iLook China

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3 Comments | China, Chinese Culture, Chinese men, Chinese women, cultural differences, family values | Tagged: are Chinese allowed to divorce in China, Divorce Chinese style, falling in love also means getting divorced when the love ends, falling in love in China comes with risks, Love Chinese style, the growing divorce industry in China, What is divorce Chinese style | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

The Challenge of Finding Love in China: Part 1 of 2

June 27, 2017

It isn’t easy finding love in China. I’m not talking about sex. This is about love. While sex might be an element of falling in love, it isn’t love. And yes, there are individuals who think of love as a sexual desire.

For instance, high paid white-collar jobs in China are demanding and leave little time for romance, but with western style romance novels and romantic movies leading the way, searching for “love” however one defines it, is becoming common.

Although China’s open economy has made many people rich, “love” is still a difficult word to say since most Asians are more reserved than westerners.

“Romance Chinese Style” is a film by first-time director Maggie Gu that takes a close look at the romance industry in China that is helping to overcome this shortage of time and abundance of shyness.

Al Jazeera English reported on Maggie Gu’s film and looked at on-line dating, blind dates, double dates, and speed dating that is popular in China.

Since China opened its doors to the world, it has become a country in the fast lane, and in 2007, China’s first speed dating club opened.

Speed dating originated in the United States, but the concept reached China where for a small fee, to save time, speed dating takes place over the Internet.

This Internet speed dating service allows busy members of China’s growing middle class to meet potential mates, and since many Chinese find it difficult to express what they feel, there are classes available where wealthy professionals can discover how to express themselves in the language of romance.

A Love Market in China

Part 2 will post on June 28, 2017

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine, Crazy is Normal, Running with the Enemy, and The Redemption of Don Juan Casanova.

Subscribe to my newsletter to hear about new releases and get a free copy of my award-winning, historical fiction short story “A Night at the Well of Purity”.

2 Comments | China, Chinese Culture, Chinese men, Chinese women, cultural differences, family values | Tagged: falling in love in China, How do the Chinese fall in love, How easy is it to fall in love in China, The challenges of finding love in China, The love industry in China, Why do Chinese have trouble saying the word love | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

The Differences between Chinese and Western Operas

June 13, 2017

JadeDragon.com says, “Chinese opera is uniquely different from Western opera – whether Mozart or Wagner. There are so many details: origins, storylines, costumes, facial painting, stage rituals and customs, character types, and so on, not to mention musical usage that makes Chinese opera a unique form.”

For instance, Peking Opera is a combination of several styles of Chinese opera. The metamorphosis started during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) about two-hundred years ago.

Peking Opera focuses on historical events, legends about emperors, ministers, generals, geniuses, and great beauties.

Performances are a combination of singing, dialogue, pantomime and acrobatic fighting and dancing.

Today, Peking Opera is considered the highest expression of Chinese culture.

The origins of Peking Opera did not begin in Peking (Beijing). The opera had its start in the Chinese provinces of Anhui and Hubei.

Experts say the opera was born in 1790 and was originally staged for the royal family and only then for the public.

There are thousands of these operas that cover the history and literature of China. Peking operas can be divided into two categories.

“Civil” operas focus on singing while “Martial” operas feature acrobatics and stunts. Some are a combination of both.

Discover Wu Zetian, China’s only female emperor

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine, Crazy is Normal, Running with the Enemy, and The Redemption of Don Juan Casanova.

Subscribe to my newsletter to hear about new releases and get a free copy of my award-winning, historical fiction short story “A Night at the Well of Purity”.

Leave a Comment » | China, Chinese arts and music, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, cultural differences | Tagged: how old is Peking opera, Peking Opera, What are the differences between Chinese and Western operas | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

The Common Ground between China and Israel

June 7, 2017

The Jews and the Chinese have four things in common: loyalty to family, a high respect for education, a willingness to work long hours for low pay, and a canny acumen for business. Because of these similarities, the Chinese have even been called the Jews of Asia.

The Jews have a long history with China. In China: A New Promised Land, by R. E. Prindle in an interview with David Grossman, Israel’s leading novelist talks about the Jews moving to China.

When a father goes to work in China, he works for his family; not himself. After the children grow up, they must care for their parents; not the other way around like the United States. In the U.S., many parents tell their children to do whatever they want and be anything they want. Most children follow that advice even if it means getting a degree to become an artist or skipping college to chase dreams of acting, singing, or sports fame while attending parties or visiting theme parks like Disneyland because mom and dad said, “We want you to be happy and to have fun.”

It’s different for many Jews and Chinese. Working hard and earning an education are important to both cultures. A close friend and his wife, both Jewish, took out a loan on their home so their son could become a doctor and their daughter a lawyer. They bought a condominium near the university their children attended for an investment and a place to live for their children while in college. Both the mother and father were public school teachers, and they did not earn much, which shows that Jewish parents, like the Chinese, are willing to sacrifice for their children in ways many American parents would find unacceptable in the age of credit cards and instant gratification.

This willingness to sacrifice for the family and nation may have been the reason the Jews won the Six-Day War against overwhelming odds. Although the Chinese have the same values and are willing to make the same sacrifices for family, they did not know how to fight like the Jews. Something the surviving Jews must have learned due to Nazi atrocities.

After a tour of combat in Vietnam, I was stationed at Camp Pendleton, California in 1967. Between June 5 – 10, six months after I returned from Vietnam, Israel fought the Six-Day War defeating several Islamic nations that had twice the troops Israel had, more combat aircraft and many more tanks.

It was Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Kuwait, Tunisia, Sudan and the PLO against Israel.

Israel’s had a total of 264,000 troops with only 100,000 deployed. The Islamic nations had a total of 547,000 troops with 240,000 deployed. Israel had 800 tanks to Islam’s 2,504, and 300 combat aircraft to Islam’s 957.

After Israel’s victory, I said, “We should let Israel fight the Vietnam War for us. At least Israel’s leaders know how to fight.” The other Marines agreed.

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine, Crazy is Normal, Running with the Enemy, and The Redemption of Don Juan Casanova.

Subscribe to my newsletter to hear about new releases and get a free copy of my award-winning, historical fiction short story “A Night at the Well of Purity”.

Leave a Comment » | China, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, religion | Tagged: Jews in China, The history of Jews in China, What are the similarities between Chinese and Jewish people., When did the Jews first arrive in China | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Where did this Chinese musical instrument originate?

May 30, 2017

The yangqin, the Chinese Hammered Dulcimer, probably did not originate in China. It might have arrived from either Europe or Persia about five hundred years ago and was adapted to fit Chinese music.

One theory says that the yangqin came to China on the Silk Road. A second theory says it arrived with Portuguese traders in the 1500s. A third theory says the instrument was developed in China without foreign influence from an ancient stringed instrument called a Zhu.

By Chinese standards, it is a young instrument and was first heard during the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644), and has been commonly used in Chinese Operas since then.

In fact, in Modern China, the yangqin is a major discipline in the College of Music.

The yangqin has over 100 strings that are struck with thin bamboo sticks that have rubber tips on one end. When struck with the rubber end, a soft sound is heard. When the strings are struck with the other end of the stick, without the rubber tip, a crisper sound is heard.

Around the world, there are many versions of the hammered dulcimer all designed and played in a similar fashion, but each country has its own distinct sound influenced by cultural differences.

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine, Crazy is Normal, Running with the Enemy, and The Redemption of Don Juan Casanova.

Subscribe to my newsletter to hear about new releases and get a free copy of my award-winning, historical fiction short story “A Night at the Well of Purity”.