China is a culture of ancestor worship. Where people burn money, and paper house and cars at the grave. Whey also offer food and wine, usually poured into the ground at the grave. Why to ensure ancestors can meet all of their needs on the other side.
One reason you should have a son, is that a daughter cannot perform these important religious functions for the dead.
Can the ancestors be shamed? In this culture, you bet.
Well, at least in the minds of the living, who feel shame by association with the dead - yeah, I understand your point. A lot of people still involved in ancestor worship, at least as far as symbolic acts go - but a lot no longer are. Anyway, the syndrome is not exclusive to cultures in which ancestor worship is or has been a formal practice - got a friend who feels strongly about honoring US Confederate soldiers' memory. Anyway, punishing the living for the acts of the dead strikes me as a bit much.
But we're getting a long way away from 'What if China and America...'
It has nothing to do with ancestor worship. The context lies in ancestors heritage and a patriotism/nationalism herein. If it really was ancestor worship it would be a joke. There is probably not a single ancestor graveyard left that has not boved for modernization or revolutions.
@Right: formal ancestor worship is just a cultural dressing on the cultural cake, and the patriotism/nationalism is promoted and makes use of the cultural heritage.
No Chinese foreign minister would be that funny to put it in context of ancestor worship. If it is presented this way it is the Wester experts and media that are making fools of themselves.
@Peter: right, full-on ancestor worship is long gone - but despite the Foreign Minister, there are folks out there in my residence area every 8th Lunar Month burning things to the hungry ghosts, who are part of the same syndrome - the dead, in some fashion, 'live' - though I'm not saying all the paper burners are solid believers, by any means.
Well, thats another topic. It has nothing to do with this.
If USA said they want to keep Washington as capital because of commemmorating ancestors, few prople would be foolish to think its ancestor worship. This is just this Orientalism thing, why people mix it herein.
But okay, maybe you got a point though. This needs too much fine tuning now, and aint got time for that :)
Itis a very interest topic, as a chinese guy I never worry about it。 1、 China is just a developing country, not strong enough to start a war with the world richest country, unite state. nobody think that China can win in a war。 what I know is that unite state has 12 super big aircraft carriers, china just have a second trainning one。2、maybe you do not know, most Chinese leader's kids lived in the western, not in china 3、under the globalization trend,no one want war, coz nobody will be winner in a war
my ideas are just for fun
Russia was never rich. It never held the bulk of America's trade deficit. However, we still had the cold war. A war that almost became a hot war on at least one occasion.
