The "Bay Area" of China

Today I've been thinking a lot about cultural similarities and differences.  That's the loose theme for today's blog.  I just got a massage, so my brain's kinda mushy.  As Prince would say "I was dreamin' when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray..."

Comparison 1: writing systems

So on Wednesday I had the chance to Skype with my dear friend Carol, who is currently living in South Africa with her husband and three adorable children.  Silas, (my secret favorite), is in kindergarten and she is homeschooling him.   He's really interested in Ancient Egypt and was showing me his hieroglyphic project.  Basically he had created his own alphabet and drawn pictures for all the sounds.  It was pretty incredible.  It made me realize two things.  1. Silas is (and kids in general are) amazing.  I actually knew this before but it's nice to be reminded.  2. It's kind of the same idea as characters.  Pictures that make language.  Many of the Chinese characters depict a thing or idea, and by combining characters, you can create a more complex idea.  For instance, put the characters for Woman and Child together to make Good.  But some characters mean nothing and are just a written indicator of a sound, like our alphabet.  I think that's what's going on below.  One of my favorite students wrote this addition in his journal today.  It's my name in Chinese.  I'm assuming each character corresponds to a sound: Je - Si - Ka.  Pretty cool, huh? 

Comparison 2: Macau is like the "Bay Area" of China

I was reading the online version of the San Francisco Chronicle today, as I do almost every day, and it occurred to me that Macau is a lot like the Bay Area, and SF in specific.  Geographically they're similar - peninsula on the Pacific Ocean, plus lots of people, lots of history, tourism, entertainment and all the problems that accompany those things.  And, they're both very liberal, and that's what made me think about it.  In both places the residents enjoy freedoms and opportunities that would not really be available in most other parts of the country.  No wonder I like it here!

Comparison 3: high context vs. low context cultures

So when I first started studying ESOL, I took a Cross-Cultural class through UC Berkeley extension.  I remember learning about different ways that researchers classified and compared cultures.  It was pretty fascinating, so even seven years later I remember the main ideas, even if the details are a little hazy.  The two main researchers I remember are Geert Hofstede and Edward Hall.  Hofstede created an index for business people who wanted to understand these differences so they could be more savvy in making international deals.  It looks at five different factors: Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Long-Term Orientation.  He has a lot of information about it on his website, and you can even do comparisons between countries to see how they are alike and different.  I'm including the link below for anyone who wants to learn more.

http://www.geert-hofstede.com/

Edward Hall's work had to do with what he called high and low context cultures.  To put it simply, low context cultures like America, England, Germany, etc. like clear-cut well-defined rules to govern every problem.  In other words, you don't need to rely much on context to figure out what to do, because there are rules to follow.  High context cultures, like many of the cultures in Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia, are the opposite.  You may not have anything spelled out with rules to tell you what to do, you have to rely on the context.  The role of language is very different but very important in both types and so it yielded many interesting classroom discussions.  What made me think of it today was crossing the street on the way home.  The unwritten rule for getting around in Macau is what I will call the Rule of Mutual Avoidance.  Basically the pedestrians try to avoid getting hit by the vehicles and the vehicles try to avoid hitting the pedestrians or each other.  There are traffic signals of course, and sometimes traffic cops, but the great majority of the interactions are just turn-taking and trying not to hurt anyone while still getting where you want to be as quickly as possible.  So far so good I guess, I've only seen one accident - although I've seen many situations that made me nervous.  Check out the video below of the crosswalk near my apartment to see what I mean.

See?  It's like trying to cross Haight Street on a weekend.  Chaos.  This street is especially crazy right now because they're doing major road construction, but you get the idea.  It's the norm here. Cross with a group at the first available opportunity.

The other thing that reminded me of these high and low differences was my massage.  Although I see no mention on Wikipedia, I remember our class discussions touching on the idea that high context cultures are often much more physical.  So people are more comfortable touching each other or being together in a more personal or intimate way.  I know a number of people in the U.S. from low-context ethnic backgrounds who like to have at least a few feet of "personal space" at all times, never willingly touch anyone but a family member and generally prefer to be left alone and avoid strangers completely.  This is especially true in the Midwest.

But I've noticed here that people are super lovey-dovey, touchy-feely.  The girls and women often walk hand-in-hand or arm-in-arm and even the guys are much more likely to touch.  Some of my male students will routinely put their arm around a another guy when they're talking or joking in class.  It's clearly not a big deal to them at all, where in the U.S. I think most teenage/college-aged boys would refrain from such things lest they look "gay".  God forbid.  Plus they all seem pretty accustomed to being jam-packed together on the bus or in the elevator.  Every time I think an elevator is full, we stop and 10 more people somehow squeeze in.  It's like magic. 

Anyway, so my massage therapist, Jaja, is from the Philippines, another high-context spot.  Plus, she's a massage therapist, so she touches people for a living.  I got over feeling awkward about massage a long time ago and just go with whatever they try to make my body do, even though if I stopped to think about it, it might seem kind of weird or embarrassing.  So during our session, she's crawling all over the place, bending me this way and that.  All fine.  What got me thinking was that before we started, she asked if she could use the bathroom.  She doesn't have a studio, so she comes to my apartment and just has to work on me while I'm lying on my bed instead of having a proper table.  My room is like a master bedroom in that it has a bathroom within that's separate from the rest of the apartment.  So she asks to use it, I say "sure" and flick the light on for her as I walk past into my room to set up the towels.  She goes in and pees and doesn't even bother to shut the door!  I almost laughed out loud.  I have girlfriends that do this and it doesn't bother me at all, but this is only the second time I've ever seen this lady.  Wow!  I guess she just didn't think it was a big deal.  And I don't really either, just one of those things that makes you smile at our ideas of "normal".