i learned a new word today — hypocriticalism.

Hehe..perhaps 'hypocrisy' would work here.
You know, this bunfight reminds me of the scene in Life of Brian - "What have the Romans ever done for us?" "..err, the aquaduct? All cultures absorb from others.

I think Quester's summary says it best. And as Alien stated in another thread, Chinese culture is not as fragile as some people like to think (to do so smacks of 'colonialism' in itself, no?)

@tonyad
I thought China's history was actually longer - something about the zhao (?) dynasty that maybe lasted 10k years before the Chinese began recording history. It's listed in the list of dynasties.

Couldn't you argue that the Chinese are colonising themselves with their desire of and acceptance of all things Western? Maybe mm you should turn your attention to Chinese people and demand they deny western culture and embrace and enhance their own. Everywhere I look Chinese people either want to leave or live like Americans!

The Chinese try to colonise themselves. The guy with the verruca took Karl Marx (German) ideas and opposed them upon his people. Obviously the people werent too happy about it. Besides, the real Karl Marx has nothing to do with what the Chinese understand. Well Chinese are very good at pick and choose. Every year a lot of Chinese travel to Germany to worship Marx.
==> colonising themselves

wear Italian clothes, drive German cars, drink French wine...
==> colonising themselves

still waiting for the sexual revolution in China though. About sexual education: China is lost, no hope

@blobbles: I havent seen that Chinese want to live like Americans. I hope they wont what a ecological disaster and there will be war all over the world (telling everybody that they have nuclear weapons instead of saying we want your ressouces, is not ok)

@laotou: Chinese always say that there have a 8000year long history, but that's there own definition. According to Western standarts definitely not.

why do so many chinese kids play basketball? influence of watching NBA, right? is that a good thing or a bad thing? what sports were they playing before trying to emulate kobe bryant? were they all doing martial arts?

and ..... is bhutan the last authentic place on earth?
style.time.com/[...]

The only authentic places on earth are the places where you cant buy coca cola: North Korea and Cuba

"Everywhere I look Chinese people either want to leave or live like Americans!"

You probably mean Europeans or European-Americans. If they wanted to live like Americans, they'd be living in tipis, putting paint on their face and dancing around a campfire.
Also, it's generally some who want to emulate European-Americans. Not every Chinese. More prefer things Taiwanese, Korean and Japanese.

@laotou
Per Wikipedia (which is not always accurate but is a good jumping off point)

Archaeological findings providing evidence for the existence of the Shang dynasty, c. 1600–1046 BC.

The Xia dynasty of China (from c. 2100 to c. 1600 BC) is the first dynasty to be described in ancient historical records.

So I was off with my numbers, archeological evidence only dates back 3600 years while based on historical written text, it only goes back to 4100. The knee-jerk answer given by Chinese when asked how long is China's history is 5000. (A fact verified just now through a quick WeChat poll of my friends) I don't know where 8000 comes from unless you are counting Neolithic China then perhaps it goes back 10,000 years. Maybe 8000 is the new number the Chinese government is pushing?

@Everybody
I think at this point we can all figure out that mmkunmingteacher is so full of sh!t that he doesn't know if he is coming or going.

@mmkunmingteacher
If you are really interested in having a serious discussion on something as heavy as "cultural colonialism", you'll have to bring something to the table by offering an in-depth analysis of your insights instead of moronic, superficial arguments such as "eating what the common Chinese people eat; speaking Chinese as best you can; making Chinese friends and spending time with them; going to Chinese restaurants;" is experiencing China.

You realize, by the way, that in order to experience "true Chinese culture" you would have to travel back to mid-Qing dynasty, right? Even then you could already see western foreign influences as different countries are vying to influence China. It is widely accepted that the Qing themselves are foreign and so you would need to travel to the Ming dynasty to experience pure traditional Chinese culture. But wait! Wasn't the Ming dynasty established AFTER the Yuan dynasty which was the result of the Mongol invasion of China, another foreign entity. So now you'd have to go back to the Song and the Tang. But during those times, didn't China import foreign influences via the Silk road? And wasn't Buddhism, which appeared during this time period, imported from India. So in essence, it could be argued that anything after the Han dynasty is not pure Chinese culture and has been "colonized" culturally.

So please Mr. mmkunmingteacher, redefine for us exactly what is "cultural colonialism". You can't throw labels and accusations around and not expect to be challenged.

Looking forward to your response...Or you can run and hide like you always do.

Ciao~

Perhaps the colonialism is telling Chinese people what they should do, and what type of culture they should embrace! That is, telling them not be to be Western is in fact colonialism. If Chinese people want NBA & MTV and Coca-cola & beer & Crazy English, that is for the Chinese to decide. Even if we think it is a pity. Otherwise it is colonialism.

Perhaps we do them a better service by people such as teachers helping students learn how to evaluate options and make good decisions for themselves.