Today, I shall reflect on the lessons I had last year, as well as what I would like to learn for this year.
All in all, I learnt a lot in the differences between the perceptions of Chinese and America over self last year. I enjoyed the presentation made by my friends as well.
First is the Chinese perception of self. The Chinese perception of self is based on Confucianism. The basics of Confucianism are benevolence, order, righteousness and more. People to show respect to those of a higher status, such as child to parent and employee to employer. The Chinese perception of self is that contributing to the society is more important than contributing to oneself.
Next, is the Western perception of self. It is about the need to attain one's individual rights and liberties. The right to speak, the right to protect self, the right to their property are examples of individual rights.
Also, we learnt about the dichotomy between China and America. Some see America is individualistic, where higher value is placed on personal freedom and liberties. I feel that the Chinese government adopted the Confucian ideology so as to have better control its people, with harmony and respect. This can be seen in corporate culture, where Chinese employees follow orders without asking and are not encouraged to voice out their own opinion to their employers, while in America, employees are encouraged to voice their own opinion or ideas to increase innovation.
Last but no least, we discussed the synthesis of Western and Confucian ideologies in today’s society, of different countries such as Taiwan and Singapore. Singapore is a great example of a Confucian society that adopted Western ideologies. An example inclides in school, where students have to obey their teachers without question, such as handing in of work on time. This shows the Chinese perception of self where students are supposed to respect someone who is older than you. However, students also have personal rights, such as the right to talk. This shows the Western perception of self.
This year, we will be learning more about the evolution of the role of women in the east and west, youth trends, American and Chinese leadership, as well as China's and the US's education system. I hope that this semester will be fruitful and enriching!
Hi Marcus!
ReplyDeleteThanks for informing us people who weren't from CDE last year more about what to expect! It's great that you have enjoyed the lessons, it shows that I should be enjoying it too!
Similarly, I am also really looking forward to the lessons such that I can learn more about both the US and China!
However, I do not really agree with you that Chinese leaders had successfully controlled the people with the Confucian values.
Take the Foxconn incident, for example. The Chinese employees (many of them were young) had voiced out their unhappiness of low wages and long working hours through suicides, perhaps due to the characteristics of China's "Me Generation" where they want to get rich quickly but they are unable to, dashing their hopes for a better future.
Although I agree with you that Chinese are generally less willing to voice out their unhappiness and opinion of the system, I think that the Chinese are gradually learning from the US, and they learn to be more open of their feelings and emotions (Even though their method might be extreme and unlike how an American will act).
On the overall, I feel that your journal entry is quite insightful, I have been able to take away something meaningful from your entry. Keep up the good work!
By: Lin Weihan (12)
Dear Marcus,
ReplyDeleteAs I had not participated in the CDE module last year, I felt that your post was informative and serves as a good reflection of 2012 CDE. However, I beg to differ on some of your points.
First of all, although it can be argued that the individualist American culture encourages innovation on the part of employees, it might also encourage a culture of vicious competition and office politics, as well as spur the prevalence of office politics.
Also, Confucian culture is not just 'respect someone older than you' as you say, but instead 'respect someone more learned than you', which could be seen in the Chinese proverb 贤者为师, meaning "the more learned is the teacher", instead of authority being based purely on age. Chinese society is also becoming more open and liberal, with students increasingly starting to challenge the words of their teachers.
It would be more balanced overall f you could mention those points in your points as well.
Lu Wen Hao
4B213
Hi Marcus,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your journal entry. However, I do feel that there are some parts that can be made better.
1) You justified that Singapore is a partial Confucian society by citing the example that “students have to obey their teachers without questioning, such as handing in of work on time”. I do not think that this is appropriate justification, because the abovementioned scenario is not respect, but authoritarian treatment of students misunderstood to be respect, which is not Confucianism. A better example would be the requirement of students to greet teachers on sight, question their teachers politely, and maintain proper classroom decorum.
2) You cited the students’ rights “to talk” as justification of partial Western ideology. That is rather vague and inaccurate. Western ideologies do advocate the freedom of speech, but nowhere in Confucianism does it restrict one’s right to talk. The difference between Western ideologies and Confucianism is not the right to talk, but the right to talk in certain contexts, that is, the degree of freedom of speech.
Signing off,
Jiawang.