Brrrr, it's cold in Beijing

Salutations from the Great city of Beijing where the Red Mao reigns over all. I keep on reading all

 

these articles about China in the news on The NY Times and the Economist about China. Essentially I think the media has hooked onto a newly developed fear of Chinese domination. However this isn't something new the concept has been around for ages. What happens to world order when the hegemon (US) is no longer a hegemon? The most commonly perceived country is China, due to its economic capacity in the wealth of its population size. Whether or not China could mobilize these masses to the work force was another story . Now whether that be politically, economically or most undoubtedly culturally, the media is amid a feeding frenzy on the possibilities for the future, as China's economy skyrockets past that of the United States, the most recent economic power. Reading about all of this can get a bit depressing, seeing as I am from the U.S. and currently I'm in China.

The most recent article to catch my eye was about the internationalization of the "Redback" Mao into the world economy, having the Chinese yuan set as the standard for monetary values, a position the US Greenback currently holds. I scream a silent (No!) in my head while merely reading the article. It would be strange to have some other standard than that of my beloved Greenback. The same as it would be strange to think of anything inherently Chinese in culture and values as the accepted Standard.

I feel like I'm a walking product of classes with Lorenzini and Lomperis (Political Thought of Asia). I think about this stuff tooo much! Ok, here we go. I've always heard that China is a society based on harmony. The most valued thing in Asian society is Harmony, the most valued thing in Western Society is freedom...there by ipso facto Colombo Calypso--haha--Asian societies are community driven while Western societies are intrinsically individually driven. Of course there are the exceptions in both societies but anyway....

Let's take the idea of responses toward the recent North Korea conundrum, the west (particularly the Obama Administration) is/was mystified and agitated about the talks with China on the matter. They couldn't understand whyyyy China took so long to respond, was so hard to get a hold of, and didn't want to sharply reprimand the North Koreans (essentially the western approach). What was China's method in all of this? To Assure the North Koreans that their security was not going to be affected--a unique harmony-based Asian approach. Is this absurd? No, when you think about it, China's not being stubborn they are just thinking about things in a different manner.

Now relating all of this mumbo jumbo to my class room is interesting. When I first arrived I took a training course in which I had a nutty/cool teacher named Chuck who forewarned us that Chinese are very competitive and individualistically based in the classroom. He said this because students would deliberately hold questions until after the class so that they could gain an upper edge against all the other students. However on the less mature level, I think this concept still holds true. I like my primary school kids, and competition is always a way to keep them engaged while learning new concepts. Every day, I divide my class into 3 groups and those groups compete against each other to get rewards from their TA in the end. Generally there is a certain level of cheating by whispering answers that goes on in the classroom. I would never give kids on the other team the right answer so that they could get a point. This is precisely what happens in all of my classes, there is inter-team/group cheating even when it could hamper one of the teams. A whispers to B and B's team wins. This isn't just cases of friendship its whole groups. haha I don't know how to explain it much better than that but it makes me laugh and I enjoy it.

...On a much darker note, its getting very close to Christmas and surprisingly it is not completely uncommon to see Christmas decorations sold and already put up. My friends an I are planning on a X-mas day meal or "X'mas" as was so fondly displayed in a prominently western shopping area. I've started listening to TSO (Trans-Siberian Orchestra for all you newbies) and thinking about the lack of Christmas cookies I will be able to eat. Note to self, NEVER miss Christmas again. I want some Orange Tea Cookies...yum! Another note to self; please take many pictures of Xmas decorations this weekend. Oh, and p.s. I might begin work for a Chinese movie star if everything pans out.