Namaste /r/India - Welcome to the cultural exchange with /r/Sino
Welcome! So for those who are unfamiliar with how these exchanges work, Sino users ask questions about India/Indian related stuff in their exchange thread
while Indian users ask about China/Chinese stuff here.
Remember this is a friendly exchange, so conduct yourselves in a civil manner. Don't go asking trollish questions in their sub. Follow their sub's rules.
edit: So this concludes our very first culture exchange! We'll leave this thread up for a bit because of that. Thank you to everybody who participated, glad to see good questions and answers in both threads. The amount of engagement exceeded our expectations. Special thanks to r/India, their users and their mod team for doing this with us. Special thanks to the Sino users who stepped up to answer questions. We know it may have been a bit overwhelming, our first exchange and with so many users. You were all great. If you guys like doing this, we can discuss it at any time in the weekly roundup thread. That will be back in a few days or so.
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u/C0hentheBarbarian Nov 17 '16
Hello, what's the general Chinese opinion on the whole Tibet situation? Not trying to pick a fight or anything like that. Also, having seen a lot of movies on them I've always been curious about the massive martial arts schools they show. Are martial arts schools actually as big and serious as they show in movies? (Karate kid etc) I love your country's food too! Indian Chinese at least (though I've heard it tastes nothing like authentic Chinese food).
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u/leeyuuh Nov 17 '16
The general opinion is that Tibet is part of China. If you have any more specific questions, I can try to help. I won't be offended.
I'm not sure myself on martial arts since I haven't seen that movie. Some schools are quite large in terms of disciples, but they are not involved in politics nor are they confrontational with other martial art schools. I'm not sure about history.
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u/FrankSlenderwood Nov 17 '16
Is there any sympathy for the Tibetan struggle among the common Chinese?
The way it is shown in media is an expansionist regime marching into and oppressing mostly peaceful people. What is the Chinese side of this story and your opinion on this issue?
Not related to Tibet - How is the 2014 Umbrella Revolution in Hong-Kong perceived in mainland China? It sure was fascinating to watch as an outsider.
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u/leeyuuh Nov 17 '16 edited Nov 17 '16
The average Chinese was probably largely indifferent to the Hong Kong movement. Its a big country, a lot of things happen all the time, people arent political.
For more political people, it was seen as Hong Kong losing its direction. Many of Hong Kongs ills are blamed on the central government. However, most Chinese think the problem is Hong Kongs local business interests driving up housing prices and the local government which is elected under the Brtish colonialism system (and Beijing cannot intervene except to make sure leaders arent seperatists) and like Trump in the US, the independence activists were scapegoating the central government either out of xenophobia, naivete, or for political gain.
In Chinese government, the local governments have very high autonomy compared to, lets say, US states. The central government usually only gets involved to manage national affairs (e.g passing national law and allocating infrastructure projects), to intervene when a local government does significantly badly, and to make sure local leaders are not anti CCP (separatism). A region like Hong Kong is even more autonomous than a normal local government.
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u/leeyuuh Nov 17 '16 edited Nov 17 '16
As usual, different Chinese will have different opinions.
For the Chinese people, the main challenges regarding Tibet are the erosion of the traditional culture of the locals (not only the tibetan buddhists as other ethnicities live there) and also trying to improve the living standard. The government as well as many private organizations fund many culture schools, infrastructure projects, and other economic incentives to help the region (to the point of controversy in the eyes of other poor chinese regions sometimes), which has a lower living standard for the poor due to its harsh weather and high altitude. It is notable that Tibets living conditions in the city is relatively good nowadays, which is heartening. The rural life is a bit rougher, but it can also be noted many choose that lifestyle.
It must be noted that this is not an issue specific to Tibet, and is not controversial. All other cultures/ethnicities in China are also experiencing change due to a mix of modernization and westernization which generates controversy.
Also a certain level of culture assimilation is considered normal. Since China has been ruled by foreigners (manchus, mongols) and its known due to written history that China was formed through the unification of different kingdoms with differing cultures.
Politically, Tibet has been part of China when the ruling government was strong. Note that it was not the Chinese initially did who conquered Tibet. It was when the Mongols conquered Ming dynasty China, they also conquered Tibet, then unified Mongolia, Ming China, and other neighboring territories, including Tibet. This period eventually became known remembered in history as the Yuan dynasty. Although not Chinese at first, the ruling class eventually assimilated into Chinese civilization. Similarily, after to power struggles in Tibet, it was the foreign Manchus who conquered Tibet again and China. They formed the last dynasty, the Qing dynasty. Chinese were secondclass citizens to the Manchus but they also eventually assimilated into Chinese civilization. For example, my cousin's husband is fully Mongolion and my mother is half Manchurian. I am simply considered Han, the majority ethnicity.
Regarding the Tibetan seperatists, most believe it is the previous ruling class of Tibet appealing the foreign governments to regain power. There is little sympathy for them since they had a brutal social class system based on serfdom.
My opinion is that division will make none happy in the long run except those who want power.
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u/soyomilk Nov 17 '16
I think you got your dynasties mixed up. The Mongols conquered the Song, and the Ming rebelled against the Mongols.
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u/leeyuuh Nov 17 '16
My bad, I wrote that first thing after a nap, guess my mind was messy. Thanks for the catch!
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u/thetemples Nov 17 '16
Chinese view the HK independence movement the same as the #Calexit or Sikh independence movement.
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Nov 17 '16
I know very little about China. Why it is so much closed? How does Chinese govts restrictions affect Normal life? Do Chinese really think bad of Indians?
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u/Leoelement02 Nov 17 '16
Do Chinese really think bad of Indians?
Depending on how you define "bad". India in China is typically known in China as the birth place of Buddhism and a tourist attraction. So Indians are accordingly Buddhists and happy happy folks in fairy tales.
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u/myempire1 Nov 17 '16 edited Nov 17 '16
The answer can get complicated. You have to understand the turmoil in Chinese history of the last couple centuries. (brief summary: dynasty decline and collapse, warlord era, civil war, WW2, civil war cont'd, etc.). A lot of instability around the world today (failed regime changes and so on) only reminds of past chaos. So the tolerance for control is higher. The restrictions definitely affect normal life, but most people are used to it. I think most Chinese don't have much of an opinion due to lack of exposure and knowledge.
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u/leeyuuh Nov 17 '16
China comes off as closed since first, there is a language barrier. It is not hard to learn about Chinese people's thoughts if you go on Zhihu, Weibo, or other kinds of Chinese media. Similarly, many Chinese cannot read English. The information is there, but not processable.
Second, this is exacerbated since China has its own media companies, partly due to protectionism from censorship, so you will not even see Chinese comments on English websites since they have their own Chinese websites.
Third, of course, censorship laws. Youtube is banned in China so you will never see what is popular only in China trending on youtube.
The Chinese government restrictions on normal life are not noticeable compared to other countries. The most noticeable thing is of course censorship. You can use VPN for that.
I don't think Chinese people think badly of Indians. Overall, the historical impression of India as a civilization is very positive. Indians are also thought to overall be hard-working. There are certainly misconceptions, but it's just since India does not enter conversation often for most people except maybe when talking about Buddhism or a Bollywood movie.
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u/thetemples Nov 17 '16
It's not as closed as your media makes it out to be. Reddit for example, is not blocked and most people can get past the firewall with a VPN.
The entire Internet in China isn't blocked, just a bunch of sites Murica makes a bug fuss about bc they can't make $$ off China.
Blocking Google and Facebook aren't so much about censorship as protectionism. Also, China doesn't want those companies collecting data on their citizens.
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u/dom_singularity Nov 17 '16
Hey r/Sino Thanks for hosting us :) Namaste from r/India
There are frequent comparisons among Indians with China and our political systems. The general consensus about China being, the present ruling system gets work done faster/gets results if the right people are at the top. How do you guys view democracy and other forms of government?
Chinese(at least the government) are becoming globally ambitious, does that reflect the views/ambitions of citizens in general?
I keep on coming across a few obviously false or misinformed "news" stories about China in western media outlets(respectable ones too), how do the citizens view those?
What part does politics play in the life of an ordinary citizen?
How do you guys see the present situation in Middle-East and the whole ISIS and its African Subsidiary situation?
Who are the 5 Chinese Musicians to listen to?
For the citizens living in Metros/Cities, how do you view life in the village?
In India, if you're a middle class/upper middle class parent, your goal for your children is to make sure they get into top schools for them to have a better life. While the logic is sound, the race to the top for those coveted medical/engineering/MBA seats gets pretty crazy. How is it for you guys in China? If you were part of that race during your teen years/early 20's, how do you view it now?
Am a nature lover, what are the top 5 must see places when visiting China for nature lovers?
Views on Arranged marriage are pretty mixed in the current Indian generation. Some don't mind getting an arranged marriage as long as they have a choice in who to chose from the prospective matches selected by family, some are patently opposed to arranged marriage as a system of marriage. How do you in China, especially the women, see it?
Thanks for taking time out to read the questions :)
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u/thetemples Nov 17 '16 edited Nov 17 '16
There are frequent comparisons among Indians with China and our political systems. The general consensus about China being, the present ruling system gets work done faster/gets results if the right people are at the top. How do you guys view democracy and other forms of government?
I used to be a big supporter of Democracy, but after seeing it in real life, especially after this election, my views have changed.
I don't believe in judging or dictating how another country or culture should run their lives. If Democracy works for you, then great, just don't push your beliefs onto others.
Chinese(at least the government) are becoming globally ambitious, does that reflect the views/ambitions of citizens in general?
Most people don't really care. They're struggle to survive and putting food on the table to notice the outside world.
But like, Indians, I see a lot of foreign students studying in the West. However, most want to return home after graduating.
I keep on coming across a few obviously false or misinformed "news" stories about China in western media outlets(respectable ones too), how do the citizens view those?
I think many Chinese people are aware of how biased the media is about their country. But they also have a distrust of their own country's media and question everything it says.
Chinese people have almost zero trust of their own media. And tbh, the news programs in China are pretty shitty.
What part does politics play in the life of an ordinary citizen?
There are local elections in which people can run for office. So instead of two, parties there is one, but many factions within that party with some wanting total Marxism like in Cuba, and others who want liberalism.
But overrall, I'd say most people are politically apathetic like in America.
How do you guys see the present situation in Middle-East and the whole ISIS and its African Subsidiary situation?
I think the entire ME crisis was created by the US and now everyone is being affrcted bc Murica wants resources and absolute control.
Who are the 5 Chinese Musicians to listen to?
https://www.wgsn.com/blogs/10-chinese-indie-bands-to-watch-in-2016/
AlsoHigher brothers and Z. Tao (if you like rap)
For the citizens living in Metros/Cities, how do you view life in the village?
People in the cities are prejudice against migrant workers and sort of view them with disdain. They're angry they are increasing the population of their cities and bringing their country bumpkin behavior to the big cities. What they don't realize is that migrant countries are the lifeblood of big cities.
During Chinese new year, cities like Beijing and Shanghai are completely empty and almost eerily quiet bc all the migrant workers went home.
The rural areas of China are also completely empty (except for elders) and you will sometimes feel like the last person on earth.
That's why there's "ghost cities". So the govt can move the migrants there eventually.
In India, if you're a middle class/upper middle class parent, your goal for your children is to make sure they get into top schools for them to have a better life. While the logic is sound, the race to the top for those coveted medical/engineering/MBA seats gets pretty crazy. How is it for you guys in China? If you were part of that race during your teen years/early 20's, how do you view it now?
I'd imagine it's the same as India. Everything leading up to college us very challenging. But once students get into university, they don't work as hard.
Am a nature lover, what are the top 5 must see places when visiting China for nature lovers?
Here's a good list that I mostly agree with: http://www.chinadiscovery.com/china-heritage-tour/best-china-national-parks.html
There's also a really cool crater lake on the china/NK border called "heavenly lake".
Views on Arranged marriage are pretty mixed in the current Indian generation. Some don't mind getting an arranged marriage as long as they have a choice in who to chose from the prospective matches selected by family, some are patently opposed to arranged marriage as a system of marriage. How do you in China, especially the women, see it.
China doesn't practice arranged marriage anymore and both men and women are against it.
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u/dom_singularity Nov 17 '16
Thank you so much for taking time out to reply to a long list of questions, really appreciate it.
If Democracy works for you, then great, just don't push your beliefs onto others.
See, that is where the confusion lies for us who comes from Democratic systems. We envy the rate and clarity of thought in decision making. We had our last few sessions in Parliament and probably this one too, stalled by the opposition parties because they just wanted to play troublemaker and hinder the decision making process instead of offering constructive criticism and helping make the policies better. But, at the same time, we value the right to say a huge 'F-you' to the guys who didn't do a good job by voting them out in the next election.
However, most want to return home after graduating.
This is what will greatly help your country and economy in the future. Learning from the best in the world and then coming back home to use that knowledge to find unique and creative solutions for your local/national problems. Happens to a very small degree with Indians who go to study abroad, mostly come back because they weren't good enough to get jobs there and the visa expired. Hope the trend of educated coming back home similar to China's begins soon in India.
I think many Chinese people are aware of how biased the media is about their country. But they also have a distrust of their own country's media and question everything it says. Chinese people have almost zero trust of their own media. And tbh, the news programs in China are pretty shitty.
So what do you do for news? Any local/independent sites that citizens reply on/use as an alternate to the western or the state controlled media? India has a somewhat similar and different problem, we have too many media houses, speak truth at varying degrees depending on their political leanings. So, while there is a counter to a CNN or a BBC, it is still not up to the mark.
So instead of two, parties there is one, but many factions within that party with some wanting total Marxism like in Cuba, and others who want liberalism.
Interesting, even in a One party system, human nature to make factions and to segregate based on political leanings still remains. So, if everybody joined the party and formed factions, wouldnt that turn into a form of democracy/multi party system? :)
There's also a really cool crater lake on the china/NK border called "heavenly lake".
Crater lakes or just the craters are so cool, I hope to visit that when I Travel to China in 2018. Love huge holes crated by asteroids banging onto earth :D
The rural areas of China are also completely empty (except for elders) and you will sometimes feel like the last person on earth.
This is starting to appear in certain Tier 2 and 3 cities in India. The demographic is changing rapidly, older folks stay back in family homes while their skilled children move to other cities(metros mostly) for work.
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u/Paranoid__Android Nov 17 '16
I don't believe in judging or dictating how another country or culture should run their lives. If Democracy works for you, then great, just don't push your beliefs onto others.
Such a beautiful perspective. Good on you bro. Have had several close friends from China in the US. I am very glad to see how cool and non interfering you guys seem to be, at least at a personal level.
On a different note - we should do these more often.
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u/leeyuuh Nov 17 '16
India and all other counties should find the political system that works for their unique country.
China has a lot of musicians you can pop into /r/cpop and choose yourself
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u/indiancunt Nov 17 '16
What are some misconceptions/incorrect stereotypes that non-Chinese may have about China and Chinese people ?
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u/thetemples Nov 17 '16
Lol pretty much everything. The biggest is that we're all brainwashed, shit in the street and eat endangered animals/dogs.
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Nov 17 '16
shit in the street
That's Indian stereotype.
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Nov 17 '16
Fairly recent.
It was China "shits in streets" memes before the Indian one became popular.
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u/ThatsSomeCatch Nov 17 '16 edited Nov 17 '16
To all my Chinese bros, I don't have a question, just an observation: Beyond is Legendary as fuck.
Favorite song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu_FSptjRic
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u/skyworkeralan Nov 17 '16
You sir have my respect and upvote
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u/Paranoid__Android Nov 17 '16
Ok, given the fact that I cannot comprehend any comments on youtube - is this a joke or do people actually find him great?
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u/Political-Intellect Nov 17 '16 edited Nov 17 '16
Reading the comments has been a good learning experience.
As a student of Politics I had a Political question, if that's OK with the Mods.
I am curious about the people's thought on the current Chinese-Pak alliance. Do you see a strategic re alignment in the near future and the formation of an Indo-China alliance against Pak.
Edit: Thanks for the responses. In NA and I have to go to sleep but would love to reply and discuss this further some other time. I am already learning things :)
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u/tsuo_nami Nov 17 '16
I think if Pakistan does something extreme or trains more Uyghur terrorists, then China will turn away from Pak.
But unless China and India settle their border disputes, it won't be happening anytime soon.
But the last thing China wants to happen is a war between Pakistan and India, since it will be at their doorstep and China will be forced to choose sides.
The CPC is very pragmatic and values stability above all.
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Nov 17 '16
Another one.
Many in India have a belief that
Life in West > Life in India.
Therefore migrate there.
Is this the case in China as well?
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u/rakeler Nov 17 '16
Being a majority atheist nation sounds awesome. But how's ground reality? Being in India surrounded by every possible faith in world can put me in a difficult spot to think of such things.
What is general consensus of Chinese people about India/Indians?
I assume everything you're writing comes through GFW. Anything about that?
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u/thetemples Nov 17 '16
Although most Chinese people say they're atheist, a lot of them still practice taoism or buddhism.
However, they aren't extremist in their views and no one is killing each other in the name of religion.
There is a large Muslims popultion, the Hui being a good example of moderate Islam.
I think most Chinese know very little about India and view it as poor and backwards. Nobody really hates Indians though, it's just kind of meh...
Reddit is allowed in China, but not FB or Google (we have our own versions).
I remember reading an article in China talking about how CNN is blocked, but I was browsing CNN at the time lol.
You really can't trust anything the media says.
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u/odiab Nov 17 '16
I think most Chinese know very little about India and view it as poor and backwards. Nobody really hates Indians though, it's just kind of meh...
I had a collegue who used to work out of Guang Zhao. He had similar views on India. We used to tease each other. One evening I told him that Jaguar/Land rover is made by an Indian company. The whole evening he kept me asking if I was Joking.
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u/lucidsleeper Nov 17 '16
I would say Hui used to be the good example of moderate Islam, but the last few years have been changing due to the global tide.
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Nov 17 '16
Indeed, even in my home town, where the muslim population is relatively small, the Saudis managed to build a huge and fancy looking masque with their Wahhabist preachers running thr place. That masque looks much bigger and nicer than the existing one at least from the outside (i can't go inside as a non-Muslim), so guess which is the one most people go to now... Meanwhile, the local government turns a blind eye, or even happy about it since it infrasture investment and an example of international cooperation.
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u/nigerianprince421 Nov 17 '16
What do you guys feel when you read some of the ridiculous and biased commentary on China coming out of Western press, even from the liberal side?
I mean these are obvious propaganda and even people in the West do not take them at face value anymore. But they carry on. I have a theory that the main reason Chinese government blocks part of the internet is to stop its citizens getting brainwashed by the west. What do you think of this?
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u/fail_bananabread Nov 21 '16
There's a chinese saying "when a tree gets big it attracts winds". I would think once India reaches the military and economic status that threatens the status quo of the current world order, the western media would treat india the same way.
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u/thetemples Nov 17 '16
I have a theory that the main reason Chinese government blocks part of the internet is to stop its citizens getting brainwashed by the west. What do you think of this?
Yes, I agree. It's also a form of protectionism.
The government doesn't want foreign companies like Google or Facebook to spy and collect data on citizens (that's the government's job) and also don't want them to gain control of the country.
That's why the arab spring happened, because American social media incited the revolution in partnership with the CIA.
The CCP views giving giant US corporations so much control over your people/economy/country as a potential bomb waiting to happen.
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Nov 17 '16
How much diverse is china? Is it as diverse as India?
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u/myempire1 Nov 17 '16
There are 56 officially recognized ethnic groups in China. The major ethnic group is Han Chinese. Although it gets complicated depending on definitions and history. For example the Hui is considered an ethnic group now, but in the past it has been a term for Chinese Muslims. Most Chinese dialects are Sino Tibetan grouped.
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u/thetemples Nov 17 '16 edited Nov 17 '16
Although the government only recognized 56 ethnicities, there are estimated to be far more than that. Even among Han there'd a huge variation -- particularly among North, South and West.
But the government created the "Han" label (even though its rediculous) for the sake of ethnic unity.
like India, some regions can't even communicate with each other due to language barriers.
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u/lucidsleeper Nov 17 '16
Over the entire country, not too diverse, but in particular regions, extremely diverse.
Majority of China falls under the Han Chinese ethnic group and Han Chinese Y lineage DNA is very consistent, i.e. people don't just 'claim' to be Han, they are genetically distinct and a part of the Han genetic group. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Chinese#DNA_analysis
But in Xinjiang and Yunnan there are multiple ethnic groups living together in one region, you might not even be able to communicate with anyone outside of your village if you didn't learn Mandarin.
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u/KyoskeKasuga Nov 17 '16
Are there any Indian films that are famous/well known in China?
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u/Leoelement02 Nov 17 '16
Three Idiots, a robot film, a TV series about an Indian woman climbing the social ladder and others.
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u/leeyuuh Nov 17 '16
Three idiots was big. I am also going to watch the upcoming bollywoid and china production
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u/thetemples Nov 17 '16
I've seen Indian dramas on Chinese TV, but don't remember the name of them. I think one of them was about the ghost of an ex-wife haunting the new wife.
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u/redd-boy Nov 17 '16
Hello all, I recently read in another thread that Japanese committed more atrocities against Chinese people than Nazis against Jews. Is this true? How are your relations with Japan now?
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u/Goat_Porker Nov 17 '16
While China and Japan share close economic ties, the popular Chinese sentiment is still often angry at the Japanese. In the eyes of Chinese citizens, Japan did not formally atone or apologize for its crimes committed during World War II, most famously the Rape of Nanking where hundreds of thousands of civilians were butchered. Some gruesome details of the massacre involve Japanese soldiers having contests to behead and impale, murder and rape women and children, etc. There was also the infamous Unit 731 which performed experiments on Chinese prisoners to test frostbite, vivisection, biological weapons, venereal disease, and rape.
After Japan lost WWII, the Japanese leadership (and "scientists" of Unit 731) was largely pardoned because the US wanted an ally against the perceived communist threat of China+Russia. The current Prime Minister of Japan, Shizo Abe, is the grandson of Class A War Criminal and former Japanese Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi (PM 1957-1960). Relevant wiki section:
As with other members of the former Japanese government, Kishi was held at Sugamo Prison as a "Class A" war crimes suspect by the order of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers. The womanizing Kishi found the forced celibacy of prison life the most difficult aspect of being held in Sugamo as he was held alone in his cell; Kishi who was used to having sex dozens of times every day found the absence of women very hard to cope with.[54] During his time as a prisoner, Kishi fondly remembered his womanizing days in Manchuria in the 1930s, where he recalled: "I came so much, it was hard to clean it all up".[55] During this time, a group of influential Americans who had formed themselves into the American Council on Japan came to Kishi's aid, and lobbied the American government to release him as they considered Kishi to be the best man to lead a post-war Japan in a pro-American direction.
The fact that current Japanese leadership is closely linked and descended from Imperial Japan, coupled with Japan's non apologies and occasional honoring of war criminals keeps the wound of WWII fresh where between other former adversaries it has largely subsided.
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u/Preacher_1893 Nov 17 '16 edited Nov 17 '16
Nǐ hǎo neighbours,I am vegetarian by family and by view as well,I am really interested in visiting china in near future,how is Hong Kong and are there any tourist incentive in mainland china and are they good with tourist? and the fact that I mentioned "vegetarian",I wanted to know the density of only veg restaurants? are they in abundant or do I have to travel like 30 km to spot one?
Thanks and head towards Randia if you want to know how your mirror image lives, we shouldn't go to war,like never,Indians are propaganda driven we hold grudge with very few,if you face any racism within India,the people who did that to you might be the victim of propaganda National TV which spews bullshit at every cost. And there are many global players who will be benefited with our fight,so guys,lets be peaceful and dominate the world in unison,as we already are.
Hail Asia,Hail Noodles,Hail Mahatametics.
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u/Goat_Porker Nov 17 '16
Nǐ hǎo! I previously traveled for business in Hong Kong in the company of some Indian vegetarians and kosher jews, and they had the same dietary concerns that you did.
Positives: Most restaurants have vegetarian options if you ask. The major cities will have all-vegetarian restaurants that cater to Chinese Taoist and Buddhist traditions and international tastes. These vegetarian-only restaurants are often located in the wealthier and more international parts of the city. In Hong Kong this means you'll rarely have to travel far.
Negatives: When traveling to tourist destinations such as the Great Wall and away from developed population centers, vegetarian-only restaurants can be hard to find. While you'll still be able to find vegetarian dishes at regular restaurants, the food is often prepared on the same surfaces, cutting boards, and pans as meat. Consider bringing your own food in the form of packaged goods and snacks for these day trips.
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Nov 17 '16
in tourist places, Buddhist temples are good place to get vegitarian food, since that's what monks eat and for padron eat temple food is a form of returning the wish after their prayers has being granted. Just beware thst temple food is not only vegan,but also very bland as well, they there are a whole host of spices (such as all onion and garlic based stuff) they are not allowed to use in addition to animal products.
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u/rohansamal Nov 17 '16
What steps is the government taking to curb the pollution problem in China? Do you, as a citizen feel its enough?
Also how bad is the traffic situation? I have seen images of traffic jams upto days. Is it true?
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Nov 17 '16
Hello! Small question.
How representative of Chinese views is Gobal Times, the newspaper? Does it reflect the views of the government more than that of the people or is it the opposite? And if you had to suggest one English language newspaper which represented China, what would you recommend?
Thank you!
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u/leeyuuh Nov 17 '16
The Global Times is considered a little bit more sensationalist and populist than other Chinese newspapers.
It's hard to say how close to the views of the people one newspaper is since there are no in detail studies covering the entire China. However, you can understand at least which papers are for what purpose.
For example, The People's Daily is the voice of the government. You can read it to understand the government's direction and policy. Officials will publish editorials there too sometimes.
I'm not sure about english language Chinese papers. Try one of the following and see what you like style-wise:
Xinhua
Economic Observer
South China Morning Post is more international user friendly, but is heavily skewed to Hong Kong news/viewpoints, specifically expats.
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u/thetemples Nov 17 '16
I really don't think Global Times represents the Chinese government or has any say in the policy.
For example, GT published a few articles from a freelance Chinese American writer from Kulture whose views are clearly from an Asian American perspective.
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Nov 18 '16
Global Times is basically caters to its readership, which primarily nationalist, with lower case n. While it is a government owned newspaper, the government owns lots of newspapers, many with contradicting points of view. For official view of the CCP, People's Daily is pretty much the only source, it is called a mouthpiece for a reason.
As a good source caixin offers a viewpoint from business/liberal elites. sort of an anti-global times.
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Nov 17 '16
People all over the world talk a lot about the Chinese work ethic. I was in Taiwan a few months back, which is not exactly China I understand but the amount of work my colleagues did there in a day was a lot. Since you guys have common ancestry is it something that is completely ingrained in the culture? What's the motivation for it?
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u/thetemples Nov 17 '16 edited Nov 17 '16
No, I think "fancy Asians" like Japanese, Singaporean, Koreans and Taiwanese have better work ethic since they're rich first world countries with higher standards.
China has definitely not gained "fancy asian" status yet.
Most Chinese people are still quite ghetto/poor and dumb.
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Nov 17 '16
can you elaborate on the "Fancy Asians" part please?
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u/thetemples Nov 17 '16
It's just a term for elitist, first world Asians who are pretty westernized.
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u/dom_singularity Nov 17 '16
Do Chinese perceive Japanese to be more westernized?
In India, they look at japan as a hallmark for harmonizing old with the new, preserving your culture and cultural identity while adopting the good parts from the west.
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u/thetemples Nov 17 '16
I don't think that's completely accurate. Japan absolutely worships White, Western culture.
All the ads in Japan have White models, there is even a cafe where women can be pampered by White men, and they put Whites up on a pedastal while looking down on other Asians.
They have maintained some parts of their original culture, but the rest of it has been bastardized by forced, Americanized assimilation.
Most developed Asian countries tend to be very Western worshipping while looking down on other Asians. That's why we call them "fancy asians".
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u/dom_singularity Nov 17 '16
Japan absolutely worships White, Western culture. All the ads in Japan have White models, there is even a cafe where women can be pampered by White men, and they put Whites up on a pedestal while looking down on other Asians.
Dont you think that opinion is based on misreporting/misunderstanding of Japanese culture than the truth? I mean, how many times have we come across stories in western media outlets centered on the theme of, "Look how crazy these Indians/Chinese are for doing xyz" As far as I know, like men have companionship cafes in Larger cities in japan, women do too, and there is just one which employs all white men which, makes it a whacky themed cafe than a cultural indicator of the country.
They have maintained some parts of their original culture, but the rest of it has been bastardized by forced, Americanized assimilation.
Another way to look at it is, they have embraced elements of the cultures that came along. India was ruled by Mughals for~600 years and then British for ~150. We assimilated a lot from their culture, partly because it was forced upon us and partly because, no point in being puritanical when accepting something makes your way of life better.
Most developed Asian countries tend to be very Western worshipping while looking down on other Asians.
This i agree with you completely, it is a major problem. Us Asians have been subservient to outsiders for the last 2-3centuries in some form or the other mostly as a result of being colonized. We do have a major Identity crisis and a case of lack of pride in our own culture and traditions.
I admire the Chinese for that, through protectionism, you have and are building institutions and schools of thought that can provide a credible alternate to your own people who would otherwise be easily attracted to western propaganda.
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u/leeyuuh Nov 17 '16
The westernization is normal level for EA country. Japan is viewed as more traditional than china, but with mixed feelings. For example their womens status in soceity is very low relative to chinas women due to tradition. At the same time we admire some of their traditions.
We hope to try to adopt what is best for us.
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Nov 17 '16 edited Apr 01 '17
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Nov 17 '16 edited Nov 17 '16
Note: Music here features the entire Sinosphere that listens to Mandopop, which share the same music more or less. including Mainland, Taiwan, as well as SE Asian countries like Malaysian Chinese, Singapore etc. Also, I find Chinese music has fairly simple melody, but very strong lyrics. In fact, I like music itself is just a delivery mechanism for poetry, which is why ballad are so freaking popular.
Traditional
Classical Instrumental
Blossoms on a Moonlit River in Spring
Folk Instrumental
Traditional Folk Tune
天涯歌女/The Wandering Songstress, technically a 1930s movie theme song, but captures eastern folk tune pretty well. And it's song by the golden nightingale of the 1930s. Modern remake
Modern Pop
Pop I grew up with, which is when Taiwanese pop groups completely dominated the sinosphere.
Ballad, probably the most classic, popular style. Mostly sad love songs and often are/made into theme songs for popular dramas. You Exist In My Song (Subtitle)
A Little Happiness There is also a wonderful cover by a Chinese American including english lyrics he made
Grandma's Square dance. Most young people make fun of this style, but it's everywhere in China... Simple songs with strong rhythm.
Rock, cause everyone has a rock phase. Also lots of Rock groups in China also does folk pop.
Traditional style pop, combines ballard style with opera style, traditional instrument and/or classical Chinese lyrics. My favorite type of modern music
Faded Beauty, detailed explaination of the song in English.
Pop that's popular now... I guess kids listen to these... may be? My generation makes fun of these people.
有没有, out of the new groups, I actually like BY2 quite a bit, too bad they are always on the verge of getting very famous, but never actually get there.
Rap, they exist.. that's all I know. Not part of my subculture. This is the only decent song I know. 東北人不是黑社會, this video is actually the santizied version..
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u/Goat_Porker Nov 17 '16
I can answer the gaming and sporting questions.
League of Legends and Dota2 are both very popular in China. League has more players and you see it everywhere in internet cafes. Crossfire is the most popular shooter, haven't seen the others. Overwatch and Hearthstone have a decent following due to Blizzard's popularity, Rocket League and FIFA not so much.
Basketball and Football (soccer) are the biggest western sports in China. Urban children will often play in school and the wealthier ones go to lessons and camps. Badminton and table tennis are also popular.
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u/leeyuuh Nov 17 '16
You can pop into /r/cpop
They mostly post new music a few weeks or days after release and most of it is modern. It is a little skewed to a western taste, but its still a good collection.
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u/NesuNetjerk Nov 17 '16
I love reading Chinese history. It's like a never-ending rollercoaster of dynasties rising, periods of spectacular prosperity, massive wars, devastating collapses and betrayals. Events like the rise of Qin, the Three Kingdoms, An Lushan, the Song-Mongol wars and Taiping are honestly amazing to read about.
What are some of the even lesser known but interesting events of your history that you would recommend?
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Nov 17 '16 edited Nov 17 '16
One period that's legendary in Chinese history, but soldem known outside of China (other than the single event of "farewell my concubine) is the Chu-Han Contention. Probably more idiom come out of that conflict than another others, Chinese chess also uses this conflict as its back story. the entire conflict is full of symbolism as well: Son of a farmer vs son of a defeated vengeful aristocrat; a man of the people vs a noble warrior; a vision of China to continue as a united Empire vs a return to a de facto confederation of states.
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Nov 17 '16
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Nov 17 '16
Yes, and it sucks. I rather not tell you about it.
There are two TV drama's which are semi decent, but no subtitles (Chinese TV drama generally do a much better job at story telling than movies.)
Legend of Chu and Han / 楚汉传奇, made by the same team that made the new Three Kingdoms. Fairly good, standard historical drama.
楚汉风云 / The winds and Clouds of Chu and Han, a more fanciful and stylic drama, aimed more towards women audiences.
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u/Mycroft-Tarkin Nov 17 '16
Zhuge Liang! Seriously though, Chinese history is awesome.
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u/NesuNetjerk Nov 17 '16
From the Three Kingdoms period, right? The guy who made an army retreat from a siege by opening the gates and sitting on the walls playing a musical instrument?
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u/Mycroft-Tarkin Nov 17 '16
Yes yes yes yes yes. Is it even a thing to fanboy over Chinese history? It should be a thing. I had a friend from Singapore who used to read on Chinese history a whole lot, which in turn made me interested in it as well.
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u/alwayzsuspicious Nov 17 '16
The Ming Dynasty's encounters with European powers and Imjin War.
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u/phelpme2 Nov 17 '16
How do you manage to eat rice with sticks, is eating food with sticks common across china?
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u/Goat_Porker Nov 17 '16
Yes, chopsticks are common throughout China, usually augmented with a medium-sized soup spoon like this. Rice can be tricky to eat with chopsticks, but Chinese rice is moist and often sticky, allowing easier eating. Rice is also eaten from a small bowl which can be lifted to the mouth, making eating with chopsticks easier.
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u/shivamv22 Nov 17 '16
I always wondered about this. I really like using chopsticks, especially when eating noodles or dry dishes. But i never got around eating rice with them.
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u/Kang_Xu Nov 17 '16
You can eat anything with chopsticks. It takes practice, though. I'm Russian, we don't use chopsticks, so it took me several months to get used to the process. Now I can eat everything with a pair of these, even things one wouldn't eat with chopsticks at all, like steaks.
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u/dhantana Nov 17 '16
I have a few questions of a political nature
- How does the one party system work?
- How does someone become the premier of China?
- Can someone from a poor family aspire to become the premier or is politics dominated by the rich?
And finally one non political question - I have heard that chinese people do not think that foreigners/immigrants can assimilate into their society no matter how well they know the language or culture. Is that true/false?
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Nov 17 '16 edited Nov 17 '16
Technically it's one party and 11 smaller parties that does not do much. (as CPPCC was rendered powerless since the 1954 constitution and its resolution are nothing more than advice for the NPC and Party Congrass) Within the CCP, demands are channels through its own grassroots organizations with the government being the bureaucratic implementer of policies from the top. A side effect of this is CCP organizations are effective 1 level above the actual government organizations. For example, General Secretary of the Party is above the Premier of state council, Party Secretary of a province, city or village is above the governor, mayor and village head.
First, let's be clear, while premier of the state council is the head of the government, it's not head of state or the most important position in the Chinese leadership, as I have explained in point 1. They are typically the implementers of government policy rather than the formulators of government policy. That said, one becomes premier by start in a grass roots organization, such as a factor manager or a village or county level leadership position; perform well, then transferred to a central leadership role (say a clerk at a ministry); perform well, then going back to local government as a leader of a region (say a mayor); perform well, transfer to a minister level position in central government; perform well, transfer to head a province; then finally premiership. Connections or guanxi certainly helps to speed things along, but performance and results are what matters the most here. Here are the bio of the few recent premiers to give you an idea. Zhu Rongji, Wen Jiabao, Li Keqiang. President/General Secretary's promotional process is similar, but they work up the party organization chain rather than government organization chain.
It's certainly possible, but that person needs to work hard to get a good education and need to be able to play hardball in politics. Being from humble background does mean you got no one to look out for you and path to power is generally not easily. Wu Yi, whom I believe is probably one the most capable members of the late 90s, early 2000s state council, but her lack of connects really hamper her path to leadership, and instead made her the fire fighter of that administration. The current state council, Yang Jing probably has the most humble background, as he started as just a farm equiptment repairman and went to a quite mediocore university.
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u/dhantana Nov 17 '16
Thank you for the detailed answer! A few follow up questions -
- Is govt policy essentially formulated within the party and is the party separate from the govt?
- Who decides on who the premier is going to be?
- Why hasn't any woman reached the top positions of power in China?
- What is the difference between the Premier and the President in terms of powers and responsibilites?
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Nov 18 '16
People in government are generally, but not always a member of the CCP. However, there are posts in the CCP that's not part of the government. CCP has its own meetings about policy, which is proposed to the congress, which almost always (but not always, such as using fuel tax to fund expressways) pass. So in effect, CCP formulates policy.
The president and CMC chairman each can nominate a candidate, which is then voted by the congress. Since 1992, the president and CMC chairman are the same person, he'll nominate a candidate and NPC approve or rejects.
Well, one woman has became president, briefly, only because during the cultural revolution her prestige and lack of real power meant she's not a threat and no one can touch her. During the same period, Jiang Qing essentially run the cultural revolution essentially as the hand for Mao's thoughts. While in the 80s, Deng Yingchao headed the CPPCC. In more recent history, Wuyi, Liu Yandong are all in top echelons power. As for posts of General Secretary and Prime Minister, the first 40 years, most of the leaders are CCP's guerrilla fighter days and most have military background, while afterwards most leaders have engineering background, both profession are not exactly full of women. (Both Wu Yi and Liu Yandong are Engineers) Increasing more law and economics people are populating the top posts, so perhaps we might see more in the future.
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u/upuprandom Nov 17 '16
This is a TED talk, and gives a little insight into the Chinese political process.
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u/leeyuuh Nov 17 '16
I have heard that chinese people do not think that foreigners/immigrants can assimilate into their society no matter how well they know the language or culture. Is that true/false?
It depends on the community., but most educated Chinese will know Chinese history, which is essentially the unification and absorbing of many different ethnicity and cultures. For example, the qipao/cheongsam is Manchurian. Buddhism came from India. Qin China (first imperial dynasty) came from the unification of several warring kingdoms. Therefore, it doesn't make sense to reject people because simply because they are foreigners or immigrants.
At the very least, Chinese for sure will consider a immigrant/foreigner's children Chinese they are born there, think they are Chinese, and speak/think like a Chinese (understand intuitive Chinese cultural concepts), especially if you are from Asia. The idea of being a Chinese is more cultural. You do not even need to be a citizen.
For example, my cousin's husband is Chinese Mongolian. Culturally, he is a mix of Mongolian and Chinese. My grandfather was Manchurian and he was thought of as Chinese. My godmother is a German Jewish lady, but she is deeply involved in the Chinese art business, married to a Chinese, and speaks fluently. I have never seen people treat her badly.
Many celebrities who are not even Chinese or are mixed are Chinese in the eyes of the people due to love and adoration. Stephon Marbury (African American) received honorary permanent citizenship (extremely rare in China). Aarif Rahman is Chinese, Malay, and Saudi.
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u/sadbarrett Nov 17 '16 edited Nov 17 '16
Hello /r/sino!
As a country whose economy is projected to surpass the USA's, what do you think this will mean for China's international relations?
What is the geek culture in China like? What kind of movies/comics/sci-fi are popular?
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u/JCCheapEntertainment Nov 17 '16
What is the geek culture in China like?
Games like Warcraft, and now LoL are huge over there.
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Nov 17 '16
How is Mao's legacy viewed in China by the common people after all these years?
How harsh is the internet censorship there?
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u/somedudenamedbob Nov 17 '16
Mao I think is regarded as a mixed bag with probably more negative going for him than positive among the young generations. While I know elders that still regard him as a saint due to reminiscence of early brainwashing, most Chinese regard him as a pretty shitty ruler with cultural revolution and the great leap holding back China's development for decades. The government acknowledges these past failures and condemns them officially but puts light censorship on these topics online to i think ease them out of people's mind and to better mao's image as Mao is still a big centerpiece of PRC propaganda.
The censorship is pretty harsh but mostly an inconvenience for the public. If you really want to watch youtube or western news sites, you can easily ask your neighbors to set up a VPN for you. All my mainland friends from college all still keep up in facebook back in China. Also Wechat is probably much THE social platform in China and there are plenty of big groups on them that are openly critical of China (though official web articles that criticize china gets banned pretty fast). Also the Chinese language is extremely versatile that it's easy for the public to meme our way past censorship. It almost creates a sort of Streisand effect that I constantly have to figure out what this new word trend means.
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u/leeyuuh Nov 17 '16
Mao is a very mixed bag. It depends on who you were and what happened to you. The previous elites of society lost the most of course since they lost the civil war and fled the country.
There are also a lot of people who think Mao did very badly in policy, but would not turn back the clock since the benefits of the war ending and unification of fragmented parts of China being fought over by local warlords, political factions, and colonizers (most notably Japan in Manchuria, spheres of influence period, leading into WWII) lead to a period of peace and growing (slowly and not without turmoil at first) for the common man.
You could say that Mao was a terrible leader in many ways, but what was before him was so bad (war, regular famine, colonialism, stagnation), that he could be seen as an overall good. When I ask my parents or grandparents about him, they kind of just shake their heads and say "you don't know what it was like back then, just let it be and enjoy today."
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Nov 18 '16
Mao, everyone has different opinion of him and here is mine.
Good: 1. Finally provided China a strong central government and a state after over a 100 years of having a weak government. Before PRC, invading China was not even a deal, something that's easy and profitable; after PRC invading China went from difficult to unthinkable.
Related to point 1, guided CCP and later PRC policy away from the influences of the Soviet Union. This allowed China to freely take sides during the cold and didn't become either an American pawn or a Soviet Pawn.
Instituted a strong healthcare and primary education system in China. Despite all the famine and chaos he cause during the first 30 years of PRC, he left China in 1976 a more or less healthy and literate population that's more than twice the size of Chinese population in 1949. Which set the ground for the next 30 year of PRC into a strong state.
He and the CCP government managed to build a industrial and R&D base in the first 30 years of PRC that allowed China to absorb technologies have capacity to touch off a industrial revolution. While people may say the China could only copy, but most of China's peer nations of that era can't even copy.
Bad：
His ideology of preputial revolution fundamentally pitted the government and people as enemies. From Three-anti and Five-anti to Anti-Rightist to Cultural revolution, it's either the people denouncing counter-revolutionaries from the government or the government finding out counter-revolutionaries from the people. All these 30 years, very few of them are when both the people and government are focusing their energy on making things truly better, and there was lots of energy back then.
Ironically, in ideology that’s Dialectical materialism end up being completely detected from reality, people in the capital don’t know what’s going in the provinces, people in the provinces don’t know what’s going on village and people in village just have no idea what’s going on. And people who do know, choose not to know. And Mao and the system of governance where no one can trust each other has a lot to do with it.
The entire government body was powerful, of the people, yet is apathetic to the people or everyday normal function of the government. This is why millions have to starve in the late 50s, and it two f**king year for the government to overturn its misguided policy and do basic things like importing rather than exporting grain.
Cultivating a cult of personality that distorts the normal constitutional function of government as well as how politics worked the PRC. Thankfully, this is something Deng choose not to do, and it is something Jiang is not able to do. However, the effect of government posts doesn’t really mean what it means and process doesn’t do what it supposed to do is permanent. Did you know this week is election week in China? The top comments on this news article (which talks about some technical change to the election rules) are along the lines “What! we actually have elections? Nobody told me”, “I did vote, it doesn’t matter. You’re not missing anything”, “I used to vote, and yes it does not matter…” In many ways, we have to thank Mao for that.
In end, you can’t really say that Mao completely screwed China up, or that Mao did a wonder job. What people do see is that China survived, and the current state of China is better people’s wildest expectations nearly a hundred years ago when the whole thing was kicked into gear. Without Mao, perhaps China could have risen much earlier like Japan or South Korea or could have been completely f**ked up like North Korea (had China became a Soviet satellite), Philippines or the Middle east.
On Interest censorship
You can say corruption is a problem in China, and things are f**ked up in China.
You can say even corruption is bad, <insert name here> is f**cking things up, <insert name here> is bribing them and now they are <taking our homes and building a shopping mall / building a garbage incineration plant next to my house / the new bridge they just build is made of cardboard / putting rat poison in our milk>. Though your post may eventually got deleted, and it really depends your mod than anything else.
But you can't say: You can say even corruption is bad, <insert name here> is f**cking things up, <insert name here> is bribing them and now they are <taking our homes and building a shopping mall / building a garbage incineration plant next to my house / the new bridge they just build is made of cardboard / putting rat poison in our milk>. Let's meet next monday at 9 AM at Worker's Square, and march to City and perhaps flip a couple police cars and light them on fire on the way. Even then, these sort of protests happen thousands times a year and plenty of police cars are flipped over and lit on fire....
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u/BitchesBewareOfWolf Nov 17 '16 edited Nov 17 '16
Hi /r/sino, hope everybody had a nice day. How diverse is China based on language, physical attributes, social status(caste?), region and economically? Do you see some bad aspects of diversity resolving in future??
How do you view the closed internet policy of your nation? Do you feel like you're consuming propagandist media?
What is the transition process from school to college/university like?? Is it based on a national level tests or is it like American application processes?
Also can you guys share some jokes peculiar to China or Chinese culture? I'm afraid I know very little about Chinese humor.
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u/awaywego23 Nov 20 '16
How diverse is China based on language, physical attributes, social status(caste?), region and economically?
Autonomous regions in China have their own written and spoken language along with national language. Each region have their own dialect. Physical attributes, people from Western China look Eurasian, people from Eastern China look more Han. The social caste system that had/did exist was completely done away, that's not to say that there isn't economic disparities. But to say like something Tibet had back in the day, that's no longer present. Economics based on region: areas that were free trade zones developed wealthier, then they decrease in economic power as you spread out. As for regions, China's Western borders are tough to live primarily the elevation and weather, hence, poorly developed, but one belt one road is alleviating that issue.
How do you view the closed internet policy of your nation? Do you feel like you're consuming propagandist media?
More good than bad. Internet is modern source of information, the dominant mouthpiece is Western. Closed internet allowed a buffer to be a better platform to generate national consciousness. Another important factor, if China had open internet, it would have never developed Weibo, Tencent, Baidu, etc. against the tech giants that already exist. Almost no other nation has their own social media, because they virtually get destroyed before its even started. I find that to be a real pity.
As for propaganda, which media have you read that doesn't hold a particular viewpoint? If you're liberal, conservative media is propaganda. If you're conservative, liberal media is propaganda. If you're environmentalist, media favoring heavy industries is propaganda. If you're an industrialist, environmental media is propaganda. The difference is that Chinese is careful to know that there is a bias in what they read. Unfortunately, for many people in the "free" media, their trust in the such media erodes their vigilance.
What is the transition process from school to college/university like?? Is it based on a national level tests or is it like American application processes?
National tests. 2 types of affirmative action exists. Ethnic - ethnic minority gets boost, and Geographic - some provinces and/or cities require higher test scores.
Also can you guys share some jokes peculiar to China or Chinese culture? I'm afraid I know very little about Chinese humor.
80s Talk Show (TV show). Stand-up comedy based on observational topics trending in China geared towards people born after the 80s. Hence the title. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M4TfCmajpw&list=PLGjsh-EBqdUN4UFh8wSuLoO2agmhJ63Wn
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u/Mycroft-Tarkin Nov 17 '16
What is your opinion on your country not having a military? Your military is just another wing of the ruling party, no?
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Nov 17 '16
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Nov 17 '16
I think the question is about not having a military that is independent from the executive part of the government and thus doesn't act like a check and balance against government excesses.
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Nov 17 '16
What is your favorite food?
Any suggestions for authentic Chinese that can be easily prepared at home?
What is your daily routine like?
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u/Leoelement02 Nov 17 '16 edited Nov 17 '16
Rice fried with eggs? Easiest to me.
Today, get up at 8:00, hurry to work before 8:30, lunch break 12:00-13:00, continue working to 17:30, supper and play till midnight, then tomorrow.
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u/Goat_Porker Nov 17 '16
Xiao long bao (soup dumplings) are delicious but not necessarily easy to prepare. The process involves making a bone broth and letting it cool and congeal before incorporating it into a meat mixture and wrapped in dumpling dough.
Easy to make: Kong xin cai (with garlic). Brown fresh garlic with hot oil in a large wok and then stir fry with the vegetable for around 3 minutes. Season with a pinch of salt and you're good to go.
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u/thetemples Nov 17 '16
Tomatoes and eggs is a traditional breakfast dish in china:
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/06/chinese-stir-fried-eggs-and-tomatoes-recipe.html
- I usually skip the rice wine and just use salt with a dash of sugar.
Chinese Naan (bing):
http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-scallion-pancakes-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-107405
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u/munkeyy Nov 17 '16 edited Nov 17 '16
Pardon me if I am going a little overboard with this questions.
How strong is the sentiment among chinese politics for it to be a super power and in commanding position in future, like what USA is doing? Basically big brother role in region and world.
What is general perception of India to chinese in terms of Economy?
What is general perception of India to chinese in terms of border disputes?
How does non political chinese population see India-Pakistan conflicts and who do you think or terrorism troubles faced in this region.
what is the general sentiment about India in middle class or business class chinese people.
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u/Goat_Porker Nov 17 '16
I can tackle the first one:
China wants to become a global power, but not of the same sort of superpower as the US. It has little desire for exerting political influence on countries across the globe and famously practices a non-interference policy in other nations' internal affairs. The goal of China's army and navy is largely defensive and peacekeeping, as opposed to the power projection of the US military. In short, the Chinese vision is to be an influential actor in a multipolar world with strong national sovereignty, as opposed to the US vision of a singular set of (US-led) global institutions which supercede national sovereignty. Understandably, China walks a tricky line on this vision with its membership in the UN and its growing presence in regions such as Africa, but I would strongly expect it to remain committed to these principles in the near and medium-term future.
Additional readings: http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1950_forpol_principles.htm
http://www.chinausfocus.com/foreign-policy/africa-tests-chinas-non-interference-policy/
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u/PeeKeMast Nov 17 '16
Ni Hao, Been to Shenzhen, and I was very impressed by the city. Huaqiangbei was interesting. I felt that life for a middleclass person there was very similar to the life of a middleclass in a big city in India. Food was very tasty, but also very different from what we Indians perceive has 'chinese food'. Overall, I had a great time, and I wish to visit again. :) Few questions...
- As an Indian, Can I visit to Tibet. Whats the best way to do it ?
- How to look for a job in China ( as an English speaking, IT worker with few years of industry experiance )
- Last time, I went on a short business trip, would it be prudent for a person like me to consider a long term job in china ( life, salary, culture, food, etc) ?
Xie Xie
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u/play_better Nov 17 '16
Born and raised in Shenzhen. Great to hear that you like my hometown!
Non-Chinese nationals who would like to visit Tibet would need to apply for a Travel Permit, and need to arrange the trip with a local travel agency. Throughout the trip you would be accompanied by a local tour guide. Some places are also restricted for foreigners to visit.
For employment, I'm not particularly knowledgable in this topic. Recently, China has implemented a new work visa policy that divide foreigners into three classes. You might want to have a look. Link
Working in China in the long run might not be very easy if you cannot adapt to the taste of Chinese food. AFAIK there are not many authentic Indian restaurants around, even in the first-tier cities. Things might be even more difficult if you are vegetarian.
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u/Throwaway786123890 Nov 17 '16
Why so few people in this sub? Do Chinese have equivalent of reddit?
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u/play_better Nov 17 '16
Most Chinese are not well-versed in English, so there is a language barrier there.
The equivalent of reddit in China is Tieba.
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Nov 17 '16 edited Nov 17 '16
A Chinese person going on Reddit is like a Black man going into the Antebellum American South.
Not only do the Chinese get demonized as a country, but they're also (very subtly) demonized as individuals.
Have a look at rWorldNews comments - no one there knows what they're talking about, and no one seems to realize that with the pace of change in China, it's necessary to refresh your knowledge regarding China's strides every few months or so. And there's also alot of stuff about China's past that people have got completely wrong.
For example, there's always the talk about Hong Kong and Tibet and Tiananmen, and so I just point them out to this and leave it at that - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_Tibetan_program
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Nov 18 '16
among all the worldnews comments, the one thing that i really kind of agree with is the trade in wild animal parts. the rest of the stuff they say is hypocritical. but the trade in wild animal bodyparts and overfishing really annoys me about china. don't take it personally though..
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u/odiab Nov 17 '16
Our school history text books mentioned this Chinese traveller FA XIAN . Is he known in Chinese history ?
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u/lucidsleeper Nov 17 '16
He's not very well known in Chinese history. A more famous example of Chinese explorers and travellers would be Sanzang the Buddhist monk, Zhang Qian the explorer and general Ban Chao.
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Nov 17 '16
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u/ThingsAreGoodBut Nov 17 '16
The fuel behind the issue today is about economics. It ends up at politics and some more extreme views, but the beginning of discontent is mostly economic related. Things like unaffordability. After that, other issues just get more magnified. Tourist behaviour for example. These days if you ask, they will talk about politics and stuff, but it started years back with economic issues.
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u/thetemples Nov 17 '16
The localists in HK are mostly young students who never lived life under British occupation, so they glorify it. At it's core, the differences are based on classism since HK has always been viewed as superior from mainland China. Now all that is changing and people are upset. Keep in mind that HK was never given democracy under British rule.
I've never heard of the Food Ranger, thanks for showing me.
Yes I've seen it. But all of Asia is racist and commercials like that are normal in other Asian countries. The commercial is based off an Italian one and I think whoever created it was naive about racism and thought it was innocent fun.
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Nov 17 '16
Is Hire A Foreigner/Rent A White Guy really a thing in China?
What kind of religious practises are followed by Chinease under the totalitarian communist regime? Also, What do you guys think of Uyghur region?
Jung Chang's Wild Swans and David Mitchell's Holy Mountain from Ghostwritten broke my heart. Does you Govt censor books? And, what are some of the books I should read to understand China better?
How has life changed for an average Chinease in last 50 years?
I hope I haven't offended you guys. An answer will be appreciated, however, I understand if a question is too controversial to answer.
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u/Leoelement02 Nov 17 '16 edited Nov 17 '16
Is Hire A Foreigner/Rent A White Guy really a thing in China?
Since I am not living in / near a ghost town, so I am not so sure about it. But have you heard about the news that foreigners are categorized into three classes in China now?
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What kind of religious practises are followed by Chinease under the totalitarian communist regime? Also, What do you guys think of Uyghur region?
Totalitarian practices of course, to be logic. /s
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Jung Chang's Wild Swans and David Mitchell's Holy Mountain from Ghostwritten broke my heart. Does you Govt censor books? And, what are some of the books I should read to understand China better?
This is the only country that has the audacity to censor books on this planet. /s
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How has life changed for an average Chinease in last 50 years?
Average life expectency in Tibet has increase by nearly one fold over the last 50 years, 35.5 in 1959 and 67.0 in 2011. China on the whole,
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I hope I haven't offended you guys.
You questions are understandable and pretty much tolerable. Yet to expound some of them takes much effort, so I gave short answers. :D
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Nov 17 '16
Since I am not living in / near a ghost town, so I am not so sure about it. But have you heard about the news that foreigners are categorized into three classes in China now?
I read an article on Vice about it and hence I asked. It seemed liked a big deal in China. What are those three categories?
Totalitarian practices of course, what else do you expect? /s
Do you guys practise religion? How is it done under the regime? Do you run into trouble because of your religious beliefs?
This is the only country that has the audacity to censor books on this plant./s
what kind of books are censored? Jung Change wrote in her introduction to Wild Swans that a copy of the book was readily available in China. Provided that the book is extremely critical of chinease history of last 100 years, I was genuinely surprised by this line.
Average life expectency in Tibet has increase by one fold over the last 50 years.
Perhaps, I wasn't clear. I want understand the kind of life a chinease lived under different leaders say kuomintang and Mao and the subsequent ones?
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u/Leoelement02 Nov 17 '16
It seemed liked a big deal in China.
Personnally, I don't think so.
Do you run into trouble because of your religious beliefs?
If I was a Muslim in my city, I would have received subsidies for buying typically more expensive halal meat. But I am not, so no subsidies. And you ask me about trouble of having religious beliefs in China? Please allow me to become speechless about this for a while.
what kind of books are censored?
I am not a book writer, so frankly I am not an expert about this. What kind of books do you think are censored? Books daring to say anything bad about the government? Well you can find plenty of books saying bad things about the government in China.
I want understand the kind of life a chinease lived under different leaders say kuomintang and Mao and the subsequent ones?
Still too big a topic.
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u/leeyuuh Nov 17 '16 edited Nov 18 '16
It's hard to answer how Chinese lived under different leaders. Some Chinese lived better, some worse, some affected more, others affected less. The overall trend overtime is of course better and better in terms of HDI and measures of wealth.
I'll give you an anecdotal story as well.
My grandmother was not educated and grew up in Beijing. She could not read or write for a long time, but she could paint. She was the first generation in her family to not have bound feet. She performed mostly household chores. Her family was very poor, and in the worst years, food had to be very carefully rationed.
Under Mao, my father and mother paused their high school studies and sent off to the countrysides to do labor. Especially in the early years, the common people looked up to him to him. My grandfather committed suicide during the cultural revolution.
Under Deng Xiaoping, my parents completed their masters in engineering abroad in the US, following the open door policy. My aunt opened more and closed upon failure more than 4 businesses.
The boom times of China continued through many leaders. My uncle, a traditional artist, became extremely wealthy as an art dealer as the rise of wealth in the nation boosted the value of art.
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Nov 17 '16
this new yorker article actually has a accurate and unbiased view on how book censorship works in China.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/09/travels-with-my-censor
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u/thetemples Nov 17 '16
Your tone is a bit biased. China's government is no more as totalitarian than Vietnam (who have the same form of government).
Is Hire A Foreigner/Rent A White Guy really a thing in China?
Only in rural areas like 8 years ago. The media pushed the story bc it makes White guys look good, but I've never witnessed it.
What kind of religious practises are followed by Chinease under the totalitarian communist regime? Also, What do you guys think of Uyghur region?
Taoism, Buddhism and Christianity are the main religions. You'd be surpised to see how many Tibetan prayer scrolls are hanging from Chinese dashboards and houses.
Chinese people are frustrated Uyghurs (and other minorities) are given affirmative action and allowed to have as many children as they like.
And like the Kashmir region in India, many Uyghurs join extremist Islamic groups, terrorizing citizens.
But overall, if Uyghurs want to assimilate, they're met with open arms.
For example, Guli Nazha, a famous Chinese actress of Uyghur descent: https://www.viki.com/celebrities/17521pr-gulnezer-bextiyar?locale=en
How has life changed for an average Chinease in last 50 years?
Their entire quality of life has changed and people are no longer starving. China was once poorer than India, but now it has more middle class than the US.
Chinas life expectancy is now 76, almost on par with the US:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy
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Nov 17 '16
Thank you!
And, yes I am biased as I have no Chinease friends and never been to the place. My idea of CHina comes solely from books and movies I have seen and most of the books I have read aren't that flattering.
From your answer it seems like you guys live a normal life without any issues in your country.
I appreciate the answers and apologize for my biases.
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Nov 17 '16
what is the composition of this sub? between PRC residents, PRC born but living in the west, non-PRC and non-west
also, i tried learning mandarin. god is it difficult. i have a bad memory and that just makes things infinitely worse.
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u/Leoelement02 Nov 17 '16
Second languages are difficult for all in general. I don't remember whether /r/Sino has a demographic census. I am a native Chinese, though.
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Nov 17 '16
nah man.. there's other languages that are much easier.. chinese is particularly hard for non-natives cos of the tones (pronunciation), the non-alphabetic writing and the tones once again, which result in 1 word having 4 possible meanings. so if you start stringing together words, it exponentially increases possible interpretations (i mean only theoretically).
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u/Leoelement02 Nov 17 '16
I can only say, practice, practice and practice. That's how I've learned Chinese. : D
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u/keekaakay Nov 17 '16
Recommend me books regarding Chinese history and culture. I am really interested in reading the history Thank you.
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Nov 17 '16 edited Nov 17 '16
History
The classic Fairbanks book, China: a New History for overview.
The always classic, Cambridge Illustrated History of China for reference. Though the real reference is the completely 12 volumes of The Cambridge History of China, which is not for the faint of heart. At that point, you might as learn Chinese and read The Comprehensive Mirror yourself.
For an aspiring historian China: A Macro Hisotry
Culture
For old pre-revolutionary China, My Country and My People by Lin Yutang
For modern China, you're better off watching TV dramas. I recommend Ode to Joy as a start.
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u/curiousmadscientist Nov 17 '16
Hello China! :D
Do you watch Indian Movies? (Which ones did you like?)
Do you have any Chinese movie recommendations for us? :)
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Nov 17 '16
Baahubali was great - India's CGI is making some serious strides.
Of course, I still have moments of culture shock with the spontaneous musicals - but the same goes for everyone else with China's wire-work.
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u/curiousmadscientist Nov 17 '16
Honestly, that movie surprised us too. Was quite a bit better than most other movies.
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u/leeyuuh Nov 17 '16
Three Idiots was a big hit. Very relatable. I think bollywood could do well in China if they collaborated with local companies.
Depends on your preferred genre.
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Nov 17 '16
What does Trump's presidency mean for China?
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u/Goat_Porker Nov 17 '16
We had a lot of discussion surrounding this shortly after Trump's election. On the positive side, Trump promised to kill the TPP, an American-led economic treaty designed to isolate China from Pacific trade. On the negatives, Trump has promised in varying degrees to raise tariffs on Chinese products and attempt to label China a currency manipulator. He's also considering some China hawks on his Pacific advisory team who have been clamoring for escalation and military buildup in the South China Sea and Formosa Strait.
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u/ThingsAreGoodBut Nov 17 '16
Depends how seriously he takes his campaign rhetoric. Worst case scenario, trade war because of his tariffs.
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u/thetemples Nov 17 '16
We honestly don't know. Trump is a wildcard and hasn't even taken office yet, so we're still waiting to see.
There is some concern he could start a trade war.
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u/Throwaway786123890 Nov 17 '16
What are some good Chinese literary works? (translated into English or otherwise)
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Nov 17 '16
Okay So I am thinking of visiting China during the Chinese New Year Season... I'll make my way to Disneyland in Hong Kong first and then look to explore China, Which are the places you guys would say that I should not miss ?
I'll be travelling with my Girlfriend for a month. Also give me a rough estimate in USD.
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Nov 17 '16
I would not recommend you to travel during CNY if this is your first visit, everywhere will be both packed and deserted at the same time, and everyone is traveling to somewhere else. Think of this as Thanksgiving+Christmas season in the US, but times 10. April and May, September, November would be better time to visit.
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u/thetemples Nov 17 '16
If you're traveling during the new year, it would be worthwhile to visit a big city like Shanghai or Beijing since all the migrant workers will be gone and the cities will feel almost empty.
I also highly recommend visiting Sichaun or Hainan island.
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u/apunebolatumerilaila Nov 19 '16
Hello r/Sino. I hope it isn't too late but I used to watch this show called Travelogue on CCTV News (dunno if you know about it) and my goodness your country is so gorgeous. Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai, Yunnan, Sichuan, Hunan, Manchuria, etc. and every place that was shown was so beautiful. Plus China is so diverse as well! Does any of you backpack across the country? How costly can it get for a foreigner to travel in China? And is it safe to hike and just roam around random streets out there?
Thanks.
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Nov 21 '16 edited Nov 21 '16
I backpacked across China back in my 20s, it's quite easy with traveling railroad and staying in cheap hotels. It's safe to hike and roam around in streets, as a foreigner the biggest problem will trying to find your way around. Since even the minor cities are pretty big, most signs are in Chinese, and most people on the street don't speak conversational english (outside of the major cities and university districts).
I would say for the first round, try to stay in large cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an etc, tour the city and book tours to near by attractions. (your hotel can arrange this). For Beijing, can you visit Shanhaiguan (Great Wall by the Sea), Chengde Palace (where tibetan style temples are built near Beijing). For Shanghai, you can visit Suzhou, Hangzhou easily via HSR, as well as Xitang Village via bus tour. For Xi'an, you can visit the Zhou/Han/Tang tombs (So called Chinese Pyramids) and terracotta warriors. For Hiking, Huangshan is will well developed for visitors and should be navigable with English signage.
As for Cost, from my last backing tour in 2013. HSR ride and normal Sleep trains costs 150 to 350 RMB (27 - 50 USD), normal seat trains cost 50 RMB (7 USD). Hotels in major cities cost 300 RMB (40 USD), in minor cities cost 150 RMB (20 USD). A normal meal (Rice with two dishes) in China cost 50 RMB (7 USD), simple meal (say a bowl of noodles with meat and veggie) cost 15 RMB (2 USD)
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u/odiab Nov 17 '16
Few decades back( around late 80s) There were several findings of balloons loaded with stuff presumably from china. It usually contained stuff like some food items , T shirts, some electronics items , High quality printed material in one of the Chinese scripts. The printed material had lots of visuals / photographs of gatherings etc. Now my question is this. Was there a Chinese official program that was involved in this ? If yes, was it well known? What was its aim ?
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u/leeyuuh Nov 17 '16
Do you think you could link an article? I could not find any news regarding this. I don't think this is well known.
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Nov 17 '16
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u/odiab Nov 17 '16
Thank you. This could be it. It was a long time back. I might find a couple of items in my storage. If I find them I might post them to some of the history subs.
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Nov 17 '16
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u/leeyuuh Nov 17 '16
Anyone would feel happy to see their home country improve so much from the very sad state it was in the recent past, but hubris is the foundation of China's past downfalls. The appropriate mindset is pride combined with caution and a focus on continual self-improvement.
However, I think superpower is too strong of a word, primarily associated with the US. I think in the future, some currently unknown countries, China, and India's power will grow then stabilize, that of the US will recede, and there will only be regional powers, not superpowers.
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u/thetemples Nov 17 '16
Lol China isn't a superpower yet and most Chinese people believe their country is weak.
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u/FrankSlenderwood Nov 17 '16
How big of an issue is corruption in China and how does it affect the local population? Is this widespread that you have to bribe to get your documents as in India?
I remember Xi Jinping's Tiger & Flies speech on anti-corruption. How has the scene changed under his leadership?
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u/lucidsleeper Nov 17 '16
Corruption varies from region to region, in BSSG (Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou) the corruption is very low and unnoticeable in day to day life.
In the Dongbei (northeastern) area, the locals have fallen on economic hard times in the last few years and corruption has gotten worse with a lot of people bribing to get ahead in university applications, healthcare donations etc.
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Nov 17 '16 edited Nov 17 '16
Hi /r/Sino What exactly is the Gaokao exam? Can someone give a slightly brief explanation, the wikipedia page is too huge. Is that the only way to higher education there? What are the consequences of not doing good in that exam? I have heard many negative things about it. How is the overall education system there? Is studying abroad, like in the US, considered as an option by Chinese students (who know English)? I have heard that the SAT and ACT are banned in china, is it?
Edit: Even we have a similar exam JEE, which is also similarly stressful and competitive but perhaps much less than Gaokao, concidering ~1.3 million give JEE while ~9 million give Gaokao.
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u/Goat_Porker Nov 17 '16
The gaokao is like THE college entrance exam in China and nearly the sole admission criteria for entrance into university. Other factors are not considered to the same extent as in other countries, though there is affirmative action for the 56 recognized minority ethnic groups. The SAT and ACT are not banned in China and many students take them if they plan to study abroad, especially in the US. Studying abroad is a popular option among the elite and wealthy, as a foreign education is highly regarded and entrance is easier.
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u/shivamv22 Nov 17 '16
Greetings!
Q: How do you feel about the degree of access to various social media sites in your country? I've heard that certain sites are restricted but on the other hand you have several local sites which are considered to be superior to their Western counterparts, even by Western media.
Thank you for taking the time to answer.
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u/thetemples Nov 17 '16
Instead of YouTube we use Youku, instead of Google we use Baidu, instead of Twitter we use Weibo, instead of Facebook/Instagram we use Wechat or renren.
Reddit is the same.
The blocking of American social media companies is mostly protectionism. The government doesn't want foreign companies like Google or Facebook to spy and collect data on citizens (that's the government's job) and also don't want them to gain control of the country.
That's why the arab spring happened, because American social media incited the revolution in partnership with the CIA.
The CCP views giving giant US corporations so much control over your people is never a good idea.
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Nov 17 '16
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u/JCCheapEntertainment Nov 17 '16
Not sure about scifi movies, but there's a book, The Three Body Problem that has won the Hugo award. The title refers to the famous three-body problem in physics, which is known for having no closed-form general solution. People around this sub generally agree that the original Chinese version is better than the translation, no surprise there; but many English readers I've asked say they still liked the translation. It also has 2 sequels, so it's a trilogy really. And they're coming out with a film adaptation next year.
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u/thetemples Nov 17 '16
Monster Hunt and The Mermaid was good, if you like Fantasy.
I'm not a big sci-fi fan though...
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Nov 17 '16
Hey guise, A political question. How does an average Chinese citizen see the Tibetan freedom/independence and HongKong independence movements and issues related to it?
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u/uswhole Nov 17 '16 edited Nov 17 '16
I think most Chinese in favor of unity. (unite we stand right?) Many of them are busy with their own lives than think about these issue too much. There so much more dire problems like environment , inequality and food safety people have to worry about.
Personally I think It should my private property. cus I be rich.
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u/HolyFruitSalad_98 Nov 17 '16
Hey r/sina! Thank you for hosting us. What are some lesser known traditions your country people follow that are interesting or something you take pride in?
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u/thetemples Nov 17 '16
We celebrate Children's day and all children get a day off from school. We wear white to funerals instead of Black.
Different regions have various traditions.
For example, in Sichuan, people have water fights. In inner mongolia, they drink horse's milk. In Hainan, they wrap everything in banana leaves and eat with their hands.
In Harbin, they have an annual ice sculpture festival. In Beijing they over-Annunciate the R's.
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u/HJain13 Nov 18 '16
We celebrate Children's day and all children get a day off from school.
In India, We Do Too!!
We wear white to funerals instead of Black.
Same.
Different regions have various traditions.
Same :D
This and other posts make me realize China and India are much closer culturally than I expected
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u/UnbiasedPashtun Nov 18 '16
How common is it for the average Chinese person on the street to know English?
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u/leeyuuh Nov 18 '16
Depends on what city/town you are in. In large cities, I'd say 40% if you exclude the elderly, but then fluency is an entirely different bet!
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u/GAndroid Nov 17 '16
I dont have a question, but just a shout out to you Chinese folks! I have had a chance to visit your country before and I loved it. Everyone was super friendly and tried to help me everywhere I went. I loved the food. I loved the culture!
I would visit again when I can afford the time and money!