• Dinkdink [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Eh...I would disagree with that. City identity is strongest. China throughout its history has never had a strong national identity. This is why the CPC is constantly pushing it, and why there are at least three anti-Japanese historical dramas on TV at any one time. Cities have their own language, and are always resentful of outsiders from the interior provinces flocking to their cities and diluting their identity. They won't even allow them in their schools, what with the hukou system in effect. Even with it, the result is the McDonaldsization of China as colorful local customs are annihilated in favor of a bland uniformity.

    You know China is a Tower of Babel of thousands of mutually incomprehensible languages, right? Calling them "dialects" as usually English does is wrong. They are not just wholly different languages, but whole language families. Mandarin is just the dialect from around Beijing. Imagine forcing an entire country to speak in a Noo Yawk accent. That's Mandarin.

      • Dinkdink [none/use name]
        ·
        3 years ago

        China is characterized by the central government asserting control and then the provinces resenting it because the center steals their money, seceding, and repeating. If voting was allowed they sure would secede. Look at America, blue states resent having to pay red states - the entire East Coast would love nothing more than to dump the rest of the US and join the EU.

          • Dinkdink [none/use name]
            ·
            3 years ago

            I'm trying to give everyone a relatable example. If you don't know about the cycle of the center exerting control, crushing the provinces until they rebel, and the whole thing starting over again, I can't help you.

            If they were allowed to vote on it (Chinese have never been allowed to vote) the country absolutely would break up. The only thing keeping the country together is a steady drumbeat of programming and the People's Armed Police.

              • Dinkdink [none/use name]
                ·
                edit-2
                3 years ago

                I live in China and speak Chinese. I've read Xi Jinping in the original. You?

                • skeletorsass [she/her]
                  ·
                  3 years ago

                  Yes, Nanjing. I am Chinese. What you are describing is absurd and a waste of time.

                  • Dinkdink [none/use name]
                    ·
                    3 years ago

                    You should know, Chinese people taught me these things. Of course, they didn't speak English, so that very likely biases you.

                      • Dinkdink [none/use name]
                        ·
                        3 years ago

                        You're not aware that Chinese people who live in big cities and speak English are very different from the mass of laobaixing? Especially you, who writes English at a native level. I've known IELTS high-level graduates who still use awkward constructions like "I am a Chinese"" instead of "I am Chinese". One didn't know who Santa Claus was.

              • Dinkdink [none/use name]
                ·
                3 years ago

                I've made quite a study of Chinese history, in fact.

                aren’t exactly gagging at the bit to balkanise.

                The chuds are openly talking about civil war and itching to open fire on anyone they don't like. You haven't noticed this?

                  • Dinkdink [none/use name]
                    ·
                    edit-2
                    3 years ago

                    China of 100 years ago isn’t the same as China of today.

                    Sure it is. China hasn't appreciably changed in thousands of years. You can read accounts from the Tang dynasty and recognize them in the China of today.

                    Have you taken the HSK? What level did you pass? The old or the new one?