The Meaning of Chineseness - Essay Example

? 05 December Ethnography - Chineseness How would you define the meaning of 'Chineseness'? Place where smells like Chinese fried rice or place where there are a lot of cell phone card sellers in Zao Yang Road? I define 'Chineseness' as things being in balance. I believe the true meaning of 'Chineseness' lies under being in balance and creating harmony in one. The meaning of Chineseness for me is also balance between the existence of the old and new trends in China. One place where these trends coexist is Xintiandi. Xintiandi is a place where I found the balance of China. Though, this is my first time visiting China, I see that Xintiandi and the surrounding roads -Taikang Road and Xingye Road-define my meaning of 'Chineseness'. The surroundings of Xintiandi are something that represents the idea of being 'modern Chineseness': Taikang Road above. Xingye Road below. An analysis of Xintiandi helped me understand how the old and new cultures coexist in the bigger picture when seen in context of China as a whole. The Xintiandi area is located in Shaghai’s center toward the south of the Huaihai Middle Road. It was built between February 1999 and June 2001. The Xintiandi area starts in the east from the Huangpi South Road and continues up to the Madang Road toward the west, thus covering a total area of 30,000 m2 whereas the total construction area is 60,000 m2. I made a visit to Xintiandi last month. In this paper, I have described the activities that I witnessed at Xintiandi at different points in time. The area of Shaghai Xintiandi consists of numerous cultural legacies and historical attractions of Shanghai that make it one of the most popular urban tourist attractions in China. Originally, this area had many lanes of historic Shikumen buildings most of which were constructed during the 19th century. Presently, this area represents the way the traditional Chinese styles of construction have been combined with the foreign construction styles. The unification of the traditional Chinese and the foreign construction styles happened as a result of the construction of Xintiandi by the transformation of the old area of residence into a contemporary multifunctional center of entertainment that is equipped with numerous restaurants, boutiques, bars, and cafes of international standard. The shops retain the old Shanghai’s Shikumen housing exterior along with the antique elements of construction including the tiles and walls whereas the interiors are well-decorated and reflect the modern style of interior designing. A visit to Xintiandi provides people with an insight into the history of Shanghai during the 1920’s as well as a comprehensive idea of the contemporary lifestyle of the denizens of Shanghai. In the afternoon and before the evening sets in, Xintiandi is cold and very windy. One can witness both local people and foreigners that come to visit Xintiandi from far-off countries like the USA, Canada, UK, and Australia to enjoy both its cultural and tourist attractions. Xintiandi has something to offer to people of all ages ranging from the children to old people which is why one can see many families enjoying their time at Xintiandi. Xintiandi is visited by so many foreigners and tourists that when one pays a visit to Xintiandi, one gets confused whether it is China or some foreign country. It is not just a heavy influx of the foreigners that makes one think like this, the various facilities provided at Xintiandi and the way the place has been designed makes it quite westernized. Such facilities include but are not limited to international restaurants, bars, and beautifully decorated cafes. It gets very cold and extremely windy at Xintiandi at around 10:00 pm. I did not notice many families at that time, though I saw more couples at night at Xintiandi than I had seen during the day. I think it was so because Xintiandi provides a very romantic atmosphere to the couples. During the night, most of the people I saw at Xintiandi were Chinese and the foreigners were very few. Most of the foreigners come as families and shop around and enjoy their time during the day. At night, Xintiandi looks very exotic and magnificent. The neon lights from the bars and cafes when reflect against the black background of the night spur the desire in an individual to visit them. I walked into one of the restaurants at night and happened to interview a French couple that I have summarized in the following paragraph. I conducted this interview with a White couple in their 20s. They spoke in the French language to each other and occasionally used English in between. The bar in which the interview was conducted was “Sasha”. This interview was conducted in the night at around 10:00 pm. I introduced myself to the interviewees and the French couple agreed to give the interview. They told me that they were from France. The French man liked the Chinese food but was not satisfied with the transport service particularly the taxi, but the woman did not like the Chinese food. Both were tourists and had come to China to enjoy its culture and food. The woman told me that if she were to describe China in one word, it would be “population”. Since they were French, the couple’s English was not fluent and was only good enough to convey the meaning. In the morning at around 11:00 am, it is the time of breakfast at Xintiandi. Different restaurants offer breakfast menus from a variety of cuisines. In the morning, the place is still windy and cold as usual and it also frequently rains in the morning. The foreigners can also be located at Xintiandi in the morning at the restaurants. I happened to interview a Korean guide in the morning. This was the second interview and was conducted with a Korean man in a restaurant. The man seemed to be in the 40s. Like before, I asked his permission for the interview that he happily granted me. Although he belonged to Korea, the man had been serving in China for 15 years and was thus well-versed with the Chinese culture. He said that he found China to be just like Korea. He told me that he thought that China is both an interesting and a dangerous country. Chineseness to him is not much different to being Korean. The man told me that the unique thing that he has noticed about China is rapid growth of population, openness toward the Western culture, and its economic growth and prosperity. The interviewee compared Xintiandi to Tokyo. When I asked the interviewee what Chineseness meant to him, he told me that Chineseness means drinking since Alcohol is an integral part of the Chinese culture. People drink and gift alcohol to express their well wishes for others’ success in business. Concluding, the meaning of Chineseness for me is to strike a balance between conservatism and modernity, old and new culture, and national and foreign culture. China has progressed dramatically over the past few decades and this progress can, in part, be attributed to the very balance. Although today China is one of the fastest developing countries of the world, yet China has not compromised upon its traditional culture and values to attain the modernity, which provides evidence for the very balance that I have discussed in this paper. Both of the couples that were interviewed commonly expressed that they noticed rapid growth of population as well as westernization of China. People especially the foreigners are noticing many similarities between the contemporary Chinese culture and the Western culture, be it in terms of drinking or the lifestyle in general. Places like Xintiandi in China show how the traditional culture of China has been preserved and blended with the modern culture to cater for the needs and desires of the local population as well as the foreigners. Visiting Xintiandi was a wonderful experience which helped me explore and understand the meaning that I associated with Chineseness even more. Space vs Place Certeau distinguishes between space and place by defining the former in terms of mobility of elements and the latter in terms of stability and location. According to Certeau, space considers the vectors of velocity, direction, and time, and thus constitutes intersection of the various mobile elements. Space is produced as a result of operation. Space is defined with respect to a particular point in time since it keeps changing and modifying as the operation progresses. Unlike the space, the place remains constant and although it changes with changes in an individual’s space, yet the elements also change. Elements that are located in a particular place define it and cannot be relocated. The place cannot be taken as one moves but the space is temporal and keeps modifying. Place when practiced becomes a space. A street is a place but when one moves on it, it becomes space that changes with the changing surroundings of the individual. The place is constituted by a sign-system. A written text is a place and as one reads it, it becomes a space. Read More