http://www.quora.com/Chinese-Culture/Do-Americans-value-life-more-than-the-Chinese-If-So-why
Where we live?
I went to a pool party last Sunday night. It was
amaaaaaazing.
It was held by Grace Life Church
(GIC). A family in GIC provided their house and many other families offered the food and came to help us.
When we entered the community, I was astonished. "Are we going to a park or an arboretum?"
And when we arrived the house, many people welcomed us with sincere smiles.
The house, with a big kitchen, two swimming pools and a hot tub is so beautiful. And it even has an "outdoor stove," which helped a lot.
some crazy guys in the water :) (by Franz)
Super amazing(by Tanxi Bai)
It is so difficult to have a house in China since we have too many people.
My family is lucky to have a house at the cost of living in the countryside. At least we have a place to park our cars.
And most people live in apartments. It can be really expensive for an apartment, especially in Beijing, Shanghai and some other cities. (For example, my hometown.)
It can be more than ten thousand one square meter in some cities of the apartment.
In my small hometown, it started at 5 thousand one square meter.
When I travel in other countries, I can always find many lovely houses.
These are photos I took randomly in Malacaa, Malaysia(the first one) and Chiang Mai, Thailand.
So just judge by the place we live, we cannot enjoy our life very much..
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Responsibility
Of course, it is unfair and silly to judge it by houses.
In one of my stories I wrote before, I interviewed an awesome guy from Taiwan. He is a member of The Pride at OU.
One of the quotes I got from him is "I feel I have the responsibility to be perfect."
I didn't feel anything until my professor talked with me about the "responsibility."
He said almost no American kid would have this kind of responsibility. They just want to do what they want.
For me, for example, after I worked in OUDaily, somehow I feel I have the duty to do things better.
I don't want to mess up things because my broken English or any other reasons.
Every time when I feel I didn't do the story well, I feel so sorry.
(Out of track again.. Come back)
Most Chinese will feel the responsibility somehow.
Parents feel they have to raise their children, support them without anything in return.
Students feel they have to study harder, not only because of themselves, but also
their parents.
Employees feel they have to work, finish their tasks so many of them often work more than 8 hours.
It may be one of the reasons Chinese cannot enjoy
lives better.
A dog slept on Koh Samet Beech.(Sometimes I wish I could be a dog or cat or pig...Life is eating and sleeping..)
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Money.
When I traveled to Bangkok, I slept on a guy's couch for one night. He asked me why the public toilets in China are so awful.
I thought for 5 seconds, answered "it may be because no one get money from the public toilets."
He was surprised and said "Really? Don't tell me money is only what the Chinese want."
Somehow, sadly, to some degree, it is.
Thanks to my parents, I was not really care about money (until I found the tuition fees of the graduate colleges in America.)
My parents run different small factories. They have no weekends, working at least 10 hours though they are "bosses".
I love the spring festival best because my parents can only holidays during spring festival for half month.
But I know I would have to work for money since people will judge you by how much you earn and the prices are
abnormal high in many places.
Many people leave their hometowns and families to earn more money in bigger cities.
Especially a group of people called "Nong Min Gong." Every time when I read or watch their stories, I just feel they don't have lives. All they do
is try to survive
Here is the link of a TED speech delivered by Leslie T
.Chang about
the millions of people who migrate to factories in China and other emerging countries to make goods sold all over the world..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc2wVyl8RLI
Here is another link. It is a documentary about a normal family in China. The father went to Japan to study and then stay there illegally to earn money. He never came back home for several years.
I cried the whole 2 hours, running out of my tissues when I first watched it.
But I cannot find one with the English subtitle.
The parents are so great but also, some people will find it insane.
They sacrificed everything just to support their daughter to study. At last, the daughter went to America and became a doctor, which was a huge comfort for everyone.
But did the whole thing worth it? I just wanna say " Hey man, YOLO!"
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Care about others' opinions. (
mian zi)
Mian Zi (Face) is
an interesting word in China.
- Face is the respectability and/or deference which a person can claim for himself from others, by virtue of the relative position he occupies in his social network and the degree to which he is judged to have functioned adequately in that position as well as acceptably in his general conduct. (Ho 1975:883) (Wikipedia)
This definition is quite close to Mian Zi.
Almost everyone values Mian Zi, which makes life more difficult.
I do believe the luxury goods have their own charm but most people in China buy them just because they are expensive.
Many people buy iPhones because everyone uses it and it is kind of a label of "rich" in China. Since it is more than one month payment for average people.
People will do a lot of "silly" decisions because of Mian Zi.
We value Mian Zi much more than LIFE.
When I made up my mind that I would try my best to be a journalist, I told my mom "never expect me to make lots of money."
I don't want my whole life be obsessed by money, reputation and Mian Zi.
But I'm a CHINESE, so who knows?
This one? I just love this one and wanna share with you!:)
Leo, what are you doing!!!!!!
Everyday's beautiful sunset
My dear lovely three Nikon kids!
