The Fading Traditions of China

[Guest ExChinaExpat]

Watching China change can be like watching a fast moving baseball heading toward your face. It's fast, it's furious, and if you fail to duck, you'll be hit right between the eyes. There is still a great deal of romance and tradition of the old country, but at the same there, many of the young people of China could give a shit about their traditions.

 

We watched it happen in the US, but it's happening much faster in China. It can be like watching a high-speed train moving without direction. I can't say I like seeing this part of China, but nevertheless it's happening at light speed.

[Dennis143]

Watching China change can be like watching a fast moving baseball heading toward your face. It's fast, it's furious, and if you fail to duck, you'll be hit right between the eyes. There is still a great deal of romance and tradition of the old country, but at the same there, many of the young people of China could give a shit about their traditions.

 

We watched it happen in the US, but it's happening much faster in China. It can be like watching a high-speed train moving without direction. I can't say I like seeing this part of China, but nevertheless it's happening at light speed.

Can you give us some examples?

[Guest ExChinaExpat]

 

Watching China change can be like watching a fast moving baseball heading toward your face. It's fast, it's furious, and if you fail to duck, you'll be hit right between the eyes. There is still a great deal of romance and tradition of the old country, but at the same there, many of the young people of China could give a shit about their traditions.

 

We watched it happen in the US, but it's happening much faster in China. It can be like watching a high-speed train moving without direction. I can't say I like seeing this part of China, but nevertheless it's happening at light speed.

Can you give us some examples?

 

Us? Do you have a family of mice in your pocket? haha....a joke. Let me start by giving you a few examples since you asked.

 

First, the landscape of the country changes every hour. One day you can walk through a series of communities or shopping area, and the next day it is demolished and new construction begins. I read somewhere that China uses a very high percentage of all the construction cranes in the world; something like 80%.

 

But, construction is just one aspect. There is the cultural impact on the people. Consider that 20-30 years ago, a good many Chinese people lived in homes without running water. They lacked the modern conveniences of life they have come to know today. Yes, there are still many, and in fact the majority of Chinese people still live in small villages. Most of the young people have left these villages and moved to the city for work and a better life.

 

We often see David post about Chinese tradition and history. But, in truth, I have found many Chinese people who are not familiar with the history of their own country. They are focused only on what's in front of them.

[Mick]

Change was happening at breakneck speed when we lived over there and we left ten years ago. I can only imagine what it is like now. What I find ironic is back in the horrors of the Cultural Revolution, one of Mao's big goals was to destroy tradition and ties with the past. Highly ironic that capitalism seems to be doing this rather than Maoism. From a sociological perspective, China is undergoing a lot of what Alvin Toffler described way back in the late 60s in his landmark book "Future Shock."

Edited March 15, 2013 by Mick (see edit history)

[Fu Lai]

Strength of Chinese culture lies in understanding of human heart
Shanghai Daily

I received a response to my "Online amenities create utopia of idiots, curb serious thinking" (November 12, Shanghai Daily), from a "paper book" loving gentleman who hates audio books and has difficulties "reading on a screen for a long time."

His children also grew up with books and are to this day addicted to them. But it is a different story with his grandchildren, aged 10 and 13.

His question is, among others, "Are they less happy and less fulfilled (than we)?"

The question I asked myself is: Is happiness really "our being's end and aim" (Alexander Pope)?

And what is happiness in the first place?

We must confess that happiness, as it is widely seen today, is elusive, largely conceived in terms of Western "affluence" and "prosperity." The Chinese people felt more contented and grateful before they were initiated into this kind of "happiness."

We used to have a saying that "the pains of life start with literacy," because education was first of all about rituals, constraints, and obligations.

It exacted respect from us for heaven, the earth, and the Way of the world, and in so doing instilled in us a kind of humility.

Our forefathers were warned that insincerity and hubris would incur the wrath of heaven.

Even the English "happiness" has its origin in "hap," which means chance. Alas, most people missed their chance, did not get their deserts, got trapped on an endless treadmill. How then can the masses of people avoid a life of "quiet desperation" (Henry David Thoreau)?

By comparison, the life poisoned by the opiate of religion affords the consolation of hope, of an afterlife. Faith and belief is much more powerful than knowledge.

It was belief that prompted Buddhist monk Xuan Zang (Chen Yi) (600-664) to embark on a 17-year trip to India.

But on the whole, we Chinese are said to have no religion. We make up for that by having great reverence for the teachings of our forefathers.

Unlike the glory of an afterlife hinted at by major religions, we aspire to the governance by Yao, Shun, and Yu, ancient monarchs of the distant past. So the challenge of later generations is to strive to approximate the blissful conditions of the good old age of Yao, Shun, and Yu.

That's why it has been observed that all the six Confucian classics are essentially historical.

You can imagine our surprise that about 30 years ago, a scholar named Francis Fukuyama proclaimed the "end of history" by suggesting that Western liberalism is the final form of human governance and represents the ultimate phase of the human ideological evolution.

The past decades have been an unending mockery of that prophesy.

This blissfully ignorant prophet derived much of his confidence from his understanding of a proposition of French philosopher Alexandre Kojeve, who explained in his "Introduction to the Reading of Hegel" (1934) that the end of human Time or History suggests the disappearance of wars and bloody revolutions.

Philosophy would also go. Since Man himself no longer changes essentially, there is no longer any reason to change the way he understands the world and himself. So the ultimate Man would be kept in a perpetual state of bliss by art, love, play, etc.

In criticizing Hegelian philosophy, a French sinologist once observed that philosophy must be conceived in the context of history, and failing that it can easily get bogged down in the abyss of abstraction, as in the case of Hegel.

read more: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90782/8026159.html

[Zeng]

Maybe not so much a tradition, more as a cultural art value China has for the world is Taij Chuan (tai chi), as for myself I have studied under Grandmaster Zeng Chen Dong (Tung) of whom his grandfather was a disciple of Yang Chengfu. Master Chengfu is credited with the Yang style of Taij., Recommended for all, practice the art, spread the word!

[Robert S.]

I wish I could go to China and see some of the old parts before it is too late.

[Mick]

I wish I could go to China and see some of the old parts before it is too late.

You and me both, Robert. I miss China so much but alas, my team of docs won't let me fly to Chattanooger, much less the Middle Kingdom.

BTW, don't be such a stranger around here. Where you been hidin' out? Li and I spoke of you and Ping Ping yesterday as we were up on Monte Sano Mountain, where we visited when the two of you were up this way.

[ameriken]

Two things I can think of...

 

I remember a 2001 movie 'Beijing Bicycle' that had many scenes in the old Beijing Qianmen neighborhood, only to learn that just a few years later China would be out to destroy this rich historical area in order to host a short stint with the Olympics.

 

On my 3rd trip to China to see Jie in 2005, I went during the Christmas holiday. When I got to Shanghai I saw Christmas lights and other Christmas decorations, mostly in the shopping centers because it seemed like no one else knew WTF Christmas was. It just didn't feel right.

 

Instead of images of an Asian Buddha, I saw images of a whitey Santa.

 

Here I am visiting what is supposed to be this amazing, unique, and wholly different culture from my own, yet the tentacles of Western commercial influence creeping everywhere.

 

 

 

[Dennis143]

Two things I can think of...

 

I remember a 2001 movie 'Beijing Bicycle' that had many scenes in the old Beijing Qianmen neighborhood, only to learn that just a few years later China would be out to destroy this rich historical area in order to host a short stint with the Olympics.

 

On my 3rd trip to China to see Jie in 2005, I went during the Christmas holiday. When I got to Shanghai I saw Christmas lights and other Christmas decorations, mostly in the shopping centers because it seemed like no one else knew WTF Christmas was. It just didn't feel right.

 

Instead of images of an Asian Buddha, I saw images of a whitey Santa.

 

Here I am visiting what is supposed to be this amazing, unique, and wholly different culture from my own, yet the tentacles of Western commercial influence creeping everywhere.

Wonderfully, enjoyable, movie is Beijing Bicycle, Ken. My thoughts are exactly as yours. When I think of the old China, my first thought is what a terrible shame if Old Beijing were gone. Back in 2005, my lady and I took a pedicab tour through Old Beijing where the walled villas outside the forbidden city where the palace guards lived were still standing and still being lived in. It was truly one of my most memorable Chinese visits.

[tsap seui]

We took the same tour Dennis. Only our driver got himself busted by a cop. Seemed with us in the back he tried to play chicken with a bus. Wound up he scratched the bus, a cop was nearby and the copper told us "you go". Oh well, we got to see the lil' houses in their walls. Got to hear some loud shouting and see some finger pointin'.

 

I could smell the booze on the guys breathe, wonder if they got him for pedalin' a cab under teh influence.

 

tsap seui

 

I was sick on my stomach at seeing a damned McDonalds and the other American junk food crap in China. Until my 7th trip and down in Guangzhou I never ate any of that crap. Our son wanted some pizza from pizza hutt after their interview. I was so happy, I said okay and broke my vow....lol

[Dennis143]

We took the same tour Dennis. Only our driver got himself busted by a cop. Seemed with us in the back he tried to play chicken with a bus. Wound up he scratched the bus, a cop was nearby and the copper told us "you go". Oh well, we got to see the lil' houses in their walls. Got to hear some loud shouting and see some finger pointin'.

 

I could smell the booze on the guys breathe, wonder if they got him for pedalin' a cab under teh influence.

 

tsap seui

 

I was sick on my stomach at seeing a damned McDonalds and the other American junk food crap in China. Until my 7th trip and down in Guangzhou I never ate any of that crap. Our son wanted some pizza from pizza hutt after their interview. I was so happy, I said okay and broke my vow....lol

Now THAT is a story to remember!

 

Here's our pedicab driver...

http://i49.tinypic.com/2ebz43d.jpg

Edited March 16, 2013 by Dennis143 (see edit history)

[tsap seui]

It was a riot. He pulled out into a huge highway with us in het back and 50,000 NASCAR cabs racing by with busses on their tail. I was more skeered than I ever was in Nam. Thank God for stop lights. That's where he tried to push a bus out of his way with us in the back. Kinda felt sorry for him, he took us all over those hutongs or whatever they are. Showed us many sights and set up photo ops for us....He had a big ol' buzz going.

 

So he gits busted, we get put out onto the sidewalk and then every cab that stopped for us asked if we wanted ot go buy a ring. Wenayn says NO and off they go, no ring no ride....lol

 

We were staying not far away at the Walfungjing or something hotel....great place but it took us forever to get back. Heck, we had a great cab driver we had been using. We caled him Beijing Wong. We took us to teh Great Wal and I insisted he go in to eat with us at a restaurant. We all got along great, laughing everywhere we went...but that day, Wenyan thought he wanted too much money (this was back in the 8 to 1 days) to take us over to the Forbidden City and around town.

 

Anyhow, it wound up being a great day....busted flat in Beijing.

[Robert S.]

Are there any particular areas near where you live in Jiangsu that are still intact?

Watching China change can be like watching a fast moving baseball heading toward your face. It's fast, it's furious, and if you fail to duck, you'll be hit right between the eyes. There is still a great deal of romance and tradition of the old country, but at the same there, many of the young people of China could give a shit about their traditions.

 

We watched it happen in the US, but it's happening much faster in China. It can be like watching a high-speed train moving without direction. I can't say I like seeing this part of China, but nevertheless it's happening at light speed.

[pbatt]

I have been to China 6 times in the last 2 years. Everytime I come, something is torn down and changed or moved.Even on the bus the other day I noticed young people not giving up their bus seats for the elderly on the subways as well. "Times they are a changin!"