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Ah-Bin -

I was wondering what some Chinese people thought of the foreign interest in things Chinese for
their "exotic" nature.

I read a letter from a reader in the Nanfangzhoumo 南方周末 newspaper a few months ago arguing
against the proposal of bringing out a huge statue of Confucius during the Olympic opening
ceremony, because he didn't like the way it would encourage outsiders to keep thinking of China as
an "ancient and mysterious" (古老，神秘) country rather than a modern nation.

This made me think back on the reason I started to learn Chinese, which was purely out of
fascination with the "exotic" script and "mysterious" culture. Of course twelve years on I don't
feel like that as far as everyday conversations and reading street signs and menus is concerned,
but the fascination with the exotic is still what pushes me on to read more deeply in Chinese and
improve my understanding of Classical Chinese.

I wonder how many other people are pushed on into deeper study by this fascination with the exotic
rather than, say a wish to learn Chinese simply for practical purposes or for financial gain.

I realise that a lot of the western portrayal of China as "exotic" and "ancient" had political
motives behind it, just as the fascination with being "modern" does in contemporary China. I
wonder what some other Chinese people think of the "exotic" way of looking at China. Do people
find it offensive? Does it do more harm than good?



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heartless -

I really like your thinking about the subject here, especially the political motives (either
foreign or Chinese) behind the fascinations with China. In modern China (by modern i mean the
period after first opium war), there are always extremes in the way of seeing Chinese
culture,history, tradition and even national identity. One of them is to particularly emphasize
the five-thousand-year long history and glories in those historical periods which always ends up
in a deluded and stupid supriority. In order to correct this, some people place extreme stresses
on modernity, modernation,or say, internationalization in the development of the country, even to
a degree which leads to further extremes and distortions of China's national identity with regard
to its culture,tradition etc. They don't like foreigners to perceive China as "ancient" and
'mysterious" who undergoes no change other modern nations have undergone. This is a relentless
effort to put China on the same platform,under the same standard with the rest of the world,
especially the highly developed western world, which is immune to criticism under the name of
patrioticism. But what is the consequence of it? See the increasing cries for the loss of
traditional culture and value in contemporary China. See the rising of Chinese classic learning(we
call国学in Chinese), though to a certain extent it has been reduced to mass culture and is apt
to formalization with the loss of its spirit and essence. Certainly we don't like to be seen by
none-Chinese as kind of strange, mysterious thing which they want to study like the specimen under
the microscope, but what about the proud and gratification when hearing a foreigner values our
traditional culture? Is that a kind of uniqueness every nation wants to have and reserve?
Surely, i am not a representative spokeperson for the whole Chinese, but at least you can hear how
one of them think about this. Hope this can illuminate something for you.










hudai -

i will be more interested and pride to talk about the traditional aspect of Chinese things that
are unique and exotic to foreigners than the modern stuffs and i consider it's a good thing that
foreigners have continuous interests for this . Personally i would like to keep this exotic nature
in a modern environment. In this case the exoticism should be reevaluated positively and no body
will consider this as something too 'ancient' or ' primitive', let alone this 's likely to shadow
modernization and development of china.










muyongshi -

I read the title wrong...swore it said "exorcism"

Anyway....

Very interesting line of thought. So many of my friends are surprised by how much NOT different it
is from many western countries. Because they still see the traditional dress overseas, or even in
movies like MI3 you see how there is a modern side to shanghai but then the daylight scenes shows
you this very old looking area that looks very traditional (yes I know it wasn't actually in
Shanghai).

But that is what I love about China: it has maintained (not as well as Taiwan in my opinion due to
the cultural revolution) a blend of the modern society and the history of itself. Exotic,
mysterious, ancient, however you want to put it. And that is why it is so interesting.

Now, I do not think I would want a statue of kongzi anywhere near the Olympics (unless my
teacher's forgot to tell me that he was an amazing athlete) because it just doesn't have to do
with the the heart of the Olympics...










skylee -



Quote:

I read the title wrong...swore it said "exorcism"

same here.










rezaf -

i think the way the chinese government has treated it's ancient identity can be an example for
other ancient cultures. china is towards future, the chinese are ready to live in an international
society and you might have noticed how friendly they treat foreigners. on the other hand the
ancient mysterious china is not forgotten. they have put it in museums and the doors are always
open for intersted chinese and foreigners. for example unlike some countries like vietnam they
didn't change their handwriting to pinyin but just simplified it, and it's easy for someone to
learn the traditional characters after learning the simplified ones.










gougou -



Quote:

on the other hand the ancient mysterious china is not forgotten. they have put it in museums

Paved paradise, put up a parking lot...

I don't think that should be an example for other ancient cultures. Rather than putting it into
museums, I'd prefer to see it preserved in its original place.










muyongshi -

I agree! And don't rebuild it to make it look nice.... let me see how it was....

(Now I have that song stuck in my head )










shibole -

First off, I'm not Chinese but I don't understand this dichotomy between "modern" and "ancient and
mysterious". Couldn't there be "ancient" ideas that aren't the least bit mysterious and still
"modern" in the sense that nobody's come up with a better replacement yet?

This kind of reminds me of a rather arrogant description of a Thai pestle and mortar in a catalog
I saw. It went something like "This Thai pestle and mortar design is hundreds of years old, but
believe it or not it actually works!" Well duh! Would people be using something for hundreds of
years if it didn't work? It's almost like the implication is that Thai people are idiots, using
stuff that doesn't work for hundreds of years, until proven otherwise.

I feel like there's some implication that "ancient" people (regardless of where they're from) are
just totally stupid and only "modern" people aren't.










lilongyue -

Interesting topic. I've been fascinated with Asia for many years. Buddhism still remains my
greatest object of fascination, which I suppose seems exotic to many. Being a practicing Buddhist
for several years now, it doesn't seem that exotic to me anymore. I still love reading the ancient
stories of past masters though, which are usually filled with all kinds of "exotic" tales of
marvelous powers and miracle-like feats. The 100,000 Songs of Milarepa is easily my favorite story
of a great Buddhist teacher, and is indeed very "exotic."

I spent about 2 years in other Asian countries before coming to China. Before coming here I had
already started to think about what modernization (which always seems to include Westernization)
means for Asian countries. A very complex topic. I've often times wondered what good the
introduction of Western "values" has done most Asian countries. Does being "modern" mean massive,
unchecked consumerism? Does it mean seeing as beneficial the throwing away of something like
Buddhism, an ancient, venerated and much respected religion (even by Western philosophers)? When
the moral framework that something like Buddhism gives people is tossed out the window in the name
of modernity what replaces it? McDonalds? Having 50 brands of shoes/purses/T-shirts/etc., to
choose from instead of two or three? I'm aware that there are benefits to modernization, like
health care, sanitation, etc. (lest some of you get the wrong idea).

Honestly, it's always been the Buddhist aspect of Asian culture that's interested me the most. So
I tend to view things from that perspective, if you all couldn't already tell. I have to say that
of the Asian countries I've spent time in, China feels the most cut off from its past. Places like
Thailand or Korea seen to have a better balance of old and new. I think China is in a unique
situation because whereas other Asian countries had an intact ancient culture that collided head
on with modern Western culture, China had a cultural vacuum that was waiting to be filled.

Things have been changing at such an outrageous pace here. The other day in one of my classes we
learned a phrase, and then were told that it isn't used much anymore. My teacher told us that
phrase was commonly used about 5-7 years ago, but isn't said much anymore. I've been told this
many times recently. It's not only with the language, but with other cultural things like what
university students do for friends birthdays, etc., that have changed. Does it seem ironic to
anyone else that a country with 5,000 years of history undergoes such widespread linguistic and
cultural changes in 5-7years? Perhaps I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Anyway, I have to admit that there is still some element of "mysticism" for me in Asia, but only
because Asia is the place where Buddhism flourishes. I still love going to temples perched on the
sides of mountains, the smell of incense in the monastery, the sound of chanting and the large,
smiling Buddha statues. I find this sort of thing much more appealing than skyscrapers and
mega-highways. However, having said that I still love living in Asia, and prefer life here over
life in America.












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