We dreaded the three-hour drive from Turpan to our next destination, Urumqi. It looks like a tiny hop on the map below, but it is 120 miles on roads that wind up into the Tian Shan Mountains:
We weren't on a high speed train this time, but a regular Chinese bus:
TYPICAL CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS
• China is the oldest unbroken civilization in the world, so they believe they are "it." They see China as the Middle Kingdom, the center of the world.
• They see themselves as diligent and harmonious.
• So many inventions/innovations came to us from the Chinese: the compass, paper, printing, porcelain, silk, pasta, the wheelbarrow, stirrups, fireworks, and the toothbrush, to name a few.
• There is a very strong emphasis on culture in China.
• They like to talk, and they will eat anything.
• As a whole, they are loud and curious.
• They are imperturbable. They can wait for change.
• While fiercely nationalistic, they are also curious about others.
• It is very important to them to "keep face."
• Luck is an important concept in their culture. Lucky numbers are 8 and 9. An unlucky number is 4.
• They are very competitive, but they love harmony.
• They have good memories. They must know 3,000 written Chinese characters to be able to text.
• Education is very important to them. They are typically "A" students.
• Familial piety is strong.
• Laziness is VERY bad. Chinese children are kept very busy. Even for adults, the idea of having leisure time is not very important.
• They love a bargain.
• Public displays of affection are taboo, and overall they aren't very "touchy-feely," except with their children.
• Femininity is valued. There aren't really tomboys.
• The Chinese are the best savers of money in the world (a 30% savings rate!) and are financially risk averse.
• Humility is important, so they don't brag.
• They do not have a sweet tooth. Their chocolate tastes like chalk. They have a low tolerance for alcohol.
• Prison life is very harsh.
Michael pointed out that sometimes the best way to understand the people of another country is to see how they are the same and how they are different from ourselves, and so he gave a similar list about what makes Americans, Americans.
TYPICAL AMERICAN CHARACTERISTICS
• We are perpetual teenagers: we can't keep secrets, are energetic, and are not subtle.
• We are friendly. We want to be liked. We have lots of casual relationships.
• We believe we live in the best country in the world and that everyone wants to come to America and be just like us.
• We are obsessed with our teeth.
• We don't travel much outside our country. Only 30% of Americans have a passport, which is fewer passports per capita than many other countries. For example, 75% of Canadians have a passport, and 80-85% of Brits have a passport. Consequently, Americans know less about the world around them than do other nationalities.
• Immigrants face opposition until they "melt in." In contrast, Canada embraces the "patchwork quilt" idea.
• Winning is important. We want to be #1, and we believe we are the only country capable of winning consistently.
• "Feeling good" is important to us, so we have lots of awards and ceremonies, focus on self-esteem, and believe in the right to happiness. Sometimes this leads to feelings of inadequacy.
• We love conspiracy theories.
• We are very forgiving, and will usually give a second chance, but don't like hiding or evasion.
• We think of everything in terms of money; money is the way we keep score. We are very materialistic.
• Work is essential. Laziness is un-American.
• We have a car obsession. We have less public transportation than other countries, and we walk for recreation, not for transportation.
• We have a obsession with growing old, getting fat, and dying. We have the biggest diet industry in the world.
• We are very inventive; we have created lots of machines.
• The nuclear family is still our ideal, and three-fourths of Americans stay in their first marriage.
• We think our best years were the high school years when we had youth, time, fun, and many opportunities ahead of us.
• Sex is used to sell everything.
• We have poor manners but are the most generous. About 65% of Americans donate time and/or money to charity.
• We have more lawyers per capita than any other country.
• We expect perfection, and when we don't get it we complain and assign blame, leading to more lawsuits per capita than any other country.
• We excel at having fun, and one way we do it is through sports, both playing and watching.
• We love to shop and see shoppinng as recreation. We are quickly becoming a cash-less society.
• We focus a lot on our hair.
• While we may have the best health system in the world, it is also the most expensive.
• American pop culture has spread all over the world--music, clothes, and food
• Television is BIG in the United States. We love crime and spy movies.
• We have the highest incarceration rate in the world (except for Russia).
• Political correctness is important to us. We have lots of euphemisms for unpleasant things.
• Americans are optimistic and believe in progress.
It was interesting to listen to these two lists and consider how I often unwittingly look at foreign places and people through my American lens. I'm trying to be better at putting on a different pair of glasses.
Learning to see more clearly is one of the great benefits of travel, isn't it?
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| Photo taken later that day in the Urumqi market |
I thought Michael was particularly brilliant on this trip, partly because what we were seeing was so much different from us culturally and historically.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think I have ever met Michael Wilcox, but we signed up for a Rhine Cruise with him in June 2019 (to celebrate the completion of our three years service in the Las Vegas Temple). I look forward to getting to know him better.
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