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.

Update: Later, this article even made it into the Chinese edition (translated, of course – and not by me)… kinda funky.

Chinese and foreign commentators, often at odds with each other, are of one mind when it comes to China’s younger generation.

Raised as single children, the sole center of attention for the whole family, and in a society that values children very highly, they are seen as having become spoiled.

Moreover, growing up during a time of rapid economic growth, many hold that they did not learn to push themselves or to endure hardship.

Looking at my students, I must say that the picture looks very different. The comparison between younger people in Central Europe and in China is particularly interesting.

If one went by levels of development or cultural backgrounds, one would expect few similarities. In fact, however, the basic problems of the young generation are strikingly similar.

Take education and job prospects for example. There are obvious differences in education, of course. What is seen as the normal way of treating the young in China, pushing them to study hard and forget about most other things – love and relationships, in particular – would in Europe be seen as a form of coercion that infringes on teenagers’ rights and personality.

Of course, this is a mixed bag: It gives more freedom and, as the younger generation and their parents are rather similar in many respects, causes fewer quarrels than might be expected.

On the other hand, it has resulted in some children and teenagers who can hardly be controlled anymore, even when it would be for their own good.

Where European teenagers are encouraged to start making decisions for themselves, especially in working toward a career of their choice, Chinese children are pushed along by parents and teachers.

Still, the focus on choice and individual freedom only hides that in both cases, the school often determines future education and (partly) careers. In China, parents use every resource to attempt to get children into better schools, knowing it will lead to better universities.

In Central Europe, whether a child attends a more academically-oriented high school (the German Gymnasium) or a standard Hauptschule usually determines whether he/she will get a university education or start working immediately – in a learnt job requiring less qualification, of course.

When it comes to choosing careers, there are again two very different – and yet somewhat similar – approaches.

In Europe (as in the US), the idea is to plan your career, to find something to study and then to work on that you are good at and want to do. In practice, it also takes a lot of knowledge and experience, and often comes down to who you know and whether you get a lucky break.

On the upside, there are many choices and those who choose to study something out of interest know what they are taking on.

It is still seen as something of a failure not to find employment in the field you studied, but even more flexibility is required.

More and more “normal” careers, more and more, are not even expected anymore. With this, insecurity is on the rise, but so are the creativity and thrift necessary to make a living working on what you want to do.

In China, guided by parents who grew up in difficult times, and following the notion that marriage is out of the question if the male partner doesn’t have stable employment, the young seem to be chasing after a dream that is (outside of government employ) even more elusive.

Things are rather similar in that connections (guanxi) and luck are needed to find employment. However, with the focus being so strongly on stability, both parents and children are looking for fixed career paths.

The idea is that if you can only get into a good school and university, study hard without question, and then find a little help, you will get that job. As a side effect, opportunities are missed, diplomas count more than actual knowledge, and creativity is stifled.

To develop the country further will take well-educated people willing to think outside standard career paths, able to apply and deepen the skills and knowledge they are gaining through their college education.

As a teacher, and a foreigner to boot, I can bring in new perspectives. Ultimately, however, it is up to the new wave of students to find their own strengths, and to the society to at least allow them to thrive, and better still to support them.

At the very least, we need to supply young people with practical skills as well as theoretical knowledge during their studies. We also need to help them find out what their strengths and interests are, and how they could use them in new and growing fields.

Recently, the opinion pages of the Global Times have seen a lot of debate over such thorny issues as the relationships between older Western men and young Chinese women, and the tricky subject of living together before marriage.

Relationships, especially families, form the basis of society, and so it’s no wonder that they draw a lot of attention, especially in a rapidly changing society like China’s.

Abroad, too, Chinese society and social mores have garnered interest, but, as so often when dealing with another culture, only the more extreme cases are considered.

When the German media writes about Chinese relationships, for instance, they write about mistresses and er nai (second wives), not the ordinary, often loving couples that make up the norm.

Of course, it’s only natural that the media seeks out the most remarkable events and behaviors. The problem is that it starts to sound as if either the worst cases were the norm, or as if there is only one way in which all people behaved and had to behave.

We have to stop simplifying each other’s cultures. I am a Western man, and as such I sometimes shake my head at topics in China that in Europe were passed by long ago, such as cohabitation before marriage.

Equally, the only way in which the issue of a woman’s virginity before marriage usually surfaces in Europe is in cases of “honor killings” among some immigrant families who murder daughters who’ve had sex out of wedlock, or are merely suspected of doing so.

Talk of “virginity” as an inherent good that has to be protected therefore has a very negative ring for many Europeans.

At the same time, I know traditional European culture well. And what is typical for weddings there? A white wedding dress, signifying purity, innocence, and virginity. (There are still jokes about some brides not being suitable to wear white.) Devout Catholics, and some other Christians, still value virginity too.

Thus, I can at least partially understand the Chinese attitude, which isn’t entirely absent from my own culture.

My personal attitude, too, is that I would rather wait than be with someone just for a little bit of fun – but that’s my way of thinking. Friends of mine think and act differently, and I don’t value them any less for it.

This way, knowing that I am a Western man is not really going to tell you anything more than what my looks may be like.

The problem is that both Chinese and Westerners are often so stereotyped in each other’s minds that both sides make unwarranted assumptions about people purely by their ethnicity. For instance, the US is often seen as “open,” both liberal and with loose morals, by Chinese.

As a result, American women, such as a blonde-haired friend of mine, often have to suffer quite a few unwanted advances from Chinese men.

They assume that just because she’s American she must be sexually easy and available for affairs. Unfortunately for them, she’s looking not for adventure, but a life partner.

When it comes to relationships, we should be thinking about the individuals, not the culture. The most important thing is that the two people who come together are a good couple.

That is one thing that troubles me about Chinese attitudes; the frequent materialism with which young women say they’re looking for a man who can support them financially, or when young men say they want to wait for marriage until they feel they can afford it.

Yet, again, this practical attitude can be found in Germany, too!

Everything depends on the people, not on the country. Certainly, we are all shaped by different cultures, but we also come from different families, have different ideas and personalities.

Don’t miss the person for the people, or vice versa. We think we know what somebody must be like because we know where they come from – but if we don’t take the trouble to find out about them as individuals, we will never truly know them.

“Have you got used to the food?” After “Where are you from?,” this is the most common question for foreigners in China.

Food is an essential element of Chinese culture, and people know that strangers may like it, but also find it hard to manage. This is mirrored by friends and relatives outside of China asking if one finds enough decent things to eat. Attitudes toward Chinese food go along the lines that it is very strange and hard to get used to, but it is also an expression of China’s long history and diversity.

Nowadays, the food situation seems to reflect China’s rapid growth, with little regard for environmental and health considerations.

As someone involved in the debate over slow food, including sustainable development and its relationship with the way we eat and the relationship between food security and agricultural diversity, there is another side to this story. The price and availability of different kinds of food is a major influence on normal diets, and China’s less developed agricultural economy, with its relative lack of large scale industrial production and supermarket sales, is actually a great asset.

Of course, if one looks at GDP alone, it may be most efficient to industrialize agriculture, and have few farmers and large fields cultivated using heavy machinery. When producing for the international market, it can be better to sell processed goods than the agricultural products themselves. Traditional Chinese products could be a hit on the global market; I was recently at the China International Capsicum Expo (on chile peppers and products made from them), and though much of the production is not yet at a level where it could work on the global market, it could move there very well. Modern plant breeding and growing methods have also brought about much needed increases in yield.

It’s all too easy, though, to see industrial development as the only path forward. In developed countries, however, we’ve seen the damage done by a focus only on production and profit; a food culture focused only around unthinking consumption, and the resulting epidemic of obesity, tooth decay, and diabetes – so closely linked to the Western food culture that they’ve been grouped together as the “diseases of civilization” when they’ve impacted traditional cultures like Samoa.

The costs to individual and public health are growing; food companies are profiting, but the only benefit to ordinary people is low prices for bad food.

In China, in contrast, one of the first things I noticed was how prevalent market stands selling fresh fruit and vegetables are. Typically, sweets or convenience food from the supermarket will be the more expensive choice. Compare this to the village in Europe where I grew up, where the local fruit and vegetable seller had to close a decade ago as people got more and more used to driving to the supermarket and buying ready-made “meals.”

Nowadays, it is the poor and less educated people in Europe and the US who have a problem with obesity and malnutrition. Well-educated and richer people are the ones who have the time, motivation, and money to go to markets, select carefully, and actually cook meals.

This, in fact, is why food is a part of culture; it’s not just about meeting immediate needs, but about coming together to share meals and finding ways to be and remain healthy.

China has a good chance to avoid the “diseases of civilization,” and to maintain an agricultural economy that is both local and integrated into the world markets. With the variety of ingredients in traditional Chinese food, and the high regard that local cuisine is held in, China still has a more healthy food environment than the US or many parts of Europe.

The challenge is to find ways to keep these traditions alive, to modernize agriculture in ways that don’t blindly follow the industrial model, and to clean up the environment so that the food is clean and healthy. For the pleasure of eating, and for the survival of an ancient food culture, it is a worthy struggle.

Much is being said about China’s education system. Whether gaokao is the best – or at least fairest – system possible or a way to test nothing but nerves and rote memory; how education supposedly destroyed rather than promoted creativity; or simply how the students were too passive and lax.

My experience is with universities abroad, and now in China. No matter where I studied, worked, or simply talked with teachers or professors, the students at colleges or those getting an online education were always too passive, not quite as hard working as they could be, not quite creative enough. (To be honest, I don’t find myself to be as hard working and creative as I would like to be.)

What I find most striking in China, however, is the value that is placed on learning, and a contradiction within that: In traditional Chinese culture, education was one of the highest values, a way to better one’s social standing. And it still is. Students, by and large, seem to be a lot more motivated in China than other places I have been.

Unfortunately, however, the system is such that the final exams at the end of the year, and the graduation certificate at the end of the studies, appear to have too much importance.

The content of the studies, on the other hand, does not have quite the importance it should.
It is not for gaining an academic degree, that one goes to university, it is to get an education, to learn skills and gain qualifications to use in one’s life.

In the field of foreign languages that I work in, this contradiction is very noticeable if one compares the European Union’s system of classifying language skills and Chinese students’ abilities. The EU ranks qualifications from a basic level, the ability to communicate about simple issues of daily life; through medium qualification, at which the language learner can communicate freely in both oral and written form about topics related to studies, family and life; and on to an advanced level, approaching or equal to the language skills of a native speaker.

When it comes to grammar and vocabulary, in theory and for direct translation, many Chinese students are at the intermediate level after an amazingly short time of study – but the ability to communicate effectively, to understand and express arguments, is often very limited. Much of the learning is oriented on passing the exams, not on communication.

Oftentimes, I think that it may be here that many foreign teachers are misled into thinking that there is a general lack of creativity.

Actually, when the language skill is high enough to be applied to an interesting task, I find as many of my Chinese students to be very creative, and as many disinterested, as abroad. Given that this is within a system of teaching that is different from the Western model I use, and given that they are working in a foreign language, I am impressed.

After all, I think it is more of a challenge to the foreign teachers to try and find ways to get the students engaged than it is a failure of “the system” or “the students.” That is not to say that there are no challenges to universities and students, of course.

Most importantly, it feels as if Chinese universities, having grown so quickly, are at a point where universities in my country of origin, Austria, were about a decade ago: with universities standing apart from normal work life.

Universities were trying to argue that their purpose is to produce scientists. Having had to become more responsive to the job market, every study course now has to explain not only what knowledge the students will have to learn, but what skills that they can offer to employers they will acquire, and what careers this opens up. In the future, a university diploma alone will probably not be enough in China, either.

So, it is up to the students to look for ways in which they can deepen their skills and work
on their employability.

In China, this challenge of proving oneself and one’s worth, given the highly competitive nature of the job market for graduates, is certainly even more of a challenge than in Europe or the US.

It is also an approach that universities have barely started using. And universities need to consider what their reason for existence is: to equip students with the skills they will need to build a successful life and a strong country, not merely to hand out a diploma.

For teachers – and first of all, I’m grabbing myself by my own big nose when it comes to this – the challenge is to be responsible for their students, learning to be even better themselves, too.

The flu is never a joking matter, yet it is easy enough to make fun of seemingly exaggerated measures when one is just sitting at home. Seen through the PC screen, this pandemic pales in comparison to what disaster movies make us think a pandemic should be like. Getting on an airplane in times like this brings the issue much closer, and makes some things appear in a different light.

Just recently, I traveled to Hong Kong. Just how small this world has become, how difficult it has become to prevent the spread of a virus, is nowhere more evident than when traveling by air. On the plane, health reports had to be filled in; videos informed about proper precautions; at the airport, thermal scanners were used to control passengers’ body temperatures. Even in the city, signs of concern were seen in many places: plastic over elevator’s buttons, admonishments to protect hygiene on public transport. Yet, of course, life goes on.

The natural scientist in me wants to say that many of those measures are probably not very effective. Somebody with an A(H1N1) infection on an airplane could spread the virus far and wide before showing symptoms, so there is probably little that can be done. In Hong Kong in particular, air conditioning is also used so widely and set to such a low temperature (whereas the outside temperatures are very high), that it would be easy to develop symptoms of a cold just because of that. And so far, A(H1N1) is less strong a disease than the normal flu in any event.

There is no reason to become complacent, though. In the end, although I would probably be unhappy if I had landed in quarantine (I didn’t, and there are no symptoms of anything), I am rather impressed by the Chinese approach: Upon return, there were similar health forms to be filled in again, but there was also a body temperature check by protected personnel while we were still on the airplane. From what I can tell, this alone is a more stringent measure than other countries are taking, and in the end, I think it is a good one.

With the normal flu season coming up soon enough, it is better to be extra cautious. And for China, I’m afraid to say, it is particularly necessary. Before the advent of swine flu, there was great fear about avian flu coming from China. A new flu virus that combines different flu genes could easily arise here. It would be a great strain on the Chinese healthcare system, and it would be just what many foreign media do often seem to be waiting for, some kind of “yellow peril.” Some may say that the quarantine is too much, it certainly is not a perfect measure – but China is in a situation of “damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

The quarantine measures seem a bit much, but letting the flu slip into the country without doing as much as possible certainly wouldn’t be helpful, would be used to argue that China was not open and cautious enough. Therefore, both considering public health and thinking of world opinion, I was happy to comply with the measures being taken, and am happy they are being taken. “Better safe than sorry” nowhere applies more than when it comes to A(H1N1) at its present stage.

The announcement that PCs sold in China after July 1 will have to include “Green Dam” Internet filtering software has caused a lot of reactions, both in China and abroad. Of course, some of the fears raised abroad are the usual ones, of a China that is trying to control its citizens too much.

Many of these criticisms look very different when one is in China, where the citizens might see these controls on objectionable content as a nuisance, if they even think of them at all. But for now I want to focus on a comparison between the approaches to questionable online content, between China and Germany.

Germany recently had a wide-ranging debate about child pornography. It is not only morally very bad, it is also highly illegal, but the Internet has made it only too easy to spread such material. Consequently, it has been discussed whether the government should require Internet service providers and Web hosts to control such content.

“Debate” may be the key word here, however: newspapers report about it, TV discusses it, and the control – if it ever becomes instituted – is at a point removed from the individual user. In effect, it would be a filtering system not unlike what China has been doing so far (which, by the way, I don’t usually notice, whereas foreign media often make it sound as if half of the Internet cannot be reached from China).

If the German government were to announce it is handing out free Internet security software including filters for pornography, many people would gladly take it. Many software packages include some feature for child protection. Even Google’s image search includes a filter to provide “safe search.”

There lies the difference, however: there would have to be a public announcement, first of all, of the intent to do so. Government procurement protocol – even if it sometimes is just protocol – would make it necessary to let different producers of security software make offers of what product with which features they could provide at what cost.

Sure, this would all take a long time. In the end, however, especially if accompanied by a campaign to educate the people about the problematic side of the Internet, free security software would gladly be accepted by most people.

In China, however, the announcement came suddenly: Windows 7 is basically finished, but PC makers will get it in July, and it will be in stores and on PCs at the end of October.

The required installation of “Green Dam,” however, was only announced just recently, and shall be in force from the beginning of July – not much time at all. Furthermore, testing by computer software experts at the University of Michigan showed that the software would make a PC insecure, making it possible for hackers to steal data. And besides, why should it be installed on every PC?

A country may, at best, be like a family. Still, the parents need to lead by good example, good advice, and good practice. Grown-up children will have to be treated differently from young ones. So, a manager on his work PC will probably not need a porn filter, but every parent will consider taking it if it is free and works as it should.

On the occasion of the “China and Global Climate Change” conference I’m participating in, at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, today and tomorrow – and it even made it into their “Top Stories” links…

Full text below the fold:

China has become strong enough to surpass Germany as the third-largest national economy. Even suffering from the global recession, China’s economy is still growing. One has to have the greatest respect for the achievements of the last 30 years. Yet, the challenges ahead are going to be tougher still – measures against climate change seem to threaten the recovery and further progress, but climate change is threatening all prior gains. So, the talks on the road to a successor treaty to the Kyoto protocol are hard.

Chinese politicians, very rightly, point out that the West tends to measure with a double standard.

Industrialized countries’ affluence was built on cheap oil. Their development caused by far the largest share of the emissions that are now recognized as problematic. This is conveniently overlooked in arguing that all countries now need to reduce future emissions.

Industrialized countries tend to celebrate their emissions reductions and criticize China’s rising emissions. A share of these reductions was not really achieved, however, but only “outsourced” to China when moving manufacturing here. Now, conveniently, these emissions are China’s problem.

China’s rise to the third-largest economy – and the largest emitter of CO2 – is taken to imply that the country has an obligation to reduce its emissions. It is less popular to look at GDP and emissions per capita, which puts the issue into a very different perspective. China, if compared by population size, still has low productivity, low material affluence, and low emissions. Industrialized countries, meanwhile, want to see and portray themselves as exemplary for their highly developed way of life. The resources used and emissions generated are so large, however, that such a lifestyle must be changed, and must not be the example for others to follow. In this regard, all countries are developing countries; change may even be harder for industrialized countries because it appears to mean giving up some of their affluence.

At present, all attention is on the new treaty. It is understandable that China, where economic development has brought millions out of poverty, is very concerned about its economic effects. Even the US and Europe, although in a very different position, are not changing as dramatically as would befit their status. China, although looking for its own ways, is so far following a Western model of development only too well, although the problems that this creates – even without counting the effects climate change could very well cause – are clear. Thus, all the mutual criticism, no matter how justified, is of little use when the whole world needs to change toward sustainability. Thus, the focus on emissions reductions is short-sighted. In fact, what we need to work toward are economies and ways of life that function better, satisfy human needs and protect our environment.

The challenge of a change toward sustainability, in the end, may pose a peculiar opportunity for China: looking over the unfairness of some of the arguments, China could show that it has not only been gaining power, but aims for greatness as it develops toward sustainability.

China has a chance to improve its environmental situation as it gets better at serving its citizens, and to develop its economy toward alternative energy and products designed to satisfy human needs while having as little negative effect on the environment as possible.

As it does this, it can put other countries to shame (which would certainly get them working on environmental improvements, too).

The expenses necessary to develop alternative energies that are focused more on quality and sustainability rather than headlong growth are great, but given China’s commitment to stimulus spending, it is not impossible.

It would be a good investment in the future.

Walking through shopping areas in China is an interesting experience. There is a combination of brands that is quite peculiar. What one does not find elsewhere, and what catches the foreigner’s eye most, are those labels that try to look like a Western brand, but obviously aren’t.

Sometimes, Western designers copy – or rather, look abroad to find inspiration. Using a few Chinese characters has become rather popular. They are considered elements of culture that is nowadays global. Some critics consider it a new form of colonialism, but when I asked some Chinese friends, they couldn’t care less. The argument was that, if you liked the design, you could take and use what you wish, both ways – at least, as long as it’s not offensive.

Thinking of some of the pseudo-brands and “English” phrases one finds on many products in China, this alone may explain a lot. Products simply look good or don’t, are affordable or too expensive. At least amongst the Chinese friends I spoke with, this was the important issue. There is a good side and a bad to that.

On the positive, there is not – yet? – such a strong brand consciousness and the associated social pressure. In some parts of the world, not wearing what’s “in” is equal to social death. (Interestingly, in this regard, China seems rather more individualistic.) I wanted to know whether it’s just the money that keeps people from buying Western brand products, and the verdict was that they would always choose based on price and value. Rationality still seems to prevail.

Still, Western brands and products are afforded a certain cachet. Not only are they more expensive, they are also marketed to a premium segment, to people who can afford them and care about the image, looks and quality. All national pride aside, when in doubt, Western brand-name products will usually be seen as being of higher quality – somewhat ironically, given that many of those products are made in China.

Perhaps this is why the look of Western labels is used, and why you see so many Western models advertising Chinese products: the surface look and whether it meets with favor is the number one consideration; price and value, including quality, the other. And copying the surface of a brand while trying to be as cheap as possible seems to be an attempt at getting the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, it results in products that aren’t as good as they could be, and in “brands” that aren’t brands.

Here is the downside, then: A brand name is not just a name. It is supposed to deliver a value, even imbue its wearer with an aura of success, health, youth, stylishness – you name it. Companies spend lots of money to create and maintain this association. Words and ideas, labels and brands, all carry connotations. A large number of Chinese products, unfortunately, have few connotations other than “cheap.”

Trying to look good and be cheap, but not even delivering on the promise of affordable quality, is not going to lead far. As China is industrializing and changing from being the mere workbench of the world to becoming a global player in its own right, it takes more than cheap production. To build up China’s own brand names will take confidence in a label, quality control to back it up, creativity and good communication. The resources are there, and achieving this would be good both for pride and for practice – but it takes the will to support creative thinking.