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For how "homogeneous" China is considered, regions often define people more than ethnicity or racial groups. A common greeting that most people ask is "Where ar

For how "homogeneous" China is considered, regions often define people more than ethnicity or racial groups. A common greeting that most people ask is "Where are you from?" Both migrant workers and the growing middle class now have the ability to travel anywhere in the country to further their futures. Back in the 70s or even the 90s this mixing of people was pretty much unheard of. Shanghai culture was only in Shanghai while the rest of the country was their own little thing. Only recently have the people and culture of the country begun to mix. The grouping of everyone in China into Han Chinese is a simplification IMO. A person from the Northern regions of China can't even speak to a person from the Southern region while the culture of every part of the country is drastically different and would make the differences between Americans look miniscule.

Cookingboy 7y ago
>would make the differences between Americans look miniscule. The culture, custom and language difference is definitely more drastic than it is in the U.S. I was somewhat bullied as a young kid in Shanghai because I couldn't speak Shanghainese that well. However value is mostly not as divisive as it is here. I'm talking about the same kind of success is valued and worshipped throughout the country, urban and countryside alike. People also largely share similar family value, similar world view, and even similar opinions of domestic and foreign politics. In the U.S. I get the impression that everyone wants the best for the country, but they just drastically disagree on what an "ideal America" should look like. It's looking more and more like one side's paradise is the other side's nightmare. Personally I theorize a lot of that is due to decades of centralized media, propaganda and a top down, heavily scrutinized education system, but in this case one can't help but wonder if democracy is always better judging by the extreme polarization of media bubble and social value in American society. In fact, we reached the level that democracy is only tolerated in the U.S. but not liked by most people. If you give a theoretical ballot/proposition to Hilary voters that strip Trump voters of voting rights and vice versa, I have a feeling a significant amount of voters across both sides will vote YES, but not admit in doing so. But that's discussion for a different day.
- yorwba 7y ago
  > I was somewhat bullied as a young kid in Shanghai because I couldn't speak Shanghainese that well. Do you think the importance of Shanghainese has changed since then? When I was there, the only people I heard speak Shanghainese looked to be 40 or older, younger people seemed to exclusively use Mandarin.
  - Cookingboy 7y ago
    Oh definitely, even kids who are just 5-10 years younger than I am are now mostly using Mandarin only, and many of them are no longer super fluent in Shanghainese. Basically I think kids born before 1995 were the last batch of people growing up learning fluent Shanghainese.
- taobility 7y ago
  US is more diversity than China definitely. At least in China, most people speak Mandarin, eat noodle and rice. But in US, how many people speak English? Eat Hamburg?
  - icsllaf 7y ago
    71% of China speaks Mandarin compared to 80% of America who can speak English.[1][2] >Eat Noodle and Rice. The cuisine of China is actually very varied. Rice is more common in the Southern and Middle parts of China compared to noodles which are found mostly in the Northern Parts. You could not find a Dim Sum place in Shanghai compared to Southern cities because Dim Sum is more of a Southern tradition. While the cuisines of Shanghai are completely different than ones found in Xian, Xinjiang, and Hubei. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_China [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_States
  - rqs 7y ago
    Well, first you need to realize how many Mandarins[0] there is ... [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_Chinese https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_Chinese
chillacy 7y ago
I think it's considered homogenous because it's unfamiliar to most Americans. In my travels talking to people from other countries, America often appears homogenous to them (e.g. all Americans have a gun, when in reality only 30-40% of households do).
- donotdoit 7y ago
  Love the "only" 30%-40%. What word would you use if it was 80%?, "about half"?
  - chillacy 7y ago
    If p(person matches stereotype) is less than .90 I wouldn’t consider it to be accurate... but maybe the payoff is so good and the risk of being wrong is so low that it’s worth it to always make the observation. What do you think?

Cookingboy 7y ago

>would make the differences between Americans look miniscule. The culture, custom and language difference is definitely more drastic than it is in the U.S. I was somewhat bullied as a young kid in Shanghai because I couldn't speak Shanghainese that well. However value is mostly not as divisive as it is here. I'm talking about the same kind of success is valued and worshipped throughout the country, urban and countryside alike. People also largely share similar family value, similar world view, and even similar opinions of domestic and foreign politics. In the U.S. I get the impression that everyone wants the best for the country, but they just drastically disagree on what an "ideal America" should look like. It's looking more and more like one side's paradise is the other side's nightmare. Personally I theorize a lot of that is due to decades of centralized media, propaganda and a top down, heavily scrutinized education system, but in this case one can't help but wonder if democracy is always better judging by the extreme polarization of media bubble and social value in American society. In fact, we reached the level that democracy is only tolerated in the U.S. but not liked by most people. If you give a theoretical ballot/proposition to Hilary voters that strip Trump voters of voting rights and vice versa, I have a feeling a significant amount of voters across both sides will vote YES, but not admit in doing so. But that's discussion for a different day.

yorwba 7y ago
> I was somewhat bullied as a young kid in Shanghai because I couldn't speak Shanghainese that well. Do you think the importance of Shanghainese has changed since then? When I was there, the only people I heard speak Shanghainese looked to be 40 or older, younger people seemed to exclusively use Mandarin.
- Cookingboy 7y ago
  Oh definitely, even kids who are just 5-10 years younger than I am are now mostly using Mandarin only, and many of them are no longer super fluent in Shanghainese. Basically I think kids born before 1995 were the last batch of people growing up learning fluent Shanghainese.
taobility 7y ago
US is more diversity than China definitely. At least in China, most people speak Mandarin, eat noodle and rice. But in US, how many people speak English? Eat Hamburg?
- icsllaf 7y ago
  71% of China speaks Mandarin compared to 80% of America who can speak English.[1][2] >Eat Noodle and Rice. The cuisine of China is actually very varied. Rice is more common in the Southern and Middle parts of China compared to noodles which are found mostly in the Northern Parts. You could not find a Dim Sum place in Shanghai compared to Southern cities because Dim Sum is more of a Southern tradition. While the cuisines of Shanghai are completely different than ones found in Xian, Xinjiang, and Hubei. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_China [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_States
- rqs 7y ago
  Well, first you need to realize how many Mandarins[0] there is ... [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_Chinese https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_Chinese

chillacy 7y ago

I think it's considered homogenous because it's unfamiliar to most Americans. In my travels talking to people from other countries, America often appears homogenous to them (e.g. all Americans have a gun, when in reality only 30-40% of households do).

donotdoit 7y ago
Love the "only" 30%-40%. What word would you use if it was 80%?, "about half"?
- chillacy 7y ago
  If p(person matches stereotype) is less than .90 I wouldn’t consider it to be accurate... but maybe the payoff is so good and the risk of being wrong is so low that it’s worth it to always make the observation. What do you think?