Honor Chinese Style – Part 3

February 5, 2010

In 1935, Lin Yutang wrote, “Face cannot be translated or defined. It is like honor and is not honor. It cannot be purchased with money, and gives a man or a woman a material pride. It is hollow and is what men fight for and what many women die for.

“It is invisible and yet by definition exits by being shown to the public. It exists in the ether and yet can be heard, and sounds eminently respectable and solid. It is amenable, not to reason but to social convention.

“It protracts lawsuits, breaks up family fortunes, causes murders and suicides, and yet it often makes man out of a renegade who has been insulted by his fellow townsmen, and it is prized above all earthy possession.

“It is more powerful than fate and favor, and more respected than the constitution. It often decides a military victory or defeat, and can demolish a whole government ministry. It is that hollow thing which men in China live by.” (Lin Yutang, My Country and My People, Halcyon House, New York, NY, 1938, page 200)

Chinese like Yue Fei and Guan Yu were honorable men and gained much face because of their beliefs and behavior.

When anyone in China reacts to anything, politically or personally, honor plays a big role. It doesn’t matter if one is a member of the Communist Party, a farmer or a factory worker or one of the wealthiest members of the new capitalist elite.

Most Chinese measure what is important in life by a different standard than the rest of the world.

Discover Honor Chinese Style – Part 1

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of The Concubine Saga. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.

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2 Comments | China, Chinese Culture, politics, tourism | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Honor, Chinese Style (in three parts)

February 4, 2010

We were visiting General Yue Fei’s tomb in Hangzhou. Hundreds of Chinese tourists were there. It was early October 2008. This was our third trip to the city in ten years, and I was watching people spitting on the kneeling, life sized metal statues of men dead for more than eight centuries. Those metal effigies with their hands tied behind their backs had been traitors.

It may be difficult to understand what honor means to of the Chinese people if one isn’t Chinese. One way to possibly understand the importance of this concept is to examine two of China’s historical moral heroes.

General Yue Fei died on January 27, 1142. He was a famous Chinese patriot and military general who fought for the Southern Song Dynasty against the Jurchen armies of the Jin Dynasty.

Several, jealous Song ministers lied to the emperor saying that Yue Fei was planning to kill him and take over. The emperor believed these lies and had General Yue Fei executed. When the truth came out, Yue Fei became a model for loyalty in Chinese culture. By spitting on those statues of those ministers that lied, the Chinese honor Yue Fei’s memory.

Learn about China’s Invisible White Elephants

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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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12 Comments | China, Chinese Culture, politics, tourism | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Wearing China’s Shoes

February 4, 2010

“Beijing – China suspended military exchanges with the United States and threatened sanctions against American defense companies Saturday, just hours after Washington announced 6.5 billion in planned arms sales to Taiwan.” by Cara Anna, Associated Press Writer

The private sector’s American Military Industrial Machine thrives on wars like Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Military industrial tycoons would have strokes if America didn’t have any enemies to scare the public with. Without fear of the boogieman, would America need the second-largest military on earth? Would America need to spend more money on weapons than the rest of the world combined? These Military Industrial types are like greedy Christmas morning kids who pout when there aren’t enough presents to open.

Don’t read me wrong. We need to fight the nasty Al Qaeda terrorists (the ones hiding in Pakistani caves like flea ridden Neanderthals) who want to burn our underwear and sink our cities from global warming.

Now, slip into China’s shoes. During the 19th century, China was the victim of Western Imperialism. The Chinese emperor didn’t want his people to have access to opium. The West did, and the British and French waged war against China forcing China to allow opium in. American merchants benefited from those wars too. Then China fought with Russia, Germany and Japan and lost more territory. Then along came WWII and a Japanese invasion that cost at least thirty million Chinese their lives.

Is it any wonder that China is upset that the United States industrial military machine is selling Taiwan $6.4 billion in weapons. Geez, these industrialists should be making enough off Iraq and Afghanistan and this “war” (oops, we aren’t supposed to say that—political correctness you know) on terror. Prior to 1949, Taiwan was part of China. After the Nationalists lost China, the people in Taiwan lived with martial law under a dictator for thirty years before being forced to hold democratic elections.

Think about this from the Chinese point of view. The Chinese want was lost to Western Imperialism in the 19th century and the early 20th century. Check China’s maps to see what was lost. Mao reclaimed Tibet, and China has been badmouthed in the Western media ever since. With this history, how would you feel if you were Chinese?

How many wars has China started with other countries in the last century?  Make a list and compare it to the wars started by the other major powers (don’t forget America). Once you finish the list, tell me who should worry the most?  China or America.

Of course, the Chinese could change the name of their political party to Republican or Democrat. They could do away with the yellow stars on their flag and replace those symbols with a red ass or a blue pachyderm. They could even vote to join America as the next state, but that would make the dreaded double “L” happy.  No, not me—Lawyers and Lobbyists.  Right now, China has about 110,000 lawyers for 1.3 billion people while America has more than a million to rob less than a quarter of China’s population.

Isn’t it bad enough that we’ve already given China fast food and Ford?

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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.

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

Leave a Comment » | America, China, government, media, military spending, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Earthquakes, Spoiled Formula and Kidnappings – Part 4

February 3, 2010

My wife and I disagree with the assumption that the Chinese government was attempting to protect the guilty.  We are sure that the people responsible for the shoddy construction in Sichuan, China were discovered and punished out of sight of the media.

The guilty people are either dead or locked up in some distant prison and it was done out of sight. Knowing how the Western media loves yellow journalism, they would have kept the pot stirred if there had been a public trial. 

Most Chinese want this kind of news gone and out of sight as quickly as possible. It is the Chinese way. Why should the Chinese change their values for Western ways and yellow journalism? 

See Part 1

Further reading:
Time: http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100121/wl_time/08599195464400

 Associated Press: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100122/ap_on_hi_te/as_china_google

Lloyd Lofthouse is the author of the award winning My Splendid Concubine and writes The Soulful Veteran and Crazy Normal.

Leave a Comment » | Chinese Culture, media, politics | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Earthquakes, Spoiled Formula and Kidnappings – Part 1

February 2, 2010

  Two recent pieces in the news focused a spotlight on how most people in the West misunderstand China and the Chinese.  On January 19, Time published a piece comparing China’s handling of its earthquake in May 2008 in Sichuan with the way Haiti is handling its current catastrophe. There were striking differences—mostly making China look good.

 Today, the Associated Press published a piece about China slamming US criticism of its Internet controls, and it was mentioned how a “few” Chinese bloggers were upset by content controls in China. Don’t forget that China has 1.3 billion people.

 Both pieces miss the point because they both assume that Western values should be applied to China. This also goes back to a conservative friend whom, during an e-mail conversation, said Communism was evil.  I’m sure many Americans may believe this statement, and they would be both historically correct and currently wrong.  To learn more, see what I said in A Media Slugfest Using Taiwan. 

Further reading:
Time: http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100121/wl_time/08599195464400

 Associated Press: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100122/ap_on_hi_te/as_china_google

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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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4 Comments | government, media, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
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