Blast from the (not too distant) past

I'm not even kidding. On the first day we inspected the Foreign Teacher's Office, Warren found a hilarious little "survey." We're not sure who made it, exactly, but we're convinced that it was to be from a while ago... like more than 10 years, maybe?

In any case, we both found it both hilarious and a little unsettling. Some of the questions reek of an outmoded Mao/Stalinism that, quite frankly, has very little place left in even the Chinese psyche. The humor is in the wording, which reveals a very "Chinese" outlook on life and the world. Foreigners are either gods or dogs, and that's a worldview they're only beginning to remove themselves from. The post-colonial guilt trips many still try to throw at us laowai, however, are still alive and well.

And so, without further ado, I give you what we found:

"An Exploration for Residents of the Global Village

1 - STRONGLY AGREE
2 - SOMEWHAT AGREE
3 - HAVE NO OPINION
4 - SOMEWHAT DISAGREE
5 - STRONGLY DISAGREE

1. The higher standards of material life in Western Europe and the US proves the superiority of western culture.

2. The fact that China has the longest continuous civilization proves its superiority.

3. Foreigners going to live in a new country should give up their foreign ways and adapt to the new country as quickly as possible.

4. Foreigners living in another country should behave as proper guests and avoid interfering in the affairs of the host country.

5. Much of the world's population does not take enough initiative to develop themselves. Therefore, they remain "underdeveloped".

6. The underdevelopment of much of the world is due to colonial and post-colonial exploitation by developed countries.

7. The sooner the people of the world learn to do things the right way, the sooner we will understand each other better.

8. Countries may welcome outsiders for particular reasons, but they should limit the influence of foreign ideas and ways of life.

9. The stress some societies place on individual freedom and rights contributes to the neglect of the well being of society as a whole.

10. The people of some societies do not place any value on human life. To them life is cheap.

11. People of every culture are entitled to the full use of their own language as an essential part of their culture.

12. One of the major languages should be adopted as the universal language of the world.

13. All people should be fluent in as many as three languages: their mother tongue, their national language and an international language such as English.

14. The culture of primitive or native hunter and gathering peoples are inferior to the cultures of agricultural and industrial societies.

15. All cultures represent legitimate, fully human ways of being in the world."

Really, I was a little dumbstruck after reading it. Both from the amusing way it was written, and probably more so the fact that someone had written this as a serious attempt at a survey for...some group of (presumably) Chinese students.

I came away from it thinking to myself, "really? these are questions that have to be asked?"

But then again, I'm not Chinese... I'm a member of the "developed countries" exploiting the "colonial and post-colonial" world.

And the proletariat shall rise up against the oppressive yoke of their bourgeois master and overthrow them! And with that final, bloody struggle, all the peoples of the world shall unite in a common bond of...

Oh, wait... was I saying something? I think I might have momentarily blacked-out... ;)