Perma-Culture Shock

Eggplant!

This past weekend, I enjoyed a quick jaunt to 西安 (Xi'an). Unbeknownst to me, the Xi'anites (Xi'anians?) have a self-satisfying motto that appropriately summarizes my own first-hand exposure to Chinese history: "If you want to study 100 years of Chinese civilization, go to 深圳 (Shenzhen). If you want to study 1,000 years of civilization, go to 北京 (Beijing). But if you want to study 5,000 years of civilization, go to 西安."

As the motto would indicate, 西安 is a city filled with relics and preserved buildings from various dynasties. 西安 was one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, and China has done a surprisingly outstanding job of preserving and restoring the city's value. (China is infamous for destroying historical districts and old buildings for the sake of development.)

The most famous "treasure" of 西安 is the Terracotta Army. Given that they have uncovered an estimated 8,000 statues (and expect to find more), the archaeological site is impressive. I had seen many pictures and videos of long lines and formations with thousands of soldiers, so I was a little underwhelmed when only about one hundred soldiers and twenty horses stood together--most of the other statues are on tour, in labs, or in museums.

Still, looking closely at any one of the soldiers reveals how impressive the entire task of construction must have been. Historians and archaeologists believe that each of the 8,000 statues is different--each statue based on a different soldier. Furthermore, my tour guide (Lady Jia Jia) claimed that each statue was crafted by a different artist.

Unfortunately for these artists, they were all apparently killed after the project's completion so as to be buried with the emperor they served. (One of the more comedic sites of 西安 is the emperor's tomb, which is inaccessible to the public because of high levels of mercury within the tomb. So, the major tours stop to stare at a hill.)

Anyways, the Terracotta Army is a "tribute" to a long legacy of Chinese civilization. My sense of modern Chinese people is that they have intense pride in the army, which seems just a bit ironic to me given how brutal of a history this "tribute" has.

War horse

Also, appreciating the history around this particular relic is the proper path according to the current governing body of China. In a country with "5,000 years of history" filled with frequent upheaval, civil war, and clashing warlords, history enthusiasts can only hope that at no point will an extreme form of Maoism lead to another mass-purging of classic Chinese symbols.

Which brings me to how modern China views being "civilized." One of my favorite quirks about Chinese society is the national campaign to "civilize" Chinese people. Based on my students explanations about what advertisements mean with catch-phrases promoting Chinese nationals to "civilize themselves," this campaign revolves mostly around Western conceptions of manners.

For instance, one advertisement has some vignettes: a man actually holds a door open for others, some people wash their hands before they leave the bathroom, and someone points out a "no smoking" sign to someone who, in turn, extinguishes their cigarette. These ads are mostly ignored since the vast majority of Chinese people will still elbow even an old woman out of the way to get in the door first, will not stock soap at public sinks, and will smoke while cooking your dinner.

Currently, a popular insult to throw in someone's face is to call him or her a "农人" (nongren, "farmer"). The implication being that this person behaves like he or she has little-to-no exposure to modern "civilized" society. I often hear this whispered under people's breaths when they catch one another with a live chicken on the metro, when they catch one another publicly urinating or defecating (rare, but, yes, it does happen), or when they catch one another picking their noses with an elongated finger nail--the elongated finger nail is a style that both men and women sport to show a clean nail that they believe indicates they do not have an unsuitable or "uncivilized" job that would force them to work in the dirt.This last example is pretty funny since these people grow their finger nails to appear like they are not so "common" that they work in the dirt, yet these very same people are labeled "uncivilized" and "uncultured" because of how they use those very same finger nails.

My favorite part of the "civilizing" campaign are the signs hanging above urinals and behind squat-pots. These translations are according to my 西安 tour guide: "One small step forward, one giant step for civilization"; "Close the door to open one for civilization."

Domestic culture shifts and cultural appreciation in China involves an uncomfortable dichotomy of appreciating the products of a selective memory while attempting to eradicate the less becoming aspects of social behavior.

Which brings me to a conversation I shared with a German traveler in 西安. She was curious about my impressions of China having been here for nearly two years; she has been here six weeks and will be here twenty more. At this point in my experiences with China, I have a fragile love-hate relationship with the place and with the culture.

After complaining about some of the things that irk the living hell out of me these days (e.g. spitting in restaurants, public defecating, open stall doors while people drop piles, public defecating, people who blow smoke in my face while staring at me because I'm foreign, public defecating, and other miscellaneous irritations dealing with sanitation), the German traveler revealed the big difference between our stages of cultural exchange: "I think you are suffering from a great culture shock."

I allowed this for a moment, but then I decided to challenge the claim. Undoubtedly, I am resistant to and even offended by China's loose interpretations of hygiene. But to call my frustrations and disgust "culture shock" felt a little patronizing to my experiences in China. Granted I have been here for only two years...

To the people that say the loose interpretations of hygiene are a crucial part of a rich Chinese culture that has lasted "5,000 years," I offer the counter that this is also the Chinese culture that has, in recent history, graced us all with SARS, swine flu, and various forms of avian flu. Sometimes shifts in public hygiene practices are more beneficial to a society than maintaining outdated "culture." And, I think the government recognizes this with their "civilize yourself" campaign--though the wording of the campaign is more than a little offensive.

Any given day, I go through various stages of culture shock. I don't believe anyone fully transitions to a different culture. To me, that seems to be a psychological impossibility. Doesn't everyone retain at least some nostalgia for or mental-footing in what was (to escape and provide context for what is).

As I pointed this out to the German traveler, she agreed but asked if I didn't agree that continuing to analyze China would keep me distanced in such a way that would propagate culture shock cycles.

"Magic" archer

To a certain extent, I agree.

But at the same time, I am equally as analytical and critical of my home culture.

Additionally, I have realized there is an unfortunate spiral of cultural exchange between me and Chinese people:
1) I come from a culture that promotes exchange and understanding.
2) Chinese people come from a culture that promotes the same yet, in practice, also ostracizes and alienates foreigners through stares, making us novelties, and talking about us in front of our faces as if we could not understand them--I regularly call people on this now that I do understand.
3)  I come from a culture that promotes patience with cultural exchange.
4) Chinese people come from a culture that sees nothing wrong with spitting, belching, public urination, unwashed hands, nose picking, etc.
5) I come from a culture that finds these acts or features unattractive, appalling, and disgusting.
6) Chinese people come from a culture of self-assuredness (albeit with a sense of humility).
7) I come from a culture of promoting no small amount of self-sacrifice to allow for processing culture shock.
8) Chinese people come from a culture of pride in legacy that should not be compromised or doubted.

In which case, I fear that I am stuck in a case of Perma-Culture Shock. I can block-out nose-pickers and belchers, but I am still disgusted when I hear people hawking loogies in a restaurant, when I see people publicly pooping, or when someone smokes in my face.

What is also troubling about my experiences with cultural exchange in China is that I am more than willing to perform the self-sacrifices necessary to be respectful of Chinese culture and social norms, but I feel that the vast majority of Chinese people don't even consider what they do might offend me (e.g. talk about me in Mandarin in front of my face as if I couldn't understand, blow smoke in my face, etc.). Whereas I come from a society that would encourage high sensibility if not at least a shred of awareness when interacting with people of a foreign culture, my experiences with Chinese society has indicated that Chinese culture does not widely promote the same consideration for foreigners.

And as an indicator of how aware I will always be of the cultural differences, my flight back from 西安 nearly made me pull my hair out.

The flight was filled with elderly people all wearing bright orange hats to help keep them organized and accounted for on their tour. As I sat in my aisle seat, I noticed that the woman next to me (in the middle seat) had an ungodly amount of cotton stuffed into her ears. The cotton was crusty.

As soon as I sat, the woman began to stare at me. If you have never had anyone stare at you before, it can be generally uncomfortable. I have grown accustomed to it in China, and I can mostly ignore the average gawk. But as this woman was less than a foot from my face, I couldn't help but feel as though her eyes and crusty-cotton-swab-plugged ears were a little too close. I turned to look her in the eyes. She didn't even flinch. Just kept staring. And so, like an obedient specimen, I turned away and sighed.

The stare was surprisingly unyielding. Through announcements and take-off, the woman barely even blinked. Until the food and beverage cart arrived an hour after I was seated, the woman maintained. But once she was forced to respond to the stewardess asking about her preferred beverage (tea, of course), the crusty-cotton woman averted her gaze.

As she struggled to handle her cup of tea and the box of in-flight snacks, she started to push my food aside on my tray table to make room for her food. Her finger nails were surrounded by dirt, and her entire hands were swollen in the way that happens when somebody's recovering from frostbite or is having an allergic reaction. Her fingers nudged my aluminum tray of veil-thin and sickly lettuce with mushy rice and congealed sauce. If I wasn't smitten with my meal before, I definitely had lost my appetite while watching her intensely unsanitary hands come uncomfortably close with my food.

I sincerely hope this was her first time flying.

I opened her tray table for her, and she smiled and croaked something to me in a voice withered and roughened by decades of smoking. Honestly, she sounded so Smeagol-like that I couldn't comprehend anything besides a 谢谢 (xie xie, "thank you"). Also, I tried to avert my gaze so I wouldn't appear to be staring at at least ten rotting teeth.

When she finished her snack and wanted more tea, she flailed her arms and yelled for the stewardess--a common procedure for getting the attention of service staff in restaurants, since China does not foster a service oriented economy. This, of course, was not working on a plane with the sound of engines. I pushed the "stewardess" button for her. More croaking escaped her throat.

Within thirty minutes, she naturally had to use the lavatory. I quietly observed her struggle to stand-up against the seat belt's lap-tight grip. She pulled on the opposing belts to no avail. I showed her how to unclasp the belt with my own belt. I did this three times without her acknowledging that her belt could possibly be the same make as mine. Then, I took the initiative to unbuckle her belt for her. She croaked something and laughed out breath that hadn't seen toothpaste or a mint for at least a day.

As I started to stand, she insisted I stay seated. She then started to climb over me. I am not a sizable man, but I tend to take up all the leg space of an average economy class seat. There was no way this woman was going to traverse my lap without:
a) Shoving her crotch or ass uncomfortably close to my face,
b) Using my face as a crutch, or
c) Falling all over me.
So just as she was lifting her left leg to begin the inevitable interpersonal disaster, I swiftly stood into the aisle. She croaked something, pulled the seat in front of mine back for leverage (much to the dismay of the sleeping traveler thereupon seated), and pushed forcefully on my seat for balance (much to the dismay of the eating traveler using my seat back's tray table).

I decided to sleep the remaining hour of the flight. When I woke, it was to her flailing arms and shouts: "我们正在坠毁" (We are crashing). We weren't. We were landing.

She quickly calmed as the man in the window seat explained the situation. By the time we had taxied to our gate, she was completely restored to her wits. As per any flight in China, everyone stands and starts removing their overhead luggage the moment the plane stops moving--way before the "fasten seat belts" light has switched-off. The woman to my left was no different. She leaned over me and tried to open the overhead compartment, a maneuver only the lankiest of tall men with uncanny forearm strength could pull-off.

I slowly stood while she realized she did not have the arm length to open the latch. Also as per the average queue situation in China, everyone crams to the front as much as is humanly possible. This makes for awkward and unsure footing in an airplane aisle as two-to-three people stand in space that would normally fit one person. When this is combined with people carelessly removing their overhead luggage, the situation becomes one that should require elbow pads and a helmet.

And so the woman pulled on the straps of her luggage until it slid out of the overhead bin and onto my head. Without even recognizing what had happened, she began to elbow me back in the line so she could get further ahead. She continued until she had securely wedged her way between the seats of the aisle in front of us and my position in the aisle. Then she turned her face and sneezed into mine.

Books, Movies, Music, T.V.: I am really enjoying Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. This article about Chinese characters. This thought provoking article about Chinese democracy. South of the Border, The Sound of Noise, L'ilusionniste, Anonymous, Thunder Soul; "Sometimes" by Miami Horror, "Sit Right Down" by Toots and the Maytals, Break it Yourself by Andrew Bird, "Go it Alone" by Beck, "After Hours" by A Tribe Called Quest; 30 Rock, Community, South Park, The Legend of Korra, SNL, Spartacus (this season has been really good), Mad Men.