43 replies to this topic

[caocao74]

I can't escape from my ethnicity or nationality, but neither are of truly great importance to me as a person who goes about his everyday life.

[ezquire]

CHinese first, Nationality second

PS: You can change your nationality but you cannot change your ethnicity

[urofpersia]

CHinese first, Nationality second

PS: You can change your nationality but you cannot change your ethnicity

Probably the very reason why I identify more with my nationality than my ethnicity. Some of us are lucky enough to have a choice about our nationality. As one grows older and travels around one gets a better idea of just how important nationality can be. It is not simply a convenience. (although many people certainly treat it as such)

Ethnic identity can be misleading. The Chinese of Sngapore are different from the Chinese of Taiwan, different from the Chinese of China, of HK. So what does it really mean to identify yourself first by ethnicity?

Ultimately I discover I identify more with my fellow countrymen regardless of ethnicity. I remember my Grandmother telling me a saying,"Without the family, where would I be? Without a country, where would the family be?" I think for people her generation who were forced by economic reasons to move to another country and then to go through subjugation by a foreign powers, the fight for self-determination, and an opportunity to make good in life regardless of your station, nationality has a significance the younger ones may find difficult to understand.

[fcharton]

Voted neither... I strongly dislike the concept of ethnicity, an feel that the concept of nationality is less and less useful nowadays (a feeling which is probably stronger in europe than elsewhere, these days). If I were to choose something, I would probably speak of culture, or cultural heritage...

I don't like the idea of ethnicity, because the idea of feeling related to someone because, many generations ago, our ancestors came from the same region seems silly to me.

Also, it seems to me that, through history, these notions were more often used to exclude (other ethnicities) or fight (the same) than to unite and make peace. There is something in me which hates national pride in all its forms.

This does not mean that I consider myself a citizen of the world, I am a French citizen and this is fine. But I am neither a patriot nor a nationalist.

Francois

[ChiangAP]

I can't escape from my ethnicity or nationality, but neither are of truly great importance to me as a person who goes about his everyday life.

Voted neither.....

Your statement seems pretty reasonable to me. And, yes, we can talk of pride in our cultural heritage, and pleasure of sharing it with those who can appreciate. This might be at the root of our attraction for (almost) everything Chinese.

Talking of culture, here is a piece of litterature that Fcharton will surely enjoy, and which could be submitted to those who feel they are not treated as they should :

British say French `most unfriendly'
GOOD OR BAD: While the French were voted the most boring in a British Web site poll, the `Daily Express' said the British were so average they fitted in nowhere
AFP , LONDON Sunday, May 21, 2006,Page 6

The French were voted the world's most unfriendly nation by a landslide in a British poll published yesterday. They were also voted the most boring and most ungenerous.

A decisive 46 percent of the 6,000 people surveyed by a travelers' Web site -- Where Are You Now (WAYN) -- said the French were the most unfriendly nation people on the planet, British newspapers reported.
The Germans have no to reason to celebrate the damning verdict. They came second on all three counts.

WAYN's French founder, Jerome Touze, told the papers he had been stunned by the thumping condemnation of his compatriots and sought to blame it on Gallic love-struck sulking.
"I had no idea that the French would emerge as such an unfriendly country," he said.
"I think our romantic `moodiness' is misunderstood and I will be sure to pass on the message to my family and friends back in France to be a bit more cheerful to tourists in the future," he said.

Italy was voted the world's most cultured nation with the best cuisine, while the US was named the most unstylish with the worst food.

The British did not feature in the top 10 of any of the categories.
"The British fit in nowhere -- good or bad. It appears that we are so completely average that the voters did not include us in any category," the Daily Express said.
"And to our shame, four percent of respondents -- all British of course -- said they would only talk to other Britons when they are abroad," the tabloid said.
This unwillingness to talk to the locals appears to go hand in hand with respondents' perceptions of foreigners.

While the majority said Spain was the foreign country where they would most like to live, they said the Spaniards were nearly as unfriendly and ungenerous as the French.

To add insult to injury, the British newspaper the Daily Telegraph put the boot in yesterday by saying in an editorial that the French stank.
"The French may like to think that Chanel No 5 is their scent, but we all know that garlic and stale Gitanes are much more representative," it said.

* France was voted as the most unfriendly, most boring and most ungenerous nation.
* Germany ranked second in all three counts.
* Italy was voted as the most cultured nation with the best cuisine.
* The US was named the most unstylish with the worst food.
* Spain was chosen as the foreign country the British would most like to live in.

[fcharton]

Talking of culture, here is a piece of litterature that Fcharton will surely enjoy, and which could be submitted to those who feel they are not treated as they should :

My, how can someone allow something like this to be published ! Such slanders threaten the harmonious development of europe, and the peaceful rise of its many ethnicities (with the French being the main body). They smack of biases and double standards, and are probably the work of foreign europe-haters, who will jump at any occasion to demonize France.

By the way, have you noticed how in the Da Vinci Code, the French girl falls for the foreign hero? These France-haters are after our gals, propagating stereotypes !

I think something has to be done to curb this freedom of the press and unrestricted polling over the internet.
(it is only a temporary measure, for the good of the country, to guarantee Europe a stable development, I assure you!)

Francois,

[urofpersia]

Voted neither... I strongly dislike the concept of ethnicity, an feel that the concept of nationality is less and less useful nowadays (a feeling which is probably stronger in europe than elsewhere, these days). If I were to choose something, I would probably speak of culture, or cultural heritage...

interesting to note that the Chinese ethnicity is largely defined by a shared culture and cultural heritage.

I don't like the idea of ethnicity, because the idea of feeling related to someone because, many generations ago, our ancestors came from the same region seems silly to me.

Believe when I say being an ethnic Chinese I can relate to this!

Also, it seems to me that, through history, these notions were more often used to exclude (other ethnicities) or fight (the same) than to unite and make peace. There is something in me which hates national pride in all its forms.

It is a useful propaganda tool for governments, which can use for good or ill. Unfortunately if one is faced with governing a nation of semi-literate folks such tools are perhaps the only effective way of uniting them.

By the way, have you noticed how in the Da Vinci Code, the French girl falls for the foreign hero? These France-haters are after our gals, propagating stereotypes !

Oh, the nerve of those people! Quick, let us gather our European brothers against this social injustice, nay let's call a stick, a stick, its racism! (excluding the British of course, we know whose side they are on.

[jlaporte]

By the way, have you noticed how in the Da Vinci Code, the French girl falls for the foreign hero? These France-haters are after our gals, propagating stereotypes !
Francois,

I have not seen "達文西密碼" yet. Is it worth it? Are "they" really after ours gals? we must do something about it.

[fcharton]

I have not seen "達文西密碼" yet. Is it worth it? Are "they" really after ours gals? we must do something about it.

I have not seen the film either, but I have read the book. Forgettable, to put it mildly, lousy style, shallow characters, and a very repetitive plot : a few pages, a cliffhanger, well the first one is, after you get used, and bored in my case, by the system...

And yes, the good looking french girl falls for the foreign hero, and I am afraid it is not the first time I see this happening in a Hollywood film. Yes something has to be done! I don't feel like going to the gym and fighting on their terrain, though... Maybe we should create Comitee for French Cultural Dating Exception? (something we the french are good at, comitees...) Or a Law on Chosen Dating? ("séduction choisie" in French, I can think of one leading politician who could be up to the task...)

Where is super-dupont when we need him?

Francois

[Lin Duanwen]

During peace time,

1) Surname
2) Dialect group
3) Ethnicity
4) Nationality

During war time,

1) Only nationality

Edited by Lin Duanwen, 27 May 2006 - 11:45 AM.

[ezquire]

During war only nationality that matters eh? Imagine if you had to fight your own family.

[orchid_dreams]

nationality is important.

[Thaibebop]

I went with neither. I am not going to support someone or a group of someones just because they are white. I don't care what people thnk of me because I am white, that's their shortcoming, nor am I going to place judgement on someone because of their ethnicity. So, ethnicity is not important to me.

Nationality? This word is refering to political lines drawn in the sand, so to speak. One should never be loyal to a government. It is a tool and should be treated as such. If it can't do the job required, you get another tool.

[WangEnlai]

I am not going to support someone or a group of someones just because they are white.

That would get you funny looks