Pride and Prejudice: Part 1 - Pride

Pride and prejudice--no, not the book--is evident in Chinese culture. As you can see from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony, China has immense pride and honor. Even children movies, like Mulan, mentions it.

"Dishonor! Dishonor on your whole family ... dishonor on you, dishonor on your cow..."

http://data3.whicdn.com/images/55259515/large.gif

That may be a bad example, but from what I have experienced, Chinese people are very prideful... and very prejudiced (which will take up a new post later).


Never disrespect a Chinese person. There is a concept called "Saving Face." You may have heard of it before. If not, it means you're saving yourself from embarrassment, saving your dignity and your pride. This is huge in Chinese culture. It's not like you can brush it off easily. This can result in you not getting a business deal if you embarrassed that Chinese businessman or getting a big discount on something you really wanted.

Also, China prides herself in being one of the oldest nations rich in culture and traditions. Be mindful of who you talk to. I don't live in China and I am extremely proud of my culture and the traditions we have. Just imagine the pride of someone who's actually from China. If someone were talking to me and insulted Chinese culture, I may or may not brush it off. But if they were to talk to someone else from China and insult Chinese culture and traditions, that person might actually be seriously offended.

I know we have a lot of things that many people disagree on--an example would be shark fin soup. I am an animal lover and I find sharks one of the most beautiful creatures on the planet, but if my grandfather was to offer me a shark fin soup, I won't turn it down.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Chinese_cuisine-Shark_fin_soup-05.jpg

My reasons are:

• My grandfather just bought me one of the most expensive items on the list. I can't turn it down, especially after it's already given to me.
• It is part of Chinese culture to eat shark fin soup when something worth celebrating has happened. Usually, it is because of my return to Hong Kong once every year or so.
• It is very disrespectful to turn down food just for "I don't think eating shark fin soup is worth anything." I understand how the sharks are killed, but I'm not going to throw away my culture for that.

I'm going to end with: please be very aware of who you talk to. Filter yourself and your views unless you wouldn't mind not having that person's future help or their friendship.