Modesty and Arrogance
Chinese people love telling me how modest Chinese people are to the point where if I say something modest I often hear, “Wow, you’ve learned our Chinese modesty,” in return, as if modesty were a unique feature of Chinese culture.
Putting aside the irony of such a statement, the people who say this do have a point: most older people I know in China are incredibly modest, particularly the ones with relatively high social positions. However, many Chinese people I meet who are around my age strike me as being extremely arrogant, particularly the ones with relatively high social positions.
No where is this more prevalent than with some educated Chinese people I have met who apparently think their English is “da bomb”.
Does the person who speaks English in an arrogant way think I’m going to compliment them? “Ooh, your English is so good.” Whoopdifuckingdoo! I know five year olds with better English.
I told Jinjin, my wife, that if I ever speak Chinese in an arrogant way to just shoot me on the spot. I think I would rather die than sound as ridiculous as those people sound.
December 4, 2006 at 1:25 pm
I can tell you that the Chinese lawyers with whom I deal are every bit as arrogant as the American and the Korean and the Russian lawyers with whom I deal. None have ever even made an attempt at modesty. Near as I can tell, the level of modesty is the same between the US and China (and let’s throw in Korea and Russia as well), with the only difference being that modesty is more valued in China and Korea than in the U.S.
December 4, 2006 at 4:55 pm
It’s interesting to hear you make that distinction. I never thought about it in that way before.
December 12, 2006 at 8:27 pm
I should concentrate on your English Kev!!
Seriously, as you know the Chinese are very proud of their modesty(!!) just as they are of everything else regarding China (such as Chinese language is the hardest in the world, Chinese food is the best in the world, Chinese culture is the deepest in teh world!, China is the biggest country in the world! China produces the greatest amount of pollution in the world!!…….)….there is just too much to be proud of for any modesty to remain!!