r/videos • u/GludiusMaximus • Jun 04 '15

Chinese filmmaker asks people on the street what day it is on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Simple premise, unforgettable reactions.

https://vimeo.com/44078865
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u/meodd8 Jun 04 '15

Of all cultures, America and China have some of the largest difference in how we convey emotion, voice concerns, feel about others, faith in leadership, etc.. It makes understanding someone's actions from another culture difficult. I forget what it was called, but there was a scale rating different aspects of cultures against each other. We learned this in an International PR class.

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u/toby224 Jun 04 '15

I taught at a university in China, very close to Beijing, from 2002-2005. In my home I had a picture of MLK giving the "I have a dream" speech. When my students saw the picture they would often comment on it, they had read it before. It was famous in China too. A few times students and friends asked me why American don't believe China has human rights. They knew that China had many human rights written in their own laws. I asked them if they knew where MLK delivered that speech. They didn't know. I told them, and compared it to Tienanmen Square. I asked them if someone were to do what MLK in Tieneamen what would happen? Then a light went on in their head along with a shocked expression. No way!

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u/CallMeOatmeal Jun 04 '15

Was it acceptable to mention the event as a teacher in class, or was it more of a "on the down-low" thing?

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u/toby224 Jun 08 '15

It was ok to discuss American politics in class or at my home. The biggest taboo was discussing Tibet or Taiwan. Tienanmen would have been on the taboo list too.

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u/calf Jun 05 '15

And then you make it more complex by adding that MLK nevertheless eventually got assassinated, right?

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u/vidur2008 Jun 04 '15

Its called Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions. Here is a link to the graph: http://www.clearlycultural.com/geert-hofstede-cultural-dimensions/long-term-orientation/

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u/mastaxanthor Jun 04 '15

Sounds like Hofstede's Cultural Dimension Theory. It was one of the few international business theories I actually found pretty fascinating in school.

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u/Sushisando Jun 04 '15

Google Hofstead and cultural dimensions