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Why the Train Collision in Shandong is not Big News
Written by Robert Vance on May 1, 2008 – 10:54 pmWhen I walked into my first conversation class on Tuesday, I expected that the tragic train collision which left more than 70 people dead and 400 injured in Shandong Province would be the main topic of discussion. When I asked about current events in China, imagine my suprise when not one of my students mentioned the incident. In both my early class and my later classes, I had to bring up the topic. My students were well aware of what had happened but no one seemed to think that the fatal accident was that important.
Later, I asked one of my close friends about the apparent indifference that my adult students seemed to show towards the collision. “It’s far away,” she explained. “We don’t know anyone on those trains. It doesn’t matter to us.” I was shocked by her statement. In my country, a tragic event like this would draw an outpouring of sympathy and prayers. People might even think about sending money or at cards to the victims and their families. Not so in China. My students said they were surprised that the collision happened on such “a safe railway system” but they were not really bothered by it.
This reaction by my students and friends reflects a cultural attitude in China that seems to contradict an article that I wrote recently entitled Why Chinese Patriotism is to be Feared and Respected. The Chinese love their country very much and gladly join hands on political issues, but this unity does not extend to a sympathetic collectiveness on national tragedies. “We were very angry when Clinton bombed our embassy and Chinese people died in Belgrade,” my friend explained, “but the train accident is different.” She again reminded me that the train accident was probably important to the people in Qingdao Province but for the rest of China, it was just business as usual.
After my initial surprise at hearing these attitudes, I am not sure what to think. I do not want to be judgemental of a culture that I can never completely understand. However, I have observed that for many Chinese people, what goes on outside of their little sphere of friends and relatives seems to be insignificant to them. Is it pure selfishness that drives these attittudes or is it a cultural phenonemenon that has its roots in the early days of the PRC? While I admit to being somewhat disgusted by these attitudes of indifference, I find myself defending my friends and students. In the not so distant past, China was a country full of impoverished peasants and laborers whose utmost concern was the wellbeing of their own families. People did not have time to care about what was going on in their own areas much less in other provinces. There was a survival mentality that forced the Chinese people to focus on themselves and on their families. As with many other aspects of the Chinese culture, many people have moved out of that deep poverty but have not outgrown the attitudes that accompanied those hard times.
I am sure I will be attacked as just another foreigner who does not understand Chinese culture. So be it. My observations,however, are not just based on the reaction surrounding the train collision.I have observed the aforementioned attitudes on other occasions as well, such as when someone is about to be robbed or has been hurt. Many in China are willing to watch such an event happen but will not lift a hand to help the victim. My own students have confirmed this for me. When I taught a lesson one time on the concept of being a ‘Good Samaritan’ I received many blank stares. The concept was a foreign one.
Perhaps as Chinese people become wealthier and enjoy more freedoms in China, they will begin to care more about their fellow citizens in times of tragedy. While it is true that the Chinese government has stepped in to assist the injured and the victims’ families in the recent train tragedy, national outreach should also an important part of the therapeautic and healing process for the familys of the victims. I have recently expressed my condolences in my recent post Train Collision in Shandong but I wanted to say again how sorry I feel for the victims and their families. They will definitely be in my memory on my next trip by train in China.
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Chinese maintain the principle of “the fewer - the better”.
The typical expression in these situation is “Zhonguoren tai duo le!” meaning Chinese are too many..!
So.. the fewer - the better: less competition for survival!
I don’t know, people in the UK don’t have that much to say about rail crashes, air-crashes and the like - I think most people see such accidents as ‘acts of god’ or whatever the local equivalent is.
The issue isn’t about Chinese people not caring about their fellow citizens, it’s about the ingrained Chinese instinct to downplay any China-caused event that casts China in a negative light. Of course Chinese are outraged when foreign countries infringe upon their limelight but a blip on the radar such as this where only Chinese people are to blame is easily swept under the psychological rug. I believe that Chinese people care deeply about other Chinese, though their compassion is often shallow and misguided. Still, it’s better than nothing.
Mela,
Thank you for your comments. Hopefully, that’s NOT the reaction that any Chinese people had but you do bring up an important and challenging aspect of Chinese culture. It must be so frustrating to graduate from college and have to compete with hundreds of other people for a decent job. I can’t imagine….
FOARP,
I don’t know about the UK but I do know that in the US, Americans seem to take these events to heart. A student of mine reminded me recently that the Chinese government is always there to take care of people in time of tragedy. Maybe that’s another part of the reason why people seem to be indifferent here. They assume that the government will take care of everything and that there is no need for any emotional or physical outreach.
Mark,
Thanks for your comments. If the issue “isn’t about Chinese people not caring about their fellow citizens” then how do you explain the lack of willingness to help their fellow citizens when they need help?(such as in an accident or robbery). A student of mine, who is in her twenties, was recently knocked down to the ground by a group of motorcyclists who came up behind her and stole her purse. She lay on the ground for 10 minutes and not one person bothered to run to her rescue or help her up. They just stared and continued on their way. I think this story as well as the lack of interest in the ‘train collision story’ is related to a ‘every man for himself’ mentality in China.
Chinese must be politically correct, and reminding anyone about anything bad in China is not politically correct, even if you care about the victims. And you are right that Chinese won’t lift a hand to help victims of crime. You have to factor in the fear of being victimized, though.
There is a Chinese saying: “Everyone shovel your own snow, and don’t bother with icicles on eaves of your neighbours”. That’s the spirit.
@Robert - If a plane crashed in the US I doubt many people would have all that much to say about it except how terrible it all was. It might be true that if it looked like there might be someone who might be held liable for the accident then people might take more interest - but my experience is that people generally look at the front page of the newspaper, think “how awful”, and move on. I don’t think the Chinese are much different.
I remember when I was at university I had a philosophy class a few days after a major railway accident and asked our group what we thought about it, nobody had much to say except that it showed you could go at anytime. There was nothing we could say really.
As for the whole ‘people lieing in the street and nobody doing anything about it’, welcome to the city. Every country has this kind of situation - the most famous case was that of Catherine Genovese, a New York nightclub hostess who was stabbed repeatedly in front of at least 36 witnesses, she took at least 20 minutes to die and none of them did anything about it.
Prompted by this incident a pair of psychologists decided to do a study of the problem and found that people who have had an accident are much less likely to receive help when a large number of people witness the accident than when only one person witnesses it. See here for the rest of the story:
http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/2008/04/the-death-of-th.html
If this phenomenon is more prevelant in China (and there is only anecdotal evidence to go on) then it may be because there is more of a group mentality and people are more afraid of being the odd one out who actually stops and helps. The old one about Chinese not put so much value on human life needs looking at again, I personally never agreed much about this one until I witnessed a suicide where people were laughing and joking as they looked at the body - the man had jumped from the 5th story. However, I’m inclined to go with Richard Mason, the author of ‘The World Of Suzy Wong’, on this one and say that it is just a different way of showing the same emotion that people anywhere would have - nervous shock. No, I do not believe people in Chinese cities are anymore callous than people in cities in other parts of the world are, but I have to say that cities anywhere can be a pretty callous places to live.
Damn, just saw all the spelling mistakes and grammar errors in that last comment - and to think i used to work as an editor! No more late-night posting form me I guess.
I wonder if perhaps deep in their hearts the Chinese people do care more about their own countrymen than they express–and yet shear numbers and volume of people demand a more impersonal perspective and response. I also believe that compassion for others is an innate human emotion–crossing all cultural barriers–but it is either cultivated or stifled by how we percieve ourselves along with our perception and relationship (or lack of) with our God. Though the US is a diverse culture-with much varied national heritage as well as religion, there is no getting around the fact that our country was founded on Christian (Judeo-Christian) principles and ethics, which include concepts such as “Loving your neighbor as yourself” (Mathew 5:43, 44 & James 2:8), “The Good Samaritan” (Luke 10:30-37), and the Golden Rule (Luke 6:31). The God of the Bible (both Old and New Testament) is a God who exemplifies and demands both mercy (love) and judgement . This balance and “tension” is not only at the heart of the Judeo-Christian faith, but it continues to be imbedded into our culture, as a whole (nationally) as well as on a personal level. Though this influence is challenged and threatened more and more in these “modern times,” our (predominantly) Judeo-Christian Heritage does continue to impact our ways of life here. Not being Chinese myself or having studied the Chinese culture too thoroughly, I wonder what (or who) has had the biggest impact in molding the “consciences” of the Chinese People. If it has been anything else but the One true God of the Bible, then we should not be surprised that the innate “God given” element of human compassion and caring for one’s neighbor would be suppressed and disabled.
Deborah,
It’s quite fun to read your comments. Actually I’m fascinated some time about how religion play its role in US, how the state founder setup the constitution for a secular system ; bank notes with “In God we trust”. And how many different sects inside of US. I guess some of them like Amish, Scientific may treated as evil cults in China :). I was told to not discussion with American about religions and politics, especially in office, since it may be offending for some people.
It’s quite interesting to see that you relate the human compassion with “God Given”. This is typical if you view Chinese culture from your point of view, you may think that religion is necessary for every culture. And some western scholars marks Confuism as a religion, and China a Confucian country, but it’s hardly the case.
It’s hard to depict the whole scenario with short words, and I’m not the master of this topic, but in general, Taoism, Confuism and Buddhism play big role in Chinese culture, and mainly the Chinese culture is a secular culture. Here the Buddhism is referring to the Mahayana Buddhism, not the Tantra Buddhism in Tibet, although in Yuan and Qing Dynasty, the Tantra Buddhism was admired by the ruling ethic groups. Confuism has no “God”, and Confucian do not care too much about the “God” or “Devil” or “Angel”, instead they care more about how to be good person, they think that being a good person is a life-long studying process, which needs daily retrospection and learning. There was a saying “stay away from ghost, being a good man first”. All those teaching are not telling people to give up Human compassion.