I think China's great minds are busy creating a China impervious to the machinations of western oligarchs. There's something to be said for nation building.
I pray great Chinese art is completed so it may be immortalized before our Great American Wunderwaffen annihilate China and ensure eternal Amerislop supremacy
I can relate some to you and your experience. I married into the Chinese American culture. My daughter is bi-racial, and my son is Asian, but not Chinese.
When I, as a man in my early thirties, moved from Philadelphia, PA to San Francisco, CA, one of the things that fascinated me about my new area of operation was the Asian and Asian American culture and people. My first friend was a Thai who worked at a laser company. He introduced me to a Chinese fellow, a vegetable wholesaler, whose family had fled Vietnam after the communist took over. We became the Three Amigos, checking out all the best Chinese restaurants and Asian massage parlors.
This puzzled me a little: “The most capable among us are basically all Gary Tans in the spiritual sense.”
I don’t know anything, really, about Tan, other than he is a tech guy that became very rich and successful. But what kind of spirituality does Gary Tans subscribe to?
As for the ‘striver’ ethos sucking up the potential literary stars… I think the two are incompatible. I think that for the ‘literary’ Chinese authors to rise, he or she must ‘step out’ of the whole striver culture. Or participate, but at a minimal level, and stealthily keep his/her eyes open and observe.
The quoted posts about the difference between the Soviet system and the Chinese system and their effect on the arts, notably writing… is interesting and could be the subject of another post.
I have one possible idea about that. French literature and art (painting, and especially dance—ballet) were embraced by the Russians. Their upper classes all spoke French and French culture was considered superior. And it was Russia that morphed into the Soviet Union. And their French-inspired culture accounts for the (perceived) superior state of Soviet literature versus Chinese literature.
I think China's great minds are busy creating a China impervious to the machinations of western oligarchs. There's something to be said for nation building.
Agree and can’t fault them for it
I pray great Chinese art is completed so it may be immortalized before our Great American Wunderwaffen annihilate China and ensure eternal Amerislop supremacy
A thoughtful article!
I can relate some to you and your experience. I married into the Chinese American culture. My daughter is bi-racial, and my son is Asian, but not Chinese.
When I, as a man in my early thirties, moved from Philadelphia, PA to San Francisco, CA, one of the things that fascinated me about my new area of operation was the Asian and Asian American culture and people. My first friend was a Thai who worked at a laser company. He introduced me to a Chinese fellow, a vegetable wholesaler, whose family had fled Vietnam after the communist took over. We became the Three Amigos, checking out all the best Chinese restaurants and Asian massage parlors.
This puzzled me a little: “The most capable among us are basically all Gary Tans in the spiritual sense.”
I don’t know anything, really, about Tan, other than he is a tech guy that became very rich and successful. But what kind of spirituality does Gary Tans subscribe to?
As for the ‘striver’ ethos sucking up the potential literary stars… I think the two are incompatible. I think that for the ‘literary’ Chinese authors to rise, he or she must ‘step out’ of the whole striver culture. Or participate, but at a minimal level, and stealthily keep his/her eyes open and observe.
The quoted posts about the difference between the Soviet system and the Chinese system and their effect on the arts, notably writing… is interesting and could be the subject of another post.
I have one possible idea about that. French literature and art (painting, and especially dance—ballet) were embraced by the Russians. Their upper classes all spoke French and French culture was considered superior. And it was Russia that morphed into the Soviet Union. And their French-inspired culture accounts for the (perceived) superior state of Soviet literature versus Chinese literature.
Thanks for an interesting post.