Tell it to Steven Hawking. A person's physical stature does not limit his/her potential for work that does not rely on his/her physical stature (e.g., English teaching, as well as physics). The cultural attitude that those who are discriminated against because they do not fit the culturally desired norm should be outcast or should be provided for by special environments that can be sold as entertainment venues to those who will not deal with their own prejudices is a cultural attitude that perpetuates discrimination against all who are 'different'. The problem here, as elsewhere, is a matter of dehumanizing those who are 'different' - prejudicial culture that regiments anything that deviates from its standards, rather than dealing with the prejudice itself. Why not have a theme park within which 'foreigners', with all their funny habits, can be kept, so that they do not disturb the 'normality' of cultural prejudices? Actually, there could be many: one for 'black people', one for Tibetans, one for Japanese, one for gay people, one for Han Chinese people who have given up their 'traditional' clothing for 'western-style' clothing (e.g., the great majority of Chinese, over the past century or so) - in fact we could subdivide and subdivide until nothing was left but mutual nonrecognition. All these would help to maintain the narrow identities of 'normality' that can be relied upon to advance support the cultural attitudes that promote the continuing inability of people to recognize each other as human, and to celebrate and accept their differences - not as entertainment items, no matter how 'cute', but as full human beings. How different is all this from apartheid?
This effort to maintain prejudice can, of course, be profitable to those who invest in it, and convenient for social engineers and political elites who want to maintain an elite power status by reliance on it.
The place is an insult to our common humanity and a spotlight on cultural attitudes of exclusion. Those who find that they enjoy such displays should take a good look at the nature of the culture that has formed them so narrowly. Cultures change; cultures have always changed; cultures are presently changing and will continue to do so; there is nothing sacred about cultural attitudes. Our common humanity is an ongoing project, and those who imagine they are not part of such a project are simply contributing their own blindness to it, and limiting themselves in the process. It's not the 'dwarves' who are the problem, its the people who will not accept them as within the boundaries of 'us'.
A countryside wedding in Lincang
Posted byAnd it was all good. Congratulations & best wishes always!
Yeah, a few more articles like this one, which connect real people in the foreign community with real Chinese people (despite occasional cultural unfamiliarities), rather than the simple recounting of relationships involving stereotypical misunderstandings on both sides that often appear in the forums.
Welcome to the new GoKunming!
Posted byI'm sorry but I don't find any improvement with the new format - I don't mean it's any worse, just that this kind of shifting of things around is more trouble than it's worth, both for the website folks & for the users. Add concrete content, okay; but don't bother with the appearances thing.
Wulong Quest 2013 or The Great Turtle Pull
Posted byReally, really stupid.
Lincang eyeglasses fundraiser
Posted byGood idea, hope people will contribute whatever they can - imagine being sent to school & not being able to afford glasses to see the blackboard! Elementary education may be free in China but there are seemingly minor expenses that prevent many poor in the countryside from taking full advantage of them - not exactly a level playing field.
Kunming: A New Perspective
Posted byIs there a 'search' button somewhere? If not, the site badly needs one.