为何白人在从未涉足中国或阅读中国书籍的情况下就认为自己非常了解中国并作出评价？ [美国媒体]

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Why do white people think they know so much about China or Chinese people without ever setting foot in China or reading any of their books before making claims about them?

为何白人在从未涉足中国或阅读中国书籍的情况下就认为自己非常了解中国并作出评价？


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Paul Denlinger Have lived in China Taiwan and Hong Kong; fluent in Mandarin (written spoken)
保罗 （在中国台湾和香港居住过；操流利的普通话（写说）
Written 8h ago
This is a big question with a big answer.

这是个有着宏大答案的宏大问题。

In fact there is a book which has been written about this subject: Amazon.com: The China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia eBook: James Bradley: Kindle Store

事实上在亚马逊有本书就是探讨这个议题的：《中国海市蜃楼：隐藏在美国的亚洲灾难背后的历史》，作者詹姆斯·布拉德利
（https://www.amazon.com/China-Mirage-History-American-Disaster-ebook/dp/B00I82880Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&keywords=the+china+mirage+the+hidden+history+of+american+disaster+in+asia&qid=1491522521&sr=8-1）

The author goes into a good degree of detail to explain what happened. Looking at some of the other answers written to this question it is very apparent that they have not read this book nor do Americans learn from mistakes made by earlier-generation Americans.

作者深入探讨和解释发生了什么事情。由其他回应这个问题的答案看来，很明显他们既没有读过这本书，也没有学习到上个世代美国人所造成的错误。

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Sam Qwato
Written 8h ago R26; Upvoted by Paul Denlinger
Q. Why do white people think they know so much about China or Chinese people without ever setting foot in China or reading any of their books before making claims about them?

问题：为何白人在从未涉足中国或阅读中国书籍的情况下就认为自己非常了解中国并作出评价？

Ignorance

无知

Neoconservatism

新保守主义

Ethnocentrism

民族优越感

Dunning–Kruger effect

达克效应（能力低的人却自认为比其他人优秀）

Cognitive dissonance

认知失调

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Hao Xin Made in China. Remade in Canada.（出生于中国，再造于加拿大）
Written 8h ago
Before my family left for Canada one relative said to me: “Don't go to the west. It's so corrupt over there!”

在我的家庭迁往加拿大前一个亲属跟我说：“不要去西方，那里非常腐败！”

I was young then and I didn't know how she knew that about a place she's never been to. It's only later that I realized of course she didn't know but that didn't stop her from having an opinion.

我那时候很年轻所以不知道她是怎么了解一个从来没到过的地方。当然之后我也发现了她当然并不知道，不过这也无法阻止她持有这样的一个看法。

It's possible for anyone to have an opinion about anything and to mistake it as knowledge.

对每个人来说都可能发生这种以主观看法取代客观知识的情况。

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John Garrison History Buff
Written 7h ago
I’ve actually been to China many times as well as Taiwan. I’ve studied the Chinese language for years and have more Chinese friends than white friends.

我去过中国和台湾很多次，多年学习中文，拥有比白人朋友数量更多的中国朋友。

I’ve read multiple Chinese novels and check the Chinese CCTV news fairly regularly to see what the government is saying.

我读过很多中文小说，定期收看央视新闻以了解他们政府的动向。

I am white.

我是一个白人。

Please stop generalizing. You know as well as I do that the exact same thing happens in China. I was told by an old 叔叔 that Japan was evil and that it was the worst country in the world and that Japan was planning on invading China soon and that the Japanese people were all beings filled with hate….he had also never been to Japan nor had he spoken with a Japanese person….(for the record he is not the norm I acknowledge that but people like that still exist in China just like the US…)

请不要再归纳了。我们彼此都知道同样的事情也发生在中国。曾经有一位上了年纪的叔叔跟我说日本是邪恶的，它是世界上最坏的国家并且正计划要入侵中国，日本人都充满仇恨……他同样从没去过日本，也从没与日本人交谈过……（我承认，他的观点并不能代表多数中国人，但是如同美国一样，中国仍然有像他那样的中国人……）

Don’t even get me started with what I’ve been told by some Chinese people who have never been to the US about America….

更别说我还被一些从没来过美国的中国人告知关于美国的事了。

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John Bartram lived in China
Written 7h ago
I offer the occasional answer on Chinese matters.

我偶尔会回答一些关于中国的事情。

I was taught to read and write Chinese at school. I lived in China for two years where I studied ancient Chinese culture and helped make a documentary on this for the central government. I lived as a local not as an expatriate. My then mother-in-law was born in China and her father discovered many artefacts (which were donated to museums) and a number of sites (which are now well-known).

我在校时学习过中文阅读和写作，在中国生活了两年，学习中国古代文化，并帮忙为中央政府制作关于中国古代文化的纪录片。我被看作本地人而非外籍人士。我岳母生于中国，她的父亲发现了很多手工艺品（已捐献给博物馆）和大量遗址（现在已经非常有名了）。

None of this makes me an expert but I’ve never claimed to be.

尽管这些都没有使我成为一个关于中国的专家，但我也从未声称自己非常了解中国。

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Mario Rossi 4th year in China
Written 7h ago
马里奥·罗西在中国的第四年
写于7小时前
For the same reason humans presume things on places and countries they don't know . As Chinese I'm sure you heard the many opinions other Chinese have on foreigners and foreigner countries despite never been there or never known a foreigner probably they have a lot more opinion than "whites" (sure because you know all whites or even the most part right ?) on China.. which despite what some popular Quoran insists to say is mostly ignored by western public opinion. There is by far a bigger obsession the other way around Chinese talk a lot more about foreigners and generalize a lot more and stereotype a lot more foreigner and foreigner countries than the other way around. Even a popular Quoran here and in many of his answers for instance still cannot understand that most western people aren't Americans and don't speak English. Still has always an answer ready where he indulges those generalizations. And most follow him because people are lazy and prefer to follow some easy answers that fit to their stereotype.

出于同样的原因，人们会去猜测他们不了解的地方和国家的事情。我确信你们作为中国人听到过许多其他中国人对外国人和外国的看法，尽管他们从来没有去过那些国家，或者从未认识一个外国人。中国人对外国的看法可能比外国人（当然，因为你认识所有的白人，或者说大部分的白人，对吗？）对中国的看法还多，对于这种情况，西方舆论大体上置之不理，尽管某个受欢迎的quora网友坚持自己错误的观点。现在相反的是，更多的中国人痴迷于关注外国人，总结出许多内容，把所有外国人和外面的国家视为一样，这样的现象比反过来多多了。即使是这里一个受欢迎的Quora网友，在他的许多回答里可以看出，他仍然不清楚大多数西方人其实不是美国人也不说英语。他总是沉溺于那些概括，并随时作为回复。大多数人都追捧他是因为人们懒，喜欢遵循一些适合他们刻板印象的简单答案。

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Mervyn Locke Enlightened laowai/Decade-long China resident/Permanent China bull

默文 （受启发的老外／十年以上的中国居民／永久的中国公牛）

Written 7h ago
It’s ironic that the creator of this thread is him-/herself doing exactly the same thing he/she is criticizing… :-)

这很反讽，因为这个问题的发起者正在做自己所批判的事情。。。

Miles Segni Research Analyst

码斯 （研究分析员）

Written 8h ago
This isn't really an accurate statement. Setting foot in a country isn't necessary. Neither can it be assumed all white people engage in this behavior and that accusation itself is unfair.

这不是个准确的陈述。不一定非要涉足某个国家。也不能假设所有白人都有这种行为，这个指责本身就是不公平的。

However studying a country in whichever field: their economics culture politics is all possible.

但是去认识一个国家的任意领域：他们的经济文化政治都是可行的。

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Leonard Haid I taught English in China for a year. Loved it.

莱纳德 （我在中国教了一年英文。很爱那里）

Written 9h ago R26; Upvoted by Paul Denlinger
White people may assume that the Chinese people they encounter in their own countries are fair representations of Chinese people in China so therefore they might make generalizations about Chinese people. None of them will claim to “know so much about China or Chinese people” but they may have opinions which will be flimsy and may be fallacious unless they are positive opinions in which case every Chinese person will agree with them.

白人可能会假设他们在自己国家遇到的中国人就是中国本土人的代表形象进而对中国人作出概括性的评价。这些人不会自称“对中国或中国人了解很深”但他们或许会持有理据薄弱或错误的意见，当然除非这些意见是正面的，中国人才会认同。