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For those who are Asian (were born and grew up there), which country do you feel most of a kinship, whether by cultural similarity to your own or other reason, to?
Although I was born in Singapore, I am Asian only by birth. Of course, since my father is Malaysian I'm half Malaysian in a way and I've also been there a lot. After that I would actually say I have an affinity to both Thailand and Japan the most (equally). It borders Malaysia, of course, but I think Thai is still my favourite cuisine after the others, and as a child I used to enjoy some Thai snacks like koh kae peanuts and durian candy. I like the architecture there, some of the friendly people (sans scammers).
Japan because when I studied Japanese in school we learned a lot about the culture, I find both traditional and modern, and the mix between them, quite fascinating. Also my interest in video games and technology, Japan seemed really techy and weird, and quirky, and ahead of us technologically (at the time). I also enjoy a lot of cultural things about them, also their philosophies like Zen/Shinto, the aestheticism.etc.
My ancestors are from China, and while I find it fascinating and beautiful, I didn't relate as much to China itself and Chinese culture, despite a bit of familiarity with it. I think not speaking any Chinese language probably did not help.
Well,I feel the most relate to Taiwan(of course),China,and Japan.
China because we speak Chinese,most of the ancestors of Taiwanese people came from mainland China,and since KMT has always been in power(except for like 8 years),they had this delusion to reclaim the mainland in the beginning(actually they probably didn't,but it was too humiliating for them to formally gave up the mainland.Actually the US and other countries actually wanted to treat PRC and ROC like how they view N. Korea and S. Korea now or E. Germany and W. Germany during the cold war,but Chiang didn't agree.What a ****ing moron),anyway so they decided that they should brainwash the Taiwanese fellows by teaching the history and geography and literature of China.So these subjects are all mandatory in high schools and middle schools.(eh awful education system)
Then the democratization started,Taiwanese people have been growing some national identity(it'd only go stronger tbqh),so they have started to teach Taiwanese the history and geography of Taiwan,while still keep passing on the history,literature,and geography of China.Thus,pretty much every single Taiwanese understand at least something about China.Which is awesome because ancient Chinese history and literature are not just gold,they are freakin' shining diamonds.Just one of a kind and rich.(I'm currently minoring in Chinese literature so I think it's pretty obvious that I'm a big fan )
Somehow I actually think Taiwanese people might know a liiiiiiiittle bit more about modern China than Mainland Chinese themselves,since there isn't any censorship here,so we can talk about the filthy history of CCP or even the current political state of China right now at this moment in high school/college courses without getting arrested or shot right in the head(not that they are all guaranteed to be accurate though,of course we don't really know what's really under the surface of CCP after all)
Chinese geography is kind of a bore though.
Anyway to make a long story short,the first and secondary education here has always had strong connection with China,so we can easily relate to her,but how we feel about her(especially the awful government ruling her and her people) nowadays is another story.
As for Japan,the elders who've lived through the colonial era are always very nostalgic of that specific time because apparently Japan has elevated the quality of life and deeply affected(more positively than negatively) the customs here.
For those that were born post-WWII,Japan is still very influential,because a)it's very close geographically,b)the relation has always been very friendly,and c)Japan is just very good at promoting their stuffs such as animations,porn,mangas,food....etc.
The Japanese restaurants here have never been out of fashion,and they are usually pretty good,I really enjoy Japanese food personally.The animations are awesome as well,I'm not heavily addicted to them but some of those are just too good to be ignored.
Japanese is the most learned foreign language in Taiwan other than English.I'm not particularly interested in learning it though,but many people are.
As for rest of the Asian countries,they either have very little influence(probably Korea because of all the Kpop stuffs which I'm so bored by) or have 0 influence.
Well,I feel the most relate to Taiwan(of course),China,and Japan.
China because we speak Chinese,most of the ancestors of Taiwanese people came from mainland China,and since KMT has always been in power(except for like 8 years),they had this delusion to reclaim the mainland in the beginning(actually they probably didn't,but it was too humiliating for them to formally gave up the mainland.Actually the US and other countries actually wanted to treat PRC and ROC like how they view N. Korea and S. Korea now or E. Germany and W. Germany during the cold war,but Chiang didn't agree.What a ****ing moron),anyway so they decided that they should brainwash the Taiwanese fellows by teaching the history and geography and literature of China.So these subjects are all mandatory in high schools and middle schools.(eh awful education system)
Then the democratization started,Taiwanese people have been growing some national identity(it'd only go stronger tbqh),so they have started to teach Taiwanese the history and geography of Taiwan,while still keep passing on the history,literature,and geography of China.Thus,pretty much every single Taiwanese understand at least something about China.Which is awesome because ancient Chinese history and literature are not just gold,they are freakin' shining diamonds.Just one of a kind and rich.(I'm currently minoring in Chinese literature so I think it's pretty obvious that I'm a big fan )
Somehow I actually think Taiwanese people might know a liiiiiiiittle bit more about modern China than Mainland Chinese themselves,since there isn't any censorship here,so we can talk about the filthy history of CCP or even the current political state of China right now at this moment in high school/college courses without getting arrested or shot right in the head(not that they are all guaranteed to be accurate though,of course we don't really know what's really under the surface of CCP after all)
Chinese geography is kind of a bore though.
Anyway to make a long story short,the first and secondary education here has always had strong connection with China,so we can easily relate to her,but how we feel about her(especially the awful government ruling her and her people) nowadays is another story.
As for Japan,the elders who've lived through the colonial era are always very nostalgic of that specific time because apparently Japan has elevated the quality of life and deeply affected(more positively than negatively) the customs here.
For those that were born post-WWII,Japan is still very influential,because a)it's very close geographically,b)the relation has always been very friendly,and c)Japan is just very good at promoting their stuffs such as animations,porn,mangas,food....etc.
The Japanese restaurants here have never been out of fashion,and they are usually pretty good,I really enjoy Japanese food personally.The animations are awesome as well,I'm not heavily addicted to them but some of those are just too good to be ignored.
Japanese is the most learned foreign language in Taiwan other than English.I'm not particularly interested in learning it though,but many people are.
As for rest of the Asian countries,they either have very little influence(probably Korea because of all the Kpop stuffs which I'm so bored by) or have 0 influence.
Uh, aren't you glossing over some important details? The Japanese were not nice to anybody in Asia that wasn't Japanese
Uh, aren't you glossing over some important details? The Japanese were not nice to anybody in Asia that wasn't Japanese
For some reason, the Japanese seemed to have a particular disdain for the Chinese (not that they were all that much nicer to some others) not just in China but elsewhere in Asia. I forgot all the reasons, but I think there was a belief they would be especially hostile towards them. My own grandfather has some stories to tell about the Japanese invasion of Malaya. Many civilians were massacred in Singapore, and the Japanese were in the process of actually imposing Japanese culture (although it didn't really get off the ground) including language in Singapore itself. Of course they committed atrocities in the past, but I don't see how that really changes my affinity towards other aspects of Japan.
I can easily relate to Filipinos, Taiwanese and Japanese. Although haven't met so many, also Thais and Indonesians. To a lesser extent, Malaysians and Singaporeans. Despite having met many, I don't have many mainland Chinese, Korean or Vietnamese friends, they're mostly just professional/business relationships. I have affinity for China: the place, its history and culture but not so much the people. People who just have to "win" every time (the so-called kiasu in Malaysia and Singapore), too patriotic, too materialistic or too narcissistic are very off-putting for me.
I feel a kinship with Pakistan. 67 years ago, it was with India as one country. People there are basically Indian, or you could say Indians are basically Pakistani. Regionally, Pakistan is far from south and northeast India, politically they're different, of course, and the majority religion is different because of the splitup in 1947. But their roots are so shared.
Uh, aren't you glossing over some important details? The Japanese were not nice to anybody in Asia that wasn't Japanese
That's basically correct,but Taiwan is a special example.
The colonial era,I'm not saying that there weren't any opposition or violence,of course there were,but relatively,it was more like how UK treated HK and Singapore.
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