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21 :: Chinese Groupthink

I’ve tried to explain to people that the area where I lived in China last year was pretty backwater. Sure, the infrastructure was fairly developed (in some ways), but the lifestyle and attitudes and society in general were pretty backwards, at times.

I just received an email from Grahm Dion, one of my “fellow Americans” in Loudi, that gives a good example of what I’m talking about.

last night was by far the strangest experiment in social psychology i have ever seen. of course you all know the earthquake that recently destroyed part of the west here. well, for the past week the country has been watching images of earthquake victims, all the time. and there have been many tears spilled watching tv, and relating to the victims. the thing is most chinese feel things as a group. if you ask them how they feel, they will tell you how everyone feels, not how they indivudualy feel.

so, last night, a rumor hit loudi that there was going to be an earthquake. not this year, not ths month, not this week,….but last night! it is completly rediculous. and i tried to calm the people i talked to, but they were completly incapable of thinking for themselves. so, everyone went outside with their blankets and things, just like they say on tv. they were living their tv experience and did not want logic to intervene.

it was awesome. the whole city of loudi, was outside last night. midnight. the food vendors were selling food, the police were telling people not to worry, there were public announcements on the signs, and just general, having a good time, paranoia. whee!

there was one chinese guy that asked me if my government told me about an earthquake coming to loudi. he was convinced that the u.s. government could predict earthquakes and was only telling u.s. citizens the results. so he is prodding me to tell him the big secret of when the earthquake is goin to hit. Awesome! like i said, last night was incredible. i wish you could have been here with me.

ok , gotta go teach.

much love,
grahm

Oh, man … I miss that place.

Posted to webeldotnet on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 12:01 am EST in Quotes & China (comment feed). If you refer to this post on your blog, please trackback. Thanks!

7 Comments to “21 :: Chinese Groupthink”

  1. Steve said:
    May 21st, 2008 at 1:00 am EST

    Absence makes the heart grow fonder…

  2. HP said:
    May 21st, 2008 at 7:14 am EST

    that is hilarious! and so believable after having been there!!!

  3. Jiajun Yan said:
    May 21st, 2008 at 2:00 pm EST

    strange, my father was out too. I don’t understand what was going on.

  4. Lance said:
    May 21st, 2008 at 2:12 pm EST

    Jose Rosario, another friend in Loudi, just uploaded some photos from the “event”. Check them out!

    Rumors were spread by text messages that a large earthquake was due to hit this central Hunan city between 12-2am. Thousands of people flooded the main square, some with blankets intending on spending the night outside with their families. The giant TV, which had been showing state-media’s grief-filled clips from last week’s disaster (hundreds of miles away) now shows a typed message “As of now no earthquake threatens Loudi, return to your homes, do not believe or spread the rumors…” 湖南婁底

  5. Lance said:
    May 21st, 2008 at 2:42 pm EST

    And here’s an account that Jiajun Yan linked to on his website (translated into English). Thanks!

    On May 20 in the town of Anping, netizens suddenly heard through QQ [an instant messaging service] that today the village cadres went from house to house to inform people that at 3:00 on the 21st there will be an earthquake in Loudi. “All the villagers must do preventive measures, as far as possible, to avoid casualties.” Some netizens also reported that they received the same notice, and did not want to go home to sleep.

    We called the Loudi City Seismological Bureau, but no one answered the phones. Then we called the Loudi Lianyuan Anping Township, where according to the town party secretary Xiao xian, they have received a notice from the Loudi Seismological Bureau. The notice said: According to China Seismological Network Center determination - May 20 1 At 52 points, in Sichuan Ping Wuxian (32.3 degrees north latitude, 104.9 degrees east longitude) Loudi may have felt a 5.0 aftershock. The township must be prepared to do a good job of prevention and dilapidated buildings must not be occupied. Unexpectedly, this notification by the villagers was misunderstood as “at 3:00 on May 21 Lianyuan an earthquake of about 5.0 will occur.” Xiao xian said they are working to inform the villagers, and would advise everyone to feel at ease go home.

    At 23:00 pm, for fear of earthquakes, many people in Loudi dared not go home. One after another, they took to the streets. People called to confirm that information, but most people have a sleep Rumeng Xiang. [not sure what that means]

  6. Steve said:
    May 21st, 2008 at 5:02 pm EST

    We heard from friends in other parts of China that the same / very similar thing happened where they were…

    The pitfalls of a ‘connected’ Chinese population?

  7. Lance said:
    May 22nd, 2008 at 3:29 am EST

    And here’s yet another report that apparently appeared on CNN, including a well-written account of some other recent events in Loudi.

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