[Riddil]

Well ZenGum... I do think that the Cultural Revolution had a big effect on changing Chinese culture. There are lots of stories like the one you mentioned from Chinese history. But the difference is that those are told about politicians and people in power. The life and culture of the common man (I suppose) was very divorced from those anecdotes.

Here's how my thought goes...

Up until even only 50 years ago, 99% of the Chinese population lived in villages. The small towns were not much more than a central living point for all the farms that radiated out around the town. Go just a couple miles in any direction and you'd find another radial-farm-town. People would ONLY live in these small towns their whole life, most people were related in some way, everyone knew every detail about everyone else, and everyone worked together to get through life. Marriages were mostly arranged marriages set by elder women who would tour a circuit of these small towns to choose the most appropriate husband-wife combinations. (I'm getting side-tracked here, but this aspect of Chinese history is fascinating... the idea of "love leading to marriage" is a culturally new phenom in China, it's less than 100 years old. Most marriages were all arranged matters. The first time a man would see his wife was as she rode into his village on the "marriage donkey" with her family shouting and singing as they rode in. This is also a reason why it's considered SUPER taboo in China if anyone has more than 1 sex partner their whole life. Sex before marriage, OK as long as it's your future spouse.)

Anyhow, my point is, small community, lots of trust and working together, and a very SIMPLE existence.

This is the reason why Communism was able to take such a strong hold in China. Simple people latched on to Mao's version of communism. What's more, is that it's that same simple, trusting, work-together spirit that pushed China so far into the hole as they implemented more and more desperate and ill-conceived ideas in "The Great Leap Forward", and subsequent policies.

People trusted and trusted and trusted, and they all put their whole effort into actually making it happen. They didn't just sit by while "government happened", they went whole-heartedly into ACTION to enact the new Communist manifesto. (Southern Chinese less so... the Guangdong / Cantone is really a separate culture from Han Chinese). But what eventually happened is that you can only abuse someone's trust for so long until they lose all trust.

And that's where the culture is today. Here's a great example to point out how bad it is: My wife and I went on a guided tour into a rural Chinese temple, and had lunch arranged by the tour group (consisting of only local Chinese and us, about 12 total). We were served several big dishes, two types of soup, and rice. But each person was given only one bowl. We overheard one guy complain to his wife that it'd be impossible to eat properly, you'd have to make a choice, either you eat a rice based lunch, or one of the soups. I noticed several other folks around the table nod in agreement.

The place was totally empty aside from our group, and every single table was fully set with place-settings, which included a single-bowl at each seat. My reaction... I immediately hopped up and started collecting all the bowls off the table next to us, and put them in 3 piles of bowls around our table. I sat down, happy I could help everyone.... my wife and I chuckled at my industrious solution to the problem and started serving our lunch. The entire rest of the group, and I mean the ENTIRE group ignored the bowls, and ate an inconvenient meal using their single bowl, while the unused bowls sat there throughout the meal. The entire meal took place in silence.

My wife's advice? Stop trying to help any Chinese person: you'll just confuse them.

It's amazing, but it's true. When I talk to a few Chinese co-workers about how bad the situation is working in some factories I typically get the response: why should you worry about it? You're a foreigner.

*shakes head*

It's a sad reality. Maybe it has always been like this, but I hope not. I'd like to think it's a temporary thing, induced by the Communist culture of the past, and they have a way out of it.