BY ROGER WATSON

“I just love Chinese culture.”

I hear this often from people whose encounter with Chinese culture is limited to a weekly visit to the Yangtze River Chinese restaurant in town or having watched some ‘limited hangout’ documentaries by Michael Palin or Niall Ferguson on the BBC.

My inevitable response is, “which aspects of Chinese culture do you like?” and offer them a list which includes, in no particular order, the constant surveillance, bullying of inferiors, the enforced and overwhelming hospitality (being forced to attend a formal banquet within an hour of getting off a plane), the faux politeness, the ‘gobbing’ in the street (which, alas, is still a thing) or the food which, in some parts of China, verges on the inedible.

Perhaps it’s the world-leading number of executions per blown off head of population or maybe you just admire (he can’t have been all bad) Mao Tse Tung? Take your pick. I have spent weeks on the banks of the genuine Yangtze River and I can assure you that there is little to like about ‘Chinese culture.’

Of course, these Western admirers don’t take you seriously. Their vision of Chinese food is the gloopy gunk that passes for sweet and sour sauce in our Chinese restaurants (which are nearly always Hong Kong Cantonese). Their vision of the Chinese is a people who are always smiling and obliging. And let’s not forget that most recent chestnut – “China has so many people, they can’t possibly keep everyone under surveillance.” Believe me, they do. Facial recognition and CCTV cameras are everywhere, many posing as speed cameras on the roads.

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The darkest and dankest back alley, should you have reason to venture there, has CCTV cameras and every financial transaction—except the very few that can still be carried out with the reduced supply of cash—is recorded via the ubiquitous smart phone app WeChat.

Ironically, while China plans to print less of its own currency it is printing currency for many other countries in the region and beyond, for example Brazil and Poland. These bank notes herald from China where I am currently making my first visit since 2019, since the world was gripped by the insanity of the Covid-19 restrictions.

What is there to report?

The country that gave us the great gift of the novel coronavirus SARS-Cov-2 seems to have recovered remarkably well. There is hardly a sign that there was ever a ‘pandemic’ which is worth comparing with my local Sainsbury’s which still has advice about social distancing and face masks at the entrance. It seemed a lot more difficult to pass immigration than before, but, once you’re let in, things seem pretty much as they were before: noisy, chaotic, ‘fragrant’, and fast.

I am here because, in retirement from my UK university I was offered a job in China and, after nearly 20 years as a visiting academic, entered the ranks of approximately 18,000 foreign academics employed in Chinese universities. I am well paid, and I only have to visit a few times a year, the rest of my work can be done from home in the UK. Which brings me to the next question I get asked.

“If you dislike China so much, how can you work there?”

Well, I don’t dislike China. In fact, I love it. The country is vast and the differences in geology, food and temperature from Guandong Province on the Pearl River Delta to Shanxi Province on the Mongolian border are, likewise, vast. The baking heat in some areas in the middle of summer, like Luzhou in Sichuan Province where I work, is nicely offset by Kunming in Yunnan Province where pollution is minimal, and the climate remains temperate all year round. In the Bamboo Forest where I have just spent a relaxing weekend with my wife, the views are stunning with early morning walks which take you past hidden lakes, over beautiful bridges to unexpected villages. At least we were a spectacle for the local children. It is 11 years since I have seen another Giuzi (polite translation ‘foreigner’; correct translation ‘white devil’) here in Luzhou. With nearly four years of isolation, many of the children here will never knowingly have seen a westerner.

But what wins me every time in China is the people. Despite the dreadful regime under which they live and the oppressive culture which constrains their very thoughts, they are resilient, hard-working and sociable . No matter how early you go out for a run, even if it is still dark, you will see groups of old ladies out exercising and swimmers attached to the obligatory buoys floating in the Yangtze River. Whether under the baking hot sun or torrential rain, nothing changes. In either case, the brollies go up and life just carries on.

Once you have cut through the obfuscation of culture and learned not to ‘take in Chinese culture…’ as an excuse for stupidity or bad behaviour, the mask drops and people begin to open up. They hate rudeness but admire consistency and the only way to win over people here is to stick to your guns and to not compromise your own principles. Westerners are not employed in China to teach them how to be more Chinese but for them to learn what they can from what we do better than they do.

We can also learn a great deal from the Chinese. Their work ethic and the productivity of the academic staff and graduate students I work with here would frighten the bejeebers out of most academic snowflakes in UK universities.

‘Chinese culture’ therefore is a mostly a Brigadoon type fabrication; it is a tourist office view of the country projected to show the best version of China and, as a result, what gets into the consciousness of people who either never go or only take part in organised tours. Forget the illusory hunt for Chinese culture; you may not like it when you find it. Get to know the people who have to live under it and then tell me if you still love it as much as you think you do.

Roger Watson is a Registered Nurse and Editor-in-Chief of Nurse Education in Practice.