmen and all...