Opinion / Liu Shinan
Improve knowledge of Chinese, other cultures
By Liu Shinan (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-12-27 06:36
It takes some courage to make certain statements these days. For example,
to say you support the closure of some cyber cafes, or to say that
universities are right in banning couples from public displays of
affection on campus, or to express your repulsion at the millions of fans
who are obsessed with pop stars. You will surely be chided if you hold
these opinions.
No, you will not have trouble with the authorities the official
ideological guardians would not be unhappy with such points of view. But
you will run the risk of being drowned in the saliva of cyber critics and
bloggers who will denounce you as an old fogey in opposition to such
sacrosanct concepts as freedom, human rights and "realization of personal
values." Any remarks that sound adverse to the ears of these dabblers
would be scorned as trite.
Press circles seem to be taking to this trend, too. Whatever controversy
arises concerning social issues, media columnists certainly not all of
them but quite a number make comments featuring unconventional and
unorthodox ideas to show how different they are from conservative
philistines.
Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that they are wrong in advocating
freedom and human rights. (Nowadays, who would dare to say they oppose
these things?) I am saying that some people are merely dabbling with
these concepts to show off. They would seize upon any remark that smacks
of traditional values to make an issue of it.
A few days ago, 10 PhD students from famous Chinese universities issued a
petition urging Chinese people not to celebrate Christmas amid concern
that a blind pursuit of Western culture may lead to a weakening of
traditional Chinese culture. While triggering widespread debate among
netizens, the online declaration provided a golden opportunity for
columnists and bloggers to demonstrate their cultivation in modern
civilization.
They jeered at the young scholars, calling them "ignorant," "extreme" and
"narrow-minded" like the legendary countryfolk who feared the sky would
fall. They said the petition "goes against the rule of cultural
development." Some even said that the thoughts represented by the PhD
students' petition were the "most dangerous," and "may bring up
autocracy, coercion and harm to freedom and human rights."
It is true that the young scholars appeared to be courting defeat in
their attempt to dissuade people from getting infatuated with Western
culture while millions of China's youth swamped glittering hotels,
plazas, malls, Western restaurants and bars to frolic on Christmas Eve.
And it is true that these people have the right and freedom to celebrate
this Western festival. It is also disagreeable to try to prevent foreign
culture from entering China.
However, the PhD students' move still merits our admiration, for they had
the courage to buck the trend. And their ideas deserve our thoughts, for
their worries about people blindly worshipping any novel thing from the
West in what they called a state of "collective unconsciousness in
culture" are not unfounded. They are just raising petitions rather than
pushing for administrative bans. They are far from being able to "bring
up autocracy, coercion and harm to freedom and human rights."
We certainly should not use administrative measures to interfere in
people's cultural lives. But this does not mean we cannot do something to
help young people acquire a more correct understanding of our own and
other countries' cultures. Media columnists have the responsibility in
this regard.
Unfortunately, many columnists seem to care more about showing off by
playing with imported cliches rather than writing anything of profound
insight. Some even write sheer nonsense. For example, one columnist said
Western festivals prevail over their Chinese counterparts because they
focus on spiritual enlightenment while Chinese festivals are all about
feasting.
This learned writer needs to brush up on his knowledge of Chinese legends
about zongzi (rice dumplings) of the Dragon Boat Festival and the moon
cakes of the Mid-Autumn Festival. He may also need to recall Hans
Christian Andersen's "Little Match-Girl." If he cannot remember the roast
goose with a knife and fork in its breast waddling in the poor girl's
dream, he is advised to read the headline of a piece of news reported
yesterday: "Paris entertains 160 vagrants with a big Christmas Eve meal."
(China Daily 12/27/2006 page4)
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