I could never understand about Chinese people, was their lack of facial expression, visible show of any emotions, therefore falsely concluding that the Chinese only feel comfortable, interacting with their own people. Well, it turns out this is a Chinese cultural thing…”staying neutral on my face when I’m very sad is a talent.” …showing emotions isn’t encouraged within Chinese families…”expressing emotions become a sign of weakness whereas suppressing it signifies the capacity of mental strength.”…”Instead of telling me they love me or miss me, they feed me.”…. “Have you eaten? means “I love you.”
“Negative emotions are discouraged”…any signs of anger, talking back, a look in the eye, means disrespect and dishonor”…crying is berated as weakness…”negative emotions interrupts the harmony of a family” and you would be blamed, lambasted and criticized for “rebellious acts.”
Positive emotions, such as laughter, are looked upon the same way. You’ll be criticized as being overly dramatic and you should be more subtle.
Chinese are taught their facial expressions need to remain calm and neutral, without regard as to how one feels. It is considered not well mannered, to express a sad face, because it can affect another person’s mood.
All of this suppression of emotion is in respect to the Chinese system of Hierarchy. Children don’t call parents by first names.
This system of Hierarchy spills over into the corporate world, where younger Chinese individuals, are neutered in their responses, communications, with elder counterparts. Speaking up in corporate America means you are potentially contributing to constructive ideas.- medium.com. 9/9/19.
Conclusion: The idea that expressing emotion is bad and neutrality is good, saps one’s self-confidence, self-esteem and affects psychological health. Emotions are a part of communicating and being human. “Without emotions, we might as well be robots.”-medium.com. 9/9/19. / Done
We will be robots in the not so far future. So I’d say that the Chinese are one up on us. I’d rather go back to 1975 and laugh cry have fun with everybody,also with my Chinese friends, who laughed and showed emotion.
I have to agree with the comment above, we are one step closer to being robots for sure! I can understand the mental toughness thing though, he who shows no response shows no weakness. My softball coach always said that, then the pitcher or the other coach would never know where our weakness or gap was. Interesting article, do you think this is their solution to ruling the world? Thanks for sharing!!
When the people of China are trained not to exhibit emotion, it naturally decreases free speech, exchanges of ideas, civil conversations and arguments amongst people, so that they’re culturally trained to be zombified robots. This works in favor of the totalitarian regime, where dissent is prohibited, and the population walks in lockstep to the ruler. Therefore, yes, a brainwashed population can easily be manipulated to go to war, under any false propaganda motives.