If the Chinese had wanted to draw attention to themselves with the Olympics, they have got it. From the child singers and torch lighter in the opening ceremony, to the elegant girls’ gymnasts, to the useless soccer dudes, their representatives and collective images are scrutinized intensively in the West. What have they seen in the Chinese through the lens of the Olympics?
Several observers have mentioned collectivism, the ability of the Chinese society to organize a large number of its members and tremendous resources to complete massive collective projects, such as the Olympics opening ceremony, the new terminal for the Beijing Airport and the Three Gorges Dam.
The controversy over child star Lin Miaoke appearing on stage while lipsynching to Yang Peiyi’s voice arises from conflicting perspectives between collectivism and individualism.
In the collectivistic narrative given by the opening ceremony’s music director, two heroines collaborated with each other to achieve a common goal – representing China. Both girls made contributions and sacrificed at the same time for this common goal. Miaoke contributed her appearance and behavioral performance and sacrificed a show of her singing talent. Peiyi contributed her singing talent but sacrificed her appearance and behavior performance. That episode of the opening ceremony was a seamless collaborative effort between Miaoke and Peiyi. They should both take credit and pride in the success of the ceremony. Neither one is a victim, except from the most self-centered perspective.
Miaoke will continue her career as a performing artist and march on toward stardom by polishing her singing skills. Peiyi will also continue to pursue her dream of becoming a superstar. She will get her uneven teeth fixed by wearing braces and improve her acting skills.
Neither kid will be traumatized and demoralized. Dealing with setbacks is the most prominent trait that formulates the resilience in the Chinese character. In 1993 Beijing was cheated out of its right to host the 2000 Olympics by the Australians who bought votes from IOC representatives from two African countries at about 10,000 us dollars apiece. China did not get demoralized and stayed in the game and the rest is history.
Other China observers have pointed out that the collectivism analysis is superficial. For one thing, it neglects individual differences in the Chinese population on this trait, due to personality and one’s position in life and society. This individual difference can make the trait of collectivism an evolutionary impossibility just like it once made altruism an evolutionary impossibility in the biological science (the Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins, 1976). A remedy for this superficial analysis is to look at the psychological mechanisms that go together with collectivism, maybe in the next post.
August 13, 2008 at 8:11 pm |
I have been thinking of the same issues as well. My current take is that collectivism not the main characteristic of Chinese. Instead it is a combination of drive to success and willingness to work for delayed gratification.
I don’t think China has ever been a very cohesive and disciplined society like Japan. The majority of Chinese do not like to look to the state for solutions to their own problems, instead they much prefer to work for their own prosperity, no matter the condition.
The two little girls have ingrained in them this drive and work ethics. They do expect instant gratification. They do not come with a set of demands as condition for their sacrifice, instead they wanted to use their sacrifice as an investment for future reward to them and their families.
The same can be said of these incredible athletes, under aged or not.
边想边写 stream of conscious.
August 13, 2008 at 8:13 pm |
I mean “they do not expect instant gratification …” above
August 14, 2008 at 12:45 am |
Wuming,
Yes, the ability to delay of gratification is one of the most valuable trait the Chinese culture gives an individual. I think this trait s a product of a collective culture, especially its method of socializing children. It takes unique environmental arrangements in the family and school to instill the self-regulating capacity in children to delay gratification. Family structures and expectations provide important scaffolding for children to develop self-regulating habits and abilities. Collectivism can be based on family, in addition to the state.
January 14, 2009 at 11:30 am |
Interestingly, I’ve recently entertained two views on Collectivism. The first is the criticism, the second is a reprise in light of China’s emergence. The two hardly satisfy any debates, but the important lesson for me is to be on guard against naively taking history as a final arbiter on anything, and to remain constantly vigilant and critical of ideas, no matter their merit.
March 6, 2009 at 2:03 pm |
Hello,
I am a business/engineer student from the UK who has chosen to research the differences in the construction of Beijing and London Olympics. In this I will highlight the differences in policies ( referring to the relocation of people from planned sites) and the acceptance of policies. I wish to highlight how a collectivist and individualist society would differ in accepting policies. However I am struggling to find relevant literature regarding policy acceptance? Help would be much appreciated?