Something New in China

[Wolfman]

I assume that everyone's heard about the earthquake in China by now. As of last count, over 40,000 dead, and over 5 million homeless. It is shocking, it is tragic...it is one of those things that tends to just leave you feeling numb.

And yet, for all the tragedy here, I want to highlight one positive aspect that I see coming out of this; something related not just to the earthquake victims, but to China as a whole, and how the society is developing.

To appreciate how significant this change is, I first need to give some background about Chinese culture, both ancient and modern. Chinese culture is, of course, based on Confucianism. And Confucianism teaches a very specific form of society, and responsibility within that society. Confucius described a world in which relationships are divided into a series of concentric circles. The first circle is your immediate family, towards whom you have a duty that cannot be denied or ignored. The next circle is close friends. The third is your immediate community (work colleagues, people living in the same neighborhood as you, etc.). Then those living in the same town/city as you. Then those living in the same province as you. Then those living in the same country as you. This is, necessarily, a gross oversimplification, it is actually more complicated, but it serves for purposes of illustration.

This is very different from the Judeo-Christian ethic that we are all 'brothers' or 'neighbors', and that we generally have an equal responsibility towards everyone else.

The result? In the West, we tend to feel a sense of responsibility to help those in need, even if they are people with whom we have no immediate connection. They may be people in our own country, but with whom we have no contact; they may be people in other countries.

In China, that is not the case. I'm not saying that Chinese are selfish; there are tons of stories of Chinese who leave their home, become rich, and then return home and donate huge amounts of money to their community to help the poor, build schools, etc. But the thing is, they will only do it for their specific community. They feel no great responsibility or desire to help those who are in the 'outer circles' of relationships.

I run my own non-profit charity organization in China, and this has proven to be one of the more frustrating aspects of my work -- when I tell Chinese about it, their response is generally, "Wow, that's really great, you are doing something special, but its not my responsibility". By far the vast majority of my support comes from foreigners.

China has faced numerous natural disasters in recent history -- floods that left millions homeless, a blizzard that killed thousands and immobilized southern China, etc. And Chinese have donated. But all such efforts have been seen as the exclusive responsibility of the government.

The government decides what action to take. The government decides how much money people should give. Everyone does what the government says. And their responsibility ends there.

But not this time.

Perhaps it is because the news coverage is so much more thorough this time -- the government is showing everything, not trying to cover it up. Perhaps it is because of the scale of the disaster. Perhaps it is because of the influence of Western culture. Perhaps it is just a normal part of the development of a more affluent society. But for the first time ever that I have seen in China, the Chinese people are feeling personal responsibility, and taking personal initiative to get involved and help out.

In cities all across China, there are grassroots efforts to collect money, food, water, tents, etc., that are being organized by regular Chinese citizens, with no urging or control from the government. Every day, the newspaper is filled with stories about Chinese who have taken it upon themselves to go to Sichuan and help with the rescue/relief efforts.

Logistically, this isn't always a good thing. These volunteers have a tendency to collect too much of one thing, and not enough of another. Or they get in the way of the professional rescue/relief teams, causing more trouble than help.

But the simple fact that so many Chinese, all across the nation, are feeling this spontaneous need to get involved and help, absolutely blows me away; it is unprecedented, it has never happened here before. And while it may not be the most efficient means of actually helping those caught in the earthquake, I think it represents a major paradigm shift within China...one of very great significance.

It remains to be seen what will happen as the urgency of the current situation dies down. But in the midst of all the tragedy being pasted across the newspapers and TV screens every day, I wanted to highlight another, more positive aspect.

 

[coalesce]

How of this, do you think, is owed to the fact that China was far more open about the scope of this situation at both home and abroad? In other words, once ordinary citizens saw exactly what the situation was, and not just what the government wanted them to see, that they were spurred into action, seeing how much needed to be done and not just trusting that the government had everything under control simply because it said it did.

Michael

 

[Wolfman]

How of this, do you think, is owed to the fact that China was far more open about the scope of this situation at both home and abroad? In other words, once ordinary citizens saw exactly what the situation was, and not just what the government wanted them to see, that they were spurred into action, seeing how much needed to be done and not just trusting that the government had everything under control simply because it said it did.

Michael

I think that was part of it, certainly...but I personally think there's much more to it than that. China's had other disasters recently -- floods, and a blizzard -- that were covered quite extensively in the media, yet there was no similar reaction.

I'd say it is a complex intermixing of many different elements. Once, certainly, is the media. Another would be the sheer shock value...the number of lives lost, the number of homes destroyed. Another would be shifting societal values...a sense in the younger generation that they are no longer bound to simply follow the government's lead. Another would be a greater sense that they actually can take individual action that makes a difference (a concept that is relatively new to Chinese culture).

You might consider that there were a number of different factors, all being stirred about in the pot, bubbling just under the surface...and the earthquake was the catalyst that brought it out into the open. I personally think that, in future perspectives on China's development, this is going to prove to be a pivotal moment. The moment that the nation, particularly its young people, realized that they did not in fact have to rely on the government, and that they could personally take action.

In Beijing alone, regular Chinese citizens have set up more private non-profit charity organizations in the last week than I have seen set up previously in the past five years. Most are focused on the earthquake...but others are focused on helping the elderly, or migrant workers, or other such targets.

 

[casebro]

"Something New in China" ???

I can finally replace that old Waterford stuff?

 

[Soapy Sam]

I think the interesting comparison for many in the west is between the Chinese government's genuine commitment to help its people and the shameful Burmese ostrich act.
The Olympic torch dog and pony show cost the Chinese government quite a lot in credibility. They seem to have redeemed themselves over the earthquake. The appearance is that when the chips are down, they actually get off their backside and try.

 

[Foolmewunz]

Wolfman,

I'd like to posit three legitimate possibilities for this new attitude. (Foregoing the obvious one - that the government seems to have intelligently sanctioned "caring for others".)

Media - this was picked up as a news story and being a natural disaster, no one bothered to check with big brother and the government didn't have time to contemplate their navels and come up with their usual reaction, "Oh no, this would embarass us." By the time the news was out and people were watching it on TV, there was no logical reason to suppress it or make it lighter. Given sufficient time, they might've still over-reacted.

This is also a quake that hit in a dense population center and shook buildings as far away as Shanghai, where people felt the tremors so much that about eighteen million were out in the streets rather than risk being in a building that was rocking. This would've been pretty hard to suppress, even if they'd wanted to.

The biggest thing, though, is the growing middle class. The last massive quakes in China were in an era when there was no disposable income to speak of. They were still in the throes of the Maoist era, post Gang of Four, and no one farted downwind without the government's say so. Now, with a massive middle class, and the daily freedoms to work where you want and change jobs and such, the Chinese are individually able to make decisions to a much greater extent than in the past. The Chinese sense of community has always been powerful. Something that Mao could only achieve at bayonet point is now happening through the natural course of change. They've now begun to think of their country as their community. The wording of the appeal for donations written up in my Dalian office said, "Let's collect money on pay day when we have a few extra yuan in our purses. Our brothers and sisters need our help."

I agree with you that it's a radical shift. For the first time in my six years in our Asian organization, I didn't have to spearhead a collection. Someone (several someones) beat me to it.

 

[Wolfman]

I think the interesting comparison for many in the west is between the Chinese government's genuine commitment to help its people and the shameful Burmese ostrich act.
The Olympic torch dog and pony show cost the Chinese government quite a lot in credibility. They seem to have redeemed themselves over the earthquake. The appearance is that when the chips are down, they actually get off their backside and try.

Another interesting aspect of this is not just how much the Chinese media is covering it, but how much the Western media is covering it. There have been many other natural disasters (although none quite as large-scale as this one), and the Chinese gov't has consistently done an admirable and exemplary job of responding. One of the advantages of having the world's largest standing army is that you have a massive labor pool ready at a moment's notice to mobilize and go anywhere in the country...tens of thousands of military personnel who can be there almost as soon as the disaster happens.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is highly respected in China, in large part because of this. When massive floods wipe out whole villages and leave millions homeless, PLA soldiers are there risking their lives to carry people out of the waters, build make-shift dams, etc. When a blizzard hit southern China (which was entirely unprepared, never having weather like that), PLA soldiers were there going from house to house, person to person, doing whatever they could to improve the situation and save lives. And in this disaster, the PLA was able to launch one of the most efficient and large-scale rescue/relief operations anywhere on the planet; and once again, there are soldiers risking their lives to try to save people caught in the rubble.

As much of a tragedy as this is, the gov't would have been hard-pressed to find a more effective PR tool than this earthquake.

 

[mrbaracuda]

Interesting. So basically they've enlargened the first or second circle? At least for now.

 

[Wolfman]

Interesting. So basically they've enlargened the first or second circle? At least for now.

I think it is more that they no longer think of it in terms of different circles...that they are moving towards a view of seeing everyone as equal, and of having equal responsibility for others, regardless of your relationship to them.

 

[mrbaracuda]

I think it is more that they no longer think of it in terms of different circles...that they are moving towards a view of seeing everyone as equal, and of having equal responsibility for others, regardless of your relationship to them.

I see. In your non-profit charity organization, do you also have an abundance of old folks donating or mainly people of the latest "grown generation"?

 

[Wolfman]

I see. In your non-profit charity organization, do you also have an abundance of old folks donating or mainly people of the latest "grown generation"?

Oh, those interested in getting involved and helping out are almost exclusively under 35 years old. Above that age, they simply feel its "not their responsibility". I don't get much money from the younger generation (cuz most of them haven't had much time to make a lot yet), but I do get offers of working as volunteers, and helping in other ways.

 

[mrbaracuda]

So it really seems to be a thing for younger people now.
Well, I like this development. Thanks for answering the questions, Wolfman!
I might have more later on, heh. Got any recipes?

 

[Dragoonster]

Oh, those interested in getting involved and helping out are almost exclusively under 35 years old. Above that age, they simply feel its "not their responsibility". I don't get much money from the younger generation (cuz most of them haven't had much time to make a lot yet), but I do get offers of working as volunteers, and helping in other ways.

How do you place it into historical (centuries old) Chinese culture or practice? Has it gone through such empathetic nadirs or zeniths before, or is this a new benchmark compared to its history?

China is really fascinating to a layman like me. It seems to move to its own beats almost as much as a remote Amazonian tribe, despite its enormous potential power.

Thanks for the thought-provoking posts.

 

[Wolfman]

How do you place it into historical (centuries old) Chinese culture or practice? Has it gone through such empathetic nadirs or zeniths before, or is this a new benchmark compared to its history?

China is really fascinating to a layman like me. It seems to move to its own beats almost as much as a remote Amazonian tribe, despite its enormous potential power.

Thanks for the thought-provoking posts.

I'd consider this quite a new development. This has little to do with Communism; for most of China's history, Confucianism has dominated and guided Chinese moral values. Confucianism teaches a far higher level of responsibility/obedience towards one's parents than Western culture does; but a far lower level of responsibility towards those with whom you have no connections.

Consider the Judeo-Christian ethic (which, even if you are not a Christian, still is a fundamental building block of Western culture)...the story of the Good Samaritan, and the idea that every person is our brother, that we should show love equally towards everyone.

There are stories from ancient Chinese texts that can be held as somewhat parallel to the story of the Good Samaritan. A man is injured; others come along, some helping him, some ignoring him. However, the lesson learned is very different. If you have some sort of connection with the person (ie. they are a relative, or belong to a family that is friends with your family) then failing to help him is a mark of great shame. BUT...if you have no connection to the man, and nevertheless stop to help him, you are criticized because you are wasting time and resources on a stranger, that could be better used to help your own family/friends.

For thousands of years, the Chinese have seen relationships in terms of concentric circles, each circle delineating how much responsibility you have towards that person (When I came to China, I had to learn not to ask my Chinese friends to do favors for me, since they felt as friends that they must do it, even if it caused great difficulty or trouble for them...saying 'no' to me was not an option). If you study Chinese history with this idea in mind, you'll find that it brings a lot of clarity to understanding what they did, and why.

So for Chinese people to be feeling a strong moral obligation to help people with whom they have no connection is really quite a major change...one that, so far as I know, is pretty much unprecedented.

The Chinese media has attempted to draw comparisons between this situation, and situations early in the formation of the People's Republic of China when Chinese people worked together, and made tremendous sacrifices for the good of the nation. However, while it is true that they made huge sacrifices that benefited people they didn't know, there were two crucial differences: 1) everything was done because that was what the government said you should do, and 2) everything was done because it was good for the country; not out of concern for particular individuals.

This morning, as I was walking around the residential community where I live, I saw a sign and table with young people (around 20-30 years old); when I walked closer to see what was happening, it turned out that they were (on their own initiative) setting up a small local organization to help elderly people living in the neighborhood. They were there A) to get volunteers to help, and B) to register elderly who needed assistance.

It is hard to communicate to people who haven't been here, and don't know the situation, just how incredibly unusual this is. Chinese feel that they have a deep, inescapable duty to help their own parents...but other peoples' parents are other peoples' responsibility. For a group of young people, with no direction or instruction from the government, to just go out and start doing something like this, because they think it is the right thing to do, is simply amazing.

 

[Wolfman]

One further comment...many people will hear that, when doing business in China, before you start to negotiate or talk about business, you should first have dinner, and just talk together. Anyone who's come to China will have stories of being asked questions that seem very personal, or impolite. "How much money do you make?" "Where did your family come from originally?" If you've been in China awhile, they'll ask lots of probing questions about who you know, and what your relationship with that person is.

All of this is done so that they can figure out what 'circle' of relationship you fall into, how important you are, and therefore how they should treat you.

If they discover that you are close friends with someone that they are close friends with, then they will feel obligated to treat you honestly because of that relationship, even if they don't know you personally. But if they have no connection to you at all, they'll feel quite free to lie and cheat you to their heart's content (not that they necessarily will do this, but there will be no strong moral imperative telling them that it is wrong to do this).

Pretty much everything in China is based on this intricate network of interrelationships. It determines how you treat other people, and what your responsibility is towards them. There is pretty much no aspect of life where this can be separated...it is integral to everything. Which is why seeing such a big change is so significant.

 

[shadron]

If it is so deeply buried, is this shift you are sensing causing any upheaval in any way? Is there resentment among the elders hat they are being deprived of that which they have a right to?

It sounds like a fairy tale come true, but I can't but think that it has to come at some cost; perhaps a cost that those in the change are willing to bear, but a cost that might bring on a backlash?

Not, of course, that anything can be done about that. Like capitalism in Russia, thay have to hurt until they just don't hurt anymore.

Thanks, Wolfman, by the way, for this wonderful insight. I was once told that Chinese names had meanings in the same way that American Indian names did when translated: things like Blue Sky. I approached a mainland Chinese lady in my workgroup one day who had renamed herself Josephine and asked her how to properly pronounce her name and what it meant. I hope it was the right thing to do - she seemed very pleased.

Feynman pointed out that a little understanding goes a long way.

 

[Foolmewunz]

The name thing:

Their "western" names are usually just names they like.

But their Chinese names are very significant. Traditionally, a baby, at birth and until the first cycle of the moon has come, is Mei Mei (little sister) or Di Di (little brother). They will go to the fortuneteller at the temple to have them divine the best Chinese name for the child.

I know a Taiwanese who was named Fanny because Yui Fen usually gets you called Fanny. She changed her name to Josephine. She just preferred Josephine, and someone had explained that several generations ago "fanny" was a word to induce snickering. They will also change their Chinese names, too, but it's less common.

One of the other reasons (other than stalling for time and trying to make you a little ill at ease in a business situation) that Chinese look so intently at your business card is that they're thinking of the fifty meanings of the characters and comaring it mentally to friends with the same sounds but who use yet another character than the one you've chosen.

But, for whatever reason, if you elected to enquire about it and her reasons, you probably gained her respect because you're smart enough to know that this was something important to her. The name game is really big in Chinese cultures.

 

[shadron]

The name thing:

Their "western" names are usually just names they like.

But their Chinese names are very significant. Traditionally, a baby, at birth and until the first cycle of the moon has come, is Mei Mei (little sister) or Di Di (little brother). They will go to the fortuneteller at the temple to have them divine the best Chinese name for the child.

I know a Taiwanese who was named Fanny because Yui Fen usually gets you called Fanny. She changed her name to Josephine. She just preferred Josephine, and someone had explained that several generations ago "fanny" was a word to induce snickering. They will also change their Chinese names, too, but it's less common.

One of the other reasons (other than stalling for time and trying to make you a little ill at ease in a business situation) that Chinese look so intently at your business card is that they're thinking of the fifty meanings of the characters and comaring it mentally to friends with the same sounds but who use yet another character than the one you've chosen.

But, for whatever reason, if you elected to enquire about it and her reasons, you probably gained her respect because you're smart enough to know that this was something important to her. The name game is really big in Chinese cultures.

Ah - thanks for that.

 

[Wolfman]

If it is so deeply buried, is this shift you are sensing causing any upheaval in any way? Is there resentment among the elders hat they are being deprived of that which they have a right to?

It sounds like a fairy tale come true, but I can't but think that it has to come at some cost; perhaps a cost that those in the change are willing to bear, but a cost that might bring on a backlash?

I think it is still too early to be making any longer-term predictions, either good or bad. It could be that this is just an emotion thing that will disappear after a short while; or it could signal a deeper, more fundamental change.

I would suspect that yes, there will be older Chinese who will object...particularly the parents of those who are doing these things. Money and energy that are being spent on other people means money and energy that is not being spent on their parents. Quite a few Chinese parents would interpret that as meaning that their children are not 'filial', that they consider others to be more important.

There's also the problem, as I mentioned in passing above, that while these people may have good intentions, their efforts may sometimes cause more damage than good. They've never done this before, and don't have a clue what they're doing. Caring for the elderly, for example, requires fairly specific knowledge and skills...things that most of these young people won't have. I'm sure that there is going to be a period of adjustment, with more than a few errors made along the way. But I really do hope that this turns out to be a more long-term trend.

One important item here -- the 'circle' has not been entirely broken yet. I was just talking with some Chinese friends an hour ago, about these very issues, and I asked them what they thought about the situation in Myanmar. Their response essentially boiled down to, "Oh, they're not Chinese, we don't worry about that". But I hope that if this current trend continues, and as more and more of the younger generation travel and start to see themselves as part of a larger world, that this perspective will start to change, also.

The name thing:

Their "western" names are usually just names they like.

But their Chinese names are very significant. Traditionally, a baby, at birth and until the first cycle of the moon has come, is Mei Mei (little sister) or Di Di (little brother). They will go to the fortuneteller at the temple to have them divine the best Chinese name for the child.

I know a Taiwanese who was named Fanny because Yui Fen usually gets you called Fanny. She changed her name to Josephine. She just preferred Josephine, and someone had explained that several generations ago "fanny" was a word to induce snickering. They will also change their Chinese names, too, but it's less common.

One of the other reasons (other than stalling for time and trying to make you a little ill at ease in a business situation) that Chinese look so intently at your business card is that they're thinking of the fifty meanings of the characters and comaring it mentally to friends with the same sounds but who use yet another character than the one you've chosen.

But, for whatever reason, if you elected to enquire about it and her reasons, you probably gained her respect because you're smart enough to know that this was something important to her. The name game is really big in Chinese cultures.

Not much that I can add to that; but there is one naming tradition that I've always thought was cool. Its not so common on the mainland now (a victim of the Cultural Revolution), but in Taiwan it is still practiced by some families.

Basically, each family will have their own poem, consisting of a total of around 20-30 characters. Children of each generation will be named according to a specific character in that poem. Allow me to illustrate:

Let's say that we are dealing with the first generation of a particular family. All their children will then be named with the first character from the poem. When those children grow up and have kids of their own, all those children will be named with the second character from the poem. And the pattern continues for 20 or so generations, until the poem is finished, and then starts all over again.

No, this doesn't mean that all the kids have exactly the same name. Their names will typically have three characters. The first is their family name; the second is the character from the poem; and the third is what we'd refer to as the given name (and it is this character that will be different for each child). A great deal of time and energy will be put into choosing a character that goes with the character from the poem, in order to give the child an auspicious name and good luck.

What's cool about this is that, when distant relatives meet, even if they've had little or no contact with each other, when they say their names, they instantly know exactly what generation of the family's geneology they belong to.

Changing names is also more common in China than in the West...if a person is having 'bad luck', they may change their name as a way of changing their fortune. Changing the family name would be considered quite insulting to the parents; but changing the given name is far more acceptable.

 

[mrbaracuda]

So, any recipes you want to share? I know my hot & sour soup's delicious! But I need more! Heh.