Collective Culture and Majority Thinking

Hey there!
wait a mo, please~
May I ask u who told you a minority could not take a position of power high up in the government? (Of course you have the right to keep silence
On the contrary, we do care about the minorities, even more than you could think.

Since I am a student of MinZu University of China (have you ever heard about it? or you can check it through the internet if you like). Most of the students here are minorities and they will have a lot of special rights here [in fact through the whole country]. And we have a lot of National Protection Policies of Minorities in our Country. You won’t be any less important just for you are the minorities. We respect the minorities; we respect their culture; we respect their religions; we respect their customs, even though sometimes their customs are really hard for us to accept, we will pay them enough respects instead of judging them. And the reason we hard to accept is because we are not used to their customs or don’t understand their cultures. Every custom has its history and reasons; we shouldn’t judge them according our ways. We should look at them with an open mind and give them enough respect from heart. For every culture is respectable; culture won’t be wrong. The only wrong is the people who out of culture.

And at last I want to say a thing about you had mentioned that when the majority wants to drink alcohol, it is very difficult for someone to step up and say “i don’t want to drink”. It is not the truth. You have only seen the surface [I'm sorry if I have annoyed you]. Well, in fact this is a typical culture of China. Have you ever heard about the”酒文化” of China?[I know your Chinese is perfect:] Sorry I can’t explain it in a few words. It really has plenty of culture in it. If you can understand the “酒文化” of China, I think you have almost closed to Chinese culture^_~
It will also do you a help of a deeper understanding of Chinese culture. Thanks for the trying of “Separating Culture from Prosperity”. Maybe sometimes it is the problem of less of money, but sometimes it is not. It is very complex. You know learning a language is leaning a culture; learning a culture is learning a history and China has a pretty long history. So you can’t explain things just on one side and it depends.

Whatever, excellent job, pal
Keep on working, bet you will learn more about China^^
Take care, and wish you will enjoy your every moment in China=D

Hey there!
wait a mo, please~
May I ask u who told you a minority could not take a position of power high up in the government? (Of course you have the right to keep silence
On the contrary, we do care about the minorities, even more than you could think.

Since I am a student of MinZu University of China (have you ever heard about it? or you can check it through the internet if you like). Most of the students here are minorities and they will have a lot of special rights here [in fact through the whole country]. And we have a lot of National Protection Policies of Minorities in our Country. You won’t be any less important just for you are the minorities. We respect the minorities; we respect their culture; we respect their religions; we respect their customs, even though sometimes their customs are really hard for us to accept, we will pay them enough respects instead of judging them. And the reason we hard to accept is because we are not used to their customs or don’t understand their cultures. Every custom has its history and reasons; we shouldn’t judge them according our ways. We should look at them with an open mind and give them enough respect from heart. For every culture is respectable; culture won’t be wrong. The only wrong is the people who out of culture.

And at last I want to say a thing about you had mentioned that when the majority wants to drink alcohol, it is very difficult for someone to step up and say “i don’t want to drink”. It is not the truth. You have only seen the surface [I'm sorry if I have annoyed you]. Well, in fact this is a typical culture of China. Have you ever heard about the”酒文化” of China?[I know your Chinese is perfect:] Sorry I can’t explain it in a few words. It really has plenty of culture in it. If you can understand the “酒文化” of China, I think you have almost closed to Chinese culture^_~
It will also do you a help of a deeper understanding of Chinese culture. Thanks for the trying of “Separating Culture from Prosperity”. Maybe sometimes it is the problem of less of money, but sometimes it is not. It is very complex. You know learning a language is leaning a culture; learning a culture is learning a history and China has a pretty long history. So you can’t explain things just on one side and it depends.

Whatever, excellent job, pal
Keep on working, bet you will learn more about China^^
Take care, and wish you will enjoy your every moment in China=D

Hey deerfish! Great response. This is exactly the kind of response I like to get!

Well of course there isn’t any Law against a minority becoming the Chairman, I think everyone will silently agree that this could never happen. Do you think someone from tibet or inner Mongolia could become the next chairman of China? I just turned and asked a Chinese friend of mine, and she said “well we don’t say that they can’t explicitly, but we never say that they can either.” She’s a minority and she recognizes this silent majority rule.

I agree that Chinese people respect other cultures and people. I feel very respected here. Respect is one thing, but acceptance is another. I’m not criticizing China and saying that they are racists or hate minorities, but there is an obvious feeling of “majority” on one side and “minority” on the other.

I think Chinese people do a very good job of letting other people be themselves. You can see this in the international policy as well – they never get involved in other country’s affairs. Americans are different. This comes from a different mindset.

The alcohol culture of China is definitely very interesting. Perhaps my experience is different than yours, but most of my friends who don’t want to drink simply avoid social affairs. The pressure from these events to participate as a whole is too strong.

Thanks for reading! Keep challenging – it helps us all get a better understanding of each other.

Hey deerfish! Great response. This is exactly the kind of response I like to get!

Well of course there isn’t any Law against a minority becoming the Chairman, I think everyone will silently agree that this could never happen. Do you think someone from tibet or inner Mongolia could become the next chairman of China? I just turned and asked a Chinese friend of mine, and she said “well we don’t say that they can’t explicitly, but we never say that they can either.” She’s a minority and she recognizes this silent majority rule.

I agree that Chinese people respect other cultures and people. I feel very respected here. Respect is one thing, but acceptance is another. I’m not criticizing China and saying that they are racists or hate minorities, but there is an obvious feeling of “majority” on one side and “minority” on the other.

I think Chinese people do a very good job of letting other people be themselves. You can see this in the international policy as well – they never get involved in other country’s affairs. Americans are different. This comes from a different mindset.

The alcohol culture of China is definitely very interesting. Perhaps my experience is different than yours, but most of my friends who don’t want to drink simply avoid social affairs. The pressure from these events to participate as a whole is too strong.

Thanks for reading! Keep challenging – it helps us all get a better understanding of each other.

When you become a minority, you could feel the tense or pressure of majority in every corner of the world. I just came with my thoughts about the following issues I had when I was studying in United States.

Not that people are not decent or friendly in the U.S., but as an oversea student, you can always be biased on various ways.

The biggest bias in United States is not the bias on a specific race, but the bias on foreigners. As an international student, I was not allowed to work outside the campus during my study period; after graduation, I was required to go back to home country within two months, unless I apply for a work permit that lasts for one year. The funny part is that once I apply for the post graduation work permit, I can not rescind or retreat in any case, even if I am not actually employed for the full following year. In addition, one student in her F visa can only apply for such work permit once in her lifetime. The job that qualifies for such a work permit is required to be consistent with the foreigner’s academic major too. Other work visa for a foreigner, such as H, or L, can only be obtained after a U.S. employer agrees to issue a job offer, meets several standards, and goes through a long and costly process with the government and immigration attorney.

Last year, when I was studying in the U.S., I encountered this problem: I graduated at the end of May, my bar exam was scheduled in early August. Therefore I could only apply for a post graduation work permit even though I would just use a few days of the authorized period of stay. Otherwise, my presence in the U.S. would become unlawful and could result in inadmissibility in future.

Another big bias in United States is that domestic people expects all foreigners speak English as good as them. “Chinese accent” has been a big issue for a lot of Chinese oversea students in their social interactions with natives. Their accents have been made fun and laughed at in internet, casual conversation or somewhere else.

Yes, we are not living in a perfect world, balance is reached at the same weight on both side of scales. Minority of course is in lack of that “weight”.

When you become a minority, you could feel the tense or pressure of majority in every corner of the world. I just came with my thoughts about the following issues I had when I was studying in United States.

Not that people are not decent or friendly in the U.S., but as an oversea student, you can always be biased on various ways.

The biggest bias in United States is not the bias on a specific race, but the bias on foreigners. As an international student, I was not allowed to work outside the campus during my study period; after graduation, I was required to go back to home country within two months, unless I apply for a work permit that lasts for one year. The funny part is that once I apply for the post graduation work permit, I can not rescind or retreat in any case, even if I am not actually employed for the full following year. In addition, one student in her F visa can only apply for such work permit once in her lifetime. The job that qualifies for such a work permit is required to be consistent with the foreigner’s academic major too. Other work visa for a foreigner, such as H, or L, can only be obtained after a U.S. employer agrees to issue a job offer, meets several standards, and goes through a long and costly process with the government and immigration attorney.

Last year, when I was studying in the U.S., I encountered this problem: I graduated at the end of May, my bar exam was scheduled in early August. Therefore I could only apply for a post graduation work permit even though I would just use a few days of the authorized period of stay. Otherwise, my presence in the U.S. would become unlawful and could result in inadmissibility in future.

Another big bias in United States is that domestic people expects all foreigners speak English as good as them. “Chinese accent” has been a big issue for a lot of Chinese oversea students in their social interactions with natives. Their accents have been made fun and laughed at in internet, casual conversation or somewhere else.

Yes, we are not living in a perfect world, balance is reached at the same weight on both side of scales. Minority of course is in lack of that “weight”.

[...] 5. Do to #4, there is heavy social pressure against being vegetarian.  Once mentioned, there will be many questions and suspicions.  Read more about this in my article about majority thinking. [...]