Archive for the 'America' Category

The Ethnocentricity of the Holidays

December 26, 2007

Around Chinese New Year I would often be asked by Chinese friends whether I’d go home for the holiday and what my family would do for it. At first I was a little taken aback by these questions. “Um,” I would reply, “Americans don’t celebrate Chinese New Year. If I went home all my family [...]

Egalitarian Haircut

October 23, 2007

I was at the haircutters today and got to thinking about the job of a haircutter. In China* this job is pretty low on the social hierarchy and people who do this job tend to stay pretty low on the social hierarchy their entire lives.
In the US this job, at least to me, doesn’t seem [...]

American Midwest and Chinese Hinting-hua

September 29, 2007

Real examples from my own experience:
American Midwest:
“I guess the newspaper will be here by now.”
Translation: “Go get the newspaper.”
Chinese:
“I wonder what’s in the news today.”
Translation: “Go get the newspaper.”
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Tags China, American Midwest, Language, Hinting

How To Be A China Expert

September 20, 2007

1. Pack video camera.
2. Get on plane.
3. Film self in China eating Peking Duck with a fork starting day one on arriving in country.
4. Repeat same crap your local guide tells you on camera.
5. Mix video with ancient Chinese music.
6. Send to any major American TV network.
7. Fly home after two weeks in country, never [...]

American Media Coverage of China

August 25, 2007

Since returning to the States I have noticed that American TV news talk-shows frequently mention China, and the talking heads pretty much always show that they don’t have a clue what they are talking about. Just to show the level of ignorance, one financial expert talking about Chinese monetary policy pronounced “yuan” as “u-on”. Here’s [...]