Comments on: Granite Studio Mailbag: Mutual Trust, Social Bonds, and Public Manners http://granitestudio.org/2007/06/28/granite-studio-mailbag-mutual-trust-social-bonds-and-public-manners/ A Qing historian reads the newspaper... Sat, 02 Jul 2011 03:31:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: kole http://granitestudio.org/2007/06/28/granite-studio-mailbag-mutual-trust-social-bonds-and-public-manners/comment-page-1/#comment-875 kole Tue, 11 Sep 2007 19:24:00 +0000 http://granitestudio.org/?p=294#comment-875 Nice, I'm from NYC and when you step on someone's foot while riding the train, believe me no one will tell you to shove it. In the city we a healthy fear of each other. Anyone is capable of doing anything, so lets keep it nice and easy. Nice, I’m from NYC and when you step on someone’s foot while riding the train, believe me no one will tell you to shove it. In the city we a healthy fear of each other. Anyone is capable of doing anything, so lets keep it nice and easy.

]]> By: Panoptikum http://granitestudio.org/2007/06/28/granite-studio-mailbag-mutual-trust-social-bonds-and-public-manners/comment-page-1/#comment-856 Panoptikum Sat, 21 Jul 2007 06:00:00 +0000 http://granitestudio.org/?p=294#comment-856 The story of the particularistic culture isn't new and I do not claim there is no influence on public behavior. Of course while in the West (at least in Germany my home country) throwing rubbish out of the window in high rise areas is seen as a sign of utmost social decay, it is nothing uncommon in Mainland Chinese cities as far as I know. However, these places do not necessarily show other symptoms of social decay that we know from Western problematic districts. <br/><br/>However, I do not think the culturalistic explanation is sufficient. Authoritarian political environments surely exert influence as well as this blogpost suggests. http://www.danwei.org/tourism/whos_responsible_for_chinese_t.php<br/><br/>Another point is for sure levels of education and wealth. If we compare Hong Kong with Mainland China, we can see the difference. Actually, Sun Longji in his book "The deep structures of Chinese Culture", which I do not regard as high class scholarship but has interesting anecdotes, complains about the uncivilized manners of Hong Kongers in the 60 and 70s. What he describes there has largely disappeared from daily life in Hong Kong today. <br/><br/>I have not been there, but what about other "developing" countries? I have not been there, but what I read from public behavior in India seems not so different from Mainland China. I guess even that 19th century European industrializing cities weren't much different in terms of public behavior than China today. <br/><br/>While I do think it is necessary regarding Culture as an important variable with at times independent influence on social life, we should be careful to disentangle the maze of causes and effects from political institutions, economic development, ideas, culture and the galvanizing effect of history, if we want to get valid answer to explain social life comparatively. <br/><br/>Sorry for the rant and thanks for the interesting blogpost. The story of the particularistic culture isn’t new and I do not claim there is no influence on public behavior. Of course while in the West (at least in Germany my home country) throwing rubbish out of the window in high rise areas is seen as a sign of utmost social decay, it is nothing uncommon in Mainland Chinese cities as far as I know. However, these places do not necessarily show other symptoms of social decay that we know from Western problematic districts.

However, I do not think the culturalistic explanation is sufficient. Authoritarian political environments surely exert influence as well as this blogpost suggests. http://www.danwei.org/tourism/whos_responsible_for_chinese_t.php

Another point is for sure levels of education and wealth. If we compare Hong Kong with Mainland China, we can see the difference. Actually, Sun Longji in his book “The deep structures of Chinese Culture”, which I do not regard as high class scholarship but has interesting anecdotes, complains about the uncivilized manners of Hong Kongers in the 60 and 70s. What he describes there has largely disappeared from daily life in Hong Kong today.

I have not been there, but what about other “developing” countries? I have not been there, but what I read from public behavior in India seems not so different from Mainland China. I guess even that 19th century European industrializing cities weren’t much different in terms of public behavior than China today.

While I do think it is necessary regarding Culture as an important variable with at times independent influence on social life, we should be careful to disentangle the maze of causes and effects from political institutions, economic development, ideas, culture and the galvanizing effect of history, if we want to get valid answer to explain social life comparatively.

Sorry for the rant and thanks for the interesting blogpost.

]]> By: canrun http://granitestudio.org/2007/06/28/granite-studio-mailbag-mutual-trust-social-bonds-and-public-manners/comment-page-1/#comment-840 canrun Thu, 05 Jul 2007 11:14:00 +0000 http://granitestudio.org/?p=294#comment-840 "i kind of enjoy the spitting"<br/><br/><br/>Yeah! Spot on! Hear hear!<br/><br/>And monkeys might fly out of my butt... “i kind of enjoy the spitting”

Yeah! Spot on! Hear hear!

And monkeys might fly out of my butt…

]]> By: Jeremy http://granitestudio.org/2007/06/28/granite-studio-mailbag-mutual-trust-social-bonds-and-public-manners/comment-page-1/#comment-839 Jeremy Thu, 05 Jul 2007 02:31:00 +0000 http://granitestudio.org/?p=294#comment-839 J - interesting post, any particular reason for the North-South secret society/kinship organization divide? Also, it's a shame that I'm no longer in Hong Kong to see the Qingming Shanghe Tu, looks amazing. Gives me a new respect for the HK Museum of Art, which I'd mostly considered an afterthought after having been to the Palace Museum, the Shanghai Museum, and Taipei Gugong. WIll def have to check it out next time i'm in town. J – interesting post, any particular reason for the North-South secret society/kinship organization divide? Also, it’s a shame that I’m no longer in Hong Kong to see the Qingming Shanghe Tu, looks amazing. Gives me a new respect for the HK Museum of Art, which I’d mostly considered an afterthought after having been to the Palace Museum, the Shanghai Museum, and Taipei Gugong. WIll def have to check it out next time i’m in town.

]]> By: 無名 - wu ming http://granitestudio.org/2007/06/28/granite-studio-mailbag-mutual-trust-social-bonds-and-public-manners/comment-page-1/#comment-836 無名 - wu ming Tue, 03 Jul 2007 06:38:00 +0000 http://granitestudio.org/?p=294#comment-836 i kind of enjoy the spitting, and the old guys with the unbuttoned shirts and bellies hanging out. i guess i'm not very <i>wenming</i>, or perhaps my <i>suzhi</i> is low, but i just find it all rather endearing. i kind of enjoy the spitting, and the old guys with the unbuttoned shirts and bellies hanging out. i guess i’m not very wenming, or perhaps my suzhi is low, but i just find it all rather endearing.

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