What westerners (and Chinese) are like?

A few days went by and yet another family came through the same little city looking for a new place to move their family. They saw the same old man sitting near the town center. They approached him and ask, "Sir, we are sure that you've live here a long time. We are looking for a new city to settle in. Can you tell us, what are the people like in this little city?" Again, the old man stared at the ground and asked them, "Well, what are the people like in the town you are from?" They said, "Oh, there are too many bad people there. That is why we wanted to move to another city." The old man responded, "Well, you will find that the people here are much like the ones from the city you came."

The point is, it is not 'how others are' or 'what are Americans like?' or 'what Chinese are like' that we should be asking. There are 315 million Americans. They are all different. There are 1.3 billion Chinese. They are all different. There are definitely some things that are special and particular about Chinese culture and American culture. We can explore and discover them to learn more about each other. But to stereotype all Americans or all Chinese or American culture or Chinese culture would be very shallow thinking at best. 

Someone asked me today, "Which is better? America or China?" I nearly started laughing. There is no way to answer that question. I'm an American living in China. I choose to live here. I don't live here out of necessity. This is my choice. Apparently, I'm happy here. But there is no way I can answer such a question. If you talk about specifics, then I can tell you what I think. Give you my opinion. But, it is only an opinion. 

If you want to talk about air quality, there really is no comparison. It is far better in America. If you want to talk about train travel, well, train travel just barely exists in America and it is great here in China. Many want to talk to me about education. There are good things about western education and good things about Chinese education. There are bad things about American education and bad things about Chinese education. It is not an easy question to answer honestly and accurately. We all have opinions and we can express those. But, to give a solid answer is far more difficult.

We can't put things in boxes. We can start a conversation. We can begin a discussion. We can explore many ideas and make many observations. We can experiment through cultural exchanges. But, things are not always so easy to put into a nice, neat little category that fits perfectly. We have to know each other. We have to approach these subjects with honesty and integrity. We have to drop the idea that, "I'm an American and everything we do is right and perfect", or, "I'm Chinese. We have 5,000 years of history. We are the best because...". We have to approach each other intelligently, honestly and humbly. We have to possess a curiosity about each other to really have, not just the mind to know each other, but, the heart to know each other.

The original blog is at: http://blog.chinadaily.com.cn/blog-787069-31134.html