Owen Hamilton
March 13, 2013
Brio
New ideas seem to be frowned upon in China, whereas they would be celebrated in America. Hai Bin is a master calligrapher. He knows exactly how to stroke the brush, and the history of the art. When he sees that a Frenchman painted his calligraphy using a free-form, abstract manner, "Hai Bin's face twisted into a grimace. 'This is so-called freedom,' he said, and wanted to see no more" (pg. 95). Here in America, freedom is a good word. People hate to be put in a box, and they love to challenge the rules. This Frenchman tried something new, but Hai Bin disapproved. If no one liked this Frenchman's style, his work would not be on show. However, some people certainly have a hard time adjusting to what they have been taught, what they are used to, and what they love. It is humorous that Hai Bin is disgusted by this new form of calligraphy, but it is implied that the main character does not feel the same way. He does not express his feelings, but he just puts up with the beliefs of this stubborn man. He grew up in America, so it is most likely that he is used to an atmosphere of new ideas. The open-minded American dealing with the stubborn-minded Chinese is a funny and interesting part of the story.
P.S. I hope I did not put too much stereotypes on Americans and Chinese. I was just trying to analyze this situation, but not assume that every Chinese person does not like abstract calligraphy. If this seems racist, I will definitely change it.
P.S. I hope I did not put too much stereotypes on Americans and Chinese. I was just trying to analyze this situation, but not assume that every Chinese person does not like abstract calligraphy. If this seems racist, I will definitely change it.
Stereotypes are interesting to look at - and they exist because of real things that people have noticed. The trick is not to assume that they are 100% true or place some kind of good/bad, better/worse judgment upon them. Later in the book, Mark meets a Chinese kid who acts very different from the stereotype, and everyone notices that he's different.
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple of time during the book where it is expressed that that Chinese seem to be frowning upon new ideas. Another example of this is shown when Mark is talking about how his lessons with Pan became sparse. Mark goes on to explain that they can't practice in the sports unit anymore due to the fact that they didn't want to contaminate it with a Western person. This rule or belief all came about due to a nation wide movement in China, which Mark then went on to explain, "china was at the time in the middle of another nation-wide movement, the Campaign for Elimination of Cultural Pollution, 'cultural pollution' meaning Western ideas and habits."(pg. 135) I think that this just goes to show how quickly America developed. Within two hundred years it was the leader in car manufacturing and much more. For China which has been a nation for much longer that the United States it took a long time for them to even realize that the was another way to lead a country and to treat others. So to them, even considering new ideas, or letting the westernized calligraphy into the country I think was a big step forward. I think one thing that we have to keep in mind while reading is that China just came out of complete isolation so it will take a while to become completely accepting to new ideas.
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