Opinion / Emma Moore
First impressions
By Emma Moore (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-03-23 12:52
"First impressions count." I'd like to know who came up with this idea
and why we have let it become such a trusty cliche. It seems to me that
only superficial, intellectually lazy people make judgments based on
first impressions. People who can't be bothered to peek below the surface
and make informed decisions. Maybe you disagree, and who am I to dismiss
your opinion? After all, we've only just met.
Perhaps it's only fair that I admit to being a hopeless 'first
impressions' judge of people, places, ideas or just about anything else
you care to name. So many of my first impressions have turned out to be
way off the mark. Places I took an automatic dislike to - Japan in the
rainy season for one - have come to feature on my favorites list; people
I at first admired turned out to be jerks, which is probably a whole
different column; and ideologies I was quickly persuaded by later
revealed themselves to be abhorrent. Hey, I even disliked red wine for a
while.
If your ability to make accurate instant assessments is as poor as mine
and you're planning a trip to Beijing, or anywhere outside your comfort
zone for that matter, my advice is don't be tempted to judge at all. Take
things as they come and save the analysis for the experts.
In Beijing this may not be as easy as you might expect. You may be
surprised to learn that the majority of Beijingers I've met so far seem
to have a curious lack of pride in their city and their country in
general. I should point out that these people are well-educated and often
well-traveled with many of them having spent considerable time abroad.
Obviously they represent only a small fraction of the Chinese population
and their views don't necessarily reflect those of other socio-economic
groups.
It's a worldwide ritual for locals to ask new arrivals what they think
about wherever they happen to be. But out of all the places I've lived in
and traveled around - and there have been many, too many my bank
statements suggest - I've never encountered so much self-criticism as
here in Beijing: "What do you think about Beijing's pollution?" "Don't
you think the traffic here is terrible?" "Isn't the weather bad?"
"Beijing is so crowded, does this make you feel uncomfortable?" "It's the
season for dust storms now", "Few people speak English in China, it's
very hard for you", "There's so much construction in Beijing, it's always
noisy"��Very rarely has anyone asked me what I think of Beijing without a
look of apology and apprehension.
I find this self-deprecation quite strange. Especially coming from New
Zealand where the national Zeitgeist has morphed in the last decade or so
from modest and self-effacing
to fair bursting with pride and self-satisfaction. I don't know how many
times I've cringed listening to a big-headed Kiwi ask a foreigner what
they think of the place an hour after they stepped off the plane. As
though they had personally sculpted New Zealand's mountains and lakes,
planted the forests, picked the award-winning grapes, taught good manners
to the generally friendly citizens, designed the more attractive historic
buildings, directed every Hollywood movie filmed there and wrote the
frequently progressive laws of the land.
"Spare me!" I feel like shouting. How about the bad stuff? Is that all
your doing as well? Needless to say any criticism of New Zealand, however
constructive, tends to be taken as an insult. To criticize Godzone is to
personally attack every New Zealander it sometimes seems.
Not so in China. If the only voices you've heard from China have been
those of President Hu Jintao and his ministers you may be surprised to
learn that beating themselves up seems to be a national sport. Perhaps
the fact that most of them have lived abroad helps to explain their
attitudes. Although there is a sense of pride about what has been
achieved in economic terms so far, in my admittedly brief experience, I
have somehow observed that the well-educated Chinese are not satisfied,
or they have no sense of contentment. One can notice the desire for more
in their faces.
And rightly so, many outsiders might argue, citing a whole slew of
statistics on China covering everything from the average wage, pollution
levels, women's rights, rural poverty and beyond. Yes I know; I've seen
the stats, graphs and pie charts too.
But the important thing is surely that the country's leaders are taking
steps to try to mitigate many of the major problems their country and its
people are facing. It's clearly a very long and winding road that will
lead the Chinese people to the Shangri-la where the entire populace can
enjoy an excellent quality of life. In the meantime, why not take in the
view now and then and be proud of what China already has?
Proud of what?
Of an incredible history tracing back thousands of years; of the masses
of treasures, artifacts and structures left to posterity by emperors; of
a diverse and often beautiful countryside; of a delicious and varied
cuisine; of a high emergent status in the business world; of a rapidly
improving lifestyles for millions of people; of Chinese sports stars,
writers, actors, musicians, scholars and philanthropists who continue to
contribute so much to the world; of the unique cultures of Chinese ethnic
minorities; of more things than I have space to list.
But maybe you disagree; I'm no expert after all. And I'm not about to
pass judgment on a country as vast and varied as China after a few weeks.
I'll get back to you. In twenty years or so.
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