wat0n wrote:@Crantag American work culture seems mild compared with Chinese one, though. If you want societies with a more laid back work culture, you may wish to consider the Hispanic world.
I've never been to China but I have a friend who went during an exchange program. He told me that the Chinese are a lot less judgmental than Americans are so there is more freedom in that sense, but otherwise it's a dictatorship and the government acts like one.
One thing I've noticed since moving to the US is that a lot of the social norm enforcement is done by the civil society itself instead of the State. I think it works similarly in other Anglo societies, and in the West in general it's done through guilt rather than public humiliation since the Enlightenment, even if the latter is still used sometimes. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing (in many cases, it's a milder and more efficient way of enforcing social norms - which exists in every society, by the way - than by having the government take up that role through the law). Other societies are a lot more lax when it comes to the enforcement of social norms by the regular Joe, if only because those societies may actually expect the State to have a greater responsibility in taking up that role or because they have enough trouble dealing with an intrusive State to bother with being intrusive themselves.
I legit thought the video was a comedy sketch, but if it really is a political gathering then the issue has a lot to do with some people wanting to change those social norms, and particularly what constitutes grounds for victimization. Of course, the way they are coming around this is not only surprisingly inconvenient and not particularly respectful of everyone's time, but alienating to the wider society that simply does not think a person is being victimized by others clapping or cheering, even if he has a legitimate special condition, and does not believe it has to learn to adjust to this person's special needs to be able to interact in a gathering. In fact, here the expectation is actually that the person with the condition will learn how to interact with the wider society, and will learn how to deal with clapping and the like. But then again, it's simply part of a concerted effort to change social norms, and one that it done in this way since those norms are not enforced by the government but by civil society itself. Also, I doubt this will succeed as they are coming as annoying to everyone else.
Chinese work culture is certainly intense.
But, America ain't any better.
I could make a solid argument that America is worse.
In terms of the demands and intensity, they are probably about on a par.
In terms of how people are treated, I was treated nice in China, and haven't always been treated nice in America, but I've never been Chinese and working in China.
I guess China is probably worse in this regard, but the same could be said about most places.
The thing is, they aren't worse by that much, and in America, people are treated pretty awful. It is maybe even sort of on a par with one another. China could even be better.
However, in China, they have social welfare attached to work. They have health insurance, life insurance, home ownership savings account, and these are funded in part by the government. Good luck with any of that shit in America.
As far as this 'it's a dictatorship and so on', I guess I just have one story.
One of the only times I talked to a cop in China, a cop did come by to check my residency, at the apartment I was renting. I simply showed him my rental contract and my passport.
I don't speak a lot of Chinese. I was freaked out with the cop coming to my door, but my Chinese girlfriend was in my bed.
She couldn't even be assed to get up, she just communicated with the cop through yelling, and he had the full indication of having no intention to step inside my home, like leaning back with his hands behind his back, style.
He just needed to see the documents.
I was all legit, and so I was fine.
The cops aren't usually much of a factor in life.
And most Chinese people will just tell cops to fuck off.
Chinese have that tick, where they like to tell people to fuck off, regularly.
But sure, it was an intrusion in a sense. Had I been there illegally, I might have had an issue.
I also bailed my girlfriend out of jail once, she was kinda nuts, so I had a few cop experiences.
Chinese cops are docile and not at all aggressive.
And, the day to day there is not bad at all.
I prefer China to Japan, and I lived in Japan for 7 years.
In Japan, there are all kinds of stupid rules all the time, everywhere you go. And people all walk around with sticks up their ass.
In America, the cops are aggressive, and basically everything else about the general scene here, is worse than China, in my personal experience. That goes for the homelessness. That goes for the parking tickets. That goes for damn near everything, directly impacting my day to day life.