Of elephants and blind men

I had hoped to learn something about Chinese culture in two weeks. Nothing big, mind you. Just enough to feel like I peeked inside the window of this country and saw something I could comprehend. But what I've learned is that thousands of years of history means thousands of layers of meaning, symbolism and a complexity I can't even begin to understand. I feel like one of the blind men touching the elephant, wanting to know what an elephant looks and behaves like. There's just no way.

Take the language, for instance. There's no punctuation in the written language, and one character can have several meanings. So context is everything. In Haerbin I took a photo of an English translation because I was so amused by the flowery language used. But now I understand that the translator was simply trying to pack all the many nuanced meanings into that translation. The Chinese language is so deep and rich, and to try and translate that into English is a monumental task. Over time, every character has more and more meaning attached to it, and after 3,000 years that's a lot of subtlety.

Another interesting note about the language is that the characters all have the same meaning, whether you speak Cantonese, Mandorin, or any other local dialect. Everyone can read the same book and understand it, but if they were to read out loud they wouldn't understand each other. Mao tried to standardize the spoken language, but so many nuances would be lost that the effort failed.



Another cultural characteristic difficult for me to understand is that of "saving face." On the one hand, I've found people to be much more straight-forward and honest than back home, and yet there's also a complexity in gettings things done. For instance, no one will ever say they can't do something. I've learned not to begin a question with, "Is it possible . . .?" The answer will never be "no" even if it's not possible. So I have to decode the response and look for clues, and then offer other possibilities. One of which, hopefully, will actually be possible, and allow the person to save face and not let me down.

The Communist China I grew up reading about is nothing like the China I'm experiencing. People pay taxes, there is no free healthcare for all, and the free market feels like it's about to launch into outer space. Asians, in general, are extremely brand conscious, and young Chinese want all the cool toys we do: iPods, digital cameras, etc.

The best I can hope for is to be able to describe the elephant's left, front knee. And to be humbled by the realization that I am blinded by my own culture's youthful idealism and expectations.