The China That Can Be Understood Is Not the Real China
Sometimes
the only way to truly understand a thing is to compare it to something
else. Live in the same place for long enough and you’d be forgiven for
forgetting that anything significant actually exists outside it. We
adapt to our environment, allowing it (some more than others) to shape
our thoughts and behaviors. While I’ve lived in China for a little over
10 years, it’s only been in the last two to three years that I’ve done
any significant travel inside or outside the country.
In December 2017, I was invited to Italy to mentor for a China market entry program at HFarm, an accelerator and innovation consultancy. In April, I got the chance to speak at the Russia Internet Conference,
an annual government-sponsored conference, in Moscow about the Chinese
ecosystem and recent developments in blockchain. More recently, in June,
I was invited to TechSauce
(summit.techsauce.co), a conference held in Bangkok every year, as a
moderator. Living in China breeds a certain arrogance about the rest of
the world, an arrogance made clearer with each new country I visited.
In
each country, I was able to witness a different manifestation of the
fundamental ideal that forms the foundation of every tech-driven
entrepreneurial environment: we can make the world a better place by
creating great businesses. This was especially apparent at TechSauce. I
had the pleasure to talk to entrepreneurs testing the limits of what can
be done in Thailand and Southeast Asia, from working with regulators to
deliver better insurance schemes to microfinance solutions for
blue-collar workers (noburo.co) who easily find themselves in debt they
can’t handle.
It wasn’t until about a year ago that I started
seriously studying China. I’ve tried my best to balance inputs from the
local entrepreneurial ecosystem, various tech and non-tech media, as
well as serious non-fiction. With all the new information, I’ve been
trying my best to figure out how it all fits together. Visiting other
countries and cultures has helped me put some of this in perspective.
The power of history
To
steal a phrase from Dan Carlin, I’m no historian. I am, however,
continually amazed by how much can be explained by historical forces and
trends. In China, I still struggle with many aspects of the culture:
the lack of basic politeness in public spaces, the dog-eat-dog/find the
greater fool/screw or get screwed mentality, the consistent reminder of
my alienness no matter how well I speak the language or understand the
culture, and a pervasive cultural chauvinism that manifests itself both
as an odd friendliness and strident pride. I came to China for an
idealized escape from Western failings, I’ve stayed for reasons mundane:
family, friends, and career.
Completely unplanned, over the last
six months I have been in two countries scarred by a Marxist upheaval
(China and Russia) and two with very well preserved cultural lineages
(Italy and Thailand). A very good case can and has been made that we
need to overturn the past to discover the future and increase human
flourishing. Indeed, any contemporary entrepreneur worth their salt is
doing exactly that. However, both China and Russia serve as warnings
that some kinds of historical disruption are not only disastrous but can
also change the people and culture in ways that isolate them from the
rest of the world.
In both countries in the 20th century, a
revolutionary view of the world was used to reshape politics, economics,
and cultures. Past structures were only meant to justify the dominance
of the ownership class and the oppression of the worker class. In China,
this meant Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism (integral parts of the
culture for thousands of years) were not only irrelevant but also
antithetical to the new order; they were to be deleted as soon as
possible. It’s hard to imagine what this must have been like for the
people of China, supporters or not of the change.
Of course, this
isn’t to say that current idiosyncrasies of Chinese culture are due
solely to its recent history. Many current cultural phenomena were
accurately described in the early 1900s by a Chinese author trying to
explain Chinese culture to foreigners, including the propensity to treat
everyone not family or friends as distrusted strangers, as well as the
tendency for women to enact very feminine gender roles.
China is crazy entrepreneurial
Compared
to the rest of the world, China is [insert expletive] insane. Lack of
work-life balance is the norm and now, with instant communication tools,
even personal time is consistently intruded upon by the demands of the
employer. The post-90s and late-80s generations are changing some of
these expectations, but human resources are still cheap until proven
indispensable.
Even with these changes, including flaunting the
fruits of their labor with well-framed and photoshopped pictures of
lavish meals and exotic places, the basic economic and financial
assumption in China is that there is money to be made and if you’re not
making money somehow, you’re an overcautious fool.
This is not
new: the Chinese diaspora the world over proves the point. Ethnic
Chinese in Southeast Asia consistently have greater economic affluence
than much of their “local” counterparts. Looked down upon in Confucian
ideology, the merchant class has now basically expanded to the whole of
the country. “To get rich is glorious” is no longer just a slogan, but
has become a fundamental axiom. And mobile-first business models have
exacerbated this trend: WeChat shops, Taobao villages, and the dream of
becoming a KOL. Combine this with a status-driven culture where
hierarchies are still somewhat plastic and you have a potent mix.
China is not international
Of
all the countries I’ve visited so far, Thailand was the most
international, with TechSauce being the most international conference
I’ve attended outside China (I would say the same about RISE, but
they’re in Hong Kong, technically part of China). This makes sense given
the country’s relatively small size and reliance on tourism, but a
tourist destination is more than just the place, it’s also the people.
The
number of people who could communicate effectively (not necessarily
fluently) in English was surprising. In China, every university graduate
spends at least 12 years learning English and yet the number of people
who can actually speak is dismally disappointing, revealing a fatal flaw
in Chinese education. Not only are the children disciplined with
medieval pedagogical methods, but they are rarely exposed to any English
outside the classroom.
And it’s not just English. The entire
educational system seems designed to keep its students looking inward,
focused on the result (exam scores) rather than enjoying the process of
learning.
China is slowly returning to its old ways. The reform
and opening-up period was more a blip than a trend and all those who
thought China would liberalize have been proven wrong. Now that it has
gained prominence on the world stage and become a “moderately
prosperous” society, the country is slowly turning back inwards. Always
quite protectionist, doing business in the country is becoming harder
for expat entrepreneurs and MNCs alike.
Thailand is also quite
protective of its business environment, mandating in most cases that
companies must be majority Thai-owned. While certainly less favorable to
foreigners in this sense, the sheer number of businesses catering to
tourists and expats demonstrates a country with little concern about
foreign influence in the broader culture.
Looking at the individual, one of the big issues we deal with at TechNode is
how to connect Chinese founders and teams with the rest of the world.
Unfortunately, even if they want that connection or exposure, if they
are “too local,” cultural and psychological barriers prevent them from
taking full advantage of international opportunities.
China, in
this sense, is split: On the one hand, they are the most open of East
Asian countries, but on the other hand, this openness is born out of
recent history and a fundamental pragmatism. They look at the success of
others and do their best to emulate it, but Chinese culture looks
inward and prizes intimacy among in-group members. The friction created
by misunderstanding and miscommunication leads to discomfort and
embarrassment. For many, avoiding this altogether is much more
preferable.
China is full of trade-offs
I
originally came to China because I wanted to understand a culture and
people that were so different from me. That sense of difference has yet
to fade. Visiting other countries has made me think of greener pastures.
However, as Ben Thompson and James Allworth say, there’s always a
trade-off.
China is reclaiming its position as the center of the
world, like it or not. However, that’s being built on the back of an
educational system based on obedience, a willingness to work
excessively, a deteriorating environment, and a populace who gets the
majority of their spiritual nourishment from 15-second videos. The
trade-offs abound: speed for professionalism, result for process, status
for friendship, security for happiness, hard work for an efficient
process. And ultimately, economic power for freedom.
I find it
quite difficult to explain China to people with limited knowledge of the
country. It’s a huge, complicated country that will never be just one
easily understood thing. As I’ve said to many people, the Chinese
language became much easier for me to learn once I admitted that I will
never really understand why it is the way it is.
Any time someone
tries to sell you a picture of China, whether it’s the land of
opportunity, a country full of shysters, or has a [insert positive or
negative superlative] government, I encourage you to question whether
they actually understand what they are talking about. To paraphrase
Laozi, the China that can be understood is not the real China.
This post is courtesy of our content partners at TechNode. Photo: Asia Times, Medium, Huffington Post
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