To many Chinese, Americans don’t have xin-yan (心眼, meaning,  literally, eyes of the mind; or figuratively, calculating, wily), they trust what you say, and they believe you are doing what you say you are doing. For that, they are dumb.

Unlike the world’s other most populous nations, the Chinese do not acknowledge or seek a multiracial character. The Han Chinese, comprising a majority of some 92%, believe themselves to comprise a distinct race whose superiority, when a long view is taken, they regard as self-evident. In this view, Western ascendancy is a recent and brief anomaly, following which China will return to its natural position at the centre of the world.

Until its engagement with Europe in the nineteenth century forced it to operate more according to the rules of nation-states, China thought of itself as the centre of the world -- it was the middle kingdom or the "land under heaven."  It did not even need a name. Unlike, say, the United States or Israel, it was not said to be the land chosen by a God, but rather the chosen land by virtue of the sheer brilliance of its civilization. 

[...]

Unlike those of a nation-state, China’s frontiers were, until relatively recently, never carefully drawn or policed, but instead regarded as zones tapering from civilization into barbarism.

Many years ago, I used to think China's quality issues were "an emerging market thing" and not "a China thing." I thought that we were constantly reading of China quality issues because China is such a large producer. I thought that until I spoke at a China-focused product liability conference and had lunch with a super high level official with the United States Consumer Protection Agency who told me that year and year out, China's product safety record is at least six times worse on a percentage per product basis than any other country in the world. "Pakistan," I asked. "Yes," he said? "Cambodia?" "Yes." "Sri Lanka?" Yes. "Laos?" "Yes."  "How can that possibly be," I asked. "I don't know," he said, "but it is."

When I lived in the Middle East, I often heard a variation of this statement about why regimes there liked China: The Chinese come to do business, and they don't meddle with domestic politics.

Quote by NFG:

It's hard for me to get my head around what the Chinese really think, but this article suggests that the Chinese look down on Westerners for being honest and forthright, instead of devious and vague:

To many Chinese, Americans don’t have xin-yan (心眼, meaning,  literally, eyes of the mind; or figuratively, calculating, wily), they trust what you say, and they believe you are doing what you say you are doing. For that, they are dumb.

I saw a couple of young British men on a Japanese train last week, who seem to have a similar attitude towards the Japanese.  These two loud, rude and animated louts were annoying everyone on the train as if to say the Japanese are quiet and don't want to cause a scene by chastising us, so we will take advantage of their weakness and be assholes as much as we like.  What I perceive as a virtue, these two seemed to see as weakness.  The Chinese view of honesty and forthrightness seems very similar.

Quote by NFG on 2011-05-22, 07:55:

I saw a similar article talking about the general's words, but I never once thought that it meant China was establishing bases in Africa.  Instead, it seems to me that China's launching assaults on pirates, a mini-invasion police action.

And that brings me back to China: Are they going to be a power for good, an empire like America that ostensibly tried to do the right thing?  Or will they act only in their own interests, like it seems America increasingly does?

Quote by Kendrick on 2011-05-18, 17:30:

Quote by Kendrick on 2010-03-29, 17:30:

When you look at those numbers, you need to think about the "average" yearly income of the Chinese, which works out to around USD$2,000 after conversion. I put quotes around the word because the average has dirt-poor farmers at one end, and absurdly wealthy real estate tycoons at the other. That means that in real terms, $160 a month isn't the actual average.

And now, somebody noticed. I didn't know about the Hurun Wealth Report, which is an NGO publication that enumerates the worth of the richest Chinese. A Time Magazine blogger has noticed that the list is breeding discontent in China, and causes the wealthiest to be investigated (or at least publicly disliked.) Here's the link:

http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2011/05/17/to-be-young-ri…

The first time I visited China, in 2005, an American businessman living
there told me that the country was so huge and was changing so fast
that everything you heard about it was true, and so was the opposite.
That still seems to be the case. China is the fastest-growing consumer
market in the world, and American companies have made billions there.
At the same time, Chinese consumers aren't spending nearly as much as
American companies had hoped. China has simultaneously become the
greatest boon and the biggest disappointment.

It would be impossible for Xi and Li to not have been affected by their own experiences in the cultural revolution, but it is also impossible to divine precisely how such experiences will shape their governing philosophy and the future of China. 

Riddle me this: how does a government enforce tax collection in a cash-only society?

[...]

A solution to the problem is to go with a tax pre-payment system. At the beginning of every month, every business is required to pay an estimated tax. Proof of tax payment is issued in the form of “fapiao” (发票).

Of course, with every new system, new problems come in. One is that the waitstaff might nick a couple of fapiao en route to the customer. So now, to get your fapiao you usually have to go in person to a special counter that manages its distribution. And, of course, the restaurant can offer a bribe in place of the fapiao. Just this past month when I was visiting Harbin, I went to collect my lottery tickets and the lady at the register glanced at my 80 quai receipt and offered to pay me 4 quai instead of giving me fapiao! I was a bit surprised at how brazen the offer was, but in retrospect, I clearly was not from around there, and thus unlikely to be an auditor.

All of this may change in the face of real name registration–a new, more stringent policy designed to clamp down on free expression where other methods have been less successful. We have no doubt that netizens will find creative ways to circumvent the chilling effect of this policy. Many have already begun discussing possible strategies. Even so real-name registration will almost certainly limit the spread of politically sensitive messages, as it will be easy to trace their origin.

A few weeks ago, I was talking with a friend of mine who works in China for a leading international risk management/security/hostage negotiation company. I was telling him that we had been seeing a big increase in Chinese companies making veiled (and not so veiled) threats against our clients over alleged debts. This friend then told me that his company was getting three business hostage takings a month, up from about one a month in the last few years.

I am not saying that China is a violent country and I do not think it is. But it is still a developing country with an inchoate legal system. What this means is that frustrated people are a lot more likely to “take things into their own hands” than in most Western countries. What this means for you is what I said above: at minimum, if you are in any sort of dispute with a businessperson in China, do not go to that person’s turf to try to resolve it.

There is a lot of talk about the poor economy and I think that is helping to increase violence. Ten years ago, the Chinese were afraid to beat up a Laowai but that has changed.

His second spot, which opened a year later in the foreigner-friendly Chaoyang district, was almost as cursed. With six months left on the lease, the landlord locked the doors with a bicycle chain. Bryant waited half a day for the landlord to return, then cut the lock. That turned out to be a mistake: Within minutes the landlord showed up with eight "associates," who, Bryant says, beat him up and kicked him off the property. (Bryant ended up with a fat lip and a broken toe.) Bryant says he learned later that the landlord had found another tenant who was willing to pay two years' rent up-front. (As it turned out, the building was demolished within a year anyway.) The lesson, he says: Sign leases only with business entities, never with individuals. "Too often there's corruption involved," Bryant says. "And they don't get in trouble--they just get rich."