"South and North" -- The Chinese Take

So, we were in the car on our way to the airport to drop off Lily, and her mother had the following to say about “southerners”:

Like Jewish people, [Chinese] southerners are hardworking, save their money and are (in comparison to northerners) smarter.

It seems that some stereotypes are more global than we imagined …

It’s interesting in that China, like the US, is divided up into a “north” and “south” region. More interesting is that the qualities mama attributed to the southerners are (in my opinion) a reversal with respect to the US. There was a website which rated the IQ of Americans by the state in which they preside and all the northern states were (on average) smarter than the southern states; they did this around the time of the 2004 elections to reflect attributes related to party affiliation. I also feel that throughout American history, northern states have typically been the “first” with such areas as industrialization, emancipation, suffrage, etc.

Considering that our country almost split as a result of a civil war, I am somewhat surprised that China managed to remain united itself. If you take into account language and culture, in some ways, the north is almost like another country with respect to the southern area of China. One anthropologist/social scientist once said that the greatest barrier between societies and their cultures is language. This is because language is a mode of communication through which we can better understand one another. Once you have learned a language, you will begin to see that differences aren’t as great as you once thought before... however, in the case of north and south China, Mandarin and Cantonese appear to be completely different from each other, only hanging together on a tiny “traditional” thread. My girlfriend can read traditional Chinese, but spoken Cantonese for her is like “Greek to me.”

I believe Mao Ze Dong’s province lies in the south too. I should know this, but I am not really sure why Mao chose Beijing as the next (and current) capital of China. Lily’s father mentioned that, throughout Chinese history, the capital has moved to different locations throughout China, having once been in the south.

Supposedly on the day of Mao Zedong’s death, China experienced a massive earthquake which killed close to 200,000 people. Mao Zedong also met with a fortune teller who mentioned a set of numbers that represented how long he would rule and at what age he would die.

Another Chinese superstition is that, if a pot of tea is pointing at you, it will bring you bad fortune; this at least a Tianjin belief, so many people have their pot of tea pointing away from the table.

Speaking of “folklore,” I am looking through a book I bought on North Korea. It talks about Kim-Il Sung, the predecessor of Kim Jong-Il, in the first chapter. Supposedly, Kim-Il Sung was revered as the “next coming of Christ” who raised the north of Korea out of Japanese imperialist “shackles.” What’s more amazing is that many North Koreans sincerely believed this biased view. Kim-Il Sung was father to all North Koreans and to “prove” this, most parentless children from the Korean War were “adopted” by Kim-Il Sung during the formidable years of North Korea.

This followed Kim-Il Sung’s supposed single-hand defeat of the Japanese imperialists, along with the Americans who tried to “recapture” Korea. According to “the books,” Kim-Il Sung and his guerrilla army, without help from anyone else (including the Chinese), were able to fight off imperialist incursions on their land.

Well, so far that is what I’ve read. I will continue to read more and share what I learn along the way.