China forum < Are Chineses guys uptight or just shy?

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    Are Chinese guys uptight or just shy?

    posted by  boh tuan in China forum 

    Hi Tony Tang,

    I would like to respond to your post, and let you see from my point of view. This does not mean to say my view is right and yours wrong. My take is in life there is no system or values that is 100% correct.

    There is an English saying " what you lose in the swings, you gain in the roundabouts"
    If you look at my profile the language is "English" --- as if I can only speak English --
    I can speak two Chinese dialects ( Hainanese, Hokkien), and another language known as Malay. But the filing system does not allowed the two dialects and one language to be included.

    Your statement " shyness is our mentality, you cannot change it overnight. I think the shyness has to do with our education". From this I think you are a shy person.

    Let us take a hypothetically case. Tomorrow you strike "TOTO" and win USD 10 million dollars. Do you still think you will be shy or behave shyly in a gathering of any group? I don't think you will feel shy. You will want to have more frequent gatherings because now you are the top or one of the top in the group. You call it " have big face". Westerners called it ego. Chinese don't like to lose face. Westerners don't like to lose their ego. Therefore, status, (whether money, power, or super intellect , etc)
    makes you bold. In Hainanese there is a saying "PUI TOH TAH, CHEE TOH LAT". literal translation, RICE MAKE STRENGTH, MONEY MAKE COURAGE

    As regards your comments of Chinese teaching and the teachers in the classrooms (not the universities I presume), I think for the moment it has to be that way -- teacher has nearly full authority. Look at the classrooms environment and teachers authority in the West. The teachers are stripped of nearly every authority, and their primary and secondary education is in chaose. As I always believe, there are always exceptions to the rule.

    Your statement " opposition is not welcomed". I think this is a watered-down statement. I would say "opposition is not tolerated". I think it is a policy coming down from the top policy makers. I don't think they are wrong. China has more than one billion people, and a land area of 9.5 milliom km2. If you allow 'a hundred flowers to bloom, and a thousand thoughts to contend' (Mao's saying), China will disintegrate like Russia.

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