The small differences between studying Chinese in China and in Israel | Fili’s World

6 Nov, 2006 in Chinese Studies by Fili
Tags: Chinese Studies

The small differences between studying Chinese in China and in Israel

“Oh, this text you can not study in China…” they said.

Last week while in the university I met the Chinese students between classes for a quick lunch and showed them the text that we were studying. The text was very basic, considering the fact that we’re suppose to be second year level. They looked at the paper, giggled a little at what I thought was the level of Chinese saying that “it was kids stuff” but then they agreed that “this text you can not study in China”. Here, have a look :

不吃虧

從前有兩個美國人,一個叫威廉,一個叫洛克。他們倆都愛一個女朋友:瑪麗。一天威廉對洛克說: 『我能夠跟瑪麗接吻。』洛克不相信。后來他們就打賭,輸的給贏的一百塊錢。威廉遇到了瑪麗,就笑著說: 『瑪麗,妳相信嗎? 我能吻妳而不必碰到妳的身子。』瑪麗說: 『那是不可能的。』威廉說: 『我們用五十塊錢打賭好嗎? 』瑪麗說好。于是威廉吻了瑪麗,輸給瑪麗五十塊錢。但是威廉贏了洛克一百塊錢;減去給瑪麗五十塊,他還剩五十塊。

The text is about a bet between William (wei1 lian2) and Luke (Lu4 ke4) that William can kiss Mali (Ma3 Li4), and in which William does a double bet and a small trick to get a kiss with Mali and win the bet with Luke. Now, the Israeli student enjoys this kind’o stuff as it spices up the classes a bit, especially if you need to practice saying it. We really wouldn’t think too much of it. Apparently, my Chinese friends thought this wouldn’t work as well in China, which had us discussing Confucian society vs. the somewhat sexually open and outgoing Israeli society - so much that the outgoing behavior is incorporated in our text books. Since the teacher who gave us this text studied in Taiwan, it wouldn’t surprise me that she borrowed this story from Taiwan or some other place outside Israel, and yet the response about how this text would work in China/Taiwan and other Confucian societies is what’s interesting.

What do you think? How would this text be accepted in China and Taiwan’s university classes? How would this text be accepted in your home country as study material?

(BTW - With that said, it’s interesting to note that Israel currently has a minister in court about kissing a girl in the mouth and a president under investigation for alleged sexual assault of over 7 women, not to mention several Israeli media hotshots who also been trialled for similar offenses … )

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12 Responses so far | Have Your Say!

keanu zhang | November 7th, 2006 at 5:54 am #

in china today, I can say this way can be accepted in most places of china, not only in university but in high school as well.
fiLi | November 7th, 2006 at 10:18 am #

Oh, you think differently. Interesting.

So let me ask you this - would a text talking about sexual issues be okay as well? Let’s say a survey about Chinese sexual habits, how about sex-ed about the use of pills, STD and condoms?

I’m just wondering if there are any boundaries that the Confucian society would “put” on official study texts, especially in China.
keanu zhang | November 7th, 2006 at 12:04 pm #

that will be very difficult,hehe. there are some bottom line for this kind of thing(not from government policy, but from inherited old culture). as for the sexual habit, it’s complex to say which way most chinese will like, it depends on sex partner.
fiLi | November 7th, 2006 at 9:01 pm #

I understand.
What I’ve been told is that Chinese (a HUGE generalization, I know) will discuss this kind of issues between themselves, with people who they are close to, but would not discuss this in public or in the media or study texts.

This morning I was driving my car from Jerusalem to Tel-Aviv and two channels (103fm and 102fm) were discussing Sex for a whole hour with people calling in and asking very intimate questions. Radio night shows, especially for youngsters, are always related to the subject of Sex and relationships. The topic also got a strong boost this week with the international gay-lesbian parade due to march in Jerusalem this weekend.

It’s interesting, culture wise, to try to understand this difference and the Confucian perspective.
keanu zhang | November 8th, 2006 at 5:42 am #

right, in china there are many pulic radio channels broadcast those programs you mentioned, but normally at midnight:)the content include sex knowledge and sex psycology.chinese people can accept this way because no one can see their faces in the radio so that they feel comfortable and won’t be shy to tell their stories.
fiLi | November 8th, 2006 at 10:32 pm #

Oh, I see. Cool. The differences aren’t that big, I guess. Are there any Confucian influences left? or is China, in your opinion, totally converted now?
keanu zhang | November 9th, 2006 at 6:24 am #

from my point of view, chinese people is realizing sex knowledge is a science. so these radio programs become the window to learn science. confucian influences are still in most chinese minds. people still aren’t willing to talk about sex in public as the western way.
Enav Shimshi | November 18th, 2006 at 3:23 pm #

As someone who graduated at Jerusalem University and study in China right now I find this issue very intresting. I’m sure Avia’s text puzzles you but I’ve been reading a lot of texts given by my teachers that almost half of them dealing with divorce and partners that cheating on their husband/wife, having sex outside marriage. We actually talk about that in the class, I mean, about the implications of that kind of sex on ones other partner. I think China came a long way.
Guido H Lizzi | February 11th, 2007 at 11:37 am #

According to what I’ve seen here, in China -after having learned the language and the culture and habits of this big country, is that they’d NEVER put in texts this kind of stuff.
The culture about this is SHY. They have another way, totally different from ours. The relationships here between men and women are handled in a totally different way from the way we do.
No, they wouldn’t put in a text book such things like sexual issues, sexual habits, etc. To us, this is normal (EVERYBODY HAS SEX) -so it’s nothing to be ashamed of.
Here the way is so not like that. A man turning back to look at a beautiful woman passing by??!! A man “flattering” a pretty lady??!! NEVER. In much cases, I wasn’t able to tell that a couple ACTUALLY WERE COUPLE by their behavior.
So, how did they do to reach the biggest population in the world being like this? I don’t know. But here, 12-16 years old “kids” are “KIDS”. Never you will find them involved in this, maybe below 16 years old guys are all virgin.
So, talking in a text book about sexual issues, is out of place. It’s not about regulations, neither laws, nor norms. It’s just their ideology. They’d never do it.
Guido H Lizzi | February 11th, 2007 at 11:42 am #

Careful: What i referred to was “talking about these issues in a text book”. My girlfriend and wife to be (this year) IS CHINESE, and my goodness!!! she’s sexually amazing! And she ain’t shy ’bout it at all, huh!
So, “personally”, as people with their close friends, etc., they’re open… and they have no boundries in sexual aspect. But this is “in-doors-couple-issue”. Again, I live in China, and I’m about to marry a chinese woman, so I know what I’m talking about.
adam | May 8th, 2008 at 8:04 am #

interesting, I heard that same story when I was a teenager in Taiwan, which was 20 years ago. The interesting thing about this story is, now I reflect on it, that it is quite a clever sexual innuendo story covered by their american flavor ( the names, and the stereo type of american openness ) in a still relatively conservative time. At that time, people found it funny and acceptable because the guy is quite smart and it doesn’t happen in Taiwan. Oh well, it was probably translated from the states.
fiLi | May 9th, 2008 at 6:28 pm #

Adam - interesting. Thanks for sharing that.
It goes back that long, eh?

I wonder how people in Taiwan perceived America or Americans 20 years ago.

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