... Book By It's Cover

China has a blind spot.  Almost everyone who is Chinese, looks Chinese.  To 95% of the people in America, it's amazing to think of a country where 95% of the population is a single ethnic group.  Unfortunately for many overseas Chinese, many people in China also think that if you look Chinese, then you must be Chinese.  (That's believing an invalid converse for you logicians out there.)

 Of course, the Chinese know better but just because you know better, doesn't mean you act that way.  Overseas Chinese have difficulties because local people just don't understand how they can be American.  To make matters even more interesting, I've had Chinese people asking how Indians (meaning me; remember this, it's important later) or even black people could call themselves American.  Here is one of the great powers that America wields.  Looking at someone doesn't imply that you can tell if they are American.  Even more powerfully: Looking at someone doesn't imply that you can tell if they are not American.  Pretty cool, eh? (Logically, this means that someones appearance has no relationship to whether or not they are American.)

  There are two sides to every coin, however.  Recently, I've had the following conversation several times in Houston:

  Them: You just moved to Houston?  Where did you come from?
  Me: China.
  Their brain is obviously working furiously for a few seconds and they don't want to make the next statement, but then they do.
  Them: So... you're ... Chinese?

  Apparently, Americans are so comfortable with ethnic identity being separated from national identity, that they ...  make statements like this.  They know that many other countries are ethnically homogenous (relative to the US) but they can fail to act on that knowledge.  While Chinese people tend to judge a book by it's cover, Americans absolutely refuse to do so, even when they really should.

  The innate foolishness of mankind still shines through.  Brings a tear to my eye. *sniff*

P.S. If I've made some technical error in my use of formal logical terms, please remember that I didn't do very well in my (many, many) college classes on logic.  However, this did not prevent me from basing my dissertation on very complicated logic theorems.

Indifference and Insult

In my recent post on my activities in China, I left out one item that I wasn't comfortable posting at the time.  Here's what I really should have posted:

• I found myself defending China to people in the United States.
• I found myself defending the United States to people in China
• I discovered that no one really cares about India except as a source of good food, movies and beautiful women.

  For someone who originally thought that China and India were somewhat equal partners on the world stage, it was harsh to have China keep reminding me that this just isn't true.  Let's get a little context before I start to sound really bitter.

  Let's take the 1962 Sino-Indian War.  I don't want to get into who started it or who was at fault.  There are two sides and each side thinks that all the blame lies with the other party.  What's more an issue is that this was a really important event in Indian history.  India was caught off-guard with the Chinese strength and my mother tells me that many Indians thought that the country was finished.  The story was that the Chinese army was basically advancing almost as fast they could move and that nothing was stopping them.  Then, suddenly, the Chinese stopped and left.  It was almost as if they said,"We might as well take our toys and go home."

  I asked some Chinese friends about what they were taught about the war and they looked at me like I was crazy. "What, we fought a war with India?  No way; you must be mistaken." Finally, I found one guy who said he remembered a history textbook which mentioned the war as a minor skirmish for about one sentence (or maybe one paragraph at the very most).  What?! A paragraph ... at most??  A minor skirmish?

  The final victory for the Chinese in the war was that they got to ignore it completely while it left a giant scar in the Indian psyche.  India had been invaded and the only reason it was still a nation was because the invaders, of their own accord, just ... stopped and went home.  This experience really taught me the harsh power of indifference.  Indifference (more than hate or anger) can be one of the most insulting responses.  While I'm not saying it would better if the Chinese hated India (many of them love India), it would be nice if there had been some impact on China for all the trouble.

Life on the Farm

  I remember reading an article in one of the Beijing expat magazines.  This article was about an elderly couple that were making a living in Beijing collecting scrap paper for recycling.  They had previously been farmers in the countryside and now earned about 600 yuan/month (about $70 at the time).  This means that they were living in Beijing on 20 yuan/day.  That they could support two people on this amount is just astonishing.

  I was further surprised when they apparently told the reporter that they loved living in Beijing.  They said it was so easy and they had free time and could even choose to take days off.  This all left me wondering,"What must life have been like in the countryside to make you love living in Beijing on 20 yuan per day (for two people!)?"  In my time in Beijing, I kept thinking about this couple and it reminded of how lucky I am and how little it really takes to keep yourself truly happy.

  This came to mind recently when I read an article about the falling value of recyclable materials in China.  Apparently, the prices have tanked with the economic downturn.  I wonder how this couple is doing.  I hope they have managed to find another source of revenue or somehow continue their life.  I know that they were enjoying their 600 yuan lifestyle but I'm pretty sure there wasn't much leeway in their income.

Prejudice and Stereotype (I) - I Buy a Car

  I recently bought a car. (!!)  For those of you that know me, this is a really big deal.  For those of you that don't know me, well, I can tell you're not impressed.  It was a big task, choosing a car.  I started by deciding I wanted a used car.  Then I decided the car needed the following characteristics: 1) Nice, 2) Reliable, 3) Sporty, 4) Manual Transmission, and 5) 4-door. 

  The first two items meant that I could easily ignore all American brand cars.  As I looked at different cars online I decided it was time to upgrade and look at luxury car models.  After comparing a few car models (based on looks), I settled on buying a 5-8 year-old BMW 3-series or 5-series.  I just kept drifting back to those cars.  I took two weekends to visit various private sellers (the dealerships kept being closed on Sundays and their prices were out-of-sight).  After some false starts, I found what I was looking for, bargained hard (to no effect) and drove away $8000 lighter but in a blue, manual 2002 BMW 325i.

 Now, these aren't pictures of my car but they are just like photos of my car.  I decided that these photos are better than any I might take.  I'm really happy with the car and the only thing that broke within the first week was the automatic sun-roof.

  What does all this have to do with prejudice or stereotype?  I'm getting to it.  The first inkling I had that anything was wrong was  when I was visiting people to look at the BMWs they were selling.  Almost every one of them was South Asian (even the guys with names like Sam).  I'm a little slow so I didn't get it at first.  After I bought the car and showed it off to some friends, a few said, "Great car.  All Indians choose BMWs."

  Hey!! I didn't know that!  I looked around and sure enough, a lot of BMWs on the roads with Indians in the driver's seat.  How did this happen?  I do know that when I was figuring out which car to buy, I seemed to naturally gravitate to the BMWs.  Most of the competitor models just didn't hold my interest.  I thought back to my upbringing and my parents didn't have a BMW.  There aren't a lot of BMWs in India (and certainly not when I was younger).  I simply can't figure out what in my cultural upbringing pre-disposed me to these cars.

  Despite this, this is the car I wanted.  Culture can be a funny thing.  Stereotypes are even more subtle than people may imagine.  Somehow, culture can affect you in ways that you can't trace and can't even recognize until you make a certain choice.  I like my car and I don't know why.  Maybe the styling is evocative of the design on the chariots in the illustrated version of the Ramayana.  Maybe??