4 ms·

I agree with your statement, but if you turn around that logic, it is meaningless. Will you read about a blue collar worker's view on Chinese society? Probably

I agree with your statement, but if you turn around that logic, it is meaningless. Will you read about a blue collar worker's view on Chinese society? Probably not, since they are unlikely to have experienced it. Only Western elites will have been likely to experience Chinese society. Obviously someone who will be published in a magazine is elite. I am willing to wager than all the other writers are 'elites' in some way. As societies, we don't really want to read about some Cantonese kid working after school at his parents restaurant for 6 hours a day. We want to see success! That is why we tunnel so heavily on Cambridge, Stanford, and Goldman Sachs. Do you really think he would have been given a voice on this magazine if he was not affiliated with those institutions?

rdtsc 9y ago
> We want to see success! We do, but this success is presented as if coming from an average Chinese experience. But it's very much not so. A lot of success to him came not just from pure hard work but because his family could afford to have "plan B" of sending him abroad. Like someone here on HN said it, it is not that the elites don't fail, they do, but after each failure they can just keep trying until they succeed. > Will you read about a blue collar worker's view on Chinese society? I would love to actually. What would an American welder think about China or, maybe what they would think about how Chinese welders work and vice-versa. > As societies, we don't really want to read about some Cantonese kid working after school at his parents restaurant for 6 hours a day. No, but they would love to read about the Cantonese kid working after school and then based on his hard work end up at GS. The bottom line is growing in up in a family like it doesn't matter what country or culture you come from you already won the lottery. You can live in Venezuela or Africa and still take weekend flight to shop in New York. Your perspective is already very different.
seanmcdirmid 9y ago
I am the child of modest workers (my dad didn’t even have a bachelor degree) and have even experienced bankruptcy as a pre teen. I’m definitely not a western elite by background, but was able to experience Chinese society. Heck, there is a whole stereotype, not completely unjustified, of western losers coming to China to make a long term living as rockstar English teachers.
- walshemj 9y ago
  There used to be a British acronym FILTH Failed in London, Try Hong Kong :-)
  - pcr0 9y ago
    Heard this a lot in investment banking. Definitely "used to be" as these days you're unlikely to make it in Hong Kong either.
    - user5994461 9y ago
      The friends I know who tried to get into either say it's as hard to join HK as London. They are both super competitive.
      - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
        Well, they could try Shanghai.
        user5994461 9y ago
        The main offices are usually in NYC, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore. I don't think that Shanghai is an option.
        seanmcdirmid 9y ago
        There is some investment and finance going on in shanghai these days. It isn’t world-class, but everyone wants to be there to learn and look to the future. Kind of like how HK and Singapore were 40-50 years ago.
  - thrway123324 9y ago
    I am using a throwaway for obvious reasons. But having been to both HK and Shanghai, I can say there is a world of difference between Westerners in both cities. The ones in HK working in finance at least have a college degree. They know how to behave in a proper surrounding. The ones I met in Shanghai are almost all trailer trash that have nowhere else to go. The filth coming out their mouths is astounding. You can see why a lot of Chinese people don't like them: egotistical and cynical. They also have chip on their shoulders. That's when you know how a person is brought up truly matters.
thyrsus 9y ago
I thought this BBC article about present day "blue collar" Chinese experience rang true. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-dd0e6fd5-12fc-4a4a-a0eb-4ef064900f92 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-dd0e6fd5-12fc-4a4a-a...

rdtsc 9y ago

> We want to see success! We do, but this success is presented as if coming from an average Chinese experience. But it's very much not so. A lot of success to him came not just from pure hard work but because his family could afford to have "plan B" of sending him abroad. Like someone here on HN said it, it is not that the elites don't fail, they do, but after each failure they can just keep trying until they succeed. > Will you read about a blue collar worker's view on Chinese society? I would love to actually. What would an American welder think about China or, maybe what they would think about how Chinese welders work and vice-versa. > As societies, we don't really want to read about some Cantonese kid working after school at his parents restaurant for 6 hours a day. No, but they would love to read about the Cantonese kid working after school and then based on his hard work end up at GS. The bottom line is growing in up in a family like it doesn't matter what country or culture you come from you already won the lottery. You can live in Venezuela or Africa and still take weekend flight to shop in New York. Your perspective is already very different.

seanmcdirmid 9y ago

I am the child of modest workers (my dad didn’t even have a bachelor degree) and have even experienced bankruptcy as a pre teen. I’m definitely not a western elite by background, but was able to experience Chinese society. Heck, there is a whole stereotype, not completely unjustified, of western losers coming to China to make a long term living as rockstar English teachers.

walshemj 9y ago
There used to be a British acronym FILTH Failed in London, Try Hong Kong :-)
- pcr0 9y ago
  Heard this a lot in investment banking. Definitely "used to be" as these days you're unlikely to make it in Hong Kong either.
  - user5994461 9y ago
    The friends I know who tried to get into either say it's as hard to join HK as London. They are both super competitive.
    - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
      Well, they could try Shanghai.
      - user5994461 9y ago
        The main offices are usually in NYC, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore. I don't think that Shanghai is an option.
        seanmcdirmid 9y ago
        There is some investment and finance going on in shanghai these days. It isn’t world-class, but everyone wants to be there to learn and look to the future. Kind of like how HK and Singapore were 40-50 years ago.
- thrway123324 9y ago
  I am using a throwaway for obvious reasons. But having been to both HK and Shanghai, I can say there is a world of difference between Westerners in both cities. The ones in HK working in finance at least have a college degree. They know how to behave in a proper surrounding. The ones I met in Shanghai are almost all trailer trash that have nowhere else to go. The filth coming out their mouths is astounding. You can see why a lot of Chinese people don't like them: egotistical and cynical. They also have chip on their shoulders. That's when you know how a person is brought up truly matters.

thyrsus 9y ago

I thought this BBC article about present day "blue collar" Chinese experience rang true. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-dd0e6fd5-12fc-4a4a-a0eb-4ef064900f92 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-dd0e6fd5-12fc-4a4a-a...