[January 16, 2025] I found an interesting take on why the Chinese people are almost universally not welcome anywhere outside China. ShanShan, in a recent video, attempted to explain the contrast among Asians, with the Chinese being an outlier.
ShanShan claims that it was China’s Cultural Revolution that destroyed the humanity of Chinese society. She claims that the cultural campaigns made it a horrifying time for the people, stripping away their more traditional ways and replacing them with revolutionary values where everyone is equal and in fierce competition with everyone else.
In June 1966, the first year of that disaster, professors and staff of universities were paraded through the public streets and forced to wear dunce caps, clothes torn, their faces smeared with black ink, made to kneel, and subjected to beatings. This period lasted approximately ten years, ending in 1976. Attacks on intellectuals are common in early forms of Communism, as we also saw in the Soviet Union.
She claims it ended simply because Chairman Mao Zedong died. If he had remained in power for another dozen or more years, China would have become another North Korea. That’s how bad Mao was for China.
The ten years of the Cultural Revolution, plus the cultural campaigns before it, had lasting damage that has not yet been repaired. This was twenty years of oppression. It was trauma on repeat, and it crushed the Chinese people. Their only priority in life was the Chinese Communist Party and nothing else, not even their own family.
During the Cultural Revolution, it became commonplace for teachers and students, colleagues, relatives, friends, spouses, children and siblings to denounce one another. They could make reckless accusations, publicly slander, inflict brutal persecution, and drive others to their deaths.
During that time, anyone who dared stand up and maintain an independent character or defend the dignity of life was doomed. The moral baseline of humanity was utterly destroyed. The message was loud and clear: Don’t think, don’t act, don’t question, just shut up. Don’t question; just shut up and chant your support for the state, or you will be next.
All this led to the destruction of traditional Chinese culture. It was the rejection of the four O’s: old things, old ideas, old customs, and old habits. There was the widespread burning of ancient books and smashing of cultural artifacts. Young Red Guards stormed private homes and dismantled family religious shrines.
Thinking became illegal. Thought crimes were criminalized, and free speech was impossible. People could not speak the truth. You couldn’t criticize the Cultural Revolution without being thrown in jail or outright killed.
The message was clear: If you speak your mind, the authorities will make sure you never speak again. The situation was so bad that even parrots stopped talking. People started lying to themselves. Nobody dared to tell the truth. This paved the way for the Great Leap Forward, another disaster that led to the Great Famine, which killed 35 million Chinese in three years.
Because of fanaticism, lies, exaggerations, and everybody was scared to say this was crazy, the whole nation ended up with famine. Ultimately, this was a profound cultural regression
ShanShan says that Chinese born and raised in other countries did not experience this trauma and therefore their humanity was not destroyed. Her insight into mainland Chinese culture is enlightening and explains their rude, trashy, brutish behavior and why Chinese people from the mainland are not welcome outside their own country.
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Please read my books:
I’m not at all surprised because I travel frequently. The Chinese, on average, are rude.
Chinese people’s bad manners in public
By Liu Zhihua (China Daily)
Bad behavior is more a result of social pressures on Chinese tourists than personality, experts suggest. Liu Zhihua finds out why they say nurture overcomes nature. Bad manners in public are due to many factors, and not just individual personality. Experts say society, historical circumstances and the environment must all be taken into consideration. “People are relatively tolerant and polite in their daily lives toward acquaintances and friends, but when placed in a crowd or in a strange place, such as when traveling abroad, chances are that people will be more prone to anger, to be rude, aggressive or even violent,” says Han Xueqing, director of clinical psychology at the Beijing Tongren Hospital.
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-11/18/content_15938979.htm
But for many, these values were thrown out of the window during the “cultural revolution” (1966-76), a period of social turbulence and moral decline. In the past few decades, blind worship of material success has also affected moral values and complicated behavioral paradigms. I like these discussions here, so thanks Gen. Satterfield.
Very interesting. This is just one more example of how Communism destroys.
As a traveler overseas in the Asian countries, I can vouch for the accuracy of this article. I don’t know who this ShanShan is, but she is right .
Rude, nasty, brutish and a total lack of consideration for others. In Japan, many hotels will either not allow Chinese people to book reservations or put them in a special wing with other mainland Chinese because of their behavior. Good explanation.
Yeah, I’ve heard this explanation before as it does make sense. Plus, thanks for telling us about how some Japanese use workarounds to deal with them.
Got that right, Wesley. Ever been on a plane with Chinese? They push by you, bumping into you, and rush to get where they are going and pay no attention to others. 🤬