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Cultural Differences between Australia and East Asia
"Australians appear very naive
to the newly-arrived Japanese. They speak the same way with everyone." Hiro Mukai - Speaker at cross-cultural conference
China is Australia's largest trading partner, Japan is its second and South Korea is its fourth. Even though the three east Asian countries are extremely important to Australia, many Australians are quite ignorant of the cultural differences that need to be considered when dealing with the countries. Arguably, the ignorance stems from a reluctance of some Australians to recognise that they have a culture of their own, which in turn makes it difficult for them to engage in any cross-cultural comparisons. Ironically, ignorance of cultural diversity is perhaps one of the most important cultural traits that distinguish Australians from their east-Asian trading partners. Other differences include:
Stereotypes
Asians like stereotypes. They constitute a large part of their social identity and are frequently used in public persuasion campaigns. For example, the website ww.index-china.com describes Chinese people as:
"peaceful, hardworking and easily contented. They respect elders, love children and are patient with their fellows. Chinese in general are reserve and humble. They believe in harmony and never look for confrontation."
Although not all individual Chinese could be defined with these personality characteristics, almost all Chinese would be happy to be defined with these personality characteristics. Furthermore, if the stereotype were evoked in an international situation, almost all Chinese would temporarily conform to it to make it a reality.
The same kind of descriptions are commonly found in Asian-produced guidebooks. Likewise, in general conversation, Japanese, Koreans and Chinese say much the same thing about themselves.
In Australia, there are a large number of egocentric individuals with a strong aversion to stereotyping. If confronted with an international stereotype of Australians, they may respond to it with something like "I don't do that." In their own minds, because they don't personally conform to the stereotype, no other Australian does. Rather than conform to an image that others have of Australia, they simply try to deconstruct that image. Ironically, that behaviour is in itself, unique and defining of their sub-culture.
A well as being reluctant to personally conform to stereotypes, egocentric Australians are also highly motivated to deconstruct positive stereotypes of their fellow Australians. For example, there is a stereotype that Australians believe in a fair go. For some concerned citizens, the stereotype is not accurate and the inaccuracy of the stereotype should be exposed. One of these concerned citizens is Dr Tanja Dreher, UTS Shopfront Research Manager. Ms Dreher has actively gone searching for examples of the stereotype not being accurate in order to deconstruct it. Subsequently, she has released press-releases of the vein:
"There is in fact evidence of a serious gulf between the myth of 'a fair go' Australia and the reality. As a society we need to start taking responsibility for the intolerant and frequently ignorant nation we have become."
The Australian aversion to stereotypes is particularly strong because Australia has never been a united country. The existence of three distinct accents in Australia is a reflection upon distinct social identities that have never really liked each other, and don't want to be covered by each other's labels. One of these accents is the broad Australian accent spoken by the likes of comedian Paul Hogan. Australians who speak with this accent have traditionally being biased in favour of Australia and its culture, and have been quite comfortable with social stereotypes of Australia. At the other extreme is the cultivated accent spoken by the likes of ex-Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. Fraser grew up with a very pro-British social attitude and this was reflected in the way he spoke. Fraser finished his career with an attitude strongly in favour of multiculturalism. His cultivated accent revealed a social identity that was hostile to an Australian identity. Not surprisingly, Fraser was never one to evoke positive stereotypes of the Australian character. Instead, multiculturalism became an excuse to say that no Australian culture existed.
Freedom
Freedom can be difficult to define. Every government on earth imposes restrictions on individuals to protect other individuals. For example, Singapore restricts the freedom of the individual to chew gum in order to protect the freedom of people who want to walk down the street without stepping on used gum.
The Australian government is very bureaucratic and imposes many restrictions on its people that Asian governments do not. For example, Australians can not smoke inside, drink alcohol in many public areas, ride a bicycle without a helmet, or defame public figures. Furthermore, Australians may lose up to 47 per cent of their income in taxes, which is far more than the 6 to 9 per cent that Koreans and Japanese lose in taxes. The Australian government uses this income tax revenue to alter the natural balance of social society. Although the altering of the balance may help Australia, governments have an uncanny habit of getting things wrong, or using revenue for their own agendas. In the process, the individual Australian is denied freedom.
While Asians have more freedom from government than Australians, they lack freedom in their social sphere. As they have very strong cultures, a great deal of social pressure is exerted upon the individual in almost every facet of his or her lives. This pressure can be likened to a form of political correctness that constrains the individual when they choose a marriage partner, career, clothes to wear, values to hold, or morals to support. If the individual's desires and values are in conformity with the cultural norms, then the individual feels a sense of belonging. If they are incongruent; however, then they can suffer the same kind of stress that is suffered by Australians when they feel that politically correct values or concepts are stifling their free expression.
If individuals break the cultural taboo by exerting their individual values, they are not going to be taken away and shot anymore than Australians would be taken away and shot for getting a swastika tattooed on their foreheads. However, they will find that their friendships, job opportunities and family prestige will all suffer.
Because Australia lacks a strong culture, individuals can free themselves of a great deal of conformity pressures. Furthermore, they can make excuses about multiculturalism as a reason not to conform. Admitedly, Australia has subcultures that exert conformity pressures on the individual, but it is relatively easy for the individual to simply leave the subculture and join another one. Consequently, the subculture can never be too strict. For Asians who feel constrained by social pressure, the only real option available to them is to migrate to a foreign country.
Face
For Asians, face is very important, not only for themselves, but also for their dealings with others. Often they refrain from expressing their true feelings because they do not want to strip someone of their dignity. This makes Asia a very friendly place to visit. Asians tend to be very complimentary towards the visitors, and want the visitor to leave with a good impression of their country. Even if the vistor is rude and obnoxious, the Asians will usually refrain from expressing their true feelings and pretend to be respectful.
For historical reasons, face is not important for Australians. For the first 80 years of its urban existence, Australia was a penal colony which naturally elicited ridicule from foreigners, migrants and Australian civic leaders. That ridicule has never really gone away. Consequently, Australia remains a place where people freely criticise others and are criticised themselves. This makes Australians quite thick skinned, and not very sensitive to causing offence in others. For example, when former Prime Minister Paul Keating referred to the Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed, as a "recalcitrant", he didn't really have any idea that his remark would cause problems. However, rather than ignore the comment, Mahathir Mohamed viewed Keating's remark as indicative of the country he came from and subsequently said:
""We can't do anything. If people have no manners, I mean children we can smack them I think that a whole nation, or there generally is one nation who have no manners. It's very difficult, who resort to personal vilification and all that."
Compared to Asians, Australians don't really care what foreigners think of their country because they are so accustomed to hearing negative things about it anyway. So much so, Australians will even join with the foreigners in criticising it. Even when they want to give a compliment, Australians might mask it as an insult.
Education
Asian classrooms tend to be more teacher focussed, while Australian classrooms are more student focussed. In more simple terms, an Asian teacher is more likely to deliver the answer whereas an Australian teacher is more likely to give students some basic knowledge and subsequently expect them to do something with it. Furthermore, whereas Asian classes don't have a great deal of interaction between students, Australian classes do.
Although the teaching styles are expressed in all classes, it is probably the physical education classes where the differences are most salient. In Asia, it is common to have a teacher standing in front of students demonstrating a skill. The students then copy it. In Australia; however, teachers usually aren't involved in the activity itself. Like a coach of a football team, they design exercises that develop skills and subsequently tell students to do them. Students learn by doing, by interacting with other students, and by their own initiative. The teacher is more of a facilitator than an instructor.
Arguably, the differences in teaching styles originate from language differences. The pictorial writing systems of east Asia can only be taught via teacher instruction followed by student repetition. On the other hand, Australian students only need to learn the 26 characters of the alphabet. Once they are mastered, teachers need to instruct students in grammar. Unfortunately, English grammar is so complicated that most Australian teachers don't know it themselves and this inevitably motivates them to focus on exercises that don't expose their ignorance. It is not uncommon for Australian students to go throughout their whole schooling life without any grammar instruction. It is also not uncommon for teachers to tell students something like, "when you feel you need to take a breath, that is when you use a full stop."
Opinions and discussions
In general, Australians are more focussed on solving problems than learning from others. They want to give their opinion, not hear the opinion of others. Sometimes they apply their thinking in the engineering world to produce a lot of new inventions. Sometimes they apply it in the social world to become activists. While there is an upside to that, the downside is that Australians can be very close-minded. Furthermore, activism has a poor track record in Australia. More accurately, present day activists have judged the records of their predecessors very negatively.
While Australians want to push their opinions, east Asians want to learn and they want people to tell them new things. On the downside, Asians are often poorly skilled at using the knowledge outside of the classroom. Furthermore, Asians are often not very good at making independent decisions. They are so accustomed to being told what to do that they are unsure of themselves when they can make choices of their own. This is a strength in some areas but a weakness in others.
A lot of the cultural differences can be seen in tourism styles. Asians like organised tours, with people from their own nationality, where there is a guide to tell them lots of things about history, geography or culture. In some ways they are like a dry sponge with a real-thirst for knowledge.
Australians are less likely to go on an organised tour, and are more likely to be happy to experience whatever unfolds. Furthermore, they often prefer to have fun in the country than learn anything about the country.
Gender
Men and women are relatively the same the world over, but like an accent, there are some subtle differences that differentiate gender identities in Asia from Australia.
In regards to the differences between women, a good starting point would be to consider some of the blonde-style stereotypes that left-wing Australian women apply to Asian women. Specifically, Asian women are seen as passive, submissive, subscribers to superficial beauty myths, and doting on men. If true, by implication left-wing Australian women must be opinionated, fat, ungroomed and inconsiderate to men. Perhaps left-wing Australian women are proud of these personality traits; however, if such attributes were put into a personals ad, the advertisement would probably not receive as many responses as the Australian woman would like. Likewise, if a man framed an advertisement with similar self-centred attributes, he probably would not get many responses from women either. Such attributes would only appeal to people who want to go to war with members of the opposite sex, not those who want to make love to them.
There is probably an element of truth in the stereotypes. In regards to television viewing habits, Asian women like shows that take them into a world that stimulates the imagination of their senses. They are very pleasure driven, and like to watch fashion shows, cooking shows, or shows depicting people sitting in a hot spring and savouring its delights. On the other hand, Australian women are more likely to watch political shows such as A Current Affair or Four Corners that expose problems in the world. As Asian women exist more in the realm of the senses, and left-wing Australian women exist more in the realm of the opinion, Asian women are more willing to stimulate the senses of their men as they stimulate the senses in themselves.
Although Asian women exist in the realm of the senses, it would be wrong to say that they are more passive than left-wing Australian women. In an Asian household, it is definitely women who wear the pants, and a great deal of Asian humour revolves around men being hen pecked. The Asian woman's proficiency in the realm of the senses gives her a comparatively greater ability to be able to pull the strings of a man, gain mastery over him and break his balls.
In regards to seduction, a significant difference between Asian and Australian women is that Asian women don't really have a concept of flirting. This is probably because Asian men tend to be very direct in their seduction strategies. The man might say to a woman, "you are beautiful, will you be my girlfriend?" If she says yes, he may give her a present; the more expensive the better. In the minds of Asian women, if a man spends a lot of money on her it is a sign that he cares about her.
In the game of love, Asian men often have quite weak communication skills. Too much focus on schooling and playing computer games just doesn't produce an individual skilled at talking to women. In the initial stages of the relationship, the lack of communication skills is not a huge problem as the men compensate by buying expensive presents. Once married; however, the woman controls the money and his ability to please her in this way is diminished. This can lead to some problems in Asian marriages.
Asian men tend to be more kind, considerate, and generous than Australian men. They are also more metasexualised, and think there is nothing too strange about getting their hair permed, plucking their eyebrows, or even wearing make up. The younger generation in Australia are moving towards metasexualisation as well. Lots of young Australian men will spend hours putting wax in their hair and then messing it up to make it look like they don't care what they look like. Likewise, they will put on their white shoes, torn jeans and untucked shirt as they try to maintain the facade that they haven't bothered to groom themselves to please others or fit in.
Family values
Because Australia is populated by migrants and decedents of migrants, Australians don't have extended families as large as in Asia.
Aside from having smaller extended families, the nuclear family in Australia operates in a different fashion to Asia. In Australia, each generation tends to be independent. Parents will support children until they are around 18, and then they concentrate on saving for their own retirement. Parents will then live independently until they are unable to care for themselves. When that occurs, their children will be put them in a old-age home, or convince their to live with them.
In Asia, parents will almost bankrupt themselves giving their children every possibility in life. Huge loans may be taken out to fund the child getting an international education, or buying a home for the boys in the family. In return, the parents will move into their children's home once they get married. The living situation is not ideal for everyone. Asian men, like men all around the world, are not always huge fans of their mother-in-laws.
Because parents share a very significant part of their child's adult lives, they naturally want to take part in the selection of their child's spouse. In China this is particularly important as the one-child policy may result in one man supporting 7 people (two sets of parents, wife, child and himself) and naturally parents would like a son-in-law or daughter-in-law with a good income and a prestigious family that doesn't require a lot of supporting themselves.
Creativity
A common stereotype in the western world is that Asians are not creative. The stereotype is not grounded in fact. Both Japan and Korea lead the world in technological innovations. Both countries also have very strong audio visual industries. Korean drama is very popular in both China and Japan, while Japanese animation is very popular all over the world. Arguably, only America has produced cartoon characters with more popularity than the likes of Astro Boy, Ichiro or Hello Kitty.
China's creative industries lag behind Korea and Japan. For its technological industries, this can be attributed to a lack of enforcement of intellectual property laws. As a result, it is more economical for Chinese to copy someone else's product than create their own. For audio visual industries, the main problem is government control. The Communist Party wants China to be shown in a positive light, and it dislikes any depiction of Chinese in an immoral way (particularly sexually immoral.) Unfortunately for the China's audio visual industries, if they can't show forbidden sex, the potential range of stories is limited. As a result, most Chinese movies and drama revolve around kung fu or brave soldiers fighting the Japanese. Such stories don't have much international appeal, and even Chinese find them repetitive.
Australia is a very creative place; however, much of that creativity just isn't any good. A lot of Australia architecture, modern cuisine, sculpture, and painting looks like a dog's breakfast. The problem is that a lot of Australians fail to consider the community around them, or any traditional styles, and just do their own thing. While ignoring others is a very very easy way to be different from others, it is a difficult way to ever produce something appreciated by others, or in harmony with other forms of creativity. Not surprisingly, Australia's audio visual industries aren't popular in Australia, let alone the world. Likewise, modern Australian cuisine is always a lottery. Sometimes its great, but most of the time its not balanced or refined. Finally, a lot of government-funded sculptures erected around the cities just look like someone has gone to the tip, collected some garbage and bundled it all together. Only a government would ever pay for it or think it adds to the charm of a city.
A history of invention is Australia's shining light in regards to creativity. For a very small country, Australia has produced a lot of inventions that have changed the world. Australian inventors probably succeed where other Australian creatives fail because they have a clear idea about what they want to achieve and consider a wide variety of knowledge bases to achieve it. On the other hand, the dogs-breakfast creatives just want to be different, and simply ignore everyone to achieve it.
Attitude to history
If attitude to history can be divided into the "three cheers" approach, and the "black-armband approach" then Asia is very much the three cheers, while Australia is very much the black-arm band.
It is believed that the Asian's three cheers approach stems from a religious belief that once people are dead then they are absolved of their sins. For this reasons, Asians tend to remember their ancestors achievements rather than their short-comings. At times this approach can cause some problems. Both China and Korea have taken issue with Japan having a respectful attitude to soldiers who fell in World War II. Likewise, international observers have taken issue with China having a respectful attitude to its communist history and Chairman Mao in particular.
Australia's black arm band approach probably stems from cultural conflict between different groups of Australians that really don't like each other at all. Although the black-armbanders use words like "we", they really mean "them."
A very good example of the cultural difference can be seen in a comedy sketch by the left-wing Chaser from the government funded ABC. Offended by deceased Australian icons being praised, the Chaser wanted to criticise the positive approach, and so created what has been referred to as "The Eulogy song." The song included paragraphs like:
"Stan Zemanek was a racist, Dr Fatso xenophobic cock, whose views were more malignant than his brain." (Audience laughs)
"And Brocky was some revhead, who pumped the air with pure lead, so anti green he drove into a tree." (Audience laughs)
"Don Bradman was a total farce, a grumpy, greedy tired-arse, who couldn’t even score one run last time he played." (Audience laughs)
Complaining
Complaining is a very western trait. It is a very strong trait in Europe and America, and quite strong in Australia. Arguably, the main reason why Australians complain is that it gets a reaction in others. For example, if a concerned citizen complains about a sexually immoral advertisement, the advertisement may be banned even if 99.9 percent of the population thought it was great. If an unsatisfied restaurant diner complains about the standard of the food, he or she may get a free meal. If an idiot falls over and hurts himself on someone else's property, he can sue the owner of the property and a judge and jury will look favourable upon his plight. If an Australian feels hard done by in any field of life, there are plenty of other Australians that will give them sympathy, support and perhaps share their own stories of suffering injustice.
The general ideology in Australia is that the group, be it government or business, is responsible for the actions of the individuals working for it, and must pay if damage has been suffered by individuals from the public. By making the institution accountable for all problems, the individual Australian has found that it pays to complain or not take individual responsibility. In fact, complainers often feel status for being complainers. Westerners seem to be brought up with an ideology that complaining is good, and those who do it should be praised and thanked.
In Asia, complainers don't get very far. Complaining about the standard of a restaurant meal rarely results in a free meal. Likewise, Asian courts do not look favourably upon idiots who blame others for their own mistakes. Asians just don't respect complainers, and are not inclined to give support to those who complain. When the Asian is put in Australia; however, they don't take too long to likewise discover the benefit of complaining.
Group vs individual values
East Asians hold the stereotype that they put the group first, and that western countries such as Australia put the individual first. In some respects it is a silly stereotype to hold. Every society on earth needs to strike a balance between the needs of the group and the needs of the individual. If an undue burden is place upon a talented individual, then the individual will leave the group. On the flip side, if too much individualism is encouraged, the society would descend into an archaist state of selfishness, inconsideration, rape, theft, violence, and total collapse. To strike the balance, the society will have an individualistic focus in some areas of its society while it will have a group focus in others.
The stereotype probably originates from respective government ideologies. Asian governments usually hold a group-first ideology, while the Australian government has an individual-first ideology. For example, if a refugee tried to find safety in an east Asian country, the Asian government would only provide safe haven if the refugee would make a contribution to the country. On the other hand, the Australian government would accept the refugee if the refugee could prove that his or her individual rights had been violated in their home country. It would not be necessary for the refugee to demonstrate that Australia would benefit by accepting him or her.
Although the Australian government is individual first, the Australian people are very group minded. This is reflected in their volunteering culture. A study by Ernest Healy, senior research fellow at the Centre for Population and Urban Research at Monash University, found that Australian-born middle-income earners aged 25-64 were around 50 per cent more likely to do volunteer-related work than migrants from non-English speaking countries, many of whom came from Asian countries. Much of the Australian volunteering spirit can be attributed to the positive mythology surrounding volunteer fire-fighters, soldiers, Salvation Army workers, and surf lifesavers.
The Australian's group first values can also be seen in team sport. Arguably, Australia is the world's best team-sport nation; with four cricket world cups, two rugby world cups, and countless netball world championships in the trophy cabinet. The success of Australians in international sports is made that much more remarkable considering that many potential players are lost to Australia's indigenous football code, which also shows group-first ideology. Australian football's very rules were designed to stifle the individual, and they quickly gave rise to expressions such as "a champion team will defeat a team of champions."
Finally, the common Australian's group-before-individual values can be seen in the insult of "bludger." No other English dialect has an equivalent word. A bludger is similar to a 'freeloader', but whereas freeloader is typically applied to those who live off others or take money and give nothing in return, bludger can also be applied to person who fails to contribute to the work environment.
Greetings
In the age of globalisation, the hand shake is becoming a universal greeting just as the business suit is becoming a universal form of clothing. The use of greeting cards; however, is one point of difference. When meeting people, Asians give a business card, and usually hold it with two hands. The recipient takes the card, looks at it, puts on an impressed expression and then puts it away.
Although business cards are common in Australia, they are usually reserved for people in business, and given to people who might need some business services.
Kissing women on the cheek is another cultural trait found in Australia but absent from Asia. It is quite a new cultural trait in Australia; thus not universally practiced. In Asia, kissing a woman on the cheek is not an acceptable greeting.
Public intimacy between women
It is common in Asian countries for heterosexual women to publicly show intimacy for other women. Often mothers will hold hands with their adult daughters or two female friends will embrace each other. In Australia, such women would be viewed as lesbians.
Paying the bill
Traditionally, the man pays for women in Asian countries. Traditionally, the man paid for women in Australia. In the last 50 years, the cultural trait has disappeared in Australia. Women felt that if the man paid, then she might feel obligated to do something she didn't want, or that the man would think he didn't need to contribute anything else to the relationship. So effective were the women at changing the psychology of Australian men that now men expect a woman pay her share even when she doesn't want to.
In Asia, there are some signs that the tradition of the man paying is on the way out. In Japan, it is relatively common for men and women to split the bill, so much so that many Korean men seek a Japanese woman so that they don't have to pay all the time. China is still very much a man pays society.
It is unlikely that Asia will ever become completely like Australia in regards to equal payment because there are significant gender imbalances in income in Asia that don't exist in Australia. (While Australian men overall earn more than women, prior to the ages of 30, Australian women earn slightly more than men.)
Amongst friends in Asia, going dutch is quite common for young people. For older generations, the person doing the inviting usually pays. At a big gathering of friends, the host or the rich person will pay. In Australia, everyone usually contributes something. Each individual would feel like a bludger if they didn't.
Hierarchal vs egalitarian society
East Asian countries are very hierarchical, while Australia is very egalitarian. These differences are expressed in many spheres, but particularly in the use of language. The Japanese and Koreans have a separate language to use according to whether the person being spoken to is inferior or superior in status.
Although the English language has polite words to use, and formal titles to show respect, Australians tend to disregard them unless they dislike the person they are speaking to. For example, when cricketer Dennis Lillee greeted Queen Elizabeth, he used the informal expression:
"G'day,
how ya goin'?"
Polite English in Australia involves using modality to indicate uncertainty. For example, to say to a waiter "I want coffee" would be seen as rude and in extreme cases, might result in something distasteful being put in the coffee. It would be more polite to use a modal verb such as would, could or may. The modality makes the power relationship in the sentence less severe, and builds a superificial impression of equality between waiter and customer.
Sexual morality
Men and women all over the world share similar sexual desires that they disguise with different types of morality. In Asia, sex is generally a taboo topic for conversations, and a virgin woman is valued for marriage. In Australia, sexual topics are quite openly discussed and not many men seek a virgin woman for marriage. As a result, most Australian men and women are very sexually experienced by the time they get married.
In the eyes of most Asians, Australians are very immoral for engaging in promiscuous sex. Asians; however, have numerous practices that are quite immoral for Australians. Because Asians often have little sexual experience before marriage, they often find themselves in sexually unfulfilling marriages. As a lack of sexual fulfilment is so common, it is relatively acceptable for married men in Asia to visit prostitutes or to have a mistress. In Australia, there is far less tolerance of married men visiting prostitutes or taking a mistress.
As a general rule, Asians uphold their morality before marriage and then they have their fun. Australians have their fun before marriage, then accept the morality associated with the ball and chain.
Aside from having different morals in regards to virginity in women, Asians and Australians have different morality in regards to what constitutes negative sexualisation of women. For Asians, the practice of Australian women topless sunbaking is quite immoral. For Australians, the sexualisation of school girls in Asia is immoral. (In regards to the sexualisation of school girls, China, with the exception of Taiwan, stands apart from South Korea and Japan. The Communist Party tends to crack down quite harshly on any form of sexualisation of Chinese women.)
Drinking
Alcohol is important to east Asian cultures, as well as to Australians. The manner of consumption; however, is different. East Asian men tend to skull their booze, and get drunk very quickly. Once drunk, they find it quite acceptable to act in an uncontrolled fashion. Furthermore, drinking is used to show respect. Asians will tap the glass and bottoms up. Failure to bottoms up denies the initiator face.
In Australia, it is only university students who skull their booze or have drinking games. Older Australians drink more slowly, mix in conversation with the drinking, and generally frown upon people who seem unable to function in a relatively normal manner while intoxicated. Australians will toast, but that toast is directed towards the group not a singular individual. Furthermore, the toast only requires a little alcohol be drunk. It doesn't require the whole glass be downed.
Socialising
When Asians get together, they are prone to do things rather than have conversations. For example, they like to go to karaoke boxes, play games with dice, or have drinking games. When Australians get together, they have lots of conversations. Admittedly, ockers might go pig shooting together, but generally the focus is more towards communicating.
International mixing
At any gathering of international people around the world, it is common to find Americans, South Americans, Europeans, white South Africans as well as a disproportionately large number of Australians, and New Zealanders. It is rare to find anyone from an Asian country. When Asians go out in an international environment, they tend to mix with their own nationality. The exception seems to be Asians coming to Australia. Although they are not completely comfortable mixing with foreigners from western countries, Asian vistors (university students, working holiday makers) seem quite comfortable mixing with vistors from other Asian countries. Asian migrants to Australia seem quite comfortable mixing with everyone.
Asian values
Typically, east Asian values are seen as:
- preference for the welfare and collective well-being of the community over individual rights;
- predisposition towards strong and stable leadership rather than political pluralism;
- respect for social harmony and an inclination towards consensus as opposed to a tendency towards dissent or confrontation;
- acceptance of broad and penetrating state and bureaucratic intervention in social and economic affairs;
- concern with socio-economic well-being instead of civil liberties and human rights.
Discussions of "typical" Asian values can be misleading, and are perhaps only applicable to discussions of government. Definately Asian governments have an ideology of putting their country first, while the Australian government has an ideology of getting itself elected, and will support an ideology of individualism if it wins it votes. In the long run, this individualism leads to social disharmony and a pluralistic society. However, just because the outcome is a pluralistic society doesn't mean that the general population actively seeks it. Many of Australia's institutions, be they art galleries, music festivals, pig shooting clubs, or humanity departments of universities, have very clear ideas about what is acceptable behaviour and do not tolerate dissent or political views that they find objectionable. The left-wing Australian's intolerance of Japanese whaling is quite clear evidence of this fact, as is its intolerance of Chinese tiger farming, and Americans who voted for George Bush Jr. While Australians live in a pluralistic society, and most support pluralism in ideology, there is not a shortage of Australians seeking consensus and uniformed values. Finally, the Australian state is very regulated, and constrains festivals, business, and civil liberties in a way that is not seen in Asia. For example, in Asia, there are festivals in which people regularly die. Likewise, it is common to see little kids walk around with fireworks and fire them at each other. In Australia, if there is any chance of danger in a festival, the festival will be banned. As a result, fireworks are banned in most Australian states.
The natural tendency of a society is to move towards the right with a stronger emphasis being placed on the welfare of the group over the welfare of the individual. This society can in turn be shaken up by technological developments, environmental change or migration.
In all likelihood, 50 years from now Australian governments will operate like Asian governments and there will be one party. The Australian constitution was designed to protect British rule, and it was the British influence that kept power seperated. Now that Australian politicians are gaining the power that was reserved for the British, it is only a matter of time before they become more inclined to use that power to consolidate their position and create a less pluralistic society.
While Asian countries tend to be led by one government, an opinion from a mainland Chinese taxi driver about Taiwan (see below) shows that in regards to seeking freedoms and diversity, Asians are really not that different from Australians. When they lack it, they want it, and when they have it, they want less of it.
"You get music and soap operas and prettier girls than here. And you get programmes in our own Minnan dialect. But best of all, you get news. Real news, not the bull they give you on Chinese TV. And I like it when some politician in the Taiwanese parliament can use Minnan dialect to shout down the old Kuomintang fogeys. I know that kind of fogey; we've got them on this side, too. I enjoy seeing cabbies like me tie up the whole downtown in a protest Ôhonk-a-thon'. And I like it when Taiwanese get all worked up about elections. Wish we had free elections here. I'd vote for the opposition." (Xiamen taxi driver Teo Ah-hoon, talking about his satellite TV tuned to Taiwan).Lincoln Kaye, "Southern Cooking", Far Eastern Economic Review, 25 May 1995
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Customs and Values
The Great Divide
Culture Wars
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Status of Aborigines
Australian English
(Strine) Poetic deception
AustraliaVAmerica
Rejects vs weirdos
Australia V Asia
Group v individual
Christianity
Jesus and Convicts
Drinking
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Etiquette
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Immortals
Iconic battlers
Politics
Maintaining minority rule
Tall-poppy syndrome
The misunderstood icon
Traditions
A time to be sombre and to not
Underdog
Siding with the loser |
