Buddhism

Buddhism was founded by an Indian prince, Siddhartha Gautama (ca. 566–486 BCE), after he became enlightened that is, discovered the “truth” that human existence is based on suffering because of our desires. To free ourselves of suffering, and the cycles of birth and rebirth that humans must endure, we must follow the eightfold path: right view, right resolve, right speech, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration, and right action. In other words, be kind to all in word, action, and thought.

         Achieving this state of enlightenment means one has achieved Nirvana and will no longer have to be reborn as a human to suffer through the cycles of karma (essentially, good and bad things that happen to you because of good and bad things you did in past lifetimes).


        Buddhism was introduced into China from India during the Han dynasty in the first
century CE, when Indian Buddhism spread along the Silk Road first to China’s westernmost province of Xinjiang, where it moved from the ancient capital of Changan (present-day Xi’an) inward to Luoyang in Henan Province. During the Sui dynasty (581–618 CE), Buddhism became the state religion of China.


        At various times throughout Chinese history, Buddhism blended with folk religious practices as well as Confucianism and Daoism. At other times, Buddhism found itself in opposition to these other religious and philosophical traditions.


     “Zen” Buddhism (as it is called in the West after the Japanese term) is known as Chan Buddhism in China. It emphasizes attaining enlightenment through meditation. Zen has influenced many poets and works of art, which are striking for their simplicity of line and strong graphic qualities as well as use of negative (blank) space.

      Today many sects of Buddhism are practiced in China. Although the Communist Party officially espouses atheism, and members must be atheists, Chinese citizens have the right to practice religion, so long as their sect is approved by the government and obeys Chinese laws. As a result, Buddhist monasteries and nunneries are once again flourishing across the country after being severely persecuted during the Cultural Revolution under Mao’s leadership.

       The Shaolin Temple located in Henan Province is unquestionably the most famous monastery in China. Tens of thousands of domestic and foreign tourists travel to this mountain temple every year to see contemporary Shaolin monks practice the unique form of martial arts that has immortalized them in film and fiction.

       However, there are other less famous but equally active monasteries, temples, and sites for Buddhist pilgrims throughout the entirety of China, many of which are being renovated by the Chinese government in acknowledgment of their huge appeal to tourists, both the faithful and the merely curious. Giant Buddhist statues carved into mountainsides can be seen in Emei Shan
outside Chengdu in Sichuan Province as well as Luoyang in Henan Province. Many pilgrims still take to heart the adage that before dying they should show their devotion to the Buddha by climbing Huang Shan and Tai Shan (Yellow Mountain in Anhui Province and Mount Tai in Shandong Province), believed to be sacred sites because of their great beauty and proximity to the
heavens. Meanwhile, in the Xishuang Banna Autonomous Region next to Burma (Myanmar), many sons of the ethnic minorities who live in this southern part of Yunnan Province are expected to serve as apprentice monks for at least one year in their lives to gain merit for their parents as well as to learn about their own culture separate from the Han Chinese curriculum that they are taught in public schools. The Buddhism practiced among these groups is very similar to that of Thailand and Cambodia.


     However, in provinces that border Tibet, many ethnic Tibetans as well as Han Chinese practice the Tibetan tantric form of Buddhism (although they are not allowed to follow the teachings of the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India).

     Tourists irrespective of religious faith are generally welcome to visit Buddhist temples although visitors may not be allowed to enter inner sanctuaries. It is best not to dress in scanty clothing; men should always wear shirts and women should not bare a lot of cleavage or wear short-shorts or miniskirts out of respect for the monks. Some temples allow you to take pictures, others do not. Signs are generally posted if they do not allow photographs. When in doubt, ask.
   

Buddhism

Canton (Guangzhou)

Cuangzhou (pronounced “gwahng joe”) was formerly known in the West as Canton and is the capital of Guangdong Province in southern China. “Canton” became famous in the West as most of the overseas Chinese diaspora originally came from Guangdong Province, leading to the construction of Chinatowns throughout the world where Cantonese, the language of Guangdong Province, was the most commonly spoken dialect, not Mandarin.

      The port city of Guangzhou has always had an international bent as it was one of the earliest points of entry for foreigners coming to China. The Romans arrived here around the second century CE. Much later, in the sixteenth century, Portuguese traders arrived, looking to expand their trade in Chinese ceramics, teas, silks, and spices. Within a few decades, Jesuits arrived, looking to convert Chinese souls to Catholicism. The British first arrived at Guangzhou in the seventeenth century,
with ships from the East India Company looking to trade with China. The Qing dynasty, alarmed by the increasing foreign presence at the port, confined all foreigners to the nearby island of Shamian and authorized a single merchant group, known as the cohong, to oversee China’s trade with the outside world. The British decided to tip the trade imbalance in their favor by dumping cheap opium onto the Guangzhou market, creating addicts who would later be willing to pay much inflated prices. The Qing government tried to stop the British opium trade, leading to the Opium War, which the British with their superior arms were able to win. As a result, the Chinese government was forced to cede nearby Hong Kong Island to Great Britain.


    The port city of Guangzhou has always had an international bent as it was one of the earliest points of entry for foreigners coming to China. The Romans arrived here around the second century CE. Much later, in the sixteenth century, Portuguese traders arrived, looking to expand their trade in Chinese ceramics, teas, silks, and spices. Within a few decades, Jesuits arrived, looking to convert Chinese souls to Catholicism. The British first arrived at Guangzhou in the seventeenth century,
with ships from the East India Company looking to trade with China. The Qing dynasty, alarmed by the increasing foreign presence at the port, confined all foreigners to the nearby island of Shamian and authorized a single merchant group, known as the cohong, to oversee China’s trade with the outside world. The British decided to tip the trade imbalance in their favor by dumping cheap opium onto the Guangzhou market, creating addicts who would later be willing to pay much inflated prices. The Qing government tried to stop the British opium trade, leading to the Opium War, which the British with their superior arms were able to win. As a result, the Chinese government was forced to cede nearby Hong Kong Island to Great Britain.

      Guangzhou today is known for its exquisite cuisine, such as dim sum, and also its adventurous residents’ willingness to eat just about anything from dogs to cats, rats, live shrimp, endangered species, and unusual species not found in other provinces. These eating habits have given Chinese in general the reputation for culinary revolution, but in fact most Chinese from outside Guangdong marvel at the daring of the Cantonese palate. Unfortunately, these adventures in dining occasionally have dire consequences as the 2003 SARS epidemic is now believed to have originated in Guangzhou after people began eating civet cats (a wild animal quite unlike the domesticated pets), which then caused the virus to be transmitted from animal to human.


     Perhaps because Guangzhou has always been marked by an adventurous spirit—as shown by the number of sojourners, revolutionaries, and gourmands it has spawned the city also was one of the first to embrace market reforms and capitalism. Even in the late 1980s when other Chinese cities were still marked by squat concrete, Soviet-style buildings, a few so-called free markets (where budding entrepreneurs could sell their wares) and many government-run enterprises, Guangzhou was
building skyscrapers, attracting investors from abroad (especially among the large overseas Chinese community with roots in the province), and fast becoming China’s first modern city. Its proximity to Hong Kong and shared Cantonese dialect with Hong Kong residents also helped Guangzhou to bridge the divide between a government-planned economy and a free market economy.

    Today Guangzhou, with more than 12 million residents, remains one of China’s most sophisticated, prosperous, and expensive cities. In a bold move with implications for the rest of China, the municipal government in 2012 announced the strictest measures in the country to reduce by half the number of new cars on its streets, including license plate auctions and lotteries. The central government in Beijing has generally frowned upon such measures for fear of damaging the growing auto industry. Although Guangzhou is also a major auto manufacturing hub, city officials felt it was more important to take steps to improve air quality and reduce gridlock in response to
growing public outcry. The city’s growing middle class no longer accepted the decades-old model of putting short-term economic growth over quality-of-life issues, a change in attitude that could very well be the next new trend that originated in Guangzhou.

Canton (Guangzhou)

Cars In China

Once a nation associated with its millions of bicycles, China is now the second-fastest-growing market for cars in the world. Millions of Chinese have already purchased cars and millions more are expected to make purchases in the coming decade as homegrown automotive companies are able to provide more affordable models for the domestic market.
   
        Already new car sales have reached 18 million annually in China (compared to 14.5 million in the United States) but the room for growth is enormous: whereas there are roughly six hundred cars per one thousand people in the United States, there are only forty-four per one thousand in China as of 2013. Owning a car has become part of the Chinese dream; as one female contestant explained on a popular television dating show, “I’d rather cry in the back of a BMW than smile on the back of a
bicycle.”

       Despite heavy tariffs, sales of luxury cars have been growing steadily over the last decade and are predicted to surpass the United States by 2016. In fact, when Rolls-Royce launched a special $1.2 million “Year of the Dragon” version of its Phantom model, all eight were sold in less than two months.

      Meanwhile, China is seeking to make a splash in the foreign automobile market, building car factories in Wuhu, Anhui Province, for example, and supplying automotive parts of high quality that are cheaper than those produced in the United States, Germany, or Japan. And in 2012 a Chinese company took over the storied British Black Cab company, a longtime symbol of modern London that was prominently displayed in the opening ceremony for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.


      Car brands have their own associations in China. Audis are seen as the car of choice of government officials, Buicks are a family model, and Ferrari and Porsches are the favorite of the “Red Princelings” the children of wealthy and connected government officials. China’s own Chery QQ hatchback may have been designed with the domestic market in mind, but as one Chinese businessman told the Guardian newspaper, if he drove such a low-end car to meet a client, the business deal would be “doomed” before he ever reached the door.


     Cars can also take on political significance. During anti-Japanese street demonstrations following a political standoff over the contested sovereignty of the Diaoyu Islands (the Japanese also claim them, calling them the Senkaku), a mob pulled a Chinese man out of his Toyota Corolla and beat him so severely, he was paralyzed.

     The Chinese love affair with the car has had negative consequences for the environment. Congestion now reigns in China’s cities. In one contest sponsored by the media group Bloomberg, a bicyclist was better able to navigate Beijing, beating a Porsche by nearly a half hour. And China holds the ignominious record of worst traffic jam for a twelve-day, sixty-two-mile standstill on a national highway outside Beijing in 2012. Worst of all is the quality of air in the capital city. Smog levels literally blew the charts in 2013, measuring 755 on a scale of 0 to 500, where 500 was already supposed to be too toxic for humans to breathe.

       Road deaths resulting from traffic accidents are high, although how high remains a matter of debate. The Chinese government issued official figures in 2011 showing a decrease in deaths at 62,387 people, although researchers claim the real toll is likely much higher, saying police records show 81,649 deaths in 2007, and death registrations for the year show that 221,135 died because of car crashes.

       What this means for the ever-pragmatic tourist is that it’s a very good idea to use the restroom before embarking on a car trip.

      The other essential piece of knowledge you will need to know about cars is that you should never assume a car will stop for a pedestrian in its path. One American student of ours commented poignantly about watching a Chinese pedestrian get struck by a car while attempting to cross the street at a designated crosswalk. “He might have survived, if not for the fact that every other car turning onto the street ran over him, too.”

       In the early to mid-1980s, such accidents were not uncommon either, but back then drivers had an excuse: during the Cultural Revolution red lights meant go (red being the color of revolution and Marxism) and green lights meant stop. When Deng Xiaoping ushered in the reform era in 1979, traffic light meanings were changed to conform with the rest of the world. Older drivers may not have gotten the message. Also, in an attempt to save their headlight bulbs, which in China’s nascent
market-based economy were not that easily attainable, cars and trucks tended to drive at night with their headlights off.

     Today, however, it seems drivers are merely impatient, cross, and distracted (there are no enforceable laws banning cell phone use or even preventing drivers from watching satellite TV in their cars handy during long traffic jams but deadly at other times). Drivers are also fairly self-confident that when it comes to a showdown between a car and a pedestrian, the pedestrian will not emerge victorious. Therefore, it is a very good idea to cross the street with a group of people. Running over an individual may be hazardous if a cop happens to be nearby, but running over a massive group of people will definitely dent the driver’s car, and people are really fond of their cars. As China’s city streets tend to be quite crowded, it is not difficult to find a group to cross with, even when jaywalking.

      But remember, never assume a car will slow down for you alone just because you happen to be in its path!

Cars In China

INTRODUCTION: THE PHILIPPINES

Spanish and American influence over four centuries has made this intriguing archipelago Asia’s
unexpected treasure.
         They lie like lovely gems atop Asia’s continental shelf in the western Pacific, these 7,107 islands with fluid names like Luzon, Mindoro, Palawan and Sulu. This tropical archipelago is a sprawl of half-drowned mountains, part of a great cordillera extending along the earthquake-prone Ring of Fire from Japan south to Indonesia.

Relaxing by southern waterfalls.

Chris Stowers/Apa Pub lications

       The Philippines is the only predominantly Christian nation in Asia and has always been the odd man out. The legacy of the Spanish and Americans has been overlaid on to the far older Malay/Bornean society, and together they give the Philippines a unique, almost Latin American, flavour. Even in matters of food, it seems out of place. Instead of fiery curries or spicy grilled meats, Filipino cuisine tends to be a sedate mixture of an ascetic atoll diet, combining elements of Chinese imagination and Spanish conservatism

A paradise beach on Bohol in the Visayas.

Chris Stowers/Apa Pub lications

Gigantic, sprawling Manila is the starting point for most journeys. The traveller leaving Europe or North America for the first time might find the megalopolis intimidating in its chaos and frantic energy. It is an old city, with a history that lingers in its architecture: Malacañang Palace, the inner city of Intramuros, the statues and boulevards.

     North of Manila are the lofty highlands of Baguio, Ifugao and beyond. These are serene lands of cascading rice terraces. Further south, surrounded by warm tropical seas, are the Visayas, an ever-changing group of islands for travellers to explore. Here lies Cebu, the gateway to the area and a booming second city of the country, and the beautiful beach resort of Boracay. Further west, Palawan is known for its remote jungles, fine beaches and superb diving.

     Despite the many hardships they have endured in their checkered past, most recently the devastating effects of Typhoon Haiyan, the Filipinos have kept their equanimity, knowing that life is all about adapting to change. They are a friendly lot, as you’ll discover when you experience the archipelago’s many attractions, ranging from unspoilt beaches and serene countryside to exciting nightlife.

PEOPLE AND CULTURE

From Christian fervour to ancestral worship, and from clans to mountain tribes, the richness of

Filipino culture creates one of Asia’s most vibrant societies.

     Filipinos are generally descended from a proto-Malay stock, preceded only by nomadic aborigines who crossed land bridges from mainland Asia before these were submerged to isolate the archipelago. Those early Philippine inhabitants intermarried into Chinese settlements and later with the Spanish during their 333-year period of colonization. Many present-day Filipinos, or Pinoys as they call themselves, are of mixed heritage, known as Spanish mestizo. It’s unclear how many of these people live in the Philippines today: estimates range from 3.5 million to 36 million.

        Filipinos have a justifiable reputation as one of the most hospitable people in the world. Clans are the rule of survival, and are both the main strength and source of corruption in Filipino society. They operate as custodians of common experiences (many old families religiously keep family trees), and as the memory of geographical and racial origins. Clans also act as disciplinary mechanisms, employment agencies and informal social security systems.

      Conversation often starts with questions about family, a topic that allows both sides to go into detail about parents, siblings, children, and their global whereabouts. Filipinos generally know a bit about world geography as a family member has probably worked abroad. Since there are no major ongoing feuds with foreign governments (China is on the watch list from 2012, however), Filipinos harbour little suspicion toward foreign visitors, though cannot hide their pride in having thrown off
colonial rule.

      Direct confrontation is generally avoided. When forced to deliver a negative message, Filipinos are fond of emissaries and indirect allusions, out of respect for the sensitivity of the other party. Strong and fixed eye contact between males is considered aggressive. Eyebrows raised with a smile are a silent ‘hello’ or ‘yes’ to a question. One might be pointed toward a direction with pursed lips. Polite language and gentle conversation are ever important, even during inevitable disputes between
travellers and local merchants. If foreign guests are invited to a Filipino home, they should give special acknowledgment to elders.

INTRODUCTION: THE PHILIPPINES

Chinese Communist Party

Currently, China is under the total and absolute control of the Chinese Communist Party, whose authority supersedes even that of the Constitution. The Chinese Communist Party began as a number of separate groups formed by Chinese intellectuals in Beijing and Shanghai to study Marxism after the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911. At that time, China was nominally a republic but in fact had disintegrated into a number of warring provinces led by warlords and their armies.

     In 1921, Moscow’s Comintern sent an agent to China to link China’s budding communists with its own party apparatus. He attended the first organized Chinese Communist Party Congress in the French concession of Shanghai on July 1. There were only twelve delegates, including a young library worker named Mao Zedong, representing a total of fifty-seven members nationwide. From these inauspicious beginnings would grow the world’s largest Communist Party.

    The Second Party Congress was held in June and July 1922 in Hangzhou, although official party records curiously list Shanghai as the meeting place. At this meeting, the party adopted a constitution and a manifesto. The Second Party Congress also made a formal decision to join with Moscow’s Comintern and establish a political bureau within the party. Finally, the party pledged to cooperate with the Nationalist Party’s leader, Sun Yat-sen, to work to overthrow the warlords and unify
China.

    However, after Sun died in 1925 of cancer, his successor, Chiang Kai-shek, decided to outlaw the Chinese Communist Party and ordered the killing of its members in Shanghai in April 1927. An estimated five thousand party members and union representatives were executed. By November 1930, Chiang began the first of six military campaigns to exterminate the Chinese Communist Party and its army. Mao led his followers on the famous Long March of six thousand miles to escape the
Nationalists and established a new base in a rural part of northwest Shaanxi Province known as Yan’an.

   As the threat of Japanese invasion became more obvious toward the end of 1936, Manchurian warlord Zhang Xueliang (pronounced “jahng shweh lee-ong”) kidnapped Chiang in December and refused to release him until Chiang promised to unite
with the Communists to fight Japanese aggression in what became known as the United Front.

When the United States, Great Britain, and other Western powers entered the war in the Pacific at the end of 1941, they too encouraged Chiang to cooperate with the Communists as they feared a civil war would only work to Japan’s advantage.

However, the Nationalists under Chiang never truly stopped fighting the Communists, as Chiang considered them an even greater threat to his hold on power than the Japanese, whom he felt the West would be able to defeat. Indeed, his paranoia proved correct, although it is hard to gauge if Chiang’s insistence on pursuing civil war while being attacked by the Japanese was, in fact, a main reason why so many generals defected to Mao’s side after Japan surrendered in August 1945. By this time,
party membership had increased from forty thousand in 1937 to 1.2 million.

Mao’s People’s Liberation Army ultimately won the civil war and established the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949, with Mao Zedong as its chairman. Thus the Chinese Communist Party became the single most important power in China.

By 2013, the Communist Party had 3.5 million organizations throughout China, with some 80 million members controlling the country’s political, social, and military affairs. As for economic affairs, the party began cooperating with private sector entrepreneurs and companies, including joint ventures with foreign-owned firms, under the guidelines of the “Open Door Policy” enacted by Deng Xiaoping in 1979 to revitalize the Chinese economy after it had been devastated by Mao’s endless political campaigns. China was admitted to the World Trade Organization in 2001.

As for international affairs, the party is obligated to adhere to all international treaties and protocols to which it has become a signatory, and it must abide by international laws as well as the charter and decisions of the United Nations and its numerous agencies.

After the death of Deng Xiaoping in 1997, the Chinese Communist Party had three different leaders: Jiang Zemin (1989–2002); Hu Jintao (2002–2012); and Xi Jinping (2012–present).

How were these leaders selected? Jiang and Hu were personally designated by Deng before his death as the so-called leaders of the third and fourth generation. Deng considered himself as the leader of the second generation of the Chinese Communist Party as Mao was the leader of the first generation of Chinese under the rule of the party. Xi is considered the leader of the fifth generation of Chinese under the CCP. He was officially selected at the party’s Eighteenth National Congress in 2012, which is held every five years. The delegates of the Congress were selected (the Chinese use the term “elected”) by local party congresses, which are established throughout local and provincial regions in China.

The selection process is secretive and not at all transparent to the Chinese people. There is a long process that proceeds the final selection, during which national and provincial leaders nominate potential leaders. They attend secret meetings where these leaders negotiate and bargain for their proposed candidates. Retired high officials also play a critical role in the selection process for new leaders. Jiang Zemin is believed to have played a central role in the selection of Xi as the new party
leader.

Currently, China is under the so-called collective rule of the twenty-five members of the Politburo of the party’s Central Committee. Within this Politburo there is a Standing Committee of seven men who together rule China on a day-to-day basis, making the final decisions on all policies governing China to be ratified by the twenty-five-member Politburo. How much individual power Xi as party chief now wields is hard to estimate. His power is most likely dependent on winning allies in the
seven-member Standing Committee.

There are several rules that party members must follow when nominating potential leaders. These rules are made by the Central Committee’s Organization Department. These rules include the following: (1) candidates must have a college education; (2) candidates must have a variety of leadership experiences, such as having worked in different areas of China and at different departments; (3) candidates must be firmly embedded in the party’s current ideology and must have graduated from a recognized party school for cadres; (4) the candidates must have passed satisfactory evaluation by the party’s Disciplinary Committee, a separate and independent branch within the party; (5) the candidates must belong to one of the major factions within the party, such as the Party Youth League or the military, for example; and (6) the candidates must be under sixty-five
years of age. Finally, while the party is an authoritarian organization, it does have rules that prevent uneducated members from becoming leaders, no matter how personally popular.

Chinese Communist Party

Chongqing In China

Chongqing, formerly known as Chungking, was the wartime capital of China during the Japanese invasion of World War II. Located at the confluence of two rivers, the Jialing and the Yangtze, it is also a city built upon a mountain. Both these factors proved essential to Chongqing’s survival during World War II, when the Japanese flew more than 9,500 sorties over the city and dropped nearly 22,000 bombs from 1938 to 1945 in an attempt to destroy the Nationalist government.
Because of the rivers and humid climate, Chongqing is a very foggy city, and Japanese bombers in those days did not have radar; thus the fog protected many vital targets. In addition, the population of Chongqing built thousands upon thousands of airraid shelters, digging directly into the mountain base of the city. Some of these shelters were only large enough for one or two people to squat inside. Others could hold battalions of soldiers and even supply trucks.

   Today Chongqing (pronounced “chohng cheeng”) is a mix of new and old, with remnants of former bomb shelters converted into shops and dance clubs while modern skyscrapers break the horizon line where once only the city’s ancient wall stood. The city center is adorned with giant video screens projecting endless streaming advertisements and videos, evoking comparisons to the movie Blade Runner. (Fortunately, Chongqing’s air quality is better.) The city was named a Special Economic Zone in 1998, accelerating its development, and the entire metropolitan area now comprises some 30 million people.

     Tourists may visit many World War II historical sites, which include Zhou Enlai’s bunker and the Stilwell Museum, which is filled with videos, artifacts, and photographs from the era when General Joseph Stilwell served as President Roosevelt’s adviser to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. Unfortunately, the airfield where the famous Flying Tigers were stationed is now under water due to the building of the Three Gorges Dam, but visitors may see photographs of the air force jointly run by
Americans and Chinese in various historical displays in the city. Chongqing is unique in Chinese history in that the Nationalists, the Communists, and the Americans all had representatives working together here during various periods in World War II in a united effort to defeat the invading Japanese army and air force.

    Chongqing is renowned for its fiery hot cuisine, especially the hot pot. Similar in concept to the Western dish fondue except without the cheese, hot pots are tureens with a fire beneath and filled with a spicy, oily broth. Many courses are served, of everything from noodles to lettuce to meats and fish, which are then dipped into the hot pot to cook and steep in the spices. Sichuan peppercorns provide an unusual sensation different from Thai or Indian “hot” spices in that after a first rush of heat themouth begins to feel numb. If, however, the heat does not subside, a spoonful of white sugar or something sweet can help greatly to cleanse the palate. Most restaurants will provide a mid-meal sweet, such as a tiny petit four for this purpose. If you feel the need to reduce the heat in your mouth sooner, don’t hesitate to ask your waiter or waitress for something sweet. Water alone will not do the trick.

   Outside Chongqing the modern world slips away rapidly and visitors can see giant Buddhist statues carved into the mountainside in the nearby town of Dazu or visit the famed natural hot springs, now a resort known in Mandarin as shan dong. Farmers can be seen working in terraced fields that climb the steep mountains in seemingly endless spirals, water buffalo walk beside the new superhighways, and traditional stilt houses built off the sides of the mountains are still visible, although plans to raze all these old buildings and house the people in high-rises instead are under way.

   Chongqing is also one of China’s “three furnaces” (the other two are Wuhan and Nanjing), so named because of the extreme heat and humidity of the summers. So, be forewarned if you are planning a summer trip to the city.

  Visitors should definitely partake in the city’s penchant for public dancing, called “baba” dancing after the local dialect’s term for parks. In 2012 alone, nearly a million people participated in Chongqing’s myriad dance contests. Before his fall from power, former party secretary Bo Xilai made use of his city’s proclivity for public dancing with mass musical sing-offs and dance events using Mao-era standards to boost civic spirit (and his own political fortune). Public dancing in Chongqing’s many public parks and city squares remains a vibrant part of the megacity’s culture, where current musical tastes favor international pop standards from K-Pop rapper PSY to Beyoncé and Lady Gaga.

Chongqing In China

Colors In China

In October 2005, when China’s two taikonauts landed back on Earth after becoming the first Chinese to orbit the planet successfully, the two men were greeted with giant pink bouquets of flowers. Later, bedecked in flower garlands, they continued to hold their pink bouquets as they sat in a convertible and waved to the ecstatic crowds who had come to witness the historic landing.

     From an American point of view, this scene might have seemed unusual because pink flower bouquets are generally not given to men, unless you are in Hawaii, where flower leis are routinely given to both sexes. However, in China pink is not a gendered color the way it is in America. Pink is seen as a shade of red, and red is the color of celebration, good luck, and happiness.

    Traditionally in pre-1949 China, brides wore red clothing and red veils for their marriage ceremonies. Red envelopes filled with money were given as presents during the ceremony, as well as to children for the New Year. Red is the color on firecracker wrappers, many imperial seals, and on the background of the Chinese flag. Red is easily the most important color in China. Today when you want to say that some actor or actress is very popular, you say they are feichang hong!—that is, they are very red! For these reasons, both Communism and Coca-Cola benefited from the traditional
Chinese affection for the color red.

    White has traditionally been associated with death, corpses, and ghosts. An unbleached cotton, a sort of off-white color, was the traditional color to wear to a funeral. “Ghost money” (pinyin: gui zhi, pronounced “gway juhr”), which is burned at funerals and on festivals such as Qing Ming to remember the dead, was printed on undyed off-white paper.

    However, nowadays because of Western influences, brides can be seen wearing Western-style white wedding dresse although it is not uncommon for them to change into red traditional-style qipao dresses during the reception.

   Chinese in general tend to view colorful things more positively than monochromatic ones. For example, all colors are acceptable for children’s clothing so long as they are bright and cheerful, so young babies and boys and girls can be seen in clothes with pink and blue on them as well as yellows, greens, purples regardless of gender.

   Adults can wear all colors, but the New York City obsession with black as the ultimate chic uniform has never been fully accepted in China. In Beijing and Shanghai, Hong Kong and Guangzhou, you will see young people in their twenties occasionally sporting an all-black look, but in general brighter colors are preferred. If you are inclined to wear black a lot, don’t be surprised if your Chinese hosts or guide comes up to you to say, “You look so sad and depressed. What’s wrong?”

   Chinese cultural connotations associated with color have also influenced the language, sometimes in contradictory ways. For example, when the word “yellow” (in pinyin: huangse de) is used as an adjective for a book, magazine, or movie, it means that thing is pornographic. Yet, the term “Yellow Emperor” refers to the mythic founder of the Chinese people and thus the common ancestor to all Chinese in the diaspora. The phrase “land of the Yellow Springs” refers to a traditional Buddhist
concept of the afterlife or paradise.

  Green is generally a neutral color, yet the expression “to wear a green hat” (pinyin: dai lü maozi) when referring to a man means that he’s been cuckolded. Therefore, men should not wear green-colored hats, knit or otherwise, when visiting China lest they elicit giggles.

  The term “black society” (pinyin: hei shehui) refers to the world of organized criminal gangs. It does not have anything to do with skin color.

And whereas the color red itself has positive connotations, the expression “to have red eyes” means that someone is very jealous or envious of another person.

Nevertheless, in practical terms, if you’re giving a gift to someone, red or pink wrapping paper is always appropriate and does not conjure up images of envy but simply signifies a celebration and a wish for good luck. When choosing a bouquet, unless it’s for a funeral, bright colors are preferable to white flowers unless the recipient is very familiar with Western tastes or into the avant-garde art scene.

And if you’re a guy, and someone gives you flowers as a welcoming gift or a thank-you for a performance (singing at assemblies is a popular activity at many schools), think like the Hawaiians and enjoy their beauty.

Colors In China

Confucianism

Confucianism is a system of ethics based upon the teachings of Kong Qiu, also known as Kong Fuzi (thus in English he became known as Confucius), who lived roughly between the years 551 and 479 BCE. He believed that mankind would be in harmony with the universe if all behaved with righteousness and restraint and adhered to specific social roles. He emphasized the study of classic works of literature, the worship of ancestors, and submission to authority. The five principal relationships upon which all society should be based, according to Confucius, are as follows: filial piety between father and son (meaning the son must obey and respect his father, in both life and death), loyalty between ruler and subject, harmony between husband and wife, precedence of the elder over the younger in family relations, and trust between friends. Trust between friends is the only horizontal relationship; the rest are hierarchical.

    However, these guidelines also insist upon reciprocity. For example, the filial piety of the son should be reciprocated by the love of the father, and the obedience of the subject should be reciprocated by the fairness of the ruler.
 
    It should be remembered that Confucius lived during a very chaotic period of time in Chinese history known as the Warring States period, during which time China was not a unified nation but in fact a series of little fiefdoms that fought with each other constantly, causing much human suffering. He emphasized allegiance, loyalty, and obedience as a way to end this constant warfare.

  After he died, his teachings (written down by his disciples in a book called the Analects) were adopted by the Chinese imperial states throughout the centuries, although modifications and different interpretations of his teachings continued to be made. One of the most important factors of Confucianism in its many interpretations is an emphasis on education. This aspect of
Confucianism is still very much in practice in China as well as the other Asian countries deeply influenced by Confucianism, including South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore.

  Many temples were built to honor Confucius over the centuries and even today in rural areas some Chinese pray to Confucius as a kind of wise saint for his help in their daily life even though Confucius himself never talked about religion, famously saying, “If you are not able to serve men, how can you worship the gods?” and “If you do not know life, how can youknow about death?” (Analects, XI, II). He considered himself a statesman and philosopher rather than the founder of a religion, but over time Confucianism took on religious aspects.

   In 1911, when the last emperor of China was overthrown, Confucianism was officially out of favor in China. Leading intellectuals blamed Confucianism’s emphasis on studying the past, obeying authority, and respecting elders at the expense of the ideas of the young as a force that had kept China “backwards” in terms of technology and political culture compared to the West. Indeed, the Confucian emphasis on a benevolent, paternalistic form of government and obedient citizens contradicts aspects of Western liberal democracy, which is based on the principles of individual rights and social contracts between the government and its citizens.

   During the Cultural Revolution, Chairman Mao launched a movement known as the “Campaign against Lin Biao and Confucius” in 1973–74. Lin Biao had been named as the official successor as future chairman of the Communist Party but had died in a mysterious plane crash in 1971. Linking Lin and Confucius was a seemingly bizarre and random act of dogma, especially considering that both men were already dead, but Mao ensured that it spread across the country. (Some political
theorists say the campaign was a veiled attack on another of Mao’s contemporaries, Zhou Enlai, who was still alive.) At any rate, the various Kong clans in China, as the living descendants of Confucius, went through living hell while this campaign lasted. In fact, one branch was not able to rebuild its Confucian temple until 1992.

  Today, there is a resurgent interest in Confucianism, perhaps as a way to counter Western criticism of China’s political system, but also as a source of pride in China’s ancient culture and the brilliance of its philosophers. Confucius’s hometown of Qufu in Shandong Province is a major tourist attraction. More recently, former President Hu Jintao in 2006 called upon government officials to return to Confucian moral ethics as a way to counter corruption and growing inequality within Chinese society, and he approved funding for more than three hundred “Confucius Institutes” to be established around the world to offer classes and resources about Chinese language and culture.

Confucianism

Corruption China

Corruption permeates every level of Chinese society and is one of the greatest problems facing China today. This assessment does not come simply from foreign critics, but from China’s current president Xi Jinping and former president Hu Jintao, both of whom publicly declared when they took power that cracking down on corruption was amajor goal of their presidencies. Hu obviously failed, while Xi’s efforts remain to be seen.

   Scandals in China run the gamut from merely distasteful to completely lethal. Numerous officials have been caught in sex scandals. In one notorious case, a Chinese Communist Party member kept two twin-sister mistresses in apartments paid for with government money; in another, provincial officials naively posted photos online of themselves embarking on an orgy. Real estate scandals are also widespread including the cases of so-called Sister House, in which a bank vice president used fake IDs to purchase forty-one homes in Beijing. Scandals involving cars are also not unfamiliar, as illustrated by the case of the son of a high-government official who crashed his Ferrari in Beijing in 2012, killing himself and one passenger (the daughter of a Tibetan government official) and injuring another female passenger. The driver was not identified in the official press, and all mention of the crash was soon deleted by government censors from the web. However, private netizens kept the story alive online, and foreign journalists were able to track down the sole survivor
as well as college friends of the driver to confirm details of the accident, which is widely believed to have derailed the official’s expected promotion to the highest levels of government.

   When safety regulations are flaunted, corruption actually can sicken or even kill. For example, bribing food inspectors has led to recycled cooking oil being used from one restaurant to the next (a practice known as using “gutter oil”), massive food poisoning incidents, ordinary meat mislabeled as organic being sold in major chain stores, and the overuse of antibiotics in some chickens that found their way into the KFC franchise’s supply chain. Furthermore, use of substandard building materials
is blamed in deaths across the country, where buildings and structures have collapsed, from bridges to highway overpasses to schools. In the case of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, elementary schools for migrant workers’ children were not built up to code to withstand an earthquake and came tumbling down, resulting in more than five thousand children’s deaths.

   It’s hard to say if Chinese society is becoming more corrupt than ever before, or if the Chinese people are simply more aware of the corruption because of social media and cell phone cameras that have allowed ordinary citizens to report bad behavior. The government often tries to hush up coverage of corruption in the media, preferring to handle its own opaque investigations. Ordinary citizen bloggers, sometimes using pseudonyms, have taken to posting examples of official misdeeds from sex scandals to construction problems to land grabs to cover-ups over crimes ranging from rape to murder. While censors often take the posts down within hours, many of these bloggers have gained hundreds of thousands of followers online and a celebrity status that, for the time being, protects them from official harassment.

   Perhaps the people most hurt by corruption are China’s rural residents and unemployed, older workers. Both groups have largely been unable to benefit from the economic reforms that have fueled growth and wealth in China’s coastal cities. Laid-off workers are often promised pensions or some form of compensation but then after a few payments, they are given nothing. As a result, many unemployed workers, especially those cut from the rolls of the cumbersome state-run enterprises that are being phased out of the new, faster-paced Chinese economy, are banding together to protest their disenfranchisement. It is not uncommon in some of the poorer inland cities to see workers bearing placards with their grievances spelled out in large Chinese characters.

  Farmers face a different problem. Often they find that their land is being confiscated by corrupt local officials who cut deals with factories or other profit-making ventures to build upon the cheap real estate cheap because the farmers aren’t adequately paid for their land. As a result, rural poverty continues to grow. Furthermore, the farther one lives from the central government in Beijing, the easier it is for corrupt local officials and businesspeople to exploit farmers, as they have no way to
make their grievances heard. Heroic Chinese reporters and lawyers, often self-trained, have tried to bring the plight of farmers to the public’s attention and force the government to help. However, local corruption is such that lawyers are often arrested and beaten by police, who are paid off by the officials or companies, and reporters can be censured or fired for covering stories
that are not first approved by the Communist Party, which still controls the media. However, Chinese journalists have grown increasingly bold in challenging what they see as a blight on their society and in demanding more freedoms for the media.

   Most foreign tourists will not have to deal with large-scale corruption. Because the tourism industry is seen as essential to China’s growing economy and as its “face” in the international arena, it is highly competitive and watched over by the central government. The smaller-level corruption one typically encounters may involve detours on your tour bus to businesses, restaurants, and trinket stands where suddenly your guide announces, “It’s time to take a rest.” The idea is that everyone is
forced off the bus and will make purchases and/or eat. The tour companies or guides then get a cut from the business owners.

   When planning a tour, be wary of smaller, lesser-known companies. If anyone is offering incredibly low prices, special access to ancient treasures, an itinerary that covers vast amounts of territory in very little time, or the like, be skeptical. Ask for references from satisfied tourists. Check the Internet and travel magazines for complaints. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

   Businesspeople will have to be vigilant at every step of the process of building their company base and brand in China, from quality control to ever-shifting contracts. Even government support does not guarantee escape from corruption. Businesspeople from countries where bribery is illegal face a particular disadvantage, as the practice is rampant in China, and many nations have no problem with how their businesspeople operate. However, it’s almost impossible (not to mention illegal)
for Americans to compete in the bribery arena. For example, Taiwanese are well-known for offering special “gifts” to local officials to help their businesses along. Such gifts can include diamond-encrusted watches, expensive luxury goods, and even out-and-out cash payments.

   Alas, everyone suffers. The best you can hope to do is know who’s in charge of your venture, tour, study abroad program, English-teaching program, or whatever you’re involved with. When something goes awry or you feel you are being squeezed, try to reach the most senior official or person in charge of your program. That person will be most able to stop lower-level
people from harassing you or your company. It’s also good to make as many Chinese friends as possible, as they have had to deal with corruption their whole lives and have many coping strategies and networks of friends you can tap into.

Corruption China

The Main Methods of Sociological Research

In the mid-1960s, the first generation of North American children exposed to high levels
of TV violence virtually from birth reached their mid-teens. At the same time, the rate
of violent crime began to increase. Some commentators said that TV violence made violence
in the real world seem normal and acceptable. As a result, they concluded, North
American teenagers in the 1960s and subsequent decades were more likely than pre-
1960s teens to commit violent acts. The increasing prevalence of violence in movies,
video games, and popular music seemed to add weight to their conclusion.
Social scientists soon started investigating the connection between media and realworld
violence using experimental methods. An experiment is a carefully controlled
artificial situation that allows researchers to isolate presumed causes and measure their
effects precisely (Campbell and Stanley, 1963).
Experiments use a procedure called randomization to create two similar groups.
Randomization
involves assigning individuals to groups by chance processes. For example,
researchers may ask 50 children to draw a number from 1 to 50 from a covered box. The
researchers assign children who draw odd numbers to one group and those who draw
even numbers to the other group. By assigning subjects to the two
groups using a chance process and repeating the experiment many times, researchers ensure that
each group has the same proportion of boys and girls, members of different races, children highly
motivated to participate in the study, and so on. After randomly assigning subjects to the two groups, the researchers put the groups in separate rooms and give them toys to play with. They observe the children through one-way mirrors, rating each child in terms of the aggressiveness of his or her play.
This is the child’s initial score on the “dependent variable,” aggressive behavior. The dependent
variable is the effect in any cause and-effect relationship. Then the researchers introduce
the supposed (or “hypothesized”)

cause to one group—now called the experimental group. They may show children in the
experimental group an hour-long TV program in which many violent acts take place. They
do not show the program to children in the other group, now called the control group. In
this case, the violent TV show is the “independent variable.” The independent variable is
the presumed cause in any cause-and-effect relationship.
Immediately after the children see the TV show, the researchers again observe the
children in both groups at play. Each child’s play is given a second aggressiveness score.
By comparing the aggressiveness scores of the two groups before and after only one
of the groups has been exposed to the presumed cause, an experiment can determine
whether the presumed cause (watching violent TV) has the predicted effect (increasing
violent behavior; see Table 1.1).
Experiments allow researchers to isolate the single cause of theoretical interest and
measure its effect with high reliability, that is, consistently from one experiment to the
next. Yet many sociologists argue that experiments are highly artificial situations. They
believe that removing people from their natural social settings lowers the validity of
experimental results, that is, the degree to which they measure what they are actually
supposed to measure.
Why do experiments on the effects of media violence lack validity? First, in the real
world, violent behavior usually means attempting to harm another person physically.
Shouting or kicking a toy is not the same thing. In fact, such acts may enable children
to relieve frustrations in a fantasy world, lowering their chance of acting violently in the
real world. Second, aggressive behavior is not controlled in the laboratory setting as it
is in the real world. If a boy watching a violent TV show stands up and delivers a karate
kick to his brother, a parent or other caregiver is likely to take action to prevent a recurrence.
In the lab, lack of disciplinary control may facilitate unrealistically high levels of
aggression (Felson, 1996).
Many experiments show that exposure to media violence has a short-term effect on
violent behavior in young children, especially boys. However, the results of experiments
are mixed when it comes to assessing longer-term effects, especially on older children
and teenagers (Anderson and Bushman, 2002; Browne and Hamilton-Gilchrist, 2005;
Freedman, 2002).

The Main Methods of Sociological Research

Analysis of Existing Documents and Official Statistics

The fourth important sociological research method involves the analysis of existing
documents and official statistics that are created by people other than the researcher
for purposes other than sociological research.
The three types of existing documents that sociologists have mined most deeply are
diaries, newspapers, and published historical works. Census data, police crime reports,
and records of key life events are perhaps the most frequently used sources of official
statistics. For instance, the modern census tallies the number of American residents and
classifies them by place of residence, race, ethnic origin, occupation, age, and hundreds
of other variables. The FBI publishes an annual Uniform Crime Report, giving the number
of crimes in the United States and classifying them by location and type of crime,
the age and sex of offenders and victims, and other variables. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention regularly publishes “vital statistics” reports on births, deaths,
marriages, and divorces by sex, race, age, and so on.
Census and crime data put the limited effect of media violence on violent behavior
into perspective. For example, researchers have discovered big differences in violent
behavior when they compare the United States and Canada. The homicide rate (the
number of murders per 100,000 people) has historically been about four times higher
in the United States. Yet, TV programming, movies, and video games are nearly identical
in the two countries, so exposure to media violence can’t account for the difference.
Researchers instead attribute the difference in homicide rates to the higher level of
economic and social inequality and the wider availability of handguns in the United
States (Government of Canada, 2002; Lenton, 1989; National Rifle Association, 2005;
Oppenheimer, 2007).
Existing documents and official statistics have several advantages over other types
of data. They can save researchers time and money because they are usually available
at no cost in libraries or on the World Wide Web. Official statistics usually cover entire
populations and are collected using rigorous and uniform methods, yielding highly reliable
data. Existing documents and official statistics are especially useful for historical
analysis. Finally, because the analysis of existing documents and official statistics does
not require live subjects, reactivity is not a problem. The researchers’ presence does not
influence the subjects’ behavior.
Existing documents and official statistics also share one big disadvantage. They are
not created with researchers’ needs in mind. In a sense, researchers start at stage 4 of the
research cycle (data collection; see Figure 1.3) and then work within the limitations imposed
by available data, including biases that reflect the interests of the individuals and
organizations that created them.
The preceding discussion should give you a pretty good idea of the basic methodological
issues that confront any sociological research project. You should also know the
strengths and weaknesses of some of the most widely used data-collection techniques
(see Concept Summary 1.2). In the remainder of this chapter, we outline what you can
expect to learn from the rest of this book.

Challenges Facing Us Today
Most of the founders of sociology developed their ideas to help solve the great sociological
puzzle of their time—the causes and consequences of the Industrial Revolution.
This raises two interesting questions: What are the great sociological puzzles of
our time? How are today’s sociologists responding to the challenges presented by the
social settings in which we live? We devote the rest of this book to answering these
questions in depth.
It would be wrong to suggest that the research of tens of thousands of sociologists
around the world is animated by just a few key issues. Hundreds of debates enliven sociology
today. Some focus on small issues relevant to particular fields and geographical
areas, others on big issues that seek to characterize the entire historical era for
humanity as a whole. Among the big issues, two stand out. The greatest sociological
puzzles of our time are the causes and consequences of the Postindustrial Revolution
and globalization.
The Postindustrial Revolution is the technology-driven shift from employment
in factories to employment in offices, and the consequences of that shift for nearly
all human activities (Bell, 1973; Toffee, 1990). For example, as a result of the Postindustrial
Revolution, non manual occupations now outnumber manual occupations,
and women have been drawn into the system of higher education and the paid labor
force in large numbers. This shift has transformed the way we work and study, our
standard of living, the way we form families, and much else. Globalization is the
process by which formerly separate economies, states, and cultures are becoming
tied together and people are becoming increasingly aware of their growing interdependence
(Giddens, 1990: 64; Guillén, 2001). Especially in recent decades, rapid
increases in the volume of international trade, travel, and communication have broken
down the isolation and independence of most countries and people. Also contributing
to globalization is the growth of many institutions that bind corporations,
companies, and cultures together. These processes have caused people to depend
more than ever on people in other countries for products, services, ideas, and even
a sense of identity.

Analysis of Existing Documents and Official Statistics

More Opportunity culture?

Some sociologists think that globalization and post industrialism will enhance the quality
of life. Specifically, they forecast that post industrialism will provide more opportunities for
people to find creative, interesting, challenging, and rewarding work. They also say it will
generate more equality of opportunity, that is, better chances for all people to get an education,
influence government policy, and find good jobs. However, as you read this book, it
will become clear that although great strides have been made in providing economic and
education opportunities for women, limiting discrimination, and spreading democracy,
all of these seemingly happy stories have a dark underside. For example, it turns out that
the number of routine jobs with low pay and few benefits is growing faster than the number
of creative, high-paying jobs. Inequality between the wealthiest and poorest Americans
has grown in recent decades. An enormous opportunity gulf still separates women
from men. Racism and discrimination are still a part of our world. Our health care system
is in crisis just as our population is aging rapidly and most in need of health care. Disasters
sometimes follow technological advances—just think of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
in 2010, and the nuclear meltdown in Japan in 2011. Many of the world’s new democracies
are only superficially democratic, while Americans and citizens of other postindustrial
societies are increasingly cynical about the ability of their political systems to respond to
their needs. They are looking for alternative forms of political expression. The absolute
number of desperately poor people in the world continues to grow, as does the gap between
rich and poor nations. Many people attribute the world’s most serious problems to
globalization. They have formed organizations and movements—some of them violent
to oppose it. In short, equality of opportunity is an undeniably attractive ideal, but it is
unclear whether it is the inevitable outcome of a globalized, postindustrial society.

More Freedom?

We may say the same about the ideal of freedom. In an earlier era, most people retained
their religious, ethnic, racial, and sexual identities for a lifetime, even if they were not particularly
comfortable with them. They often remained in social relationships that made
them unhappy. One of the major themes of this book is that many people are now freer to
construct their identities and form social relationships in ways that suit them. To a greater
degree than ever before, it is possible to choose who you want to be, with whom you want
to associate, and how you want to associate with them. The postindustrial and global era
frees people from traditional constraints by encouraging virtually instant global communication,
international migration, greater acceptance of sexual diversity and a variety of
family forms, the growth of ethnically and racially diverse cities, and so on. For instance,
in the past, people often stayed in marriages even if they were dissatisfied with them.
Families often involved a father working in the paid labor force and a mother keeping
house and raising children without pay. Today, people are freer to end unhappy marriages
and create family structures that are more suited to their individual needs.
Again, however, we must face the less rosy aspects of post industrialism and globalization.
In the following chapters, we show how increased freedom is experienced only
within certain limits and how social diversity is limited by a strong push to conformity
in some spheres of life. For example, we can choose a far wider variety of consumer
products than ever before, but consumerism itself increasingly seems a compulsory way
of life. Moreover, it is a way of life that threatens the natural environment. Large, impersonal
bureaucracies and standardized products and services dehumanize both staff and
customers. The tastes and the profit motive of vast media conglomerates govern most
of our diverse cultural consumption and arguably threaten the survival of distinctive
national cultures. Powerful interests are trying to shore up the traditional nuclear family
Two guarantees should back every loan. First, borrowers should
have assets to cover the loan in case they can’t make payments.
Second, lenders should have enough money to keep operating if
some borrowers default.
Governments are generally responsible for ensuring these
guarantees. However, in recent years, the American government
failed to require that financial institutions have enough reserves
to deal with defaults. In addition, governments devised a scheme
to ensure that more Americans could become homeowners. They
encouraged financial institutions to offer so-called “Ninja” mortgages
(for people with no income, no job, and no assets). Effectively,
Ninja mortgages allowed people to buy houses at low
interest rates without collateral or a down payment.
Ninja mortgages usually offered teaser rates—especially low
interest in the first year or two of the mortgage, followed by a
substantial interest rate hike. Many people who took out Ninja
mortgages didn’t understand that they would soon face a rate
hike. The increases were manageable for most people as long
as house prices were rising because if they needed more money,
they could just take out a bigger mortgage.
The trouble began when house prices started to fall in 2007.
Suddenly, millions of Americans could no longer refinance their
homes, nor could they afford higher mortgage payments. Therefore,
they faced foreclosure. Making matters worse, many houses
that financial institutions repossessed could not be sold, and
those that were sold fetched only a fraction of their former value.
This situation caused house prices to plummet and bank losses
to skyrocket. Soon, many financial institutions didn’t have enough
cash to continue operating and went bankrupt. Others received
government bailouts. Between October 2007 and October 2008,
the stock market dropped 40 percent. Millions of Americans lost
their homes, jobs, and retirement savings. The Great Recession
of 2007–09 was in full swing.
As Americans slowly crawl out of the worst economic disaster
since the Great Depression of 1929–39, it is time to ask how
a repeat can be avoided. Some observers advocate banning
Ninja mortgages and requiring financial institutions to keep a
higher percentage of their money in reserve in case of loan defaults.
Other observers oppose such government regulation on
the grounds that it hampers economic growth and limits home
ownership.

More Opportunity culture?

Culture as Problem Solving

Have you ever noticed that Tiger Woods wears a red shirt on the last day of every
tournament? Did you know that Michael Jordan used to wear his college team
shorts under his NBA uniform for good luck? Or that Wayne Gretzky never used
to get a haircut while playing on the road because the last time he did, his team
lost? When Woods, Jordan, and Gretzky started these superstitious practices,
they were taking the first step toward creating one aspect of culture, the socially
transmitted ideas, practices, and material objects that people create to deal with
real-life problems. Their superstitions helped them deal with performance anxiety,
reassuring them and perhaps allowing them to play better.
Similarly, a tractor is a cultural tool that helps people solve the problem of
how to plant crops, while religion is a cultural tool that helps them come to
terms with death and give meaning to life. Note, however, that religion, technology,
and many other elements of culture differ from the superstitions of
Woods, Jordan, and Gretzky in two ways. First, superstitions may be unique
to the individuals who create them whereas culture is widely shared. Second,
unlike many superstitions, culture is passed on from one
generation to the next by means of communication and
learning; culture is socially transmitted. It requires a
society to persist. (A society is a number of people who
interact, usually in a defined territory, and share a culture.)
When people use the term culture in everyday speech,
they often have in mind what sociologists call high culture—
opera, ballet, and similar activities enjoyed mainly by people
in upper social classes. Sometimes they mean popular
culture
or mass culture—the movies, rock music, and similar
activities that people in all social classes enjoy. However,
the sociological notion of culture is much broader than the
way we use the term in everyday speech. Sociologically
speaking, culture is composed of the socially transmitted
ideas, practices, and material objects that enable people to
adapt to, and thrive in, their environments.
The Origins and
Components of Culture
You can appreciate the importance of culture for human survival by considering
the predicament of early humans about 100,000 years ago. They lived
in harsh natural environments. They had poor physical endowments, being
slower runners and weaker fighters than many other animals. Yet they survived
despite these disadvantages. More than that: They prospered and came to dominate
nature.
That was possible largely because they were the smartest creatures around. Their
sophisticated brains enabled them to create cultural survival kits of enormous complexity
and flexibility. These cultural survival kits contained three main tools. Each tool was
a uniquely human talent, and each gave rise to a different element of culture.
Abstraction: Creating Symbols
Human culture exists only because we can think abstractly. Abstraction is the capacity
to create symbols or general ideas that carry particular meanings. Languages and
mathematical
notations are sets of symbols. They allow us to classify experiences and
generalize from them. For instance, we recognize that we can sit on many objects but that
only some of them have four legs, a back, and space for one person. We distinguish
them
from other objects by giving them a name: chairs. By the time most babies reach the end
of their first year, they have heard the word chair many times and understand that it
refers to a certain class of objects.
Cooperation: Creating Norms and Values
The ability to cooperate is a second factor that enables human culture to exist. Cooperation
involves creating a complex social life by establishing norms, or generally accepted ways of
doing things, and values, or ideas about what is right and wrong, good and bad, beautiful
and ugly. For example, family members cooperate to raise children. In the process, they develop
and apply norms and values about which child-rearing practices are appropriate and
desirable. Different times and places give rise to different norms and values. In our society,
parents might ground children for swearing, but in Puritan times, parents would typically
“beat the devil out of them.” By analyzing how people cooperate and produce norms and
values, we can learn much about what distinguishes one culture from another.
Production: Creating Material and Non material Culture
Finally, culture can exist because humans can engage in production; we can make and
use tools and techniques that improve our ability to take what we want from nature.
Such tools and techniques are known as material culture because they are tangible. In
contrast, the symbols, norms, values, and other elements of non material culture are
intangible. All animals take from nature to subsist, and an ape may sometimes use a rock
to break another object. But only humans are sufficiently intelligent and dexterous to
make tools and use them to produce everything from food to computers. Understood in
this sense, production is a uniquely human activity.
Concept Summary 2.1 illustrates each of the basic human capacities and their cultural
offshoots in the field of medicine. As in medicine, so in all fields of human activity:
Abstraction, cooperation, and production give rise to specific kinds of ideas, norms, and
elements of material culture.

Culture as Problem Solving

Language and the Sapir-Whorf Thesis

Language is one of the most important parts of any culture. A language is a system of
symbols strung together to communicate thought. Equipped with language, we can share
understandings, pass experience and knowledge from one generation to the next, and
make plans for the future. In short, language allows culture to develop. Consequently,
sociologists commonly think of language as a cultural invention that distinguishes humans
from other animals.
In the 1930s, Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Wharf proposed an influential argument
about the connection between experience, thought, and language. It is now known
as the Sapir-Whorf thesis (Whorf, 1956). It holds that we experience important things
in our environment and form concepts about those things (path 1 to 2 in Figure 2.1).
Then, we develop language to express our concepts (path 2 to 3). Finally, language itself
influences how we see the world (path 3 to 1).
For example, different types of camel are important in the environment of nomadic
Arabs, and different types of snow are important in the lives of the Inuit in Canada’s
far north (path 1 to 2). Consequently, nomadic Arabs have developed many words for
different types of camel and the Inuit have developed many words for different types of
snow (path 2 to 3). Distinctions that these people see elude us because types of camel and
snow are less important in our environment.
In turn, language obliges people to think in certain ways (path 3 to 1). If you’re
walking in a park, you will know whether a certain tree is in front of you, behind you,
to the left or to the right. When asked where the tree is, you will use such directions to
describe its position. We think “egocentrically,” locating objects relative to ourselves.
However, egocentric directions have no meaning for speakers of Tzeltal in southern

Mexico or of Guugu Yimithirr in Queensland, Australia. They
lack concepts and words for left, right, and so on. They think
geographically, and will say that the tree is to the “north,” “south,
“east,” or “west.” Trained from infancy to attend to geographic
direction, Tzeltal speakers are obliged to think in those terms.
If a tree to the north is located behind them and they are asked
where the tree is, they will point to themselves, as if they don’t
exist. Reportedly, a Tzeltal speaker can be blindfolded, put in a
dark room, and spun around 20 times until he’s dizzy yet still
point without hesitation to the north, south, east, and west
(Boroditsky, 2010; Deutscher, 2010). To take an example closer
to home, income and power inequality between women and
men encourages some men to use terms like fox, babe, bitch, ho,
and doll to refer to women. However, the use of such words in
itself influences men to think of women simply as sexual objects.
If they are ever going to think of women as equals, gender inequality
will have to be reduced, but the language such men use
to refer to women will also have to change.
Culture as Freedom and Constraint
A Functionalist Analysis of Culture:
Culture and Ethnocentrism
Despite its central importance in human life, culture is often invisible. That is, people
tend to take their own culture for granted. It usually seems so sensible and natural that
they rarely think about it. In contrast, people are often startled when confronted by cultures
other than their own. The ideas, norms, values, and techniques of other cultures
frequently seem odd, irrational, and even inferior.
Judging another culture exclusively by the standards of one’s own is called ethnocentrism
(Box 2.1). Ethnocentrism impairs sociological analysis. This fact can be illustrated
by Marvin Harris’s
(1974) functionalist analysis of a practice that seems bizarre
to many
Westerners: cow worship among Hindu peasants in India.
Hindu peasants refuse to slaughter cattle and eat beef because, for them, the cow is a religious
symbol of life. Pinup calendars throughout rural India portray beautiful women with
the bodies of fat, white cows, milk jetting out of each teat. Cows are permitted to wander the
streets, relieve themselves on the sidewalks, and stop to chew their cud in busy intersections
or on railroad tracks, forcing traffic to a halt. In Madras, police stations maintain fields where
stray cows that have fallen ill can graze and be nursed back to health. The government even
runs old-age homes for cows, where dry and decrepit cattle are kept free of charge. All this
care seems mysterious to most Westerners, for it takes place amid poverty and hunger that
could presumably be alleviated if only the peasants would slaughter their “useless” cattle for
food instead of squandering scarce resources to feed and protect these animals.
However, according to Harris, ethnocentrism misleads many Western observers
(Harris, 1974: 3–32). Cow worship, it turns out, is an economically rational practice in
rural India. For one thing, Indian peasants can’t afford tractors, so cows are needed to
give birth to oxen, which are in high demand for plowing. For another, the cows produce
hundreds of millions of pounds of recoverable manure, half of which is used as fertilizer
and half as cooking fuel. With oil, coal, and wood in short supply, and with the peasants
unable to afford chemical fertilizers, cow dung is, well, a godsend. What is more, cows in
India don’t cost much to maintain because they eat mostly food that is not fit for human

Language and the Sapir-Whorf Thesis

Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)

who visits the United States so he can learn about
American culture and return home with useful lessons. The
movie’s humor turns on the apparent differences between Borat’s
culture, on the one hand, and that of his audience and the people
he meets, on the other. His values, beliefs, and norms deeply
offend the Americans he encounters. Because Borat is capable of
seeing the world only from his own cultural viewpoint, the movie
at one level is a story of ethnocentrism gone mad.
Borat is anti-Semitic, racist, homophobic, and sexist, but he directs
many of our biggest laughs against Americans. At one point,
he secures the agreement of a rodeo organizer to let him sing
the national anthem before the show begins. Borat first makes
a speech: “My name Borat, I come from Kazakhstan.
Can I say
first, we support your war of terror. (The audience applauds.) May
we show our support to our boys in Iraq. (The audience cheers.)
May US and A kill every single terrorist! (The audience roars.) May
George Bush drink the blood of every single man, woman, and
child of Iraq! May you destroy their country so that for the next
1,000 years not even a single lizard will survive in their desert!”
(The audience goes wild.) After thus demonstrating the inhumanity
of his audience, Borat sings the Kazakh national anthem in
English to the tune of the United States national anthem:
Kazakhstan is the greatest country in the world.
All other countries are run by little girls.
Kazakhstan is number one exporter of potassium.
Other Central Asian countries have inferior potassium.
Kazakhstan is the greatest country in the world.
All other countries is the home of the gays.
To the suggestion that another country exceeds the United States
in glory, the audience responds with jeers and boos that grow so
loud, one fears for Borat’s life. In this and other scenes, the movie
forces us to conclude that American culture is as biased in its
own way as Kazakh culture allegedly is.
Is Borat just a rant against Americans, Jews, blacks, gays, women,
and so on? Some people think so. But that opinion is not credible for
two reasons. First, it is inconsistent with who Sacha Baron Cohen is:
a well-educated liberal who completed a degree in history at Cambridge
and wrote his thesis on the civil rights movement in the United
States, and a Jew who strongly identifies with his ethnic heritage.
(One of the movie’s biggest jokes is that Borat speaks mostly Hebrew
to his sidekick, Azamat Bagatov [Ken Davitian].)Borat certainly is a long and funny rant, but the real objects of
its satire are the world’s racists, sexists, anti-Semites, and homophobes,
regardless of their race, creed, or national origin. The
deeper message of Borat is anything but ethnocentric: Respect
for human dignity is a value that rises above all cultures, and
people who think otherwise deserve to be laughed at.
Critical Thinking
1. Does Borat help you see the prejudices of other people more
clearly?
2. Does Borat help you see your own prejudices more clearly?
3. Borat talks and acts like a bigot from the opening title to the
closing credits. Do you think that the expression of bigotry
is inherently offensive and should always be avoided? Or do
you believe that the satirical expression of bigotry can usefully
reveal hidden prejudices?
Source: Excerpt from Borat, Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit
Glorious
Nation Of Kazakhstan © 2006, Twentieth Century Fox. Story by Sacha
Baron Cohen, Peter Baynham, Anthony Hines, and Todd Phillips. Screenplay by
Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Peter Baynham, and Dan Mazer. All rights
reserved.
consumption. And they represent an important source of protein as well as a livelihood
for members of low-ranking castes, who have the right to dispose of the bodies of dead
cattle. These “untouchables” eat beef and form the workforce of India’s large leather craft
industry. The protection of cows by means of cow worship is thus a perfectly sensible and
efficient economic practice. It seems irrational only when judged by Western standards.
Harris’s analysis of cow worship in rural India is interesting for two reasons. First,
it illustrates how functionalist theory can illuminate otherwise mysterious social practices.
Harris uncovers a range of latent functions performed by cow worship, thus showing
how a particular social practice has unintended and non obvious consequences that
make social order possible. Second, we can draw an important lesson about ethnocentrism
from Harris’s analysis. If you refrain from judging other societies by the standards
of your own, and understand practices in cultural context, you will have taken an important
first step toward developing a sociological understanding of culture.

Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)

Symbolic Interactionism and Cultural Production

Culture has two faces. First, culture provides us with an opportunity to exercise our freedom.
We create elements of culture in our everyday life to solve practical problems and
express our needs, hopes, joys, and fears.
However, creating culture is just like any other act of construction
in that we need raw materials to get the job done. The raw materials
for the culture we create consist of cultural elements that either existed
before we were born or were created by other people since our birth.
We may put these elements together in ways that produce something
new. But there is no other well to drink from, so existing culture puts
limits on what we can think and do. In that sense, culture constrains
us. This is culture’s second face. In the rest of this chapter, we take a
close look at both faces of culture.
Symbolic Interactionism
and Cultural Production
Until the 1960s, most sociologists argued that culture is a “reflection”
of society. Using a term introduced in Chapter 1, we can say that they
regarded culture as a dependent variable. Harris’s analysis of rural
Indians
certainly fits that mold. In Harris’s view, the social necessity of
protecting cows caused the cultural belief that cows are holy.
In recent decades, the symbolic-interactionist tradition we discussed
in Chapter 1 has influenced many sociologists of culture. Symbolic
interactionists are inclined to regard culture as an independent
variable. In their view, people do not accept culture passively. We are
not empty vessels into which society pours a defined assortment of
beliefs, symbols, and values. Instead, we actively produce and interpret
culture, creatively fashioning it and attaching meaning to it in
accordance with our diverse needs.
The idea that people actively produce and interpret culture implies
that, to a degree, we are at liberty to choose how culture influences us.
Cultural Diversity
Part of the reason we are increasingly able to choose how culture influences
us is that a greater diversity of culture is available from which to choose. Like most societies in the world, American society is undergoing
rapid cultural diversification. That is evident in all aspects of life, from the
growing popularity of Latino music to the ever-broadening international
assortment of foods most Americans consume. Marriage between people
of different races and ethnicities is increasingly common. Although only
1 percent of African Americans married nonblacks in 1970, 16 percent of
African
Americans married someone of a different race or ethnicity in 2008.
In the same year, nearly 15 percent of all marriages in the United States were
interracial (Taylor et al., 2010). We witness cultural diversity everywhere—
even in the names of movie stars. “Ethnic” names were often Anglicized in
the past. Bernard Schwartz became Tony Curtis, Allen Konigsberg
became
Woody Allen, Anna Italiano became Anne Bancroft, and Ramon Estevez
became Martin Sheen. In contrast, “ethnic” names for stars are popular
today. Think of Renée Zellweger, Jennifer Lopez, Benicio Del Toro, Jake
Gyllenhaal, and Emilio Estevez (Martin Sheen’s son).
Multiculturalism
At the political level, cultural diversity has become a source of conflict.
The conflict is most evident in the debates that have surfaced in recent
years concerning curricula in the American educational system.
Until recent decades, the American educational system stressed the
common elements of American culture, history, and society. Students
learned the story of how European settlers overcame great odds, prospered,
and forged a united nation from diverse ethnic and racial elements.
School curricula typically neglected the contributions of nonwhites and
non-Europeans to America’s historical, literary, artistic, and scientific
development.
Students learned little about the less savory aspects of
American history, many of which involved the use of force to create a
racial hierarchy that persists to this day, albeit in modified form (see Chapter 8, “Race
and Ethnicity”).
History books did not deny that African Americans were enslaved and that force
was used to wrest territory from Native Americans and Mexicans. However, they did
make it seem as if these unfortunate events were part of the American past, with few
implications for the present. The history of the United States was presented as a history
of progress involving the elimination of racial privilege and racial discrimination.
In contrast, for the past several decades, advocates of multiculturalism have argued
that school and college curricula should present a more balanced picture of American
history, culture, and society that better reflects the country’s ethnic and racial diversity
in the past and its growing ethnic and racial diversity today (Nash, Crabtree, and Dunn,
1997). A multicultural approach to education highlights the achievements of nonwhites
and non-Europeans. It gives more recognition to the way European settlers came to dominate
nonwhite and non-European communities. It stresses how racial domination resulted
in persistent social inequalities, and it encourages Spanish-language, elementary-level
instruction
in the states of California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Florida, where
a substantial minority of people speak Spanish at home. (About one in seven Americans
older than age 5 speaks a language other than English at home. Of these people, more than
half speak Spanish. Most Spanish speakers live in the states just listed.)
Most critics of multiculturalism do not argue against teaching cultural diversity. What
they fear is that multiculturalism is being taken too far (Glazer, 1997; Schlesinger, 1991).
They believe that multiculturalism has three negative consequences

Symbolic Interactionism and Cultural Production