There is a Chinese phrase: 'all under heaven'. To begin to understand it let me illustrate a few points. In the western world say in NY, a korean comedian performs at the Apollo. A couple of texans eat at a steakhouse, a lebanese christan goes to Tribeca after coming back from church. You do what you want to and this holds true even in very stereotypically homogenous places like the deep south. People have choices and freedoms, and perhaps the reason you can have a society like this is as simple as the Constitution. Well, shit like this doesn't fly in Mainland China.Quote from drcha:
I hope some more Chinese people will weigh in here.
I heard a curious piece on BBC this AM; maybe some of you did, too. They interviewed rural Chinese residents whose homes were about to be destroyed by a damn project slated to deliver water to large cities. One stated he had been labeled a troublemaker for even discussing his dissatisfaction with having to give up his home for what the government chose to pay him. As an American, I find this social pressure not to make waves in the face of powerlessness very hard to understand. I would like to hear other viewpoints from those who understand this culture better than I do.
In China there is only 1 way, the Chinese way. 'All under heaven' has several meanings, one of which is unity. A united front, no dissidents, no troubles, no protests, no connection to reality. I'm not gonna go into the debate of the individual vs. collective, but suffice to say there are obviously societies in the world where it leans heavily in 1 direction. It's the collective in China and what they say goes. As an extension to the tiger mom's, this is what the majority of Asian kids go through whether or not they believe in it. You are expected to be a doctor/lawyer/engineer etc etc, so forget playing with friends and do homework.
In the western world mostly, you get to choose what you want to be and the path to find that out may take longer than having something laid out in front of you. Of course one could be a surgeon by 24 if they have been groomed for it their whole life, but then the question remains: did the person ever want to do it?