The Collective Culture versus Individualism – 3/5

September 1, 2010

When I wrote why China is studying Singapore, my goal was to show Westerners why China couldn’t model itself after an individualistic culture like the United States.

It wouldn’t fit China’s culture.

Even Dr. Sun Yat-Sen – China’s Democratic Revolutionary, said any democracy in China would have to fit China’s culture saying, “An individual should not have too much freedom. A nation should have absolute freedom.”

Individualism promotes individual goals and encourages each person to express him or herself freely.  Each person is encouraged to be unique. Rules and laws attempt to ensure independence, choices and freedom of speech.

There is no need to fit in or conform to the group or society.

Relying or being dependent on others is often seen as shameful, and people are encouraged to do things on their own, to rely on themselves. Source: Psychology – Collectivist and Individualist Cultures

However, James Surowiecki says, “We once accused the Japanese of being copycats and now we turn on the Chinese. But the truth is that we have all become imitators.… In many situations, collective decisions are better than individual ones.” Source: Co-Society.com

Go to Collective Culture versus Individualism – Part 4

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine [3rd edition]. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the lusty love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.

#1 - Joanna Daneman review posted June 19 2014

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Misconceptions of China – The Chinese Government

August 20, 2010

This three-part series comes from a young Chinese man speaking on YouTube about Western misconceptions of China.

Larry says that one of the greatest misconceptions about China’s government is that people outside China believe it is completely Communist—a machine that gets rid of what it doesn’t like.  Even Larry’s Chinese-American friends feel this way.  That opinion is wrong.

Larry says that China does censor a few things like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The reason for that are because of Falun Gong, and Tibetan or Muslim (in Xingjian province) separatists.

Source: ShiWoLarry

Larry says many Westerners believe if you say bad things about the Chinese government, you will be arrested. The only instance where that might be true is if you used a loud speaker in the center of Tiananmen Square.  

Larry then talks about the few human rights violations Westerners hear so much about. The central government reacts the way it does toward the Falun Gong, Tibetan Separatists and the Muslims in Xingjian province because the Communists came to power through rebellion and want to avoid the same thing happening to them.  

After the Qing Dynasty collapsed in 1911, China went through chaos and anarchy for decades—millions suffered and died.  Any rebellion would mean a return to those horrible times and regardless of any negativity one hears or reads about China, there is a lot of good things going on that we don’t hear about in the West.

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

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China Securing Its Future (3/3)

August 14, 2010

Between 1950 and 1955, Mao said that Korea and Vietnam were the gums to China’s teeth, which meant China was next.

After all, China had already lost more than 50 million people due to the West’s meddling in Asia, which started with the first Opium War.

About 5 million civilians and military died in Korea and another 5 million in Vietnam—started by Western nations that took part in the Opium Wars in China and had carved off pieces of China’s territory.

What are Americans and other Westerners going to think when they read Eric Talmadge of the Associated Press, who writes that China is developing  a missile, the Dong Feng 21D (DF21D), which will be designed to get past the defenses of the most advanced American aircraft carriers at a distance of about 1,500 kilometers or 900 miles from China’s shores? 

Since Los Angeles is more than 5 thousand miles from China’s eastern coast, the DF21D is no threat to American noncombatants.

It’s obvious that all China wants is breathing room and the ability to conduct their affairs without interference from the West which caused so much suffering and death for more than a century.

So far, China only shows signs that they take their security seriously.

If America had lost 60 million people due to invasions and war, wouldn’t the American people feel the same way?

See The Long March or return to China Securing Its Future – Part 2

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

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China Securing Its Future (2/3)

August 14, 2010

China is a nation where most of the people do not belong to any organized religion. Yet, in the 19th century, two other religious revolts besides the Taiping Rebellion led to another 13 million civilian and military deaths.

Then in 1937 (four years before Pearl Harbor was bombed and the US entered the war), the Japanese invaded China. By the time World War II ended, 20 million more Chinese civilians and troops had been killed and murdered.

About now, you may understand what was going through the minds of Mao and the other leaders of the Communist Party when the Korean (1950 – 1953) and Vietnam (1955 – 1975) Wars broke out soon after the Communists came to power in China.

After all, the US sided with and armed the brutal Nationalist dictator, Chiang Kai-shek—the Communist’s enemy. Today, the US still supports Taiwan and recently sold billions of dollars of advanced weaponry to mainland China’s enemy. Source: Washington Post

See The Roots of Madness or return to China Securing Its Future – Part 1

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

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China Securing Its Future (1/3)

August 14, 2010

This three part series is about the reasons behind a new weapon China is developing. This weapon is known as the DF21D, which will be described in part 3.

Suppose that the United States had just ended a century of conflict that started when several foreign nations sent naval/military power halfway around the world to force America to accept cocaine as a product to be sold to all Americans without restrictions.

The United States loses the struggle against this drug being sold to American citizens, and during the next century, more than fifty-million Americans die from more wars indirectly caused by the nations behind the drugs while a third of Americans becomes addicted to the drugs.

As this century of drug and wars end, the same nations invade Mexico and Canada. By the time the wars in Mexico and Canada end, 10 million Canadians and Mexicans have been killed by the invading armies.

For China, what I’m describing is not a “what if”.

Starting in 1839, China fought two Opium Wars and lost about 50,000 troops while the invading nations lost 3,000. The invaders were from the UK, France and, for a limited time, the US. 

These nations forced China’s emperor to allow them to sell opium to his people ruining millions of lives and wrecking families due to drug addiction. 

These invading nations also built enclaves and cities in China—Shanghai, Hong Kong, Macau and others.

Imagine China controlling San Francisco, Seattle and New York. How would most American’s feel?

In fact, Western nations are indirectly responsible for an 1850 rebellion started by a Chinese Christian convert who claimed to be the younger brother of Jesus Christ. When the Taiping Rebellion ended, 20 million civilians and combatants were dead.

See more about The Opium Wars

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

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