During my Chinese Literature class on Thursday, my professor explained in depth the three most common schools of thought in China: Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.  During this discussion, my professor noted that Eastern thought focuses on the collective, while Western thought focuses on the individual.  I knew this before, but it can still be a difficult notion to grasp.  How does this apply to the people living today?

The very next day, I had my one-on-one session with my professor.  Instead of going over my homework, we decided just to talk.  We discussed the recent changes to the One Child policy, driving in Xi’an (it can be like a parking lot sometimes!), and life in Beijing.  She began to describe what a 睡城 (shui cheng) was.  It literally translates to sleeping city.  The rent it so expensive in Beijing, many people sleep (and live) in smaller towns just outside the city limits and come by train everyday into the city to work.  She was describing commuting!

However, I noticed that when I described the same situation that occurs in Washington DC, our descriptions weren’t quite lining up.  Although similar, it felt like we were talking about two different things. 

When she was describing the situation, she described what the people did, whereas when I was describing the situation, I described the people.  There is no Chinese word for ‘commuter’.  The individualism and collectivism in both our societies are so engrained that it appears in the language.  I’m sure there are many other examples of this phenomena but when you stumble upon it for yourself I feel as though it has a more lastly impact.