The Effect of Time on Our View of The Community

While watching a TV programme late last night, I came across an interesting phenomena. This programme was about the daily life of 2 laowais who are currently staying in Beijing, China. Things such as language barrier, food and customs were discussed. During one of the scenes, 1 laowai actually commented that he preferred living in China than wherever he came from because he found that the Chinese are very simple people who choose to spend their free time playing a game of chess or enjoying a hot cup of tea with their neighbors. He added that the Chinese are not arrogant and never try to live beyond their means, unlike their Western counterparts.

Hmmm….strange, I thought to myself. Having spoken to several Westerners and read about their culture, I always have the impression the Westerners enjoy simple life more than the Asians. They seldom splurge on luxuries such as brand new mobile phones every few months. They avoid headaches by giving their children freedom to decide what they want to do once they come of age and thereafter, decline to meddle in their affairs. Last but not least, instead of saving their hard-earned money to buy houses and cars for their children to show off, they use it to pay for their travels around the world. Put is simply, it is the exact opposite of what I heard from the TV programme. Why such contradiction, I ask myself.

Though it remains to be proven, I have a strong feeling the main reason is time spent with the community. Born a Chinese and having lived in Chinese communities for 26 years, I have seen so many extravagant Chinese that I have the mindset of Chinese as a haughty bunch. On the contrary, having only heard the good things about Westerners and never really live in Western communities, I always have the impression that they are simple, humble people who never try to live beyond their means.

The same can be said for the laowai in the TV programme. As he had encountered so many proud Westerners throughout his life, he has the mindset that Westerners are nothing but a bunch of arrogant people. He had good impression of the Chinese because he has stayed in China for only a short period of time and therefore, has not really encountered the nasty people in the community.

Well, that’s human nature for you. When one lives in a place for only a short while, one will have mostly good impression of the place and its people. But when one lives in the same place for a long period of time, one will start to inadvertently uncover the bad attitudes of the people, sometimes to such an extent that it can be labeled as prejudice.