Wednesday, February 20: 4:28 pm e.s.t.
Like most westerners, I find the culture here very different; it's not just the language, the food, and the relationships, but those things are different ("eastern") as a function of some more foundational difference. The fundamental difference truly is the difference we see as West meets East. The same sort of difference that separated Aristotle from Confucius, the Jews from the Greeks, the Greek Orthodox Church from the Roman Church and now, the difference between East and the West as far as I can tell, is the difference between gradated and binary. Don't get me wrong, I've only been in China for five days, and though I have dealt with Chinese and other Eastern Asia folk for 10-12 years now, I would never make the mistake of assuming that I know everything about it or even a great deal about it--but I have, like thinking persons before me, made my own humble observations. Where we Americans and Western Europeans tend to see the world in more binary terms, with fewer degrees of difference; black and white; yes and no, consistent and inconsistent and yes, even right and wrong. This can lead to extremisms and we do bend our thought that way. While on the other hand, Chinese and Eastern cultures tend to view the world in gradation, more graduated terms, many degrees of difference on the spectrum; many shades of gray--from nearly black to almost white; from yes to maybe yes to maybe no to no. As a result, consistency is separated by the different segments of life; where intra-segmental consistency would be expected, inter-segmental consistency is not. The idea of consistency in one segment may not line up with the idea of consistency in another segment, so what might be "right" or acceptable at work or in business may not be "right" or acceptable at home or in familial relationships. There really is no place for the test of the consistent application of moras from one segment to another. This also can result in a tenancy toward imprecision. This different approach goes deeper than the ethos of a culture, even deeper than epistemology--it actually informs the way Easterners develop ethics and the way they determine what is true, just like our rudiments have practical functions.
We consider ourselves on a line, they consider themselves on a circle. This Eastern conclusion or assumption affects their language also--no gender or tense; no verb conjugation; it affects their relationships-- "X is always wrong unless of course, condition Y is met". It also affects their driving--the boundaries made by lines are always being crossed; signs are important suggestions; you should always stop at a red light, unless you are in a big hurry; stop signs are like yield signs, and yield signs mean, "try not to run into anyone as you pull out and merge into oncoming traffic". It also affects their art: visual and culinary. Take tea for instance, the leaves are floating in it whereas, we would strain them. If things are to be mixed, they are not necessarily mixed well, as a solution would be. And finally, the problem of furniture production--in which I am fully engaged on this trip. I believe that the reason American furniture executives and creative persons may so often be frustrated with the sampling and production of furniture by Chinese factories is because the Chinese often see the specifications on a construction drawing the same way they see a stop sign or light.
On another point, yes, Chinese factory owners do think that it is wrong to copy a company's hardware design unless of course it will sell more furniture for the importer; yes it is wrong to copy another company's furniture design unless of course it will prove more profitable to the furthered existance of the factory than not copying it would. I have to wonder that, if those who began importing products from China so many years ago had really considered the sociological and philosophical constrants that maybe the rampant copyright violations in today's environment could have been averted. Then again, maybe all those Westerners involved did make the same observations I have, but they chose to ignore them and then again, perhaps the distinctions I have made between East and West are not nearly so sharp.
Like most westerners, I find the culture here very different; it's not just the language, the food, and the relationships, but those things are different ("eastern") as a function of some more foundational difference. The fundamental difference truly is the difference we see as West meets East. The same sort of difference that separated Aristotle from Confucius, the Jews from the Greeks, the Greek Orthodox Church from the Roman Church and now, the difference between East and the West as far as I can tell, is the difference between gradated and binary. Don't get me wrong, I've only been in China for five days, and though I have dealt with Chinese and other Eastern Asia folk for 10-12 years now, I would never make the mistake of assuming that I know everything about it or even a great deal about it--but I have, like thinking persons before me, made my own humble observations. Where we Americans and Western Europeans tend to see the world in more binary terms, with fewer degrees of difference; black and white; yes and no, consistent and inconsistent and yes, even right and wrong. This can lead to extremisms and we do bend our thought that way. While on the other hand, Chinese and Eastern cultures tend to view the world in gradation, more graduated terms, many degrees of difference on the spectrum; many shades of gray--from nearly black to almost white; from yes to maybe yes to maybe no to no. As a result, consistency is separated by the different segments of life; where intra-segmental consistency would be expected, inter-segmental consistency is not. The idea of consistency in one segment may not line up with the idea of consistency in another segment, so what might be "right" or acceptable at work or in business may not be "right" or acceptable at home or in familial relationships. There really is no place for the test of the consistent application of moras from one segment to another. This also can result in a tenancy toward imprecision. This different approach goes deeper than the ethos of a culture, even deeper than epistemology--it actually informs the way Easterners develop ethics and the way they determine what is true, just like our rudiments have practical functions.
We consider ourselves on a line, they consider themselves on a circle. This Eastern conclusion or assumption affects their language also--no gender or tense; no verb conjugation; it affects their relationships-- "X is always wrong unless of course, condition Y is met". It also affects their driving--the boundaries made by lines are always being crossed; signs are important suggestions; you should always stop at a red light, unless you are in a big hurry; stop signs are like yield signs, and yield signs mean, "try not to run into anyone as you pull out and merge into oncoming traffic". It also affects their art: visual and culinary. Take tea for instance, the leaves are floating in it whereas, we would strain them. If things are to be mixed, they are not necessarily mixed well, as a solution would be. And finally, the problem of furniture production--in which I am fully engaged on this trip. I believe that the reason American furniture executives and creative persons may so often be frustrated with the sampling and production of furniture by Chinese factories is because the Chinese often see the specifications on a construction drawing the same way they see a stop sign or light.
On another point, yes, Chinese factory owners do think that it is wrong to copy a company's hardware design unless of course it will sell more furniture for the importer; yes it is wrong to copy another company's furniture design unless of course it will prove more profitable to the furthered existance of the factory than not copying it would. I have to wonder that, if those who began importing products from China so many years ago had really considered the sociological and philosophical constrants that maybe the rampant copyright violations in today's environment could have been averted. Then again, maybe all those Westerners involved did make the same observations I have, but they chose to ignore them and then again, perhaps the distinctions I have made between East and West are not nearly so sharp.
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