tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3607441034503290367.post3366532096440265304..comments2023-08-13T19:25:45.898-07:00Comments on East Meets West: My Life in a Multi-generational HouseholdTeresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12831169405732892599noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3607441034503290367.post-47929553704775330102009-09-25T14:24:56.532-07:002009-09-25T14:24:56.532-07:00Hi Barrie,
I usually was more hungry for solitude...Hi Barrie,<br /><br />I usually was more hungry for solitude than companionship. My own family was small, so I was not used to so many people under one roof. But it was nice. I have one younger brother, so having sisters was a real treat.Teresahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12831169405732892599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3607441034503290367.post-30172953851925703962009-09-25T13:19:38.665-07:002009-09-25T13:19:38.665-07:00I can certainly understand why you weren't lon...I can certainly understand why you weren't lonely. ;)Barriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04678698296265168217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3607441034503290367.post-82762230880088548382009-09-17T21:27:35.834-07:002009-09-17T21:27:35.834-07:00I am impressed by your insight, Murat. These behav...I am impressed by your insight, Murat. These behavior codes were used with varying intensity for thousands of years. They seem to have become very ingrained, especially in people who still have contact with farming or rural life. They do seem to fall apart in urban settings and in upper classes, but yet, there are still traces, even among Chinese living in the US.<br /><br />But even in the earliest times, the Chinese culture has always had flexibility and pragmatism. I think it comes from the combination of Confucianism with Taoism. You get a very rigid system practiced simultaneously with a very fluid system. The two seem to balance each other out to produce an enduring culture.Teresahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12831169405732892599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3607441034503290367.post-57061922309130459542009-09-17T19:51:17.314-07:002009-09-17T19:51:17.314-07:00Teresa: What continues to interest me is all the b...Teresa: What continues to interest me is all the behavioral guidance, the behavioral codes that seem to have come from centuries of observing human interaction: it's <i>as if</i> all possible situations have been cataloged, and the responses are quite rational. Of course, this cannot be the case, but the <i>attempt</i> is fascinating. There are things - rules, customs, rites - in our own worlds that do not seem to have the <i>mind</i> behind them that these "codes" do. <br /><br />And yet, there is a flexibility, a pragmatism that comes through in the Liu's syncretic approach to your joining them.murat11https://www.blogger.com/profile/00663364407992075130noreply@blogger.com