Lesson 12

ng and going, you'd expect greater understanding to develop between the nations of the world. Not a bit of it! Superb systems of communication by air, sea and land make it possible for us to visit each other's countries at a moderate cost. What was once the "grand tour", reserved for only the very rich, is now within everybody's grasp. The package tour and chartered flights are not to be sneered at. Modern travellers enjoy a level of comfort which the lords and ladies on grand tours in the old days couldn't have dreamed of. But what's the sense of this mass exchange of populations if the nations of the world remain basically ignorant of each other?

    Many tourist organizations are directly responsible for this state of affairs. They deliberately set out to protect their clients from too much contact with the local population. The modern tourist leads a cosseted, sheltered life. He lives at international hotels, where he eats his international food and.sips his international drink while he gazes at the natives from a distance. Conducted tours to places of interest are carefully censored. The tourist is allowed to see orily what the organizers want him to see and no more.

 A strict schedule makes it impossible for the tourist to wander off on his own ~ and anyway, language is always a barrier, so he is only too happy to be protected in this way. At its very worst, this leads to a new and hideous kind of colonisation. The summer quarters of the inhabitants of the cite universitair are temporarily re-established on the island of Corfu. Blackpool is recreated at Torremolinos where the traveller goes not to eat'paella, but fish and chips.

    The sad thing about this situation is that it leads to the persistence of national stereotypes. We don't see the people of other nations as they really are, but as we have been brought up to believe they are. You can test this for yourself. Take five nationalities, say, French, German, English, American and Italian. Now in your mind, match them with these five adjectives: musical, amorous, cold, pedantic, naive. Far from providing us with any insight into the national characteristics of the people just mentioned, these adjectives actually act as barriers.

 So when you set out on your, travels, the only characteristics you notice are those which confirm your preconceptions. You come away with the highly unoriginal and inaccurate impression that, say, "Anglo-Saxons are hypocriies" or that "Latin peoples shout a lot", You only have to make a few foreign friends to understand how absurd and harmful national stereotypes are. But how can you make foreign friends when the tourist trade does its best to prevent you?
    Carried to an extreme, stereotypes can be positively dangerous. Wild generalisations stir up racial hatred and blind us to the basic facthow. trite it soundsl -that all people are human. We are all similar to each other and at the same time all unique.

　

                       2. Leaving with a Love of China

    Very soon I will be leaving China. I am well aware that three and a half years is not enough time to "understand" China. But I want to express my appreciation for what has been a marvellous experience, made even richer because I worked for the Coal Industry Ministry at Shandong Mining College, first at Jinan, and for the past 2 1/2 years at Tai'an. Living on campus in the small city of Tai'an,at the foot of Taishan, was a privilege. It gave me a view of China which can never be afforded to those who live in Beijing or Shanghai or any large city. After all, Beijing is not China, any more than New York City is the United States.

    Of course there have been hardships, frustrations and difficulties. But that,s life, anywhere.
    The courtesy, consideration and friendliness which have been extended to me, daily, are precious and lasting. I have traveled over much of China. Most of all, more than all the antiquities, battlefields, scenery, coal mines, factories, temples, operas, and the rest, it is the Chinese people who captured my heart - sincere, warm, incredibly industrious, unsophisticated, and capable of deeper, truer friendship than most Westerners can even imagine.

    I have been welcomed into the homes of many Chinese. I have friends from 3 to 83, peasants, workers, professors, doctors, cooks, drivers. I have known people as they suffer and struggle and laugh and weep and argue and have fun - like all human beings. I have always tried not to "look through American eyes", but to see Chinese as people.

    I suggest to those shallow elitists who.can't live without their golf "exercise", that they come to Tai'an and carry 100 pounds

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