an impoverished thing
A C I will prove myself to be something of an exception here and admit that I generally enjoy your posts. I am sure that I could study Chinese history and culture steady for the next few years and still not be able to hold a candle to your erudition on the subject. However - and this is a big however - I wonder exactly what it is that motivates you. Correct me if I am wrong but the impression I get it is that you are very much interested in preserving the distinctiveness of your race and your culture. It seems a little late for that no? Given a chance to inform themselves on the matter most "Chinese" (still not clear on what that means) would undoubtably opt for a democratic form of government. It would be difficult to imagine a deeper, more positive influence that Western society could have. Following that there are the myriad of smaller ways that the west has influenced this culture. Especially the culture of Taiwan. Music, television, leisure, technology, medicine.... With more and more Taiwanese studying English and travelling abroad and more and more people coming to live here from other countries this influence will undoubtably grow. Sometimes this will be a good, sometimes a bad, and sometimes a neutral thing. The only thing that is certain is that it will happen.
I have been around other cultures on and off most of my adult life. Among the list of cultures or peoples or ethnicities or whatever that have left a mark on my soul I would include: Aboriginal, French, Italian, German, British, Spanish, Hindu, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Thai, Filiphino and of course Chinese. Likely somebody will pop their head up and say that my terminology doesn't make sense, that Indonesian isn't an ethnicity, that there are different races and languages inside China and Thailand. That there are different aboriginal groups within Canada etc. Of course they would be correct but it is also correct that I am aware of learning things from all of these people. And it is also correct that without those people, who I cannot in fact define very well, my life would be a very much impoverished thing in every sense of the word. I am also very much aware that many of those peoples lives would be much less full without the influence my culture, whatever that is. Races have been mixing for so long and cultures have influenced each other so profoundly that it just seems like foolishness to think that anything separate even exists. A lot of the world seems to be rallying around some core values such as democracy and equal rights. Why is that I sense these things are far from the top on your list of priorities?
I have been around other cultures on and off most of my adult life. Among the list of cultures or peoples or ethnicities or whatever that have left a mark on my soul I would include: Aboriginal, French, Italian, German, British, Spanish, Hindu, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Thai, Filiphino and of course Chinese. Likely somebody will pop their head up and say that my terminology doesn't make sense, that Indonesian isn't an ethnicity, that there are different races and languages inside China and Thailand. That there are different aboriginal groups within Canada etc. Of course they would be correct but it is also correct that I am aware of learning things from all of these people. And it is also correct that without those people, who I cannot in fact define very well, my life would be a very much impoverished thing in every sense of the word. I am also very much aware that many of those peoples lives would be much less full without the influence my culture, whatever that is. Races have been mixing for so long and cultures have influenced each other so profoundly that it just seems like foolishness to think that anything separate even exists. A lot of the world seems to be rallying around some core values such as democracy and equal rights. Why is that I sense these things are far from the top on your list of priorities?
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