I was born in Taiwan and have spent most of my life here in the states. After assimilating to American culture I have had a chance to compare the differences between the two. One of the common attitudes in the Chinese culture is a critical attitude directed towards people in general, especially people of different culture or races. An example of such attitudes is the different racial names that the Chinese would give to people of other races, such as attaching the word ghost to refer to them. A person of Caucasian descent would be referred to as a “white ghost”, a person of African descent would be referred to as a “black ghost”. However, negative this may sound I do not believe that these comments are derogatory in nature. I believe that this critical attitude is a direct result of Chinese perfectionism. This same perfectionism also drives the Chinese people to further improve in order to measure up to what is ideal. When this sense of perfectionism is mixed with gossip, very often people from different cultures would not understand and often feelings get hurt. It is eleven years of being immersed in American culture that has allowed me to realize the differences between the two cultures.
[posted for Jon by CH]
