Censorship in China at times is so extreme that it is almost laughable, like when they claimed foreigners couldn’t go to Tibet because of the weather (it was the anniversary of anti-Chinese riots). The news articles are so carefully screened for any material that doesn’t portray the official line that they can end up being whittled down to a si [...] Keep reading »

My friend happened to be in a supermarket when panic struck here. She was buying her lunch when three loud, pushy women shoved their way to the front of the line, each buying two bags of salt. She thought it was a bit strange, but it is China, and she has seen far stranger. Within the next few minutes the entire store was full of customers grabbing [...] Keep reading »

Over the past few days we’ve been looking at changes in the practices of Chinese families (here and here), today we are going to be looking a little closer at how Chinese define the importance of family and why that looks so different from our own definition. The Chinese view is that “Family” is absolutely the most important part of their liv [...] Keep reading »

Yesterday we looked at the traditional idea of family in China through most of its history. Today we look at the changes that have taken place in the last six decades as China has gone through the Cultural Revolution and opened itself to the world. Maoist China to Modern day Mao saw the clan and the family as institutions that kept the peasants opp [...] Keep reading »

I’ve had a few requests now to do a post on the idea of “family” in modern China, but first I think it’s important for us to first look at the traditional Chinese family as it existed for most of China’s history. ~2,000BC-1949AD Anthropologists would call Chinese families patrilineal (ancestors are only traced through the male line) and p [...] Keep reading »

I just wanted to quickly share the reactions of my Chinese co-workers to the earthquake in Japan. On Friday I spent the entire afternoon trying to learn more about the earthquake, but my co-workers seemed oblivious to it (they weren’t working either). It turned out they had heard about the earthquake, and figured that Japan could handle such a la [...] Keep reading »

I apologize, but today you get a little China rant. Our News Story of the Week today looks at an article that argued China should not have an independent judiciary (something argued for by the Jasmine Protestors). In that article the author called China a democracy THREE times! Another article also praised villagers in their attempts at democracy. [...] Keep reading »

Part two of a look at the cultural differences that lead to culture shock in China (Part one here) The total lack of personal space in China gets under an American’s skin in a matter of seconds. Riding a bus designed for 40 people, with close to 100 crammed in it is a daily test of my cultural sensitivity. I could tell you stories, but until you [...] Keep reading »

When we head overseas we brace ourselves for the variety of new foods, the crazy streets, and missteps in a new culture. The thing we often forget is that culture is truly ubiquitous, permeating absolutely every aspect of life. So over the next few days we will be looking at a few of the places where cultural differences surprise us because we didn [...] Keep reading »