Popularity is a Fad

April 26, 2010

 My wife and daughter returned from China before the 2008 opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics and said Christianity is popular in China. They said that wearing the cross was the stylish thing to do.

2008 Beijing Olympic's Closing Ceremony - the Human Pillar

I find it disturbing when religion is the stylish thing to do. That’s sort of like wearing clothing that is the latest fad and fads change often. If people are in a religion because it is stylish, what will those people believe next?

Once I started to understand the Confucian foundation of Chinese culture, I found it difficult to blame China’s Communist Party for how organized religions are treated in China. If an Emperor ruled China today instead of the Communist Party, would things be the same or worse? After all, Emperors and popular peasant rebellions are responsible for slaughtering or throwing foreigners and their religions out of China more than once before communism was a concept.

See “Chinese Face” http://wp.me/pN4pY-7V

 

1 Comment | China, Chinese history, politics, religion | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

The Qianlong Emperor and Google

March 16, 2010

On Friday, March 12, the BBC reported that the Chinese Minister of Industry and Information Technology Li Yizhong adopted a tough stance during a legislation session. “I hope that Google will abide and respect the Chinese government’s laws and regulations,” he said.  “But, if you betray Chinese laws and regulations … it means that you are unfriendly, irresponsible, and you will have to pay the consequences.”

Qianlong Emperor

Google doesn’t get it.  If they read what the Qianlong Emperor (1736-1796) wrote in his famous letter to King George the III in 1793—when China was strong enough to resist external influence—they might understand.

China is a family oriented culture, and the individual is not as important. Public freedom of expression does not fit the Confucian, Taoist foundation that begins in the family where you do not publicly criticize your elders or your leaders and expect to get away with it.

Starting with the first Opium War in 1840 until Mao won China in 1949, China was weak and was bullied by Imperial powers. Now that China is strong, they are saying “NO” as the Qianlong Emperor did.

Discover The Influence of Confucius

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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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2 Comments | business, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, Confucianism, family values, politics, Taoism | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Respecting Cultural Differences Out-of-Focus

February 26, 2010

I read at Crooked Timber that three Google executives were convicted of violating Italy’s privacy laws. That taught me that China is not alone in having laws different from other countries that limit activity on the Internet.

When China censors the Internet, or hires mothers to go after on-line pornographers, the family centered culture drives those actions. Most of China’s arrests of dissidents and executions of criminals are also driven by the family centered culture influenced by Confucian, Taoist beliefs.

Confucious

A few years back, a Japanese citizen, wife and mother attempted suicide in the United States and killed her children in the attempt, but the mother was saved by bystanders. She tried to kill herself and her children, because she had lost face when it was discovered that her husband had an affair with another woman.

When the American legal system was going to try her for murder, the Japanese government protested and said her actions were driven by her culture. Respecting the differences between the two cultures, the United States allowed her to return to Japan.

If we really respect the differences between cultures, why does the Western media and American politicians go out of their way to treat China without respecting the cultural differences that explains why China’s government acts the way it does?

To understand China more, I recommend piety, face and heroes.

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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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1 Comment | Chinese Culture, media, politics, religion | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse