302. What differentiates Chinese from Americans?

The culture gap across the Pacific Here is summary of my observations on the differences between Americans (USA) and Chinese. There are of course major trends in the two peoples.

Feeling of time:  Perception is shaped by history and present. A 100 year old house or church is considered old by Americans. For a Chinese, ancient refers to the history before Qin Dynast BC 221, when the first emperor unified China. For Americans,  200 years was ‘ancient.”

Cars:  Most of Chinese have are with manual gears, while most Americans like automatic ones.

Measure System:  Chinese use the metric system (meters, grams) Americans use the old English imperial system (yards, mile, pounds, Fahrenheit, etc)

Date and time system: Chinese write the date in the format, Year, Month, Day., whereas Americans use “Month, Day, Year.

Public Holidays: May 1 is Labor Day for Chinese, whereas American Labor Day is first Monday of September.

Names: Chinese given names are after their family names, whereas Americans are the opposite. Their family names are after their give names.

Food:  Chinese eat more varied and balanced meals and less fast food than American. Chinese probably drink more alcohol and American drink more wine. Americans eat more cheese and yogurt. Americans drink more coffees and Chinese more teas.

301. Why Did Thomas Jefferson Install Chinese Style Railing on the Top of His Main Building?

I don't have to explain why Thomas Jefferson put Chinese style railing on the top of his main building in Monticello. Jefferson stated clearly, “We must contrive a building in such a manner that the finest and most notable parts of it be the most exposed to public view, and the less agreeable disposed in by the places, and removed from sight as much as possible.” (Henry Wieneck, Master of Monticello, Smithsonian, October 2012, p.42.)

In this blog you can find my post on Dr. Wang's study of Thomas Jefferson and Chinese Architecture. Jefferson used his building as an example to show his fellow Americans that the United States is a new country different from others. The United States was based in a new culture that composed of the best elements from cultures created from other parts of the world in addition to the European cultures the colonists brought over the Atlantic.

300. Dr. Dave Wang's Main Publications since 2010

Readers of my blog should find in Post 200 the titles of Dr. Dave Wang's published works from 2005 to 2010. In those papers, Dr. Dave Wang has examined the US founding fathers' efforts to borrow from Chinese civilization in their attempts to create a new nation in North America.

In this post I will give you the titles of Dr. Dave Wang's papers published since 2010. Below is the list of his publications ( continuous from Post 200 of this blog):

30. Thomas Jefferson’s China Dream, Huaren E-Magazine (Australia) May, 2013
29. Thomas Jefferson’s Incorporating Positive Chinese Elements from Chinese Civilization, Virginia Review of Asian Studies 2012, Fall, pp.143-157.
28. Chinese Wisdom and American Victories, Huaren E-Magazine (Australia) September, 2012, 27. American Ginseng and Its Effect on Americanization, Virginia Review of Asian Studies 2012, Spring, pp.131-135.
26. The US Founders and China: The Origins of Chinese Cultural Influence on the United States, Education about Asia, Fall 2011: Volume 16, No. 2.
25. Chinese Civilization and the United States: Tea, Ginseng, Porcelain Ware and Silk in Colonial America, Virginia Review of Asian Studies 2011, pp.113-131.
24. The U.S. Founding Fathers and Confucius, Huaren E-Magazine (Australia) January, 2011.
23. From Confucius to the Great Wall: Chinese Cultural Influence on Colonial North America, Kokushikan University  (Japan) has published this paper since 2010.

299. Benjamin Franklin and Ginseng

On August 28, 1784, the Empress of China, the first United States commercial ship, in which the main goods were American Ginseng, reached Canton, China. We know that Benjamin Franklin was not among the founders who initiated the pioneering sail that started the direct connection between China and the United States.

However, Franklin made great contribution to make available Ginseng, the main goods, long time ago. 46 years before the great sail, Franklin had told the colonists in North America, “We have the Pleasure of acquainting the World, that the famous Chinese or Tartarian Plant, called Gin seng, is now discovered in this Province, near Sasquehannah: From whence several whole Plants with a Quantity of the Root, have been lately sent to Town, and it appears to agree most exactly with the Description given of it in Chambers’s Dictionary, and Pere du Halde’s Account of China. The Virtues ascrib’d to this Plant are wonderful.”

Knowing the Ginseng’s great value to the commercial value in the trade with China, Franklin worked to promote Ginseng in North America. From the letter to Josiah and Abiah Franklin, on September 1744, we can tell that Franklin successfully spread the information concerning Ginseng to Boston, “I will enquire after the Herb you mention: We have a botanist here, an intimate Friend of mine, who knows all the plants in the Country. He would be glad of a Correspondence with some Gentlemen of the same Taste with you; and has twice thro’ my Hands sent Specimens of the famous Chinese Ginseng, found here, to Persons who desired it in Boston neither of whom have had the Civility to write him a Word in Answer, even to acknowledge the Receipt of it; of which please to give a Hint to Br. John.”

298. Richard Henry Lee and US Trade with China

As soon as the Empress of China returned to New York, American founder Richard Henry Lee wrote to Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, and James Madison about the event. In his letter to Jefferson, Lee stated: The enterprise of America is well marked by a successful Voyage made by a ship from this City—A ship has gone to, and returned from Canton in fourteen months with a valuable Eastern cargo and met with the most friendly treatment from the Chinese—Other Vessels are gone and are expected back in the continuation.

Later, Lee informed Samuel Adams that the success of the sail was “a proof of American enterprise, and will probably mortify, as much as it will injure our old oppressor, the British.”

297. Ginseng, Tea and the American Revolution

The Ginseng drive also helped popularize the tea drinking from upper class to the rest of the society. Tea drinking in the colonies had been very popular before the huge amount of teas shipped directly by the citizens of the United States. The British carried the habit from England to North America, and the colonists quickly adopted their tastes for tea. Tea houses following London models became powerful social catalysts, providing an excellent forum for the exchange of ideas and the distribution of news.

Indeed, the taxes that the British imposed on the colonists’ tea spurred their demands for independence in the American Revolution. However, before 1784, tea was mainly a luxury reserved for affluent colonists due to its high price. However, large amounts of tea carried over oceans from China to North America by the Empress of China and other American ships after 1784 popularized the drink by making more affordable to ordinary Americans.

296. Benjamin Franklin, Confucian Moral Principle and Law

A very important principle of Confucian moral philosophy is to educate the leaders to rule according to the belief--governing according to morality and promotion according to talents. In 1778, two years after the colonists declared their independence; Franklin addressed the significance of the morality’s role. He pointed out the necessity of introducing the notion of governing with morals, especially for the leaders of the United States.

Franklin told his fellow Americans, laws were not enough for the new nation; What the political struggle I have been engag’d in for the good of my compatriots, inhabitants of this bush; or my philosophical studies for the benefits of our race in general! For in politics, what can laws do without morals? Our present race of ephemeras will in a course of minutes become corrupt like those of other and older bushes, and consequently as wretched.