Just some thoughts

Ist really interesting to compare Korea and China. When I was in Korea I thought the gap between modernity and tradition is so big. Now here it is not so big but I cannot clearly say, something different…. I feel Koreans behave more traditionally. The way you show respect , the way you bow …….. last time I was in a Korean restaurant in Korea town and I talked to the Korean manager there and at the end we bowed before each other. Then it crossed my mind that for a long time I haven’t bowed. Not in China. Also the students are respectful but not as in Korea. Is the reason for it the cultural revolution? Even the language is amazingly “respect-less”. No politeness, not the polite forms I know from Japanese and Korean.
When you read books about China, Korea and Japan it seems the cultures are very similar and the behaviour also. But of course that’s not true. I find the difference between Japan, Korea and China even bigger. Is that because of communism or because of the Chinese mentality? I cannot point it. The Chinese sometimes seem so directly, so blunt that at first I felt surprised. Because usually the Germans are regarded as very direct and straight forward.
Still tradition counts but not as much as in Korea. And on the other hand Koreans seem more modern in thinking and living.

Another thing I noticed as many other foreigners that Shanghai changes so quickly. When I arrived the campus of our university was completely under construction: There was a pond and a nice carve; within a week it disappeared. Then for weeks the workers were working day and night and at the end of two months we had a new campus. Quickly the lawn was laid like a carpet rolled out. Here for sure you need a camera. I already cannot remember how it was like before. One can adopt very quickly. But then on the other hand what if you cannot go back to your roots? I find it very nice: From time to time I go to the suburbs of Duesseldorf, Kaiserswerth were I grew up. Amazingly it seems like the time has stopped: Nothing has changed even the stores (except some decoration) and the owners are the same. Then I go to the places were I used to play thinking of the past. Just like a short trip , for a short while, a kind of rest to return then to the present. What if you don’t have the places anymore? For sure not everyone is so lucky as me partly because I think some of the buildings and sites are under construction but I know that Germany doesn’t change so quickly. What do the old Chinese people think who grew up in the traditional way , seeing the cultural revolution and now the huge change of the country? Then nothing is left but pictures (as one Korean once told me taking a lot of pictures). But don’t the people feel something is missing? For myself I can say I like changes but it is good for me to go from time to time back to my roots. When I was in Korea everything changed so quickly (but here it is even more) – I had a nice view outside of my office, a nice lawn with some trees, a few months later there was no lawn. Instead I had a view to a “nice” building – that I felt somehow really relieved coming back to my hometown and seeing that nothing had changed so far. Now I look outside our window and wonder if next year we will have the same view.