June 8, 2009
This morning we met a Japanese man at Mimosa, our favourite cafe in Yangshuo. He was sitting by himself at a table, busily writing something in English, and conferring with the waitress about translation into Chinese. We were having breakfast.
He was a typically neat and trim Japanese fellow, late middle-age, wearing a light blue tailored shirt and dark slacks. He looked like a professor or business man without a suit jacket.
At one point he looked up from his endeavours and said 'hello!' It was clear he wasn't Chinese, but not clear where he was from, so we asked him, and he answered, “Japan, from a city about half-way between Tokyo and the island of Hokkaido.”
In his own words, he's 'half-retired,' and has been coming to Yangshuo for a couple of months every few months to learn Chinese. He intends, once he learns it, to travel more widely in China.
He stood up and approached our table. “My wallet was stolen yesterday,” he said, patting his pants pocket and shaking his head. “So I am writing this message. Can I read it to you?”
Here's what it said:
“Please make China an even more fantastic country. If any of you friends are about to lose their conscience, then please tell them the story below for their own good. To steal something from others means to throw away your conscience which was given to you by your parents who wanted you to be happy. Happiness exists only in a sound mind.”
He wanted to know if the English was correct. Later that day I saw him again. He had a handful of printed papers. He gave me one. The word 'conscience' had been changed to 'morals.' As the saying here goes, 'same same but different.'
What intrigues me is the very different approach taken in the east towards 'bad behaviour.' Appealing to the higher moral being, making reference to parents, and the concept of happiness. Here in the East these things still appear to have some meaning, to exercise some influence on people's behaviour.
I mentioned this to him, and said, laughing, that in the West, our response to a stolen wallet would more likely go something like this: “if you're gonna steal stuff, you're gonna get caught, maybe by the police. And then you're gonna be sorry.” Crime and punishment.
Although I liked his approach I couldn't imagine it having any effect at all in the West, where morals seem to have gone awol, and parents are definitely passe. Where most people wouldn't have any idea what a 'sound mind' was, and would define 'happiness' quite differently.
And I wonder, given the rapid pace of Westernization in China (and other Asian countries), especially among the i-savvy, hip-hopped and hyped-up young, how much longer his approach, as high-minded as it is, will be effective here.... .
He was a typically neat and trim Japanese fellow, late middle-age, wearing a light blue tailored shirt and dark slacks. He looked like a professor or business man without a suit jacket.
At one point he looked up from his endeavours and said 'hello!' It was clear he wasn't Chinese, but not clear where he was from, so we asked him, and he answered, “Japan, from a city about half-way between Tokyo and the island of Hokkaido.”
In his own words, he's 'half-retired,' and has been coming to Yangshuo for a couple of months every few months to learn Chinese. He intends, once he learns it, to travel more widely in China.
He stood up and approached our table. “My wallet was stolen yesterday,” he said, patting his pants pocket and shaking his head. “So I am writing this message. Can I read it to you?”
Here's what it said:
“Please make China an even more fantastic country. If any of you friends are about to lose their conscience, then please tell them the story below for their own good. To steal something from others means to throw away your conscience which was given to you by your parents who wanted you to be happy. Happiness exists only in a sound mind.”
He wanted to know if the English was correct. Later that day I saw him again. He had a handful of printed papers. He gave me one. The word 'conscience' had been changed to 'morals.' As the saying here goes, 'same same but different.'
What intrigues me is the very different approach taken in the east towards 'bad behaviour.' Appealing to the higher moral being, making reference to parents, and the concept of happiness. Here in the East these things still appear to have some meaning, to exercise some influence on people's behaviour.
I mentioned this to him, and said, laughing, that in the West, our response to a stolen wallet would more likely go something like this: “if you're gonna steal stuff, you're gonna get caught, maybe by the police. And then you're gonna be sorry.” Crime and punishment.
Although I liked his approach I couldn't imagine it having any effect at all in the West, where morals seem to have gone awol, and parents are definitely passe. Where most people wouldn't have any idea what a 'sound mind' was, and would define 'happiness' quite differently.And I wonder, given the rapid pace of Westernization in China (and other Asian countries), especially among the i-savvy, hip-hopped and hyped-up young, how much longer his approach, as high-minded as it is, will be effective here.... .
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