The Chinese Way
Posted by Cottontimer on 27 Nov 2007 | Tagged as: Japan, What the @#!
From my personal experiences with both the Japanese and Chinese ways of doing things, I think James Fallow has it exactly right:
With usual caveats against sweeping generalization, what this made me think was: Japan is all about the way of doing things. Practice, ritual, perfectionism, as much fanatical attention to the process as to the result. China is all about finding a way to do things. Improvisation, little interest in rules, putting up with whatever is necessary to attain the result.
Now go check out his pictures of plane refueling in Japan vs. China. I couldn’t stop shaking my head in amuseument and dismay. *sigh*
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thanks for that—–let me just say, I prefer Japanese food but I generally operate according to my ethnicity…..
Oh, Kristina! Yikes!!!
I was just commenting on this to my colleagues not long ago. I was supposed to be in Beijing for a week-long meeting but decided to forego it at the last minute (didn’t want to risk a nursing strike upon my return and decided the fatigue from such a trip wouldn’t be worth it). Subconsciously (and not so subconsciously), I had a sixth sense that the meeting would not be a great one. Final notices for talks were screwed up for a number of meeting goers and the final agenda was not ready until a week before the meeting. Knowing my own culture, I shook my head and said to my husband, I have a bad feeling about this. So I cancelled. And guess what, meeting was indeed a bust (million people running around like chickens with their heads cut off) AND there was a food outbreak (vomiting, diarrhea, the whole bit!). I had told one of my colleagues, the Chinese are all about doing - going in all different directions just to do, do, DO! My colleague remarked that he had thought that we were a very organized and systematic society and I said, ah, you are thinking of the Japanese… looks like I have direct support of my viewpoint from James Fallows!
SinP, What a amazingly ridiculous scenario! And people wonder why I am still so down on the idea that China’s going to be the next superpower and within a decade too. Heaven help us.
I think my husband must be Chinese. He regularly sucks gas from my car to refuel his motorcycle. I’ve never once seen him bow.
Kathy, I would not be surprised we shared a gene or two. heh