One night while walking through the Zhujiang Lu subway station I spotted an anime toy shop (cue Tarun's smile...and envy, hehe). I thought I would take a look as I appreciate these sort of things. But in the window of the rather tiny store, I saw a fat guy with a green t-shirt as the one in the picture here. I just had to get it. I mean, why of all the places in the world I had to find this figure in China, a place that doesn't even know what poonanie means. It was surreal.Nevertheless, since no one bought the figure in a long time, probably because nobody understands the humour behind it, I managed to knock the price to half of its initial charge. I paid RMB70 for it. The price on it was RMB140. So now it sits on my work desk in my room, flashing his bunny teeth at me and tracing his finger. It smiles proudly about its two purposes in its life, looking cool on my desk and looking for something all heterosexual men crave.
I think its hilarious. The afro comb is a neat touch and his checked shorts are so old school. But I bet Magans will love the t-shirt. It resembles the jersey of a very famous American football team. Go Packers!
Another thing I bought so far, and am learning, is Xiangqi, or Chinese Chess. It's similar to international chess but has a few twists. One is that there is a river, something that the elephant piece can't cross. Then you have the canons, probably the most powerful piece on the board. Yeah, there';s more to learn so when I get back to SA I will be sure to teach you guys.
And another thing I discovered for all you vampire lovers out there is the Jiang shi. It's the Chinese version of the vampire. It has one leg (kind of look likes two legs bound together) and they hop vast distances. There's no way you can escape this dude.
Speaking of bloodthirsty vampires
There have been a few events that have occurred in the last week that have got me thinking about certain philosophies of life. Mainly the Finnish college killings, the firing of President Mbeki and the rearranging of the face of South Africa's cabinet.
Firstly, I have been really disgusted at the amount of pollution in Nanjing. However, Saturday morning blew me away. I woke up to the first ever clear sunrise with blue skies above the skyscrapers. It was magnificent. Even the students told me about it. But as Morpheus said in the Matrix, “It was us (humans) who scorched the sky”. And that is evident in China. I see it in here in Nanjing. Although, on Friday night, the clearest night of all, I did see a falling star, a liu shing in Chinese. I heard Beijing is the worst. And the time I spent in Shanghai, I found it a little dirty.
However, the Chinese people's way of life is nothing as polluted as its skies. In fact, they are the most honourable, polite and tolerant people I have ever met. They abide by Confucius' dictum of collectivism, which is also emphasised by its communist/socialist ideals. This is evident in Buddhist philosophy as well as in India because of its Hinduism.
I read a story about a Finnish student who killed eleven people in his college. The report (click for the News24.com story) said that individuality, not only in Finland but in most Western nations, have contributed to the violence in those societies.
I had a conversation with Priya through a series of SMSs and learned a few things.
Ever since I've been in China I've learned that individuality, believed to be the height of freedom in the West, is actually an illusion. I also fully believed in this concept when I was living in Johannesburg thinking that my individuality is something to hold on to and hone. I thought that establishing my individuality was essential to helping society. Though individualism has many benefits, it also is the victim of its own ideals. It has created greed, selfishness, envious, egocentric humans. It has warped the collective psyche of societies. Therefore, apathy was another phenomenon spawned from individuality.
Collectivism, as in China, creates a sense of community. Things such as muggings never go unpunished here. It teaches us to tolerate and understand each other and to care for your neighbour. In the West, we don't even know who our neighbours are. It protects people from harm and ensures unity. Well, I think their unity is because they are proud of their common, homogeneous, background. They're all Chinese, sharing the same history and language as well as the same values, ideals and morals.
But collectivism does have its flaws. It holds onto questionable traditional values such as the inferior woman complex. Women in China, though, look to be shedding that stigma. The men are doing the cooking and the girls are doing the shopping. They have become very materialistic. It's got something to do with not wanting to live like their mothers.
Collectivism has also contributed to low self esteem in kids. There has been a suicide that has grabbed everyone's attention in China. One of the reasons was because this girl couldn't handle her own problems. And why? Because she was an only child, spoilt to the core. And since China has a one-child policy, there have been millions of kids brought as if they were princes in palaces.
So like Priya said, both individualism and collectivism have their benefits and flaws, it's just finding the balance between them. And such diversity makes South Africa an interesting place. But not when people are getting killed and raped and imprisoning ourselves in our own homes. I live in the seedy part of Nanjing and I can still take a walk at midnight. South Africa is trying to do it by incorporating tribalism and communism with capitalism and all its doing is tearing society apart. The crime is one example of this not working.
I read in the China Daily newspaper that in England, certain towns are creating their own currencies so that they do not have to suffer with the flailing pound. The one benefit of each town having its own currency? It creates a sense of community. I guess South Africa can start there if they want to get rid of all its ills.
