From my friend who has taught in Chinese Universities in Beijing for over twenty years, he still lives and works there:

The points are well-taken and not in dispute by informed people (I am no apologist for Western imperialism). One shouldn't assume everyone's opinion in the West is identical to the crude stereotypes about China depicted in the Western media.

There are in fact many diverse views about China in the "Western" media if one looks more closely. But this is especially hard for most Chinese to understand, who have been so successfully indoctrinated and brainwashed by the cultural/nationalistic propaganda of the mainland Chinese Government, which pushes its black-and-white view of China vis-a-vis the rest of the world.

And simplistic notions of Chinese culture are uncritically adopted by many Chinese all over, not just in the mainland, equally swallowed by both intellectuals and the less educationally privileged. The accusation against Westerners that they willfully misunderstand China is often merely a reflection of the accusers' own gross misreading of China.

A case in point is the old cliche spouted in Duo-Liang Lin's letter below on "what 5000 years of history has taught us..." The "5,000 years" cliche crops up so often that I can no longer let it alone.

The implication here is that China has the oldest history in the world, just as it's commonly assumed by pretty well all Chinese that because their language, cuisine, and culture are likewise the oldest in the world, they are also the greatest and most renowned, and the rest of the world merely needs to be reminded of that. Further compounding these cliches is the way "history" is commonly conflated with "civilization", so that one also frequently hears of China's 5,000 years of civilization, the words being used interchangeably.

The claim to 5,000 years of history is meaningless, since the archeological evidence of human history goes back well before that in all parts of the inhabited world. There's no beginning to history. But if by "history" is meant civilization, organized society, writing and historical records, etc., then China was way behind other parts of the world.

The oldest world civilizations are not the Chinese but the Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Persian, each going back to around 5,000 years, at which time China boasted only the primitive agricultural communities of the so-called pre-Xia “Liangzhu” era (roughly 3000-2100). The earliest surviving fully-fledged writing system is the Sumerian, from around 2600 BC, not the Chinese, whose earliest surviving writing (oracle bones) dates back to around 1600 BC, or the start of the Shang Dynasty (and the first Chinese historical records). It is at this point that Chinese civilization could properly be said to begin, or around 3,600 years ago.

But 5,000 is a nice round number. Too bad it doesn't really have anything to do with the actual beginnings of Chinese civilization. They might stretch it back to the first known Chinese Dynasty, the Xia Dynasty (2100-1600), which would be 4,000 years, but this would be more convincing if there were historical records, telling us something about an era which remains shrouded in mystery and question marks (what, exactly, has Prof. Lin learned that is useful from the Xia Dynasty, I wonder?). Again, if the claim is merely that Chinese history (not historical records) goes back 5,000 years, so what?

When the Chinese can start to demonstrate independent, critical thinking that is able to distance itself from Chinese Government-inspired propaganda, then their critiques of the West will be more interesting.

Professor C.

--- On Thu, 7/15/10, John R. wrote:

From: John R. (Another Prof., name deleted cause I don't know him. "Mad" Miles)
Subject: Thought provoking blame game: China
Date: Thursday, July 15, 2010, 1:16 AM


Scroll down for some thought provoking questions from some Chinese American friends:

A fair assessment. Worth Reading:

The following is a concise summary of Chinese history in the last 200 years.

(AN AWAKENING MESSAGE)

A Poem Published by the Washington Post

When we were the Sick Man of Asia ,
We were called The Yellow Peril.
When we are billed to be the next Superpower, we are called The Threat.
When we closed our doors, you smuggled opium to open markets.
When we embrace Free Trade, You blame us for taking away your jobs.
When we were falling apart, You marched in your troops and wanted your fair share.
When we tried to put the broken pieces back together again, Free Tibet you screamed, It Was an Invasion!
When we tried Communism, you hated us for being Communist.
When we embrace Capitalism, you hate us for being Capitalist.
When we have a billion people, you said we were destroying the planet.
Whe we tried limiting our numbers, you said we abused human rights.
When we were poor, you thought we were dogs.
When we loan you cash, you blame us for your national debts.
When we build our industries, you call us Polluters.
When we sell you goods, you blame us for global warming.
When we buy oil, you call it exploitation and genocide.
But when you go to war for oil, you call it liberation.
When we were lost in chaos and rampage, you demanded rules of law.
When we uphold law and order against violence, you call it violating human rights.
When we were silent, you said you wanted us to have free speech.
When we are silent no more, you say we are brainwashed-xenophobics.

Why do you hate us so much, we asked.
No, you answered, we don't hate you.
We don't hate you either,
But, do you understand us?
Of course we do, you said,
We have AFP, CNN and BBC's...

What do you really want from us?

Think hard first, then answer...

Because you only get so many chances.

Enough is Enough, Enough Hypocrisy for This One World.
We want One World, One Dream, and Peace on Earth.
This Big Blue Earth is Big Enough for all of Us.

************************************


Duo-Liang Lin, Ph. D.
Professor Emeritus of Physics
University at BuffaloState
University of New York
Buffalo, New York
14260-1500

When Japan was economically successful, it was Japan bashing . Now its China bashing when China is getting a bit successful. If you haven't heard of China bashing before, the above poem pretty much
summarised it.

In the following paragraphs, I'll try to clarify some of the facts and mindsets about China , hoping they can help some people to understand. The West ( US & formerly Europe & Britain) practice hegemony and don't seem to care what the third world feel at all. Third world countries have a right to grow, be strong and be successful too!


Inspite of the last 30 years of advance in city infrastructure and other hardwares, China is still a very poor country of 1.3 billion including a poverty-stricken farming population of 650 million, and a corrupt/backward government. Anyone who have been to China can see that.

We in HK are so close to China that we probably know it better than anyone else. But the West blows the whole thing out of proportion, calling China a Superpower, and a threat, which is simply not the case. Author Helen Wang rightly pointed out in her book, saying........ China is in many ways, too backward to qualify as a superpower........it has a long way to go.

However what she should realise is that the West is using the rise of a Superpower as a covenient pretext to blame and bash China fortheir own economic woes and diplomatic failures. Yet business is business. Trade still go on as long as there is a profit.

As far as I can see, China has a lot of catching up to do. China has more internal problems than it can handle. China is more involved in solving its own problems, such as feeding its millions, providing them with jobs, keep the rich/poor gap narrow down , fighting corruption & inflation, and give people a decent living .....etc etc. So far the progress made are stained with blood ,sweat and tears.

Every time one uses an INTEL, HP or Apple, there are many parts inside that are made in China's sweat shops. This is just one example which is all over the news in recent days. Cheap products from China actually kept US inflation down for years! Sounds like a win/win situation. However what does the average worker gets for assembling the IC chips..........a mere US$120/m. They work very hard, but very very sad. I have stories to tell........much later.

Its really a conspiracy of the West to contain China from expansion, just like containing the Soviet Union from expansion in the Cold War days. Why is there a European Union and NATO, SEATO and other alliances? Its the post -WWII Western strategy to contain the two communist giants, a strategy which is still in force today, but rather out-dated, since Russia and China are no longer communists.

Why does the US has over one thousand military bases around the world and seven fleets patrolling the seas? ( China has none.) Because the politicians in the West have to justify their governments' expenditure on the military. Because the arms dealers and manufacturers have to lobby the politicians to sell their weapons. Because the Western nations want to perpetuate a Western dominant world. Fair assessment?

200 years ago , after fallen behind the West , China was attacked by Britain first, then plundered, looted, colonised by a league of 8 nations , even conquered by Japan. The next 100 years, China suffered 2 revolutions, 2 World Wars, plus Civil War and internal struggle, China , as a nation, is flatout, downtrodden, and experiencing total collapse.

All it wants now is to rebuild a country from its pieces, to give its people food, shelter, clothing, a decent life and restore some dignity to a "sick" nation. What can be more noble and humanistic than that?

Many people do think China's leaders deserve to be awarded a Nobel Peace Price for their contribution to lead a quarter of mankind out of poverty and starvation! President Gorbachev received a Nobel Peace Price for liberating the Soviet Union in 1989, a huge political change for Eastern Europe. I think China's achievement is more internal, but economic change is just as great if not greater. Why is the West are so negative about China! Fair assessment or not?

What about the arms race? The US and Russia have enough nuclear arsenal to destroy the world ten times over. But China can hardly defend itself against the real Superpowers. China just want to stand on its own two feet, and not being bullied by any other powers.

If one should understand the Chinese mindset, our culture of Confucius, Mencius, Laotze, Chuangtze and Buddha, all teaches harmony among men, harmony between men and nature.........what 5000 years of history has taught us that wars and killings will not solve any problems, but will create more problems.

That's why China's leaders kept stressing China's position is not to seek the first strike in any conflict, a sharp contrast to some other country's "pre-emptive strike" mindset. China has not invaded any country in the last 200 years. China has not one soldier in combat abroad today. It seems that China may not want to be a Superpower now. It's Economics 101 ......guns or butter? The answer is clear.

Guess I spoke enough.........not in defence or accusation, but to help international understanding.


(End of forwarded text.

I just want to say, whoever put a zillion line breaks into this, that I just spent over an hour deleting to save the eyes of you, the reader, is a fucking asshole!!!!

Seriously, it's almost 2:00 a.m. and my eyes are crossing in fatigue. Who puts ten syllable line breaks into an extended text, hoping it will be shared with the world?

"Mad" Miles)