I went to a talk presented by a Chinese woman. I don't know much about Chinese culture and thought it might be interesting; that and the fact it included a tea ceremony motivated me to go.
Anyway, she was born and raised in China and came to the USA for grad school. She said there is no culture in China today. She said the communists destroyed it all during the cultural revolution. She complained that they even simplified the language (and effectively dumbed it down and thus destroying its beauty and complexity). She said all the culture stuff tourists see are there for the tourists.
She was ignorant of her culture until she went to a production by the Shen Yun production company in the United States.
video and info here So inspired by what she discovered from this show she now works to promote it. She had no idea what China's history was and told us she often had assignments in school to write papers on why the old Chinese cultural figures and traditions were wrong. She made no bones about the fact that the communists destroyed China. She mentioned that her comments if spoken in China would get her thrown in jail there.
This company attempts to restore awareness and understanding of Chinese culture to the public. This show couldn't be presented in China she said. She went on to tell us why the United States is the best country in the world. She ended by saying she is proud of the United States and we should be too.
It was a wonderful reminder to appreciate what we have/had and to cling to it and fight for it.
