Europeans in China
In modern China, the
Chinese considers all the European intruders as ruthless and brutal,
for their cruel acts in China, including the looting and damaging of
the royal summer garden of the Qing Dynasty and the Yuanming
Landscape Gardens in the city of Beijing instances of the most
barbarous atrocities.
At the same time,
China admired the accomplishments of the modern European
civilization for its attempts to learn from the West in the later
years. Right from 1870s, several students were sent to Central
Europe, Japan and the United States by the central government and
local communities.
During the period of constant civil wars
(1911-1937) and Japanese attack (1931-1945), students studying in
Europe found themselves perplexed between the Western learning and
the reality of perilous political state of China. Later when Europe
brought prosperity in with its appropriate use of natural resources,
China realised the need to be industrially strong too.
Chinese felt a need
to learn modern science and technology from Europeans, but could not
implement it much because of its isolation from the West for three
decades. Western literature and art were also given serious
encouragement. The theme of Chinas association with the West at
government level was contention and cooperation and the European
countries were perceived as multi-dimensional and classy.
The open
policy in China helped them interact more with Westerners and access
the European culture. Though being admirable, Europe was still
confusing and unsettling for the Chinese.
China believes that
western industrial nations are not relatively strong politically and
economically as compared to the US after the Second World War and
therefore, China will gradually emerge out as a strong economy and
will be handling world affairs majorly in the next century.
Over the
past two decades, the Chinese have also seen admiring ancient and
modern European civilization, art, literature, science and
technology, living, education, health care, transportation,
landscape, social welfare and philosophy.
The Chinese teenagers are
believed to be more fascinated towards American things, such as
computer games, sports, fast food, NBA stars and so on., while the
middle aged and elderly admire European culture the most.
However,
post-industrialisation period has also brought certain problems in
Europe such as high unemployment rate, pollution, drug addiction,
AIDS, divorce, racial discrimination, ageing population, etc. major
cities in China like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou have a strong
passion for European classical music and arts.
Today, the modern
China views the European continent as rich in cultural heritage,
regardless of past difficulties and current problems.
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