My thoughts about life and America/China after using this app

This app has opened me up to a new way of thinking. Honestly, I am humbled by how much I didn’t know about Chinese culture. I like to think of myself as a decently informed person with cultural competence, and I think I am more globally aware than most Americans (which doesn’t say much lol). I like to research countries, but I never really cared about China. I knew it had 1.4 billion people, but it didn’t register to me just how many people that was. That’s so many people who are living a life with completely different mindsets and values to the western world I was brought up in.

I went in very guarded and suspicious of “Chinese propaganda,” expecting them to aggressively instill their way of life onto me, because if it was the other way around, that’s exactly what Americans would do. I also went in arrogant, thinking us Americans would show the Chinese people what it’s like to live in a “free society.” Instead, I encountered some of the most rational, intelligent discussions I’ve ever seen online. The Chinese language is so poetic and intricate, at least that’s my impression from reading English translations. I was met with so much warmth, rationality, and calmness.

I broke down in tears. I have never felt so safe in an Internet space before. Their musings about harmony and connection touched my heart as someone who lives in a nation of distrust and division. And I know it doesn’t show the whole China. There are probably bad parts I’m not seeing. I think there are things they could learn from us as well. I think a good nation needs to have a balance of individualistic and collectivistic qualities. Coming from the U.S., seeing a nation that is so united is beautiful.