Americans don't Understand Chinese and Chinese don't Understand Americans

I just gonna say this: we are a country who is so divided that people who can't even talk or listen to the other side of the political spectrum. How do you expect people to try to understand what the Chinese think? Why would people care about the Chinese view if all liberals see conservatives as racists, and all conservatives see liberal as Communists?

You are wasting your time.

 

China has had an awful history with foreign countries, its understandable why they would be defensive. And blind nationalism is a very real thing, Americans are more guilty of it than almost everybody else. Germany's national mindset after World War 1 is extremely understandable, but it sure as hell doesn't make their actions leading up to and during WW2 acceptable.

The actions of the chinese ruling party are not OK, this is not a debatable topic. And you can't disagree, or call them out, you have to agree with them entirely or face consequences, they don't give you room for a middle ground to meet them halfway. And frankly I don't give a damn if the Chinese people are completely happy with these actions, or just brainwashed, wrong is wrong.

The more financially intertwined we become, the more of an issue dealing with the communist mindset is gonna be. This is unquestionably the biggest WW3 trigger we have right now.

 

I think Americans understand China better than the OP is aware of... we understand how corrupt the country is and authoritarian and that's really what is going on. The excuses are often "security" over freedom arguments, which doesn't fly if you believe in the founding principles of the US. The temporary "friendship" between China and the US is temporary because there are fundamental beleifs that are in opposition. The old world authoritarian attitude doesn't fly with a liberal western democracy that values the individuals freedom; which includes freedom of thought and speech. This was a doomed friendship from the start and our pathetic leaders enabled a country like China to become the monster it is today. Thanks boomers! Our very own Frankenstein situation in fact.

Shame on anyone right now bending over for China. They are showing great weakness to China and letting the communist regime know that bullying people in the US is now on the table. Expect more of this crap from Chinese companies that are just various tentacles of the PRC Communist Party and expect this to bleed into tech, Hollywood, and other sectors where they have a stake. If our own US citizens don't tow the PRC Communist China policy, then we will be targeted if we don't take a stand from the start.

We need a response at the highest level if the NBA is too scared to stand up to the Communist Party.

 

Understanding doesn't equal accepting.

I understand what they say.
I find their mindset disgusting and unacceptable.

Justifying current concetration camps run by the state because they are happy to have two cars.
No thanx.

 

I think communism works in China if for no other reason than the amount of people

You have to manage about 3x as many people in the same amount of space as America.

Also being a more homogenous society allows for more agreement

 

The problem is that many people think they are on the correct side and there is only way way to do something, when many times there are multiple ways of doing things each with its own benefits and deficiencies, there is no perfect way of running a country.

 

Honestly this post though perhaps well intented is just dangerous appeasement. When America lives up to its ideals it means freedom, democracy, and prosperity around the world. When China lives up to its ideals it means oppression, censorship, and poverty by design.

It sounds as if a billion Chinese are somehow unaware that sacrificing basic human and civil rights for the order of despotism is a universally rejected idea throughout the history of the world. You're proposing a complete fantasy that anyone should or even would respect China. What level of underhanded, disgusting things are we supposed to overlook to make Chinese feel secure in their abhorrent system of government? For all of the age and tradition of China it's completely bizarre to see them behave like a cadre of ignorant, insecure teenagers. My father and grandfather fought in Vietnam and Korea against communists so it rings pretty hollow to me on a personal level for you to decide that Americans need to understand Chinese communists better.

BTW, if the idea of America is in your words fighting against a corrupt and oppressive government then all that means is that inside every Chinese is an American yearning to be free.

 

Do Chinese people even know what they think? Do they ever get to consider anything but the State talking points.
No, they don't.

I think providing order, food and economic growth to a billion plus people probably does require an authoritarian surveillance State.
Chinese peasants lived in more or less a medieval level for a thousand years and were subjugated by superior technologies, how else are you going to overcome that inertia without an authoritarian State? and colonial, worldwide resources.

But it's exactly like religion, when you have to maintain the illusion of omnipotence to retain the ultimate power. Reality is always going to crack the veneer. Secrecy allows corruption, dogma is questioned, creativity and individualism creep in. I think that's why hybrid systems are the only long term solutions, i.e. democratic socialism or accountable capitalism. You've got to account for people, they have a billion separate realities and change over time.

I think China's insistence on Taiwan and Hong Kong will have more of an effect on them than they realize. People don't acquiesce to outside authority diminishing what they already have. The Mainlanders just didn't have anything before the CCP, the outliers do.

Entropy says, everything moves from order to chaos. You can try to manage the chaos, but you never can preserve or increase order over the long term.

 

They were more worried about eating that freedom. As long as their quality of life keeps increasing they will be okay with the status quo. If there is a recession or economic downturn well then the CCP is in trouble.

 

Americans and Chinese have very different cultures and values. That much is obvious.

However, I'm guessing we are not the first country to have come to loggerheads with China... especially over something so minute.

 

Go live in China and stay there.

 

Good post. The real problem goes further as some other posters have said, people either don't try to understand, or understand but don't accept. The conflict will continue, and people will continue to fight and die all around the world.

Maybe an alien invasion can unite our world idk ‍♀️.

 

This simple, powerful, popular line just explained what Americans are about: close minded.