Current location:Cultural Crossings news portal > opinions
(W.E. Talk) To Understand China, You Need to See China for Yourself
Cultural Crossings news portal2024-05-22 10:01:57【opinions】4People have gathered around
IntroductionBy Ma Jiajia & Jiang Wenqian From CNSAmerican sociologist, writer and country music singer Mark
By Ma Jiajia & Jiang Wenqian From CNS
American sociologist, writer and country music singer Mark Levine is an educator at Minzu University of China in Beijing. A professor of the Union of Western and Eastern Education headquartered in Beijing and an expert of China International Talent Exchange Foundation, a Chinese non-profit organization, he is the author of Stories from My Chinese Journey and Demystifying Impromptu Speech. He uses American country music to tell Chinese stories and has composed over 70 songs themed on China. He has been given honorary “citizenship” of Huai’an, a city in Jiangsu Province in east China, and is also a recipient of the Beijing Great Wall Friendship Award, and the Chinese Government Friendship Award for his outstanding contribution as a foreign expert in China’s modernization and reform and opening up.
Mark Levine discusses the ideological and cultural differences between the East and the West, as well as the barriers to bilateral exchanges and mutual learning.
CNS: You have been in China since 2005. What significant changes have you seen in this period? And how did you come up with the idea of using music to tell the stories of China?
Mark Levine:My first stop in China was Huai’an, the hometown of the late Premier Zhou Enlai. It was there that I wrote my first song after coming to China, “Huai’an—Promise of the Future,” as I felt there was a bright future ahead.
It was in China that I was inspired to start writing songs. I love strumming my guitar while walking in the streets and when inspiration strikes, I will write the song down. I wrote a song while rafting on the Lijiang River. Later, I started to write on specific themes. Music is a more convenient way to communicate than writing books.
When talking about the changes in China over the years, people will normally mention WeChat, the Chinese social media and instant messaging as well as payment app, high-speed railway and so on, but to me there is something more important. When I first came to China, I found many young Chinese were not confident about the future of their country and themselves. They wondered why there was only “made in China” instead of “designed in China” in the sector of mobile phones. You don’t see that any more. Young people today are proud and confident. This sense of pride is internalized and creates motivations that impact individual behavior.
CNS: What are the differences and similarities in the ways the East and the West think? Can they reach mutual understanding?
Mark Levine:I wrote a song about China’s response to the COVID- 19 pandemic, and before that, I had written songs about the response to the 2008 earthquake in Wenchuan in southwest China (in which over 60,000 people were killed), blizzards, floods and other disasters. The common theme of these songs is that the Chinese government, military, police, enterprises and people always come together as one. In the U.S., however, often time is wasted debating whether to do this or that. It’s not easy for everyone to work together to address problems. This reflects the nature of traditional Chinese culture and modern civilization, which is the understanding that problems can be resolved only through joint efforts. The United States, on the other hand, has always been too much focused on individual achievement and pursuit. In the case of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a lack of unity made things worse. Besides, the Chinese people are more willing to lend a hand when others are in difficulty than Americans. I hope Americans can gain more understanding of China, especially in these areas.
File Photo: A foreign tourist interacts with a child in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province. (Photo: Kan Li/China News Service)Address of this article:http://samoa.unhasdecoradas.org/article-12b999924.html
Very good!(2)
Related articles
- Mariachis. A flame
- Uyghur activist receives Roosevelt freedom of worship award — Radio Free Asia
- Video from 2022 misrepresented as footage of Baltimore bridge collapse
- Voodoo doll, whoopie cushion, denture powder among bizarre trash plucked from New Jersey beaches
- Vikings seek new deal with Justin Jefferson; star WR absent so far from workouts, AP source says
- Smokescreen: Expert rubbishes govt claim of black market over smokefree legislation
- US tuberculosis cases were at the highest level in a decade in 2023
- Children race to collect marshmallows dropped from a helicopter at a Detroit
- No more cute snaps of Mt Fuji. A screen is up in a Japanese town to prevent tourist crowds
- Nearly half of the world’s migratory species are in decline, UN report says
Popular articles
Recommended
Massey, Perez hit homers to lead Royals in 8
A Danish hippie oasis has fought drug sales for years. Now, locals want to tear up the whole street
How brown rats crawled off ships and conquered North American cities
Swedish appeals court rules space rock should stay with the owner of the property where it landed
Singapore Airlines: 1 dead, others injured after London
Search for crew member overboard from fishing vessel in Hawke's Bay
Cicadas are nature's weirdos, and about to infest 2 parts of the U.S.
Children race to collect marshmallows dropped from a helicopter at a Detroit
Links
- King Charles III to travel to France for UK ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of D
- German council approves a revised plan by Tesla to expand its plant near Berlin
- Video appears to show Sean 'Diddy' Combs beating Cassie in 2016
- Massive change coming to RHS Chelsea Flower Show
- Some of the Catholic Church's best
- The US ambassador to Japan visits southern islands at the forefront of China tension
- In Cannes, Francis Ford Coppola talks Trump, self
- Bike shops boomed early in the pandemic. It’s been a bumpy ride for most ever since
- Bronny James hasn't impressed enough at the NBA Combine to be drafted, scouts reveal
- Pennsylvania school district's decision to cut song from student concert raises concerns