My Favorite Posts.....
I’ve written over 200 posts.
Yeah, I know some of them aren’t very good, much less well written. Especially the older ones, when I didn’t have
the discipline to use spell check. I’m also aware I’ve gone off topic at times,
less personal and more big picture stuff regarding China as a whole.
I wish I could say this is the time of year to sit back and
reflect. Alas it is, but I lack the
time, or discipline to do so. It’s just
hard to do with the inlaws here, and the kids in the house. 2015 was a better year for me than 2014
was. I think there’s a good chance 2016
will be better than 2015. We’ll see.
I need to constantly remind myself to stay positive, and
like we all should, focus on all the good things that are happening in my
life. Yes, there are bad things. The Chinese Family constantly works to put
laowai son in law, as well as kids in their place, the better to mold to their personal
whims. But in all fairness, my life is better than
most.
I’ve a backlog of 6 or so posts I want to put out, but I’m
afraid I’ll only be able to do so weekly at best, as I’ve been doing over the past
couple of years. The inlaws are
leaving soon. This latest jaunt being
only 4 months or so. Sometimes I feel I
should pat myself on the back. Tell myself
what a good job I’m doing. Yet as my
wife is towards my kids, I doubt I’ll hear it from her.
I continue to be
amazed at how poorly Chinese understand
people. How poorly Chinese understand
human psychology. Isn’t this culturally
visceral focus on Face nothing but an admission of how shallow Chinese
understanding of human psychology is? After
all, the neurotic obsession with Pride, which is all Face really is, grows from
one person not having their own individual wants and needs properly understood or
respected by others. These needs are
learned only through trial and error. Usually,
the Hard Way.
So I’ve gone through all these posts, not all of them
bonafide. Going back I was surprised how short many of them were. I’ve picked out a few that I especially
like, trying to touch upon one small piece of China, with each one. This is something I’ve been
wanting to do for quite awhile, and the end of year is as good as any. These are posts I like. It was harder to do
than I thought(I’ve written so much).
And I wanted to keep the list to ten, which was hard. I may follow up with a list my Readers like as well.
This is my list, in no particular order:
I wrote this in 2013. A few of you have gone back that far in the archives and read it. While not in my view particularly well written, I like this alot because it gives one a very good view on just how far China's take on corruption has changed over the years.
This talks about the time my wife and I argued about my having a vasectomy. Something anathema to Chinese culture, let alone Chinese men. Best decision I ever made.
One of my very favorite posts. A good piece on the historical similarities creating both the American and Chinese nations. This is the only true "history" post I put in. I left out the "what if" series, in its entirety.
I wanted to write about the generation of Chinese Youth that willingly sacrificed themselves for a better China. A reader heavily criticized my article, and to my great chagrin, I only belatedly noticed and thus never responded. If this lost generation were to return today and see the $30 million weddings and KTV addiction so rampant within the Heavenly Kingdom they undoubtedly would have believe their side had lost the war.
Everyone talks about Chinese Nationalism. Their talking about the wrong country. They really, really are.
I'm not ashamed of this, and nor should you be. You are lucky this post was written so long ago, or else if I'd written it today God knows it would've been 3 times as long.
We all want China to be democratic, right?
Sucker.....
This is one of my older posts. It might go back to 2012. I try to write for folks who don't have much knowledge of China, but wish to all the same. That is, I don't write for scholars. Still, methinks most of my readers speak some level of Chinese. I hate this fucking phrase. It tells you reams about China.
A pet peeve of mine I have written about a few times in the past. Galling really to think about. I'm confident this happens daily in China.
Happy New Year!
One of my favorite posts you had was the one on KTV, and it is actually how I found your blog (I am not embarrassed by that fact). The reason is NOT the sexy nature of the topic. Instead, I thought it was a pretty honest,and balanced discussion of a huge reality of modern China. Too often, the truth about KTV is either sanitized so it sounds like KTV is only about Haoledi/Cashbox, or it is triple XXX/scandalous Chinese/Anti-Women etc. diatribe. The reality is of course more in the middle and while not the best image of China; obviously important for understanding China.
ReplyDeleteAgreed and well said. Business KTV is an aspect of society all of us in China for business come across rather quickly. It is pretty unavoidable actually. Whether one likes KTV or not is really beside the point. It is a rite of passage. It's an avenue for feeling each other out as well as sizing up one another. It expedites the exploratory process. It can be engineer to engineer level, or what have you.
ReplyDeleteOne's knowledge of China is greatly enhanced. Without KTV, where would all these girls go? What would they do? Would you really expect them to work on the assembly line? Shenzhen's KTV culture has grown so prolific that when I come across a pretty girl on the street in the middle of the day or in a coffee house I can't help but wonder if she's kept, or a KTV chick, as it seems to me a great portion of them seem to be. When I see a stunning waitress the first thought I have is "she hasn't discovered KTV yet".
Bottom line, if one hasn't done KTV, one's knowledge of China suffers . Case in point: Too many of our pontificating twitter crazed and name dropping China scholars "know" China without really "knowing" China. We need to feel sorry for them. Their sense of "decor" keeps them from venturing to the dark side, for not even a peek.
KTV is a great window upon Chinese society.
That's also how I found your blog. I enjoy the topics on relationships, marriage, and dating - and hope you write more about that soon.
ReplyDelete