kamui Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 [color:red]Western ethics and morality are different than Asian[/color]. A promise in the west is seen as binding and even if your situation changes you fulfill it. In many areas of Asia, a promise means, at this moment in time I will do it but if my situation changes for the worse then I won't be obliged. The Koreans and Chinese do this a lot. [color:red]Less so in Japan.[/color] I've heard the middle east is the same. Historically many have known this, Alexander the Great's father said the word of an Asian (and he included the Persians in this) is not worth anything. Western values and the concept of a written contract and how binding it is both legally and personally and tied to your honor is known and practiced at the highest levels to a large extent but not so much with every day people. Not in Japan at all! I do business with Japan and a word given/a written contract will always be honored 110%. If a Japanese has agreed to something he will *usually* never try to cheat himself out of the contract or cheat the partner. In contrary, Japanese follow the contract by the letter 110%. There aren't any gray areas. That's my experience anyway. On the other hand, just last week German media had some reports how Chinese companies cheat, fool, steal from Germany companies which had/has joint ventures in China. The worst case: The joint venture is signed, the Chinese make the initial payment into the new joint venture. Nevertheless over the next years the Germans had wire money frequently, because there were always financial problems, but couldn't find the source of the problem. Finally they found out that the Chinese partner had withdrawn the initial payment immediately after the joint venture had been set up... When the German company went to court in Hong-Kong - the place of jurisdiction both parties had agreed upon - they learnt that Chinese had given the Germans to sign a faked contract in Chinese (after it was translated into English), in which the Chinese had changed the place of jurisdiction from Hong-Kong to the hometown of the Chinese company... Now German companies are being warned to be extremely careful when doing business with Chinese companies, since the criminal energy of Chinese businesses seems to exceptionally high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 I met a toy importer in the US - Chinese ancestry himself - who told me tales of dealing with Chinese companies. It seems the factories would show you beautifully made samples, but when you placed an order what you got would be far inferior to the samples. He had almost given up dealing with the Chinese because of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 SO in short, these people have no honor at all...? Seems the case here from what I have seen. All that seems to matter is that they finish ahead of all the others. Doesn't matter how or how well, as long as they die with more in THEIR pocket then the next guy, they won. I don't think its a question of no honor. Just a different cultural view of the concept of a promise, with regards to or especially to westerners. There are situations where they are very honorable. Family obligations, etc. Moreso than the west in many cases. Remember, just about all the far eastern countries have the concept of 'face'. So, the loss of 'face' is a very big motivator in many instances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dean Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Since this thread is about chinese mothers, I can assume that chinese fathers are all just like my wife's first husband (chinese, not chinese-thai). Had 3 children with her and adored his only son, until he got re-married and now has no time for him either. In the 3 years that I lived in LOS with my wife and her 3 kids, never once did the youngest go see her father. Before leaving, I asked her to see him and she refused. Since his divorce, he hasn't paid a bath toward child support for any of his children. Maybe, my conception of chinese is colored by this one person, but I do often refer to him as a chinese mother (fuc*er). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Thai taxi drivers have told me stories about their experiences with Chinese and Chinese-born Thais. If the fare is 39 baht, they will hand them two 20 baht notes and invariably stick out their hand for that 1 baht change. The cabbies all agree however that after a family has been in Thailand a couple of generations they become Thai. As one of my students told the class, "We may look Chinese and we may celebrate Chinese holidays, but we are Thai. I don't even speak Chinese." But watch out for the older generation - the immigrants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coss Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 the criminal energy of Chinese businesses Lovely turn of phrase, may I use it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamui Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 the criminal energy of Chinese businesses Lovely turn of phrase' date=' may I use it? [/quote'] It's perfect German English. :content: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 German is a very precise language ... not nearly as subtle as English. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nervous God Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 Thats a great line Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizardKing Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 Chinese Pianist Plays Propaganda Tune at White House US humiliated in eyes of Chinese by song used to inspire anti-Americanism Lang Lang the pianist says he chose it. Chairman Hu Jintao recognized it as soon as he heard it. Sounds like it needs to be Snoped to me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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