@@met6192 If we do this, how do we get compensated for our labor? RUclips ad revenues are very small and does not allow us to continue maintaining this channel based only on ad revenues. Providing subtitles for Language Reactor would discourage students from purchasing our premium content.
Topics Discussed: 1. Problems with expression that we see during street interviews 2. Chinese teachers limit thought by promoting standard answers? 3. Chinese are discouraged by society to express their opinions? 4. Why Chinese are afraid of expressing opposing views? 5. Chinese men are not encouraged to express their emotions and feelings 6. Chinese men are not allowed to show weakness 7. The impact of short videos on Chinese's ability to think and articulate 8. The culture of obedience and respecting authority discourages thought? 9. Chinese avoid conflicts 10. Chinese lack patience with foreigners who speak broken Chinese 11. Foreigners who mastered Chinese are more articulate than native Chinese speakers?
Thank you for this episode (and all your episodes)! A lot of people all around the world really aren't used to expressing detailed opinions, or even talking for a long time in a complex conversation. I'm sure you noticed years ago that you became much better at hosting videos when you had already done a few hundred as practice. I'm glad I have a lot of Chinese friends, both people who have both lived in China their whole lives and who have studied abroad, and I've had enough conversations with them to know that the obstacle to deeper and more meaningful conversation is definitely my own level of Chinese. 就像你在视频刚开始的那一段说的：表达能力上存在不足、需要用很多不同的词汇去表达很简单的思想。
great tutorial, great interview. Kirk is really very interesting as a person, very open. However, I would add that he idealizes a little certain aspects of Western society. I am European and I have lived for 30 years in Canada. It is true that people here can be very open for certain things, such as homosexuality, etc., but I find that people can be very indoctrinated and narrow-minded in many ways too. For example, people here have a horrible hatred of the Chinese because of the anti-Chinese propaganda these recent years. This is just one example of how people in the West can be open in some ways and narrow-minded in others.
Canadians don't have a 'horrible hatred of Chinese'. Nonsense. They do have a growing suspicion/dislike of something called the CCP (as they should), as do most of the world.
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In Malaysia where we have a multicultural multi religious society, I have a feeling people simply do not want to go too deep into serious discussions in fear of saying something sensitive to the other party. On top of that, many people simply do not want to think too deeply into anything out of their domestic circle.
I saw Kirk and gave the video a Like before even watching it. Greetings from Bulgaria, I lived in Xiamen 2014 ro 2017, some of the best years of my life.
Super interesting topic as always, and i'm very happy to say that i have finally reached the stage where I can listen to these podcasts without having to look at the subtitles :) Thank you Eileen and Kirk !
Thank you Eileen. I like your conversation with Kirk. It is an excellent, mature chat covering a wide variety of related subjects. I particularly like the way Kirk pointed out how the average Chinese view Japan, viewed through the lens of WW2 and "ancient times". That smears through how the majority of Chinese view modern Japan and Japanese, tainting their view into a monochrome image.
In the 1950's, having g the wrong opinion literally meant death. This is why we value freedom of speech so much in America, as well as why we have guns: so we can defend that freedom when the government tries to take it away
Wow! This interaction was full of fresh and helpful insights! Congratulations! Talking about these topics takes a lot of energy, and the editing was also on point. There's a lot of hard work behind this video. I really appreciate it.
I think the inability to express one's opinions may also reduce creativity in general because one's idea is "different." Fear of criticism can stop many people from trying almost anything.
I'd love to hear a podcast about video games in China. Like what's popular on computers, what's popular for mobile games, and does anyone feel addicted to playing multi-player online games like 王者荣耀? Does anyone play games from the west or mainly just Chinese games? What do parents, teachers, and friends think about gaming? Are there many women who play video games in China?
I think this is the same problem faced by all Asian with social cultural bringing with the thought that the silent kids are the best. The talkative regarded as disobedient or the social rebel.
Very interesting! In another video from this channel I heard many Chinese respond to the question of Japan as "the hatred is ingrained in our bones" . At the moment I thought how unlikely to have 4 or 5 people use the same metaphor and at the same time be a personal opinion. That must have been "ingrained" :) externally. Wonderful channel , thank you
Coolest topics ever! And I really really appreciate that you both talk naturally and don't simplify for us. We get it, and we're learning so much from you ❤
You are talking about such an important topic,guys! Because this 'you cannot express yourself' is a common problem in our country as well. In our country the problem is not that you share your thoughts, opinion, the problem is, example, you dare to achive your goals, you want to achive something in your life (which can be able to bring happyness in your life), but others try to pull you back, saying, you are freak, your are not able to this because I was not able to achive neither. Or they don't dare to change their life (because they are affraid of consequence) so it will be better if you don't try it neither. Maybe I misunderstand what your main topic is, I don't know, but this "it is not allowed to be yourself' which comes out for me. I am studying chinese and I would have a question. I try to get friends and talking to them in chinese as well, but most of the people look at me wierd when I look at them or, smiling, just to get to know theme. But I sense they keep distance, like they affraid of others, and they leave ( or I look away because I feel maybe I scare them😅). I am European... and a lady... Is there a context between these? Do they affraid of other nationality? How is it possible getting know them and get freinds? Is there a commom rule for this? I would to understand it. How to get closer.
This talk and Kirk's admiration of the uniqueness of Jackie Chan reminds me that my first time in China I learned that (generally speaking) Chinese people don't use body language the 'vivid' way other nationalities might. For example Indians and Italian can have all conversations moving the hands all over, from afar and without listening you could even get a hint of the emotions involved. But not Chinese, I saw this in real life when (at a time where I could not speak almost any Chinese), I would ask for directions, and instead of *just pointing* in a direction and using the hands to make indications, most people would just talk but keep their hands rigidly by their sides, it was so difficult to understand and I was SO confused, but then I learned that in fact many Chinese regarded excessive body language as rude. I'd love to learn more about why! Coming from a place where body language is 'normal' and 'vivid', I can't imagine it.
One important reason is that Chinese culture prefers the concrete and pragmatic. Western culture is more interested in the abstract. Chinese people can definitely be deep thinkers but like in any population, not everyone is.
Absolutely fantastic podcast by the way, wow! So interesting and candid. Both of you have such a lot of interesting, such a pleasure to listen to you both. Can you please post the exact link to the PDF for this episode? I can't find it on the website. Thanks very much for all you're doing.
@@MandarinCorner2 Maybe it is, I can't find individual PDFs, I have paid for one level of PDF btw, anyway now I'm getting an error, blocked by GoDaddy Website Firewall
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I lived in China and didn't experience any problems with people expressing their opinions. If anything, their opinions were strong and clear but with a foundation in what they were taught such as disliking Japan but never having been there etc. One girlfriend even yelled at me when I got an air filter machine because she said "Pollution makes us stronger!"
I had another idea for a future podcast. It would be cool to hear from Chinese people about what it was like learning Mandarin when they were young. Especially from those who learned a different local dialect first.
Interesting thoughts. Some of Kirk's critiques have kernels of truth in them but my critique is he idealizes the West a bit too much. I am speaking as an overseas Chinese who was/is extremely Westernized with English as my mother tongue. I don't speak Mandarin except a bit when I need to deal with Mandarin speaking clients. There is a hint of self-loathing of your own cultural aspects and idolizing of Western ones. That is my critique. My views are :- 1. Memorization of facts is not in itself a bad thing. It is memorization of facts ONLY without critical thinking that is not good. Western education has gone towards the other extreme of emphasizing critical thinking or thinking out of the box but denigrating rote memorizing as inferior. The superior student actually embraces both. One needs internalization of facts to actually have useful critical thinking. I had some Western students who came for elective postings in my university. Yes, they talk a lot more than Asian students and are not shy giving their opinions. Many of them though, have poor factual knowledge and the chatter descends to opinions not rooted in facts. So, it is not one emphasis is better than the other. The way forward is synthesis of both memorization of facts AND fostering the ability for critical thinking. Expression of opinions should be based on facts. 2. I think Chinese emphasis on conformity is perhaps a learned behaviour due to its history. The country has undergone (and may yet still undergo) tumultuous periods of unity and partitions, including very bl00dy c1v1l w @rs. The West as a "civilization" is/was never a singularity. In fact what is Western civilization? Currently it is one under Anglo-American predominance, and that is the typical understanding of the "West". In fact, historically there was and is never a truly united "West". They consisted of many European nations or colonies derived from them, all in competition for predominance. You can say they were partially analogous to the multiple states within the Zhou dynasty . In fact their differences were/are even more than the differences of those feudal states. Present day "Western" situation is quite anomalous to their situation in most of their recent past. Thus we Chinese had a different history and experience. Hence, an emphasis on order Vs chaos ( for fear of partition) - overindulging multifarious divergent opinions, especially by the population, is seen to be a danger that may lead to the latter. If there are different opinions, these are to be discussed mostly by ruling elites and to be discussed and decided behind closed doors. I think this is the underlying psyche especially in our current very tumultuous geopolitical situation. 3. Ultimately, in my opinion, balance is the key. I don't believe all opinions are equally valid nor of equal quality. I also don't believe all opinions should and must be explicit nor vocalized. For any functioning society or civilization, there must be a balance. I am not going to critique current Western ways in this comment but suffice to say their over emphasis on individualism and idealism of equal validity of multifarious opinions is now a weakness rather than a strength. Over conformity is a weakness too but the other extreme is also a weakness. Recent sociopolitical events in the USA and the "collective West" are demonstration of Western weaknesses. As another comment mentioned, Westerners can be both very open/broad minded and yet be very narrow and conformist! I agree with that observation. For example ask a hardcore "progressive" American if he /she can have a calm, civil conversation with a hardcore "conservative " American or vice versa. Such conversations will reveal conformity and narrow mindedness in a set of values or thinking. 4. The average Chinese is a pragmatist. The average Westerner is an idealist. The pragmatist prefers a heuristic process to solve complex problems. So, in depth discussions and conceptualization are not their strong points. Idealists tend to dwell deep into conceptualizations. I am, atypical as a Chinese, more of an idealistic type. But I recognize the strengths of both. I prefer synthesis and balance rather than saying one is better than the other. Which process is better should be always seen in context and situational. Just my opinion.
I think your Western education may have lead you to overlook THE most important factor - genetics! High achieving Western-born Asians are noticably underrepresented from fields where a high verbal IQ and outgoing nature are advantangeous - stand up comedy, the legal profession, politics etc. It may be true to some extent that Asian culture lingers on in the US and those Chinese tiger moms are stunting their kids' verbal development, but a much more significant factor is 40,000 years of evolution separate from the European.
When I was in China, one of the biggest problems I faced was the learning method: memorization and repetition without understanding the reason why we should do that way. I can't do something without understanding the reasons. Chinese was very hard for me because I never got to differentiate the tones, especially when people speak fast. Also, the texts from the textbooks were always kind of "dumb": I couldn't see myself having a conversation like that with anyone. I was 40+ years old at that time and the books seemed to be for young people. That was one of the reasons why I was unable to speak Chinese with others. The vocabulary was around silly, unimportant things, things for the youth, like beauty, comparison between people, gossip, and so on. And this reminds me of another problems: lack of patience with foreigners and the same conversation every day. It was like Chinese are conditioned to some ideas and behaviors and they seem comfortable without questioning things. Another interesting thing about Chinese language was that I had the impression that Chinese people (street people) don't really understand their own language. They have a handful of phrases that they repeat every day. Something like 10% or less of the possibilities. They don't "mess" with the language like we do in French, Portuguese, Spanish and English. But my generation understood the rules behind language instead of memorizing (acquiring) language. We knew how to create a sentence with meaning from the scratch. New generations are just acquiring, so they are limited by what they hear, instead of what they can do with language. Of course, there are lots of illiterate people, because this is not easy task, specially for children. Maybe because I'm from an older generation, I don't understand why people have this need to be different, just for the sake of being different. I don't understand why people need to be seen or to be praised. Life is simple and short, so you do what you need/have to do in order to live well, now and when you're old. Social networks are just a distraction, a waste of time, a way of controlling people. And the youth is catch, like fish in a fishbowl. They prey on the innocence and the wish of being special, natural to young people. This is a worldwide phenomena. When you start thinking that a foreign culture is better than yours, then you're being silly. Every culture has its own problems, cages. And every culture has a mechanism of self-protection, to make it last, to make it pervasive. Time doesn't erase culture. People can change culture, but it is very difficult. Culture can be dormant until it is ready to be revived. Nazism is reviving. Nationalism is reviving. When your elderly forewarn you about something they faced in the past is because they know that it can happen again. They're just telling you to be wary. Bad things don't just happen once. And language shapes culture and culture shapes language. I finish saying that not all people like to be caught in camera. I really don't. And I'm not shy, or introvert. Also, I don't like to answer question beyond what is being questioned; for example, if a question can be answered with a simple 'yes' or 'no', I will use it instead of anything else. If someone wants to know more, then they have to ask more and better. I'm just posting this comment because it can help elucidate and give insights to your conversation. Hope it really helps. Cheers, and keep up with the good work. Someday I'll retake my Chinese lessons.
maybe what he was trying to convey at the end was - adapting and evolving is surviving and thriving? as to an eloquence\storytelling talent - some have it some don't. It can be learnt and trained, to some extent. I don't know if it's a good example but a tone-deaf person won't necessarily become a great singer even if they are passionate about it and practicing loads.. my partner's passionate about football, knows everything there is about it. we speak the same language. why can't I ever make much sense out of his football monologs? I do try my best, ask follow up questions and all.... "Sorry, I lost you again....Can't you just get straight to the bottom line. Please?" 😅
Wonderful video! Eileen you are a fantastic host! You can listen, and you are a very articulate person. Here are some parts I find very interesting: 4:26 Old textboks emphasized rote memorization 6:27 Why not having a personal opinion can be valuable 22:13 How to communicate like Jackie Chan 26:13 Some foreigners can articulate their thoughts better than native speakers (Many so-called 'minorities' in the West are not the free thinkers Kirk portrays them as; instead, they often display attention-seeking behavior driven by an apparent lack of individuality and independent thought, shaped by mass culture manipulation from an early age. In contrast, when I express my own independent thoughts-such as in this comment-I am likely to be censored or dismissed, highlighting how true free thinking is marginalized regardless of whether one belongs to a 'minority.')
In Chinese street interviews, Chinese seem to express their opinions much more eloquently than equivalent interviews in the US. Is this just selective editing? Are you guys sure western ability to express such feelings is not just that you are only looking at the cream of the crop and comparing it to your perception of the average Chinese person? In my experience, 99% of western people don’t speak political thoughts that are not verbatim heard from someone else… I always say “I read this in xyz” and never present an opinion I read somewhere else as my own even in colloquial conversation, but this is extremely uncommon in the Us besides amongst people with many original thoughts, scholars (I was a university professor), artists, writers. If you talk to people like business leaders, they’re very very similar to how you describe. They delude themselves into thinking they’re only factual but in fact we know the majority of men suffer from alexothhmia. I feel like there is some typical Chinese self-hatred in this video, of always comparing the average Chinese to exemplars of the west in order to feel behind. Even the most toxic Chinese netizen discourse shows far greater expressivity than western social media. I say this as someone who was born and raised in the USA and spent close to a decade of my middle age in Shanghai. I remember bars and bookstores in Shanghai where I had conversations that would be impossible in the US except near certain elite universities.
I think your observation is right on the head. The grass is always greener on the other side. The average Americans can't really expressed themselves deeply on matter topics either. Average person is the same ever where but we like to compare the average to the cream of the crop. I think this is what happened in this video as well. I think that self-hatred is too strong of a word to express what's going on but it's the right direction. Rather than "hatred" it's more of a feeling of being "humbled"? If you think about it, most Chinese Millennial's parents are Baby Boomers born in the 50-60s. At the time China was very poor so the West must have felt really advanced. So the tendency to put the West on the pedestal make sense. Their parents probably talk a lot about how hard it is to their children all the time, and even many Chinese Millennials that grew up on the countryside remember the days where the electricity doesn't run all day or that modern toilet system was new to them. But I see that Gen Z put the West on the pedestal less than Millennials and when Gen Alpha grow up I expect the trend to continue downward.
This topic is so interesting. You’re doing a great job with these interviews. I agree with those who say that the average person in Europe or the US or other countries would not be able to express themselves with a personal view, either. The upbringing is different, the school system is different, but I think people tend to like conforming in every part of the globe. 😅
@@AT-lp8qg I think the word is *inferiority complex* - compared to Westerners. This is such a common thing I've seen among Asians, particularly East Asians. What's really interesting about this video is they're describing a stereotype of Chinese versus Westerners (US basically) which is actually incredibly common. They have essentially internalized this stereotype as something 'real', so their survey among Chinese/American is already directed towards looking to confirm this bias. Culture is always in a state of historical processes so I think you're right to bring up history. There seems to be two things going on here, 1) rote learning style leftover from Confucian tradition, 2) the drive for modernization. Producing a workforce capable of literally building the country up from nothing - Catching Up! - would direct educational institutions to push 'useful' subjects like the technical sciences (STEM), over 'secondary' subjects like social sciences or the arts. Basic needs had to be met for a billion people as quickly as possible, so the system was geared towards practical subjects. The emphasis on unity in thought and action would make more sense in the context of a developing country, rather than simply cultural conformity, which I don't actually see among Chinese.
The moment I read the video title I immediately started looking for a comment like yours without even starting to watch it. I hold a very similar opinion and have had the same impression about Chinese of all walks of life being, in average, way more well versed in a variety of topics than, say, Americans. More impressively, I actually find folks in China even more creative than others in any country I’ve spent a long time in the Americas (Brazil and US) and Europe (Austria, Belgium, and Italy). In the case of both the US and Brazil, I’d say there’s an overall heavy progressive bias agenda that at this point is ingrained in many social layers, including the academia, which compromises genuine critical thinking and authentic, creative expression. In Europe, it’s either something along the same lines of the latter phenomenon or a very conservative, orthodox, and perhaps old-fashioned view or approach. In China, on the other hand, one of the most interesting and creative forms of (artistic) expression I’ve seen was at a bachelor’s graduation art exhibition. I was very very surprised and, in my opinion, so much more thought-provoking and impactful than most “professional” and consolidated artists’ works I’d seen anywhere I’d been in the west or global south. Since then, I came to the conclusion that the mainstream concept of freedom should definitely not be taken for granted. You know, if there’s a major force of authority over and behind you, restricting and suppressing you, this, in my opinion, causes you to explore and reach out to the deepest and most hidden corners of your mind. And coming up with solutions and other ways of generating ideas and arguments through this process is even more admirable than when you have all tools available but don’t have to or couldn’t care less about them because there’re “better” things out there to engage in and enjoy. And a key difference here between China and most of the other countries is that, in the former, political institutions (e.g. censorship department) are keeping people in check, whereas in the latter social institutions are (e.g. cancel culture). I do, however, think the Chinese people could do even better off if faced by adversity more often. It’s tricky because, in general, I also feel this is one of the things that makes them very polite (“submissive” and “soft” in the eyes of many in the West) but also kind of awkward when faced by divergent opinions. So, all that being said, I don’t think Chinese are not able to think deeply and critically. But their “face-saving” attitude does impose limits in their ability to express themselves and also empathize with their counterparts. Chances are, regardless of an argument being constructive or destructive, they’ll very likely be sensitive to it and always tend to see it as a (negative) criticism rather than a valid intellectual input.
Same for Brazil. Most people aren't articulated nor have original opinions, basically about anything at all. They just repeat consensus, and if you have an opinion that stands out too much (I used to be a punk/goth, whatever), people get shocked. I have the theory that every country has a marjority of "average citinzens", as in futile people, lazy or too busy to actually think things straight, go an extra layer underneath the surface of things. I was wondering, as well as you were, about the tone of this episode. It felt really surprising to see chinese folks depict their average citizens as shallow, or futile. I don't know many chinese people, unfortunately, but I have a very high view about them, and the idea of them being "programmed" into community thoughs always seemed too "US propaganda against chinese", as they usually do until these days. Talking about the devil, US and Brazil proves a point about the so-called freedom as well. Too much of it and it makes people selfish. Both countries are now literally discussing about giving people freedom to commit crimes (as in stimulating violence, hateful speech, violent menaces, etc). Both countries are now more violent that they were, and with the use of YT, Meta, Musks' algorithms, that gives money in exchange for hatred (disguised as "freedom"), things are just gonna get worse, not only for us, but for the whole world
In Japan too. Most conversation in East Asia is about food / neighborhood gossip. People don't talk about philosophy, religion, politics, personal struggles, childhood dreams, childhood memories, life goals, attitudes to poverty and wealth disparity, the meaning of life, the reason human being are on the earth and the collective goal of humanity or basically any subject with any weight to it unless they are with extremely long standing childhood friends. I'm not saying that Westerners are always having deep conversations, but people in East Asian cultures, where debate, conflict and differing positions on any topic are fervently avoided, tend to not to beyond simple topics to avoid offense and controversy.
@@AJ-fo2plI think even though it’s a smaller percentage, due to the high population and number fo highly educated people, it’s actually easier for me to find people to discuss these topics with in Chinese than in English. In the US, most people also avoid discussing the things you mention, and those that do often do it at such a superficial level (see literally all public American political discourse). I was born and raised in the US, and I could pretty much only have deep discussions like you said with scholars (university professors). When I left the academic world, I felt like those kinds of conversations disappeared as well. By contrast, in China in large cities you can always find where the communities where intellectuals hang out and will find many people who are not professors who can hold these kinds of conversations. Shanghai would have book stores filled with foreigners, scholars, free thinkers discussing things. Even though the US has a larger percentage of these people, they can be harder to find because the only third spaces that exist to meet those people are universities, whereas I felt there were many more opportunities to meet such people in China.
Wish I could give 10 likes. Speaking as an overseas Chinese who spent many years living in the west. I guess their idea of a westerner is one who lives or works in China.
根据我最近在亚洲的经历，许多中国人对当今西方的言论自由运作方式相当天真。 身份政治被推崇为主流观点和每个人都应该采纳的价值观。被压制的是保守派的声音，而不是自由派的声音。In my experience lately in Asia, many Chinese people are rather naive about how free speech operates nowadays in the West. 自由主义曾经是西方自由的声音。在某个时候，它被颠覆性力量（例如后现代主义和身份政治）所俘获，这些力量引入的思想主要不是颂扬个人，而是将个人与自然的集体身份（如我们的家庭和同胞或拥有共同精神或传统价值观的人）分开。Identity politics has been promoted as the main-stream opinion and set of values everyone is supposed to adopt. Conservative voices are the ones who are being suppressed, not liberal voices. 中国人可能要考虑的是，仅仅因为某种形式的表达在中国不被允许或鼓励，并不意味着这种表达一定是好事。Identity politics has been promoted as the main-stream opinion and set of values everyone is supposed to adopt. 当自由主义在 18 世纪和 19 世纪发展时，每个人都同意，自由只有在个人对这种自由承担个人责任的背景下才有意义。但如今“自由列车”却在轨道上飞驰，失去了控制。 我不确定答案是什么，但不要以为西方有答案，如果有的话。Liberalism used to be the voice of freedom in the West. At some point it became captured by subversive forces (e.g. post-modernism and identity politics) that introduced ideas not primarily to celebrate the individual, but on the contrary to separate the individual from a natural collective identity, such as our families and fellow citizens or people who share spiritual or traditional values. Xie xie nimen
The capture by those forces is a natural and predictable progression. More or less promotion of identity politics plays no role. Identity politics is profitable (for money or for power), therefore it will be always be used as much as possible. All “promotion,” requires willing receptivity from the audience. Ideologies are not created by the people promoting them. Identity politics as much the fault of people susceptible to it as those who promote it.
@@xandranicholai7301Ha ha, interesting. You don't sound like a liberal to me😁. To me a liberal is someone who says, "I don't agree with you, but I'll defend your right to say it." To me, that is what "liberal" means.😄
you not see Chinese math scores - it suggests deeper thoughts and concepts than most people on the planet - and thinking out loud is annoying - maybe the Chinese are just more polite
Can you make video about guangzhou wholesale clothes market we are a buyers we do business in our country can you go there and make some video and take interview everythings in detail plz🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏
Beg to disagree with this claim. The video maker obviously is not well versed with Chinese philosophy or classical language . Deep thought uave been ex9ressed and written since thousands of years ago. I suspect the prograj creator is western education and relies solely on western narratives and thinking. His claim is baseless.
Chinese and western people have different brains. The brains of Chinese people are wider and not as long and a bit bigger in size. They are made for talking with a lot of people. Also their prefrontal cortex is a bit smaller. Chinese people have 20% more Neanderthal DNA than western people. Neanderthals were very smart and could master many things, but they were culturally not as flexible as denisovans and their language was not as abstract. Similar Chinese language did not manage to abstract letters from words and they use different words for the same concept like Re and tan. When they come to a different place they often stick among other Chinese people (similar to Japan) whereas European people often try to lay down their own culture try to fit in. The aperture of a Chinese brain's perception is very wide and has a lot of information and the relative context of the information is stored. The aperture of the western brain is like a camera with a small aperture that cannot see the whole context but it can zoom in and see more detail. It is focused on objects and their properties. Since it has less brain cells for storage it filters the information a bit more, often using abstraction which can lead to errors when the perceived data is too complex. The Chinese brain is better suited to deal with other people while the western brain is better suited to deal with objects. Since Neanderthal DNA's brains are culturally not that flexible, the social hierarchy is not changing that often. With denisovans brains they often have social hierarchy changing, even through the course of a conversation. A parent could become the teacher in a topic he knows about and a student when his child talks about a topic he does not know anything about.
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Can you please add subtitles that work with Language Reactor?
@@met6192 If we do this, how do we get compensated for our labor? RUclips ad revenues are very small and does not allow us to continue maintaining this channel based only on ad revenues. Providing subtitles for Language Reactor would discourage students from purchasing our premium content.
Why MP3 make it at least MP4?
Kirk's Mandarin accent has become really standard, contrary to his last podcasts. He is speaking so clear. Thanks for another amazing video!
what was his accent before? What is his native language?
Topics Discussed:
1. Problems with expression that we see during street interviews
2. Chinese teachers limit thought by promoting standard answers?
3. Chinese are discouraged by society to express their opinions?
4. Why Chinese are afraid of expressing opposing views?
5. Chinese men are not encouraged to express their emotions and feelings
6. Chinese men are not allowed to show weakness
7. The impact of short videos on Chinese's ability to think and articulate
8. The culture of obedience and respecting authority discourages thought?
9. Chinese avoid conflicts
10. Chinese lack patience with foreigners who speak broken Chinese
11. Foreigners who mastered Chinese are more articulate than native Chinese speakers?
I think this was one of the best ones so far.
感谢您的辛勤工作！请不要介意我要求为视频中的主题添加时间戳。像这样：
00:00-01:00 Topic 1
01:00-02:00 Topic 2
之类的
谢谢你！
Strange, i see something opposite to your conclusions
this woman has a sexy face.. ❤
Thank you for this episode (and all your episodes)! A lot of people all around the world really aren't used to expressing detailed opinions, or even talking for a long time in a complex conversation. I'm sure you noticed years ago that you became much better at hosting videos when you had already done a few hundred as practice. I'm glad I have a lot of Chinese friends, both people who have both lived in China their whole lives and who have studied abroad, and I've had enough conversations with them to know that the obstacle to deeper and more meaningful conversation is definitely my own level of Chinese. 就像你在视频刚开始的那一段说的：表达能力上存在不足、需要用很多不同的词汇去表达很简单的思想。
great tutorial, great interview. Kirk is really very interesting as a person, very open. However, I would add that he idealizes a little certain aspects of Western society. I am European and I have lived for 30 years in Canada. It is true that people here can be very open for certain things, such as homosexuality, etc., but I find that people can be very indoctrinated and narrow-minded in many ways too. For example, people here have a horrible hatred of the Chinese because of the anti-Chinese propaganda these recent years. This is just one example of how people in the West can be open in some ways and narrow-minded in others.
Indeed. I agree
Canadians don't have a 'horrible hatred of Chinese'. Nonsense.
They do have a growing suspicion/dislike of something called the CCP (as they should), as do most of the world.
Over-generalisation, I agree.
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Eileen has come so far from her early days of touring her neighborhood which I loved by the way. You two make a good team . Kirk is a smart guy.
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In Malaysia where we have a multicultural multi religious society, I have a feeling people simply do not want to go too deep into serious discussions in fear of saying something sensitive to the other party. On top of that, many people simply do not want to think too deeply into anything out of their domestic circle.
I saw Kirk and gave the video a Like before even watching it.
Greetings from Bulgaria, I lived in Xiamen 2014 ro 2017, some of the best years of my life.
Super interesting topic as always, and i'm very happy to say that i have finally reached the stage where I can listen to these podcasts without having to look at the subtitles :)
Thank you Eileen and Kirk !
Thank you Eileen. I like your conversation with Kirk. It is an excellent, mature chat covering a wide variety of related subjects. I particularly like the way Kirk pointed out how the average Chinese view Japan, viewed through the lens of WW2 and "ancient times". That smears through how the majority of Chinese view modern Japan and Japanese, tainting their view into a monochrome image.
哇哦，我今天刚刚想到了这个话题，然后这视频就出现了！太神奇了。我住在中国，在一个中国公司打工，我觉得谈这种话题对非常重要。我在中国住五年了，尽管我很看好和尊重中国和中国人，我还是觉得跟中国人相处没有跟外国人那么顺利。我一直在想为什么是这样。就像Eileen和Kirk说的，在中国文化里面，学习过程当中等等，中国人并不是被鼓励表达自己的看法。 所以我一直感觉很多中国人缺乏个人心。对于很多事物大家都有一种共识，大家对很多很多事情的看法都一样。可能为了保持着么安全，着么规律的社会，大家都得牺牲一点点个人心。谢谢你们！你们帮助我发展我中国文化的了解。我希望通过聊天，我可以拓宽中国人的观点，而且他们也可以教我古代知识的力量！哈哈太棒了
In the 1950's, having g the wrong opinion literally meant death. This is why we value freedom of speech so much in America, as well as why we have guns: so we can defend that freedom when the government tries to take it away
现象本身的确纯在，但未免有些以偏概全，并带着一丝何不食肉糜的凌驾感，竟然得出一个 “Why Chinese Have Problems ” 这么一个broad statement。这个视频出自一个教育类博主令我惊讶。
非常好，非常感谢！尽管惩罚可能是善意的，但实际上它抑制了我们自行解决问题的能力，从而抑制了我们的独立性。
Wow! This interaction was full of fresh and helpful insights! Congratulations! Talking about these topics takes a lot of energy, and the editing was also on point. There's a lot of hard work behind this video. I really appreciate it.
Thank you for always bringing up interesting topics. Really helps with learning Chinese
Kirk is such a free-thinking and interesting personality :-) One day, he will leave his anger behind as well.
I think the inability to express one's opinions may also reduce creativity in general because one's idea is "different." Fear of criticism can stop many people from trying almost anything.
Kirk , you are a free spirit welcome to the club mate!!!
I'd love to hear a podcast about video games in China. Like what's popular on computers, what's popular for mobile games, and does anyone feel addicted to playing multi-player online games like 王者荣耀? Does anyone play games from the west or mainly just Chinese games? What do parents, teachers, and friends think about gaming? Are there many women who play video games in China?
I think this is the same problem faced by all Asian with social cultural bringing with the thought that the silent kids are the best. The talkative regarded as disobedient or the social rebel.
This was great, thank you for everything that you do.
非常赏识Eileen老师的视频，Kirk也是我最喜欢的受访者。
非常感谢你们俩拍了那部视频，特别好用的咯
Very interesting! In another video from this channel I heard many Chinese respond to the question of Japan as "the hatred is ingrained in our bones" . At the moment I thought how unlikely to have 4 or 5 people use the same metaphor and at the same time be a personal opinion. That must have been "ingrained" :) externally. Wonderful channel , thank you
Coolest topics ever! And I really really appreciate that you both talk naturally and don't simplify for us. We get it, and we're learning so much from you ❤
Hi Eileen, thank you for the new Anki decks on your website for members!
I love insightul topics and discussions like this!
I'm looking forward to learn chinese and i'm sure this channel will be very helpful c:
You are talking about such an important topic,guys! Because this 'you cannot express yourself' is a common problem in our country as well. In our country the problem is not that you share your thoughts, opinion, the problem is, example, you dare to achive your goals, you want to achive something in your life (which can be able to bring happyness in your life), but others try to pull you back, saying, you are freak, your are not able to this because I was not able to achive neither. Or they don't dare to change their life (because they are affraid of consequence) so it will be better if you don't try it neither. Maybe I misunderstand what your main topic is, I don't know, but this "it is not allowed to be yourself' which comes out for me.
I am studying chinese and I would have a question. I try to get friends and talking to them in chinese as well, but most of the people look at me wierd when I look at them or, smiling, just to get to know theme. But I sense they keep distance, like they affraid of others, and they leave ( or I look away because I feel maybe I scare them😅). I am European... and a lady... Is there a context between these? Do they affraid of other nationality? How is it possible getting know them and get freinds? Is there a commom rule for this? I would to understand it. How to get closer.
So interesting to hear you thoughts on this! Thank you for this video
This talk and Kirk's admiration of the uniqueness of Jackie Chan reminds me that my first time in China I learned that (generally speaking) Chinese people don't use body language the 'vivid' way other nationalities might. For example Indians and Italian can have all conversations moving the hands all over, from afar and without listening you could even get a hint of the emotions involved.
But not Chinese, I saw this in real life when (at a time where I could not speak almost any Chinese), I would ask for directions, and instead of *just pointing* in a direction and using the hands to make indications, most people would just talk but keep their hands rigidly by their sides, it was so difficult to understand and I was SO confused, but then I learned that in fact many Chinese regarded excessive body language as rude. I'd love to learn more about why! Coming from a place where body language is 'normal' and 'vivid', I can't imagine it.
Then you meet Cantonese people who talk with their hands lol
😲 Wooow I didn't know
it's the lack of wrestling, wrestling will set you free, from ego, from opinions, from judgement
Thank you very much, excellent.
My favorite RUclips channel, out with another amazing video! 谢谢！
I LOVE this channel.
Keep making this awesome videos
One important reason is that Chinese culture prefers the concrete and pragmatic. Western culture is more interested in the abstract. Chinese people can definitely be deep thinkers but like in any population, not everyone is.
Absolutely fantastic podcast by the way, wow! So interesting and candid. Both of you have such a lot of interesting, such a pleasure to listen to you both.
Can you please post the exact link to the PDF for this episode? I can't find it on the website. Thanks very much for all you're doing.
It is not there yet. It will be set up tomorrow.
You can now get the pdf here: mandarincorner.org/downloads-for-supporters/#audio_podcasts
@@MandarinCorner2 Maybe it is, I can't find individual PDFs, I have paid for one level of PDF btw,
anyway now I'm getting an error, blocked by GoDaddy Website Firewall
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I lived in China and didn't experience any problems with people expressing their opinions. If anything, their opinions were strong and clear but with a foundation in what they were taught such as disliking Japan but never having been there etc. One girlfriend even yelled at me when I got an air filter machine because she said "Pollution makes us stronger!"
I had another idea for a future podcast. It would be cool to hear from Chinese people about what it was like learning Mandarin when they were young. Especially from those who learned a different local dialect first.
❤❤❤ 你们鼓励我去锻炼我的表达能力哦！很有意思的话题。谢谢啦！
Kirk ❤
这个话题太有意思吧！虽然我现在在美国，但是我每周有机会和华人交流。我和这些中国朋友会合在一起的时候，我一直觉得自己不善于表达：我有很多想法就还没有把他们系统起来。也许他们的表达也比较简单，所以我就随他们而来。也许我有机会帮助他们思考和学习表达。太有意思！
Interesting thoughts. Some of Kirk's critiques have kernels of truth in them but my critique is he idealizes the West a bit too much. I am speaking as an overseas Chinese who was/is extremely Westernized with English as my mother tongue. I don't speak Mandarin except a bit when I need to deal with Mandarin speaking clients. There is a hint of self-loathing of your own cultural aspects and idolizing of Western ones. That is my critique.
My views are :-
1. Memorization of facts is not in itself a bad thing. It is memorization of facts ONLY without critical thinking that is not good. Western education has gone towards the other extreme of emphasizing critical thinking or thinking out of the box but denigrating rote memorizing as inferior. The superior student actually embraces both. One needs internalization of facts to actually have useful critical thinking. I had some Western students who came for elective postings in my university. Yes, they talk a lot more than Asian students and are not shy giving their opinions. Many of them though, have poor factual knowledge and the chatter descends to opinions not rooted in facts. So, it is not one emphasis is better than the other. The way forward is synthesis of both memorization of facts AND fostering the ability for critical thinking. Expression of opinions should be based on facts.
2. I think Chinese emphasis on conformity is perhaps a learned behaviour due to its history. The country has undergone (and may yet still undergo) tumultuous periods of unity and partitions, including very bl00dy c1v1l w @rs. The West as a "civilization" is/was never a singularity. In fact what is Western civilization? Currently it is one under Anglo-American predominance, and that is the typical understanding of the "West". In fact, historically there was and is never a truly united "West". They consisted of many European nations or colonies derived from them, all in competition for predominance. You can say they were partially analogous to the multiple states within the Zhou dynasty . In fact their differences were/are even more than the differences of those feudal states. Present day "Western" situation is quite anomalous to their situation in most of their recent past. Thus we Chinese had a different history and experience. Hence, an emphasis on order Vs chaos ( for fear of partition) - overindulging multifarious divergent opinions, especially by the population, is seen to be a danger that may lead to the latter. If there are different opinions, these are to be discussed mostly by ruling elites and to be discussed and decided behind closed doors. I think this is the underlying psyche especially in our current very tumultuous geopolitical situation.
3. Ultimately, in my opinion, balance is the key. I don't believe all opinions are equally valid nor of equal quality. I also don't believe all opinions should and must be explicit nor vocalized. For any functioning society or civilization, there must be a balance. I am not going to critique current Western ways in this comment but suffice to say their over emphasis on individualism and idealism of equal validity of multifarious opinions is now a weakness rather than a strength. Over conformity is a weakness too but the other extreme is also a weakness. Recent sociopolitical events in the USA and the "collective West" are demonstration of Western weaknesses.
As another comment mentioned, Westerners can be both very open/broad minded and yet be very narrow and conformist! I agree with that observation. For example ask a hardcore "progressive" American if he /she can have a calm, civil conversation with a hardcore "conservative " American or vice versa. Such conversations will reveal conformity and narrow mindedness in a set of values or thinking.
4. The average Chinese is a pragmatist. The average Westerner is an idealist. The pragmatist prefers a heuristic process to solve complex problems. So, in depth discussions and conceptualization are not their strong points. Idealists tend to dwell deep into conceptualizations. I am, atypical as a Chinese, more of an idealistic type. But I recognize the strengths of both. I prefer synthesis and balance rather than saying one is better than the other. Which process is better should be always seen in context and situational.
Just my opinion.
I think your Western education may have lead you to overlook THE most important factor - genetics! High achieving Western-born Asians are noticably underrepresented from fields where a high verbal IQ and outgoing nature are advantangeous - stand up comedy, the legal profession, politics etc. It may be true to some extent that Asian culture lingers on in the US and those Chinese tiger moms are stunting their kids' verbal development, but a much more significant factor is 40,000 years of evolution separate from the European.
When I was in China, one of the biggest problems I faced was the learning method: memorization and repetition without understanding the reason why we should do that way. I can't do something without understanding the reasons. Chinese was very hard for me because I never got to differentiate the tones, especially when people speak fast. Also, the texts from the textbooks were always kind of "dumb": I couldn't see myself having a conversation like that with anyone. I was 40+ years old at that time and the books seemed to be for young people. That was one of the reasons why I was unable to speak Chinese with others. The vocabulary was around silly, unimportant things, things for the youth, like beauty, comparison between people, gossip, and so on.
And this reminds me of another problems: lack of patience with foreigners and the same conversation every day. It was like Chinese are conditioned to some ideas and behaviors and they seem comfortable without questioning things.
Another interesting thing about Chinese language was that I had the impression that Chinese people (street people) don't really understand their own language. They have a handful of phrases that they repeat every day. Something like 10% or less of the possibilities. They don't "mess" with the language like we do in French, Portuguese, Spanish and English. But my generation understood the rules behind language instead of memorizing (acquiring) language. We knew how to create a sentence with meaning from the scratch. New generations are just acquiring, so they are limited by what they hear, instead of what they can do with language. Of course, there are lots of illiterate people, because this is not easy task, specially for children.
Maybe because I'm from an older generation, I don't understand why people have this need to be different, just for the sake of being different. I don't understand why people need to be seen or to be praised. Life is simple and short, so you do what you need/have to do in order to live well, now and when you're old. Social networks are just a distraction, a waste of time, a way of controlling people. And the youth is catch, like fish in a fishbowl. They prey on the innocence and the wish of being special, natural to young people. This is a worldwide phenomena.
When you start thinking that a foreign culture is better than yours, then you're being silly. Every culture has its own problems, cages. And every culture has a mechanism of self-protection, to make it last, to make it pervasive. Time doesn't erase culture. People can change culture, but it is very difficult. Culture can be dormant until it is ready to be revived. Nazism is reviving. Nationalism is reviving. When your elderly forewarn you about something they faced in the past is because they know that it can happen again. They're just telling you to be wary. Bad things don't just happen once. And language shapes culture and culture shapes language.
I finish saying that not all people like to be caught in camera. I really don't. And I'm not shy, or introvert. Also, I don't like to answer question beyond what is being questioned; for example, if a question can be answered with a simple 'yes' or 'no', I will use it instead of anything else. If someone wants to know more, then they have to ask more and better. I'm just posting this comment because it can help elucidate and give insights to your conversation.
Hope it really helps. Cheers, and keep up with the good work. Someday I'll retake my Chinese lessons.
This is why Cantonese must survive. If you let only Mandarin survive this will happen
maybe what he was trying to convey at the end was - adapting and evolving is surviving and thriving?
as to an eloquence\storytelling talent - some have it some don't. It can be learnt and trained, to some extent. I don't know if it's a good example but a tone-deaf person won't necessarily become a great singer even if they are passionate about it and practicing loads..
my partner's passionate about football, knows everything there is about it. we speak the same language.
why can't I ever make much sense out of his football monologs?
I do try my best, ask follow up questions and all....
"Sorry, I lost you again....Can't you just get straight to the bottom line. Please?" 😅
太棒了！
Wonderful video! Eileen you are a fantastic host! You can listen, and you are a very articulate person.
Here are some parts I find very interesting:
4:26 Old textboks emphasized rote memorization
6:27 Why not having a personal opinion can be valuable
22:13 How to communicate like Jackie Chan
26:13 Some foreigners can articulate their thoughts better than native speakers
(Many so-called 'minorities' in the West are not the free thinkers Kirk portrays them as; instead, they often display attention-seeking behavior driven by an apparent lack of individuality and independent thought, shaped by mass culture manipulation from an early age. In contrast, when I express my own independent thoughts-such as in this comment-I am likely to be censored or dismissed, highlighting how true free thinking is marginalized regardless of whether one belongs to a 'minority.')
I like this guy.
哎，说到痛点了，我在中国大学读书的时候，最大的文化冲击就是中国同学不会主动举手问任何问题，不至于疑问老师的话，连表达自己的好奇心也不会，都在低头看着笔记本电脑忙着自己的事。老师也无所谓地嘟嘟囔囔，完全不在乎听众的反应。我当时真的不明白，你这样上课或者家里读课本，俩都差不多，去学校干嘛，浪费时间似的
Does Kirk have any social media handle where we can find him?
Another very interesting talk.
How can I contact him?
I liked Jakie Chan Conan moment!
谢谢你们
不过外国不是一个国家。。。外国人不是一个国家的人，，没有一个共同的文化和语言。。。很多我接触的中国人喜欢说“南方的中国人和北方的中国人不一样“, 那“外国人“怎么可能是一个类型的呢？ 连如果你比较一个纽约年轻的女生和一个Texas农村长辈的男生，ta们的共同点，观念等等有差异
罗马书10:9-10 “你若口里认耶稣为主，心里信神叫他从死里复活，就必得救。因为人心里相信，就可以称义；口里承认，就可以得救。”
nice video
In Chinese street interviews, Chinese seem to express their opinions much more eloquently than equivalent interviews in the US. Is this just selective editing? Are you guys sure western ability to express such feelings is not just that you are only looking at the cream of the crop and comparing it to your perception of the average Chinese person? In my experience, 99% of western people don’t speak political thoughts that are not verbatim heard from someone else… I always say “I read this in xyz” and never present an opinion I read somewhere else as my own even in colloquial conversation, but this is extremely uncommon in the Us besides amongst people with many original thoughts, scholars (I was a university professor), artists, writers. If you talk to people like business leaders, they’re very very similar to how you describe. They delude themselves into thinking they’re only factual but in fact we know the majority of men suffer from alexothhmia. I feel like there is some typical Chinese self-hatred in this video, of always comparing the average Chinese to exemplars of the west in order to feel behind. Even the most toxic Chinese netizen discourse shows far greater expressivity than western social media. I say this as someone who was born and raised in the USA and spent close to a decade of my middle age in Shanghai. I remember bars and bookstores in Shanghai where I had conversations that would be impossible in the US except near certain elite universities.
I think your observation is right on the head. The grass is always greener on the other side. The average Americans can't really expressed themselves deeply on matter topics either. Average person is the same ever where but we like to compare the average to the cream of the crop. I think this is what happened in this video as well. I think that self-hatred is too strong of a word to express what's going on but it's the right direction. Rather than "hatred" it's more of a feeling of being "humbled"? If you think about it, most Chinese Millennial's parents are Baby Boomers born in the 50-60s. At the time China was very poor so the West must have felt really advanced. So the tendency to put the West on the pedestal make sense. Their parents probably talk a lot about how hard it is to their children all the time, and even many Chinese Millennials that grew up on the countryside remember the days where the electricity doesn't run all day or that modern toilet system was new to them. But I see that Gen Z put the West on the pedestal less than Millennials and when Gen Alpha grow up I expect the trend to continue downward.
This topic is so interesting. You’re doing a great job with these interviews. I agree with those who say that the average person in Europe or the US or other countries would not be able to express themselves with a personal view, either. The upbringing is different, the school system is different, but I think people tend to like conforming in every part of the globe. 😅
@@AT-lp8qg I think the word is *inferiority complex* - compared to Westerners. This is such a common thing I've seen among Asians, particularly East Asians.
What's really interesting about this video is they're describing a stereotype of Chinese versus Westerners (US basically) which is actually incredibly common. They have essentially internalized this stereotype as something 'real', so their survey among Chinese/American is already directed towards looking to confirm this bias.
Culture is always in a state of historical processes so I think you're right to bring up history. There seems to be two things going on here, 1) rote learning style leftover from Confucian tradition, 2) the drive for modernization.
Producing a workforce capable of literally building the country up from nothing - Catching Up! - would direct educational institutions to push 'useful' subjects like the technical sciences (STEM), over 'secondary' subjects like social sciences or the arts. Basic needs had to be met for a billion people as quickly as possible, so the system was geared towards practical subjects. The emphasis on unity in thought and action would make more sense in the context of a developing country, rather than simply cultural conformity, which I don't actually see among Chinese.
The moment I read the video title I immediately started looking for a comment like yours without even starting to watch it. I hold a very similar opinion and have had the same impression about Chinese of all walks of life being, in average, way more well versed in a variety of topics than, say, Americans.
More impressively, I actually find folks in China even more creative than others in any country I’ve spent a long time in the Americas (Brazil and US) and Europe (Austria, Belgium, and Italy). In the case of both the US and Brazil, I’d say there’s an overall heavy progressive bias agenda that at this point is ingrained in many social layers, including the academia, which compromises genuine critical thinking and authentic, creative expression. In Europe, it’s either something along the same lines of the latter phenomenon or a very conservative, orthodox, and perhaps old-fashioned view or approach.
In China, on the other hand, one of the most interesting and creative forms of (artistic) expression I’ve seen was at a bachelor’s graduation art exhibition. I was very very surprised and, in my opinion, so much more thought-provoking and impactful than most “professional” and consolidated artists’ works I’d seen anywhere I’d been in the west or global south.
Since then, I came to the conclusion that the mainstream concept of freedom should definitely not be taken for granted. You know, if there’s a major force of authority over and behind you, restricting and suppressing you, this, in my opinion, causes you to explore and reach out to the deepest and most hidden corners of your mind. And coming up with solutions and other ways of generating ideas and arguments through this process is even more admirable than when you have all tools available but don’t have to or couldn’t care less about them because there’re “better” things out there to engage in and enjoy. And a key difference here between China and most of the other countries is that, in the former, political institutions (e.g. censorship department) are keeping people in check, whereas in the latter social institutions are (e.g. cancel culture).
I do, however, think the Chinese people could do even better off if faced by adversity more often. It’s tricky because, in general, I also feel this is one of the things that makes them very polite (“submissive” and “soft” in the eyes of many in the West) but also kind of awkward when faced by divergent opinions.
So, all that being said, I don’t think Chinese are not able to think deeply and critically. But their “face-saving” attitude does impose limits in their ability to express themselves and also empathize with their counterparts. Chances are, regardless of an argument being constructive or destructive, they’ll very likely be sensitive to it and always tend to see it as a (negative) criticism rather than a valid intellectual input.
Same for Brazil. Most people aren't articulated nor have original opinions, basically about anything at all. They just repeat consensus, and if you have an opinion that stands out too much (I used to be a punk/goth, whatever), people get shocked.
I have the theory that every country has a marjority of "average citinzens", as in futile people, lazy or too busy to actually think things straight, go an extra layer underneath the surface of things.
I was wondering, as well as you were, about the tone of this episode. It felt really surprising to see chinese folks depict their average citizens as shallow, or futile. I don't know many chinese people, unfortunately, but I have a very high view about them, and the idea of them being "programmed" into community thoughs always seemed too "US propaganda against chinese", as they usually do until these days.
Talking about the devil, US and Brazil proves a point about the so-called freedom as well.
Too much of it and it makes people selfish. Both countries are now literally discussing about giving people freedom to commit crimes (as in stimulating violence, hateful speech, violent menaces, etc). Both countries are now more violent that they were, and with the use of YT, Meta, Musks' algorithms, that gives money in exchange for hatred (disguised as "freedom"), things are just gonna get worse, not only for us, but for the whole world
Kirk 在21:20 提出的话题有点奇怪。 我觉得有点变态的话题，但我还是喜欢Kirk， 就是觉得提起这件事情听下去比较不舒服了
It's Kirk !
老師，您好，我想對您的教學頻道進行訪談，請問可以嗎？怎麽聯係您？
They do?
In Japan too. Most conversation in East Asia is about food / neighborhood gossip. People don't talk about philosophy, religion, politics, personal struggles, childhood dreams, childhood memories, life goals, attitudes to poverty and wealth disparity, the meaning of life, the reason human being are on the earth and the collective goal of humanity or basically any subject with any weight to it unless they are with extremely long standing childhood friends. I'm not saying that Westerners are always having deep conversations, but people in East Asian cultures, where debate, conflict and differing positions on any topic are fervently avoided, tend to not to beyond simple topics to avoid offense and controversy.
Well said
@@AJ-fo2ploh. That’s sounds horrible. I feel rey bad for anyone who has to live like that
@@AJ-fo2plI think even though it’s a smaller percentage, due to the high population and number fo highly educated people, it’s actually easier for me to find people to discuss these topics with in Chinese than in English. In the US, most people also avoid discussing the things you mention, and those that do often do it at such a superficial level (see literally all public American political discourse). I was born and raised in the US, and I could pretty much only have deep discussions like you said with scholars (university professors). When I left the academic world, I felt like those kinds of conversations disappeared as well. By contrast, in China in large cities you can always find where the communities where intellectuals hang out and will find many people who are not professors who can hold these kinds of conversations. Shanghai would have book stores filled with foreigners, scholars, free thinkers discussing things. Even though the US has a larger percentage of these people, they can be harder to find because the only third spaces that exist to meet those people are universities, whereas I felt there were many more opportunities to meet such people in China.
14:50
They dont have problems that is their culture!
Wish I could give 10 likes. Speaking as an overseas Chinese who spent many years living in the west. I guess their idea of a westerner is one who lives or works in China.
love it
+1 who thinks this guy is da bomb! Very cool conversation.
根据我最近在亚洲的经历，许多中国人对当今西方的言论自由运作方式相当天真。
身份政治被推崇为主流观点和每个人都应该采纳的价值观。被压制的是保守派的声音，而不是自由派的声音。In my experience lately in Asia, many Chinese people are rather naive about how free speech operates nowadays in the West.
自由主义曾经是西方自由的声音。在某个时候，它被颠覆性力量（例如后现代主义和身份政治）所俘获，这些力量引入的思想主要不是颂扬个人，而是将个人与自然的集体身份（如我们的家庭和同胞或拥有共同精神或传统价值观的人）分开。Identity politics has been promoted as the main-stream opinion and set of values everyone is supposed to adopt. Conservative voices are the ones who are being suppressed, not liberal voices.
中国人可能要考虑的是，仅仅因为某种形式的表达在中国不被允许或鼓励，并不意味着这种表达一定是好事。Identity politics has been promoted as the main-stream opinion and set of values everyone is supposed to adopt.
当自由主义在 18 世纪和 19 世纪发展时，每个人都同意，自由只有在个人对这种自由承担个人责任的背景下才有意义。但如今“自由列车”却在轨道上飞驰，失去了控制。
我不确定答案是什么，但不要以为西方有答案，如果有的话。Liberalism used to be the voice of freedom in the West. At some point it became captured by subversive forces (e.g. post-modernism and identity politics) that introduced ideas not primarily to celebrate the individual, but on the contrary to separate the individual from a natural collective identity, such as our families and fellow citizens or people who share spiritual or traditional values.
Xie xie nimen
The capture by those forces is a natural and predictable progression. More or less promotion of identity politics plays no role. Identity politics is profitable (for money or for power), therefore it will be always be used as much as possible. All “promotion,” requires willing receptivity from the audience. Ideologies are not created by the people promoting them. Identity politics as much the fault of people susceptible to it as those who promote it.
Liberalism will always be the voice of freedom. End the curse of conservatives
@@xandranicholai7301Ha ha, interesting. You don't sound like a liberal to me😁. To me a liberal is someone who says, "I don't agree with you, but I'll defend your right to say it." To me, that is what "liberal" means.😄
@@pookz3067 I wouldn't disagree, but there has also been a conscious campaign as described by Yuri Besmenov.
西方的国家太看重少数群体的观点。比如现在美国让男生参加女生的运动比赛。我觉得我们要听少数群体的看法但是要按照常理和神给的道德来决定什么是对的和什么是错的。
Boys aren’t competing in girls’ sports. Besides, even if they did, who cares? We need to stop separating people. Stop denying minorities
Also your “god” is fake. Morality doesn’t come from a false deity you made up in your head. Stop thinking that way. Religion is an illness
Because they express in chinese not english
Like in chinese poems, literature and classical music
you not see Chinese math scores - it suggests deeper thoughts and concepts than most people on the planet - and thinking out loud is annoying - maybe the Chinese are just more polite
получается я не китаец
你们二位是在清朝长大的啊😊
Respecr for talking about this, the language is already very complicated, its sad that its country of origin, struggles so much with everything
见过中国人吵架吗？吵架的时候是如水火，比西方人直接。可能现在中国太和谐了
背誦經典的目的是增進智慧，而非僅僅增加知識。如果你不理解這一點，那麼你自然會覺得這過程枯燥無味
聖經也是一部經典。。。而你在這個視頻裏就引用了他爲了表達你的想法！
nice face on her...❤
挺肤浅，建议你们真的去先了解中国文化，indirect communication v.s direct communication, collectivism vs individualism
Can you make video about guangzhou wholesale clothes market we are a buyers we do business in our country can you go there and make some video and take interview everythings in detail plz🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏
Beg to disagree with this claim. The video maker obviously is not well versed with Chinese philosophy or classical language . Deep thought uave been ex9ressed and written since thousands of years ago.
I suspect the prograj creator is western education and relies solely on western narratives and thinking.
His claim is baseless.
Because Chinese culture (esp mainland China) is still largely stuck in survival mode/ scarcity mentality.
他是中人吗
他是中国人。
@MandarinCorner2 感谢老师，你的题目挺好的
Chinese and western people have different brains. The brains of Chinese people are wider and not as long and a bit bigger in size. They are made for talking with a lot of people. Also their prefrontal cortex is a bit smaller. Chinese people have 20% more Neanderthal DNA than western people. Neanderthals were very smart and could master many things, but they were culturally not as flexible as denisovans and their language was not as abstract.
Similar Chinese language did not manage to abstract letters from words and they use different words for the same concept like Re and tan.
When they come to a different place they often stick among other Chinese people (similar to Japan) whereas European people often try to lay down their own culture try to fit in.
The aperture of a Chinese brain's perception is very wide and has a lot of information and the relative context of the information is stored. The aperture of the western brain is like a camera with a small aperture that cannot see the whole context but it can zoom in and see more detail. It is focused on objects and their properties. Since it has less brain cells for storage it filters the information a bit more, often using abstraction which can lead to errors when the perceived data is too complex.
The Chinese brain is better suited to deal with other people while the western brain is better suited to deal with objects.
Since Neanderthal DNA's brains are culturally not that flexible, the social hierarchy is not changing that often. With denisovans brains they often have social hierarchy changing, even through the course of a conversation. A parent could become the teacher in a topic he knows about and a student when his child talks about a topic he does not know anything about.
Yikes
Is your comment sit-down comedy?
Why are you so mean? I just pointed out differences and did not want to make one brain architecture look better than the other.
你这个视频的标题不正确，具有很强的误导性。你以偏概全了。你说的情况只适宜粤语区讲粤语的人们。不是大部分中国人。