The difference is that we acknowledge it. With somewhere around five
thousand years of experience, we aren't so easily persuaded by the
usual racial/national/ethnic/whatever solidarity crap typically
espoused by politicians.

Indeed, this "dog-eat-dog" observation even forms the moral of Lu Xun's
famous short "Diary of A Madman." His other classic is "The Story of
Ah Q" -- both very insightful critiques of some onerous developments in
the character of classical Chinese civilization.

I am hopeful, however -- it's like with AA: you've got to admit the
problem before you can even begin to confront it. I like to liken it
to the Sicilian's typical mistrust of Italians (that is, mainlanders).



slim wrote:
>
>
> Perhaps.
>
> But then, the Chinese have a long history of ****ing over thier own.
>
> --
> http://mindprod.com/politics/iraq.html
>
> "How many American casualties is Saddam worth?
> The answer is not very damned many."
> - Dick Cheney, Seattle, August 1992
>
> Donald Rumsfeld: "If you're asking if there's a direct
> link between 9/11 and Iraq, the answer is no."
> http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4865948/
>
> On May 01, 2003, President Bush declared that,
> "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended."
>
> "I'm the commander -- see, I don't need to explain --
> I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the
> interesting thing about being the president.
> Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they
> say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody
> an explanation. "
> - George Bush, Washington Post, 11-19-02