Comments | anthropologist: China Looks At America

ultraforge in anthropologist

China Looks At America

Mar 19, 2006 21:10

From an entry in the eye_on_china community. Most Chinese people like Americans:

Two in three Chinese generally like Americans while one in five dislikes them, according to a recent poll ( Read more... )

china, race relations, civilization, ethnic relations, politics, opinions, usa, globalization, far east, economics, assimilation, social interaction, diplomacy, sociology, popular culture, patterns of culture, media, asia

Comments 5

itsalljustaride March 20 2006, 03:43:54 UTC

my very limited experience with the youth of China gave me this impression:

young chinese like american pop-culture and see the US as a worthy global competitor, to which they will one day soon prove themselves economically and in terms of global leverage in world affairs. they love "friends" and "sex in the city". they think everyone lives in coffee shops and has sex with each other all the time.

by comparison, many americans see china as a country filled with communists, just waiting for the chance to launch the next world war and take away everyone's jiffy peanut butter.

ultraforge March 21 2006, 00:13:27 UTC

they love "friends" and "sex in the city".

My fiancee is from China. Her favorite watch is "Desperate Housewives". Her favorite American movie is "Shrek", in case you're interested.

by comparison, many americans see china as a country filled with communists, just waiting for the chance to launch the next world war and take away everyone's jiffy peanut butter.

I'm sure some do. However, there are also quite a few Americans who view Chinese citizens as oppressed by their government and eager to immigrate here and carve out a piece of the sweet life after working in the family store, going to college, and getting a degree in mathmatics.

Personally, I fall into the "like the people but hate the authoritarian government" camp. ;)

glamwhorebunni March 20 2006, 15:43:58 UTC

That's a skewed questionnaire, only asking in the big cities. The big cities are far more westernised.

ultraforge March 21 2006, 00:17:03 UTC

Good point. But it might be harder for them to ask the people who live in the countryside. They're the most dissatisfied segment of China these days. They like to protest and riot against their government a lot.

glamwhorebunni March 21 2006, 09:53:32 UTC

I was thinking more about the 'small' cities. All the cities apart from those ones...

More importantly, the people in the countryside have always been the revolutionaries! Remember the Divine Mandate, remember Mao's whole Country-Not-City ethos. The countryside has always been where the real backbone and drive of revolution comes from. The city supplies politicians (especially Shanghai!), the country provides revolutionaries.
And then there's the ethnic minorities, often looking for 'freedom' and almost always rurally based.