Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Western Elite from a Chinese Perspective

americanaffairsjournal.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 232 posts

Re: The Western Elite from a Chinese Perspective

#161

Post by erikb »

bagacrap wrote: post #153
stevenwoo wrote: post #12

Slightly off topic, but in the early 90's I had to help rewrite the resume of the Chinese friend of a Chinese friend and she was very proud of the fact he graduated from the number one university in China. He had very poor English writing skills so I just unmangled it, did not have difficulty conversing with him, but I was not aware of the admissions difficulty being so high there compared to the Stanford/elite US un…

When he asked himself if British people were just way stupider than Chinese, it made me realize that whatever the Chinese education system is measuring is probably way off base compared to actual aptitude or practical ability. Just because it's highly selective doesn't mean their education is relevant.

Well in his case it brought him jobs around $500k. I would say that's something.

Re: The Western Elite from a Chinese Perspective

#162

Post by erikb »

mcguire wrote: post #22

Could someone explain the point of this article? All I'm getting are: * Everything is random. * A generic Chinese man, who did really well on one test is smarter than most people in Britain. * Americans, who are capitalists, don't seem to want to focus their lives on the supposed end goal of capitalism. * MBA programs are nuts, especially if you are on the spectrum. I'm probably wrong about most of those, but like th…

How about Western people are super lucky to be born in a luxurious environment that most other people compete against each other to achieve as well, that you really need to work your ass off to achieve, and sometimes even despite working hard won't succeed at achieving.

Re: The Western Elite from a Chinese Perspective

#163

Post by thrway123324 »

walshemj wrote: post #61
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am the child of modest workers (my dad didn’t even have a bachelor degree) and have even experienced bankruptcy as a pre teen. I’m definitely not a western elite by background, but was able to experience Chinese society. Heck, there is a whole stereotype, not completely unjustified, of western losers coming to China to make a long term living as rockstar English teachers.

There used to be a British acronym FILTH Failed in London, Try Hong Kong :-)

I am using a throwaway for obvious reasons. But having been to both HK and Shanghai, I can say there is a world of difference between Westerners in both cities. The ones in HK working in finance at least have a college degree. They know how to behave in a proper surrounding. The ones I met in Shanghai are almost all trailer trash that have nowhere else to go. The filth coming out their mouths is astounding. You can see why a lot of Chinese people don't like them: egotistical and cynical. They also have chip on their shoulders. That's when you know how a person is brought up truly matters.

Re: The Western Elite from a Chinese Perspective

#164

Post by michaelmrose »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #102
usaar333 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yet I had to do it every day. At the end-of-year exam, I scored second from the bottom of the class—the same place where I began in first grade. But this time it was much harder to accept, after the glory I had enjoyed just one year earlier and the huge amount of effort I had put into studying this year. Finally, I threw in the towel, and asked my parents to send me abroad. Anywhere else on this earth would surely…

Wonder if Hurtwood House knew the truth that he was second from the bottom or do they just take in anybody with money.

Why would they turn someone away with a pile of money?

Re: The Western Elite from a Chinese Perspective

#165

Post by erikb »

typetehcodez wrote: post #66

This story immediately reminded me of Scott Adams. He spent some time working on financial models before writing Dilbert. If you can stomach polarizing political viewpoints from a cartoonist, I would highly recommend reading his non-Dilbert books and giving his blog a thorough reading. His reflections on life touch on the role of luck, the limitations of prediction models, and framing worldviews from multiple perspec…

This is the second time someone suggests him. But there is a lot to read. Can you make suggestion for a place to start? Like what's your favorite article? How did it change your view on the world?

Re: The Western Elite from a Chinese Perspective

#166

Post by erikb »

fahayekwasright wrote: post #3

Interesting that in one section, he casts doubt on the notion that mathematical models can accurately describe reality, and in another, he uses a heart rate monitor to conclude that he doesn’t have emotions.

Well, one cannot not use models. Even if one explicitely avoids using models that avoidance in itself is a model.

Re: The Western Elite from a Chinese Perspective

#167

Post by michaelmrose »

thedevil wrote: post #33
mcguire wrote: post #22

Could someone explain the point of this article? All I'm getting are: * Everything is random. * A generic Chinese man, who did really well on one test is smarter than most people in Britain. * Americans, who are capitalists, don't seem to want to focus their lives on the supposed end goal of capitalism. * MBA programs are nuts, especially if you are on the spectrum. I'm probably wrong about most of those, but like th…

* luck has more to do with results than we think * "focus on the process, which we can control, rather than the result" This is also well explained by Scott Adams: "Goals are for losers... try systems that improve your odds of success."

Adams is a fool whose primary accomplishment is badly drawing a comic which is occasionally mildly funny I cannot imagine reading an entire book by him.

Re: The Western Elite from a Chinese Perspective

#168

Post by vadimberman »

mazerackham wrote: post #159
vadimberman wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's far better than what I managed to extract. I only got the first two points, after which it all became a meaningless word salad (plus, he read a book that impressed him). I was about to post a WTF-type comment, but then I found yours. I also couldn't ignore the headline referring to the "West" (whatever it is) in general, while the author only had some limited experience working in the US and studying in the UK…

Now you know how Chinese people feel when they read any articles written by white men about China, or when they go eat at one of those asian fusion abominations :)

I know, but they sorta kinda miss the irony when they reference racial origin and "West" instead of referring to an individual.

Re: The Western Elite from a Chinese Perspective

#170

Post by Gravityloss »

alexasmyths wrote: post #148
kohanz wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a bit of a stretch (or at best a gross over-simplification) to exclusively group the concepts of religion/spirituality with love such that anyone who is not religious/spiritual must only care about "materialism". The rant is far too black & white, or us vs. them for my liking.

It's not 'Science v Religion' ... it's 'Materialism v Spirituality' - this is the fundamental Metaphysical debate of our era, really.

People don't like it if you tell them they can not feel love.
Post reply on HN