Chinese values

Our primary task in conversational English is to keep the students talking. They are not permitted to speak any Chinese all day, except during breaks or at lunch time. We have literally hundreds of topics we talk about, some more successful than others. Earlier this week, I asked them to make a list of Chinese values. This is a question that I think might be difficult for American kids. Independently, the students in the morning class developed a virtually identical list to the students in the afternoon class. They came up with these lists in a matter of minutes.

• Harmony
• Patriotism
• History
• Relationship (friendship and connections)
• Freedom
• Responsibility
• Cooperation
• Hard-work
• Discipline
• Honesty
• Loyalty
• Family
• Good health
• Good luck
• Reputation
• Prosperity

Then they were asked to explain the meanings of these values. They have been trained since birth to answer such questions, and their responses were eloquent and heart-felt. Harmony is the only value that elicited a little twitter of laughter, not because they don't value harmony, but because the former Chairman of the Communist Party talked ad nauseum about a "harmonious society." Harmony covers a wide range of things including harmony between individuals and harmony between "the nature" (environment) and development. Every Chinese kid knows the word "development."

In view of some serious environmental issues here (like air and water pollution), I'd say there's been a little disharmony going on. However, there are signs everywhere that they are working on these problems. They believe very firmly that new technology will fix these problems. China has had an amazing tree planting effort. This effort is designed to beautify, to improve air quality, to provide wind breaks against the sands that blow off the Gobi desert, and to provide fruit, nuts, and other products.

These are not virgin forest trees. Everyone of these millions of trees has been intentionally planted. The government provided the trees, and the people planted them -- willows, sycamore, sandalwood, evergreens, apricot and peach -- all manner of flowering and fruit trees. Along the Great Wall, some formerly very barren hill and mountainsides are gloriously green now. Imagine 3 billion hands available for planting. One of the surprises of many parts of China is the verdant vegetation.

China is the fourth largest producer of wind power in the world. Their goal is to be first. The street lights in many parts of Wuhan are powered by both solar and wind. Each light standard has both a solar panel and a wind propeller.

History has an entirely different meaning here in China. I don't think most Americans know very much history, nor do they see it as important to their daily lives. Here a 5,000+ year history has relevance in everyday life.

Relationship: Friendship is exceedingly important to the new generation of Chinese young people. Because the majority of them are only children, friends become their brothers and sisters. In addition, their cousins become pseudo-siblings. They believe that a friend is for life; they will go to great lengths to help their friends. It would be shameful to let a friend down.