Everything that I thought china would be was entirely different once I actually got there. All of my thoughts and expectations of china were completely wrong, but in a great way. People say one can go a new place and either love it or hate the area. When it comes to China, visiting this culture was one of the best weeks of my life and changed the way I view certain things. In this COR class we read two books called China Road by Rob Gifford and Oracle Bones by Peter Hessler. These books were meant to make me knowledgeable about the Chinese culture.
In the book China Road Gifford states how the name of Dunhuang in Chinese means “Blazing Beacon.” This was very interesting and describes the Chinese culture in how it is expanding in population size. When going to China this fact became very true. In China there were people everywhere at all times of the day. However, before I arrived there my assumptions were that China would be worse than Times Square traffic in New York City, but I was wrong. There are lots of people in China, but since the culture is so big it is not like people are running and bumping into each other every two seconds there is space to move.
Gifford also went onto talk about how expenses paid places at schools in eastern China, for good and well-rounded students who have been exceeding the success bar. The United States would never have an incentive like this one. I feel like this is more of an award for the families since they are the ones who pay.
This statement shows how important education is for the Chinese culture. In China I visited two schools and one major fact that stuck out to me is how these students go to school from six in the morning to 10 ten at night. My original assumptions of the Chinese were that they were just real smart. I didn’t think they studied for hours on end to be that smart, I thought it was all luck but it turns out they study much harder than Americans.
Oracle Bones was a book based on the history of China. Hessler pointed out many things to me that I never would have thought of in the first place. For example, he states, how the Chinese believed in order, regularity, and organization. Before I went to China I thought this comment meant probably just as organized as Americans. I was wrong once again, they are much more strict and organized on everything they do in China than how we are here. Everything they do is planned and has reason behind it and the family lifestyle seems as if they do the same thing everyday.
In conclusion, going to China clearly changed my perspective about their culture. Things I learned before I went helped but there was nothing that could even compare to the experience I got actually going to China.
WORKS CITED
Gifford, Rob. China Road. New York. 2008
Hessler, Peter. Oracle Bones. Harper Perennial. New York. 2006
