Received an email this week at the Granite Studio: You always hear people talking about people have bad public manners and very low level of trust of strangers in China. As a Chinese , I think this is true. Lots of people blame this on the Culture Revolution. My question would be was there more mutual trust in Chinese society during Ming or Qing dynasty or even Tang than that of contemporary China?
I’ve heard the Cultural Revolution theory as well from people here in Beijing and in Tianjin. The story usually goes that the GPCR acted as a solvent on bonds of social reciprocity and thus balkanized once close-knit communities with each person or family group regarding others with a mixture of paranoia, fear, and mistrust. It makes sense. This was a time when neighbors routinely snitched on each other as old hutong scores were settled amidst flying accusations of “anti-revolutionary crimes.” It’s too easy for those of us from outside China to underestimate the immense damage done by the GPCR. One of the lingering effects has been an ‘every person for themselves’ mentality: If it benefits me and doesn’t have any direct negative consequences, then why not do