Today we’ll talk about “Programming”.

I don’t mean what they do in companies like Google or Microsoft, but of what is done to reach a certain objective, to seek a better future or simply to simplify (perhaps) their lives.

Programming past and future

The title of this article is simple: “The importance of programming in Chinese culture”.

In Italy and perhaps in the West in general we have a barely marked relationship with these concepts, since over-planning things is not looked upon favorably.

They say we should just live in the moment and not think too much about the past or the future.

What they don’t tell us is that the present doesn’t exist because it’s too fleeting, because the past instantly becomes the future, leaving us with the sensation of being able to control our lives while instead we’re victims of the past and the future.

This is something the Chinese have subconsciously understood.

Besides, the Tao symbol also indicates this: something that through a whirlwind movement transforms into something else, without a continuity solution.

One of the differences between Western thought and Eastern thought is discernible also in this concept: the West lives history as an eternal betterment, an eternal effort to improve as much as possible. [Read more…]

Boasting a continuous history of thousands of years, China has collected an extensive catalogue of rules – explicit and implicit – that govern social habits: the so-called Chinese etiquette (o 礼节).

In the past, almost every aspect of Chinese life was regulated by what Master Confucius called 礼 (“li”, rites); failure to observe one of these rites equated to a break in the Confucian code of ethics which, at times, could bring rather serious consequences.

With the advancement of globalization and modernization, the weight given to observing these ritual norms has diminished but is not completely lost. The loss of many of the traditional rites is corroborated by the fact that the Chinese do not expect foreigners to know them. For this reason, most times it’s enough just to be respectful and follow the Chinese saying ru xiang sui su (入乡随俗) or “follow the local customs”.

How to greet

Most times, when you meet someone for the first time, the best thing to do is to behave formally and extremely humble, since humility is considered one of the greatest virtues. The traditional way of greeting someone consisted in a bow, keeping one’s hands hidden in the sleeves of their suit.

This method is known as 作揖 (zuoyi); by now this has fallen into disuse, substituted by a “more Western” handshake. In ancient times, the famous 叩头 (ketou) was preferred to the common bow, namely throwing yourself to the ground on your knees and lowering your head to the ground in a sign of deep reverence and great respect in front of one’s superiors. [Read more…]

Zhang Xi, a young man from Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia, came to Beijing three years ago and since then has always lived inside a basement room on the periphery of the city.

Young Xi, a theater and arts graduate, is forced to work as a traveling salesman and only rarely finds work in some minor shows. Xi is only one of the hundreds of thousands, or even millions of migrants from all over China that live underground, just a few meters away from a rapidly developing Beijing. This underground population has been named “The Rat Tribe” (鼠族).

These underground lodgings owe their existence to two main historical events. The first is the Cold War when, in the midst of the ideological clash between China and the Soviet Union for supremacy in the Eastern Bloc, Mao ordered the construction of underground tunnels to protect the population from Russian air raids. In this period 300.000 people took part in the campaign and 20.000 underground refuges were constructed.

After Mao’s death and with the ascent of Deng Xiaoping as China’s leader, the underground refuges were commercialized; beginning in the Eighties Beijing had 800 underground hotels along with supermarkets and cinemas. Starting in the Nineties a growing number of real estate agencies began renting these spaces, opening the way for a true real estate business. [Read more…]

“Sik zo faan mei aa?” (“have you already eaten today?”, 食咗飯未呀) is a common greeting, comparable to our “hey, how’s it going?”, in Hong Kong as in all of China (in Mandarin they say “chi fan le ma?, 吃饭了吗”, the version above is in Cantonese). Therefore it’s no surprise to learn, even in little everyday things, how important food is in the local culture.

It appears that the unfailing Confucius, asked by the ruler of the of the ancient state of Wei, Yuan Xiang, about the best military tactic, he phlegmatically responded that he had learned to cook rice, prepare meat, and serve vegetables, but nothing having to do with how to win a war.

If you ever receive an invitation to a traditional restaurant, remember Confucius: finding yourself having to face twelve dishes at the same time, from soup – where objects of whose nature cannot be identified in nature are often floating – to noodles (spaghetti), to fish – complete with bones – to chicken legs, passing as something edible – or presumed as such – to stuffed vegetables, it could stifle your appetite and bring you to use actual guerilla warfare tactics to come out alive.

Keep in mind the saying that in Chinese cooking they eat anything with legs that isn’t a table/chair or person, anything that has wings and isn’t a plane, and anything in the water that isn’t a submarine. [Read more…]