October 1, 2013: The 64th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. I woke up to the memorial ceremony at Tiananmen Square where Xi Jinping and the other top-tier CCP members walked around the People's Monument to pay their respects to those who died building the country. On CCTV News, the English channel, they held a Dialogue special where a few of China's top universities' professors came together to debate the "Chinese Dream." During these programs, reporters posed the question, "What does it mean to be Chinese?"
Although I don't believe that the Chinese public is anywhere near as perplexed by the question of a national identity as some news programs might suggest, I would still like to put in my two jiao. The following are 5 things you will find on Pinterest that you will be hard-pressed to find in China.
1. DIY and crafts
Pinterest DIY's
Pinterest is full of DIY projects and crafts. Whether you're trying to keep your kids busy while you refurbish a vintage dresser or trying to organize your home in twenty steps or less, you won't need to scroll down far before you find exactly what you need. Of course, in China, we call that "hiring someone" (see below). Send your kids to English classes (or calligraphy, or painting, or piano). Hire the company down the street for the remodel. Where will you be, by the way? Oh, that's right. Work.
Chinese LSEDIFY's (let someone else do it for you)
2. Teaching tips
Chinese math textbooks
I'm using context clues here, but I'm assuming that a lot of teachers use Pinterest to plan and share lessons. If they lived in China that would be completely unnecessary. With the whole country on one system, all they'd have to do is follow the curriculum. Easy as yi, er, san!
3. Anything Weddings: Wedding party, Self-planned color and design schemes, Announcements/invitations, and Cake
A Pinterest wedding party
Wouldn't getting married be easier if you just had to pay one company for one of their wedding "sets," banquet included, and just show up looking pretty? Yet I'm sure many of you are thinking, "What fun would that be?!" Simply put, Chinese weddings typically don't involve any of the above.
4. Frosting, Chocolate, and Ryan Gosling
It was only a matter of time before someone thought of this
Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of sugary sweets and breads to go around in this country. However, almost none of them can be claimed to be 'homemade.' Also, they are not cream-cheese-frosting sweet. The chocolate isn't anything to brag about either, especially given that their most expensive brand is Dove. Speaking of sweet, is it any wonder that when I search "shuai ge" [handsome men] in Chinese on Baidu (China's Google), the majority of the search results are foreigners (i.e. K-pop stars, Tom Cruise circa 1988, David Beckham)?
5. Internet Memes
The way a Pinterest addict might choose clothes
The way a Chinese student would choose clothes
These things are everywhere these days. Well, not everywhere as the only ones I've seen among Chinese friends are more sappy than silly, more cutesy than cool, and more informative than funny. If memes are any inkling of what a given culture is thinking, it only takes one to see how very different thoughts Chinese have from Americans.
You can make of this list what you will. Ok, so you won't find typical China among the how-to's and the grumpy cat memes throughout Pinterest. From the ideas I've posited you might gather that there is a lack of creativity in China, creativity being what Pinterest really boils down to, and which then cannot accurately portray a whole country other than the United States. It doesn't mean that China is all red lanterns and kung fu or even this article. China is only 64 years old! In terms of political states, it's still a baby. How about we at least let it get to it's adolescence before we start deciding which clique it belongs to (I'm talking to you, too, CCTV). Jiayou, China, keep it up!
You can make of this list what you will. Ok, so you won't find typical China among the how-to's and the grumpy cat memes throughout Pinterest. From the ideas I've posited you might gather that there is a lack of creativity in China, creativity being what Pinterest really boils down to, and which then cannot accurately portray a whole country other than the United States. It doesn't mean that China is all red lanterns and kung fu or even this article. China is only 64 years old! In terms of political states, it's still a baby. How about we at least let it get to it's adolescence before we start deciding which clique it belongs to (I'm talking to you, too, CCTV). Jiayou, China, keep it up!
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