你在中国的什么经历让你完全改变了对这个国家和社会的看法？ [美国媒体]

What happened to you in China which made you think completely differently about the country and society?

你在中国的什么经历让你完全改变了对这个国家和社会的看法？




WilliamRegan, I've been living in China for seven years.（已经在中国居住了7年）
AnsweredJun 3
Manyyounger Chinese seem to be decidedly less ideological than their Westerncounterparts. Even in middle school or high school, I could easily find myselfin debates about Christianity, the existence of god, what the founding fathersmeant when they wrote the constitution, the differences betweenDemocrats/Republicans Big/Small government, LGBT rights, et. al. In China, it’sjust more difficult to find people who want to talk about such things. I don’tthink they’re afraid of approaching these topics — they just haven’t thoughtabout it much or don’t care that much.
Here,much of the discourse among younger people seems to be related to pop cultureor things they deem to be immediately relevant to their lives. How old shouldone be to get married? Should they listen to their parents about marriage? Doesa man need a house and a car to properly pursue a woman? Where’s the newest andhottest place to find food? Housing prices. Wai mai recommendations. Whatcelebrity x said on Weibo. (This happens in the everywhere of course.) What’sthe newest fad — where and how can I make money? Food. Sexual Relations. Money.Housing.
Overall,I was just surprised to see people so eager to get in on “what’s next” or toget an edge in the newest thing. Younger Chinese people — especially the oneswho don’t feel “disenfranchised” or “left out” of China’s amazing growth story— just seem eager for anything novel or anything cutting edge.
It’s ahard feeling for me to describe.

很多年轻中国人不会像西方年轻人那样具有意识形态。即使是在西方中学里，学生们都会就基督教精神，上帝的存在与否，国父们制定宪法时的精神内含，民主党/共和党，大/小政府之间的差异，同性恋权利等等方面的议题进行争辩。而在中国，要想找到人们谈论这些议题是很难的。我认为他们不是害怕谈论这些话题，只不过还没有就这些方面进行过太多的思考或者说他们根本不怎么关心。

在中国，年轻人比较关注的是流行文化或者和自己生活相关的事情。一个人应该在什么时候结婚？婚姻方面应该听从父母吗？一个男人在追求女人需要具备车子和房子吗？哪里有美食？房屋价格，外卖推荐，某某名人在微博上说了什么。（以下现象全世界都有）最新的时尚是什么，去哪里赚钱，怎么赚钱？食物，两性关系，金钱，住房。
总之，让我感到惊讶的是人们如此着迷于新事物。年轻中国人——特别是受益于中国发展的这批年轻人——非常着迷于新奇或者先进的事物。我很难形容这种感觉。



DatCong Dinh
Jun 3· 4 upvotes
Withall due respect, that’s just gross overgeneralization.

楼上的太过一概而论了吧。

CarolMat Ara, MSc. Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Southwest JiaotongUniversity (2018)（西南交通大学交通运输工程专业，2018）
AnsweredJun 5
Generallychinese are very friendly people with a good culture. However some of thethings which I have seen happening are not good. To answer your question, Iwill have to explain what has happened to me personally that made me thinkdifferently about the people. Chinese prefer having a white teacher to teachEnglish and do not take into consideration experience or qualificationsespecially if you are black.Once, I applied for an English teaching job. Ibelieve, I was qualified for the job. After sending my application, whichrequires a video, they sent back a message saying that they needed a whiteteacher. So apparently my skin color disqualified me. This is a common becausetwice I have been told to recommend my white friends for jobs after trialinterviews. I once recommended a friend from Uzbekistan. Although she doesntspeak English fluently, she got the job. I didnt think my color could preventme from getting a job until I came to China. I knew there was racism but comingto China made me start to be more conscious about it. Some job advertisementssay they prefer white. There are black teachers but their pay compared to whiteteachers is lower.

总体而言，中国人很友好，拥有优秀的文化。然而我看到的一些事情并不是很好。为了回答这个问题，我得先说明一下我自己都经历了什么，以至于让我对中国人的看法发生了改变。中国人喜欢让白人老师来教英语，不考虑经验或者资格，尤其是你是黑人的话。之前我应聘当老师，我自己认为有资格胜任这个工作。在发出申请后（要求发一个视频），他们回复我说要找一个白人老师。所以显然我的肤色让我变得没有资格。这是普遍现象，因为我两次在初试后被告知可以推荐我的白人朋友。我之前推荐了一个乌兹别克斯坦的朋友。虽然她的英语不是很流利，但是还是被聘用了。我之前都不认为我的肤色可以阻挡我找到工作，直到我来到中国。我知道中国存在着种族主义，但是来中国后的亲身体验让我更加意识到了这一点。有些招聘广告就说喜欢招白人。也有黑人老师，但是薪酬比白人老师低。



ZhangLe
Jun 6· 1 upvote
Right.
Whiteappearance in this context is kind of uniform. White skin does make the Englishteacher look more professional. People would think only white English orAmerican men are native english speakers. To educated and informed people, yes,it is ridiculous and illogical. But peope do have these stereotypes.
But Ithink this phenomen will change in 10 years as the young well educated,informedgeneration inevitably dominate Chinese society. China changes fast in culture,people’s lifestyle and mentality.
If awhite people teaches Japanese or Korean in China, it will be very weird.

白色面孔在这种背景下其实是一种制服。白色面孔让英语老师看起来更专业。人们认为只有英国或美国白人是天然的英语言说者。对于受过教育和见多识广的人来说，这确实很荒唐又不符逻辑。但是人们是有这种刻板印象。
但是我认为这种现象在10年后会改变，因为年轻的受过教育的一代人已经主宰了中国社会。在文化，生活方式和心态上，中国在快速改变。如果一个白人在中国教日语或韩语，那会很奇怪。



SamArora, Life long student of Chinese history, culture, food, arts（中国历史，文化，食物和艺术的终身学习者）
AnsweredJun 2
I havestated in several articles/answers/ that I had tremendous amount of reverence towardChina from my childhood.
As a smallnote it happened in childhood, our primary school teacher sowed the seeds inour tender mind all the best seeds in our fresh/tiny/minds with good thoughts.
Thenall of sudden Indian China relationship strained, and dream to visit Chinawashed away in the wind.
FastForward: I moved to Canada, it opened tremendous amount of opportunities tointeract with Canadian Chinese.
Finallyafter decades of waiting and hoping to visit China became a reality.
a. Iwas very familiar with the Chinese food.
b. Iwas reasonably aware what to expect.
c. Iwas reasonably aware of Chinese culture.
d.However, I was not very sure about the visit to China,
1. Iwas very concerned in packing my luggage and what do I take with me?
2. Ikept my stuff to the minimum basic stuff.
Thatwas my first visit, now soon I will forget the number of visits to China.
I alsovowed that I will do my best in my living life that I will try my best to seeall of China cost to cost.
Thisis a story, where it shows: The Chines customer service, devotion to the joband I asked myself: This gesture should be my role model.
Thisis a list of 32 surprises: This answer is based on my first visit, I realizedthat one life may not be enough to absorb and understand this vast nation/1.4billion people/and thousands of years of continuous civilization.
SamArora's answer to Why do some Chinese drink hot water? (Sam Arora's answer toWhy do some Chinese drink hot water?)
SamArora's answer to Why are Chinese people so proud of their food?
I amqualified food scientist and most of the things I observed there is anexcellent scientific background and a lot of thought went behind it.
a.This drinking of hot water makes excellent sense.
b.Wonders of Chinese green tea.
c. Thescience behind cooking:
d. Constructionof Pagoda, it is based on pure science and engineering.
Thesethings were developed thousands year back in time, I was astonished by theirscience/technological/engineering skills at that time.
Avisit to Xian: Terracotta Soldiers,
a. Iwas shocked stunned looking at the soldiers/horses/
b. Notwo faces are the same.
Icould keep on writing forever, my takes are so far as follows:
a.Seeing is believing.
b.Media in the past did an excellent job in brainwashing.
Mylesson to myself: In case you some extreme problem to solve, first go to Chinaand travel around, most likely similar problem was solved by the Chinesthousands year back in time.
Chinaand the Chinese inspire me,
Myefficiency, will live to survive and thrive multiplies several folds after eachvisit.
TheChinese in my view are one of the most optimistic people, my read is/was theydo not dwell in the past, they document it good, learn from it and try not makethe same mistake again.
Theproof is they have endless museums and documentation is mind-boggling.
In myview and I am very sure China and the Chinese are very peaceful country andpeople.
In mypersonal view:
It isa total myth that most of the Chinese are atheist that is a lot B.S.
Ibelieve the Chinese have found true God,
Reachingthe Almighty through extreme hard work (That is the basis on Hinduism it iscalled Karm Yog. (It is one of various ways to reach God).
Careand providing for the family.
Itappears the Chinese family structure is very solid so far.
Familyvalues caring for the parents/g.parents/monogamous relationship/
Utmostcare for kids, up bringing , education.
Totalrespect for the elders and teachers.
Theseare the fundamentals of my religion and I do not beat my chest and go to templeeveryday.
Almostall Chinese practice some form of spiritual guidance: The Buddhism, The Taoismand the Confucianism or the blend of all three knowing or unknowingly.
Mycontinued reverence for China from my babyhood, readings, contacts,interactions and visit proved a few thing very clearly.
Democracyin India and also in the west are in fact failed systems, fooling the public.
Thesesystems failed to control violent crimes, implement law and order, and wherejustice is very long winded process or in the end slap on the wrist.
Tremendouswaste of resources/money.
I donot believe that always the qualified and the best Candidate is chosen.
LateMr. RajivGandhi, a small time air line pilot, absolutely no interest in thepolitics, forced to become Prime Minister of India, a population of 1.1 to 1.2billion. Mind boggling,
Hismother Mrs. Sonia Gandhi a stay at home mother is at some powerful politicalposition turning the power switches from remote control.
MindBoggling?
I haveheard speeches of her son Mr. Rahul Gandhi, I shake my head in disbelief, justcompare him with Mr. Xi.
Praisethe Democracy where an idiot can run a country on the bases of useless fakepromises.
Nowhere is proof, less or no talk and visit China, where the Government iscommitted to uplift the poor and vowed to leave no one behind.
Doesit really matter what is the color of the cat so far it kills the mice?
No atall. I take the Chinese system no matter what you call, than useless, corrupt,ineffective so called democracy. Ask the starving people/ask the women who arevery unsafe/ask the families of farmers who committed suicide/…list goes on.
Indiaand China started at the same point 70 years back in time.
Justvisit China and shake your head in disbelief, the country and the dragon isalive and well, awake and moving.


说中国人是无神论者，这是瞎扯淡，我认为中国人已经找到了真正的上帝，通过极端勤奋来达到全能。为家人提供呵护和供给。中国的家庭结构依然非常稳固。对孩子和父母长辈非常关心，还有教育。对老年人和教师的尊重。这些都是我信仰的基本面，我不会每天去庙里拜佛。几乎所有中国人都在实践某种形式的精神指导：佛教，道教和儒家思想，或者有意无意对三者的结合。我从童年时期就开始对中国的崇敬，阅读，接触，交流和访问都证明了几件事情。

印度还有西方的民主实际上已经失败了，用来愚弄大众。这种体制无法控制暴力犯罪，无法执行法律和秩序，正义的实施过程非常拖拉或者只是进行名义象征性的惩罚，浪费了大量时间和金钱。我不相信民主总能选出合格和最好的候选人。已故的拉吉夫甘地先生原本是个飞行员，对政治完全不感兴趣，却被迫成为印度总理，管理一个10亿多人口的国家，真是令人乍舌。

她的妈妈索尼娅甘地女士在幕后垂帘听政。是不是难以置信？我还听过她的儿子拉胡尔甘地的演讲，我难以置信的摇摇头，根本无法和习先生相比。这就是所谓的民主，一个白痴根据无用的虚假承诺来管理一个国家。现在无需多言，去中国看看吧，那里的政府致力于解救穷人，承诺一个都不能落下。

不管黑猫白猫，只要能捉老鼠就是好猫。所以我宁愿采用中国的制度，也不要无用的腐败的无效的所谓的民主。问问饥肠辘辘的人们，问问没有安全感的妇女，问问自杀农民的家人。。。70年前中国和印度位于同一起跑线上。去中国看看吧，你会感到震惊的，这个国家，这个巨龙生龙活虎，已经醒来，在昂头前进。拿破仑说道：让巨龙沉睡吧，一旦她觉醒，世界将不再一样。（那是两个世纪之前）。现在已经成为现实。

客观看待中国和中国人吧：我是这样做的，我两个儿子也是，他们在加拿大同华人孩子一起上学，他们没有回头看。因为在多伦多学校的中国人在学业表现上是顶尖的。在我的两个儿子会走路时我就对他们说，你们的竞争对手是中国孩子，他们没有让我失望。对竞争对手的最好回应就是超越对方。而不是在社交媒体上谩骂。你可以谩骂抹黑等等，但是强者是不会在意你的观点和亵渎的。佛主的话语依然统治着中国人的心灵。我去看了江苏省的灵山大佛。



DanielWalzinski, lived in China (2015-2017)（曾住在中国，2015-2017）
AnsweredMay 31
When Ifirst arrived into Shanghai a pretty young woman in a suit approached mespeaking English, “Would you like help getting to your hotel?”
Shetook me to a large kiosk, it appeared to be an official airport service. I wasthinking, wow this is nice, Pudong airport helps foreigners upon arrival.
Shemade a phone call, I asked how much it would cost, she quoted me at around 500rmb, I told her I just needed a simple taxi and asked where I can get one, shetold me to go to the first floor.
At thefirst floor two men in uniform began to help me with my suitcases, I think, howpolite of them, I sure did pack alot (175 lbs to be exact). They took me pastthe taxi que so I say, “Thanks but I need a taxi.” They don't let go of mysuitcases so I ask them how much. The quote is still more than double thestandard taxi so I use one of the only Chinese words I knew at the time, “Wo buyao le.” I have to physically pull the suitcase away.
Thetaxi driver was very polite and the ride was cheap but somehow he short changedme 20 kuai because I didn't count my change in the dark taxi. (Meter was 45kuai).
Thehotel was in the middle of nowhere, it was chosen by my company. Luckily, thegirl at the desk knew a little English, they didn't seem to understand any ofthe Chinese from my translation book for travel.
In themorning I was the only one having breakfast at the hotel. An employee wearing aleather jacket approaches me and I struggle to have a conversation with him,which was basically me saying that I've just arrived and will travel to Hangzhou.He had many words, I feel like he was trying to get me to pay him because hewouldn't leave me for awhile, I attempted to request him to have the front deskadd my breakfast to my bill. (I felt like he was trying to hustle me).
Once Igot to Hangzhou this type of interaction rarely ever happened for the coupleyears that I was there. When I was traveling in tourist places or in Shanghai Iknew to be extra tough and avoid being hustled.
InHangzhou I used to barter a lot. I went to tea, silk, and common goods markets.I was able to get much better deals than what I could get in America. A littlemoney went along way. Some of the vendors I was able to make good relationshipswith so price didn't have to be renegotiated.
OverallI was impressed by the strive to make money. The older generation would openany kind of business anywhere. After dinner the street food vendors come out tothe same locations every night.
Thereseemed to be a lot of opportunity to earn money and a lot of people wereexcellent entrepreneurs. It wasn't about profit per sale but rather the grosssales per day, meaning that one at choose to work all day in order to maximizeincome. There was a strong business orientation.
Therewas more money circulation in China that I had previously thought, and even thepoorest citizen could find a couple kuai to get some food. At the same time theadults drove brand new cars, there was indeed a wide variety of incomes andmost people had enough, no one seemed to act like they were worth too much, althoughChina has some of the richest people in the world.
Allthe while I felt like the real estate was unfair. The owners seemed to beleveraging their advantage. To purchase a property the price can be very high,but the quality and future maintenance of the building may be mediocre or low.All the while there are probably more vacant units in China than any otherplace in the world. Ghost cities are a real thing. In Hangzhou there were twoghost districts, the new downtown and Binjiang. They even paid shops to openthere in the attempt to attract residents, it created the strangest feeling inme. (Which may have been one reason to adopt the new 2 child policy, you canhave more but you'll have to pay hefty fees).
InChina there is a standard that if you are to get married you should own anapartment or house. This dynamic gives the building owners a sellers advantage,and one developer may build an entire city block, so just between a fewindividuals local prices can be fixed. It also appeared that the owners werestubborn as they would wait for the possible future demand from city expansionrather than just lower the prices.
I wasimpressed by the friendliness of guys and girls my age, as well as the amountof social interaction. There were many social dinners and KTV or just fun meetup nights. If your nice most guys / girls will entertain conversation with youif there is anything to talk about. These dynamics are good for meeting othersand dating.
Theair pollution is a real thing and I had not understood what air pollutionreally was until I arrived to China in the early winter. I had felt it'seffects in a few select situations in Chicago but in China the situation seemedapocalyptic. There were a few months that past were I was never able to see thesky. I didn't feel like I was choking, but it was an unsettling feeling,everyday from my office the visibility could be anywhere from a few meters or afew miles on an excellent day. The cleanest the air had ever been was just oneweek before the G20 when all of the people left the city for vacation and thefactories in the countryside were shut down. I wore a mask everyday and hadsome allergy problems from time to time.
Alsothe food wasn't anything like it is in America and it's some of the best foodin the world. I learned a lot about how we can prepare our foods and so forth.
Youcan read and study China as much as you want, and you'll be more informed bydoing so, but the majority of learning will come once you've decided to traveland see for yourself.

我第一次抵达上海时，一个穿着套装的年轻女性接近我用英语对我说，“你需要我帮忙带你去酒店吗？”于是她带我来到了一个大型的售货亭，看起来像是官方的机场服务。我当时想，哇，这太好了吧，浦东机场在外国人一抵达就提供服务。她打了个电话，我问需要多少钱，她说500左右，我说我只需要打个的，并问她哪里可以打的，她叫我去一楼。在一楼，两个穿制服的男子开始帮我拿行李，我在想，他们多有礼貌啊，我的行李还是蛮重的。他们带我穿过了的士队列，所以我说，“谢谢，但是我只需要打的。”他们不放手我的行李，所以我问多少钱。要价是普通的士的两倍，所以我说出了当时会说的一句中文“我不要了。”我不得不将行李强行抢过来。的士司机非常有礼貌，也不贵，但是司机少找了我20块，因为在黑暗的的士车里我没有数他找了我多少钱。



空气污染是真实存在的，直到我初冬时节来到中国后我才知道空气污染是什么样的。芝加哥在某些时候也会有空气污染，但是中国的空气污染貌似很严重。有几个月我几乎都看不到蓝天。我不觉得令人窒息，但是感觉令人不安，每天从我的办公室看出去能见度只有几米或者几英里。空气最好的时候是G20举办前一周，所有人都离开这座城市去度假，乡下工厂也被关闭。我每天都戴口罩，不时出现过敏问题。
中国食物一点都不像美国食物，可以说是世界上最好的食物。我学习了很多烹饪方面的知识。你可以通过阅读和研究来了解中国，但是只有亲身来到中国，你才会有真正的了解。

WasuKoysiripong, A Chinese descendant in Thailand who can speak Chinese（泰国华人后裔，会说中文）
AnsweredMay 31
Beforegoing to China, I used to hear a lot from my Mainland Chinese friends inAustralia how the Chinese are so selfish and cunning. They told me to becareful when buying something because I could get cheated, that the Chinesewon't do me any favor when I ask for one and if I ask somebody the directionthey might point into a wrong direction. I heard the Shaghainese are arrogant,the Henanese are very bad, the Hubei-ese are cheaters, the North-Easterners arerough and so on so forth. Of course, they warned me on good will, and I thankedthem for that.
Yet,when I was actually in China, I found that virtually all what they told me arewrong. I've never met any arrogant Shanghainese, Hubei-ese cheater, badHenanese or rough North-Easterner (though many North-Easterners do talkloudly). When I had no umbrella on a rainy day, someone gave me an umbrella;when I took a bus but had no coin, someone gave me coins and when I forgot mybelonging in a restaurant, someone told me that. Of course, there must be badpeople in China as well, but not as many as I imagined before going there basedon what those Chinese friends warned me.
Then Ilearned something. The Mainland Chinese tend to think of their own compatriotsworse than in the reality.

在去中国之前，我在澳洲的大陆中国朋友经常说中国人是多么的自私和狡猾。他们对我说买东西时要小心，可能会被宰，还有在我需要帮助时没有中国人会帮忙，以及如果我问路的话，他们可能会指错路。他们还说上海人很傲慢，河南人很坏，湖北人是骗子，东北人粗野等等。当然他们是好心提醒我，我感谢他们。然而，当我真正踏上中国时，我发现他们所告诉我的几乎都是错的。我从没遇见过傲慢的上海人，湖北骗子，河南坏人或者粗野的东北人（虽然很多东北人确实说话大声）。雨天我没带雨伞时，某人会给我雨伞；上公交没硬币时，有人给我硬币，将行李遗忘在餐馆时，有人提醒我。当然，中国肯定也有坏人，但是没有之前中国朋友对我说的那样有那么多坏人。然后我想明白了，大陆中国人倾向于夸大自己同胞的缺点。



CristianoBrillante
Jun 9· 3 upvotes including Wasu Koysiripong
Ithink people were trying to make sure you were prepared for the worst casescenarios. If I were to tell someone about America, I would not tell them rosyfun facts. I would tell them to be careful, not go out alone after darkdepending on the city they were in. Stay together in a group. ect ect. Thereare good and amazing things and there are frightening scary things in allcountries and civilizations.

我认为他们只是希望你为最糟糕的情况做好准备。如果我要向某人介绍美国，我不会告诉他们美好的一面。我会对他们说小心点，天黑后不要一个人外出。待在团体里等等。反正所有国家都有好的一面和糟糕的一面。