China

by Chu Chin Kwok

Created on: November 06, 2009   Last Updated: November 09, 2009

While I agree that whether it is better for Westerners travelling to Asia to vacation in China or Japan very much depends on several factors - financial, cultural, political, among others - it is ultimately a personal choice. Whether you, the Westerner, choose to spend your all-important holidays in China or Japan - a decision which you feel will benefit you more. Making you more rejuvenated at the end of the vacation, or enriching your culturally or intellectually or otherwise when you choose one country over the other.

This article is written on the premise that, all things being equal - equal in that the traveller has no financial constraints, nor cultural or political or other constraints - it is still better for the typical Westerner to vacation in China rather than Japan. Which brings the important question - what is meant by 'better'? Better in what ways? And of course this is also related to the temperament and disposition of the traveller concerned. After all, a traveller, like all human beings, has his or her personal prejudices, inclinations, political convictions, etc.

Some of the reasons why a Westerner would find it more beneficial or better to holiday in China rather than Japan are:

Reason #1: China has greater cultural diversity than Japan

Any traveller to Japan would have noticed immediately the homogeneity of Japanese society: the Japanese people belong to one single ethnic stock ( with the exception of a small number of indigenous tribes whose numbers are negligible ); they speak only one language, the Japanese, with very slight variations in spoken vernaculars among its people. There is very little cultural diversity in Japan: one hardly hears any tongue spoken except Japanese; wherever one goes, one only finds signs in Japanese and hardly any other language, even in big cities like Tokyo, Kyoto and Kobe, except in tourist brochures describing important tourist destinations. In like vein, visiting one Japanese shrine or temple in say, Kobe, is as good as visiting any other shrine or temple in other Japanese cities. They are all more or less alike.

The Westerner would discover that China is much more diverse culturally: no doubt the official language is Mandarin Chinese but there are many spoken versions of the Chinese tongue - one hears Cantonese in Hong Kong, Mandarin in Beijing ( or Peking ), Mongolian in Inner Mongolia, Tibetan in Tibet and even Mandarin is spoken in quite different ways in different parts of China, from Fujian Province to Northern China and Western China. You go to Szechuan Province and you will find the Mandarin spoken there quite different to your ears if you are used to the Mandarin spoken by Chinese people in Northern China. It also goes without saying that one finds different peoples in different parts of China: a Manchurian in Northern China is different in many ways from a Shanghainese ,a Tibetan, a Mongolian and Uighur and other ethnic minorities of China.

In China, even the cities can be culturally different from one another. Shanghai is a modern metropolis whereas Beijing is slightly more 'traditional' or it has more historical buildings like the Forbidden City, the Great Wall - whereas Shanghai displays its historical past in its Western-styled buildings built by many foreign and Chinese tycoons during the early part of the 20th Century.

Reason #2: The Chinese are more cosmopolitan than the Japanese.

Although most people are agreed that Japan is technologically more advanced and modern than China, this does not mean that the Japanese are more westernized or cosmopolitan - in fact, the opposite is true. The Japanese are at heart traditionalist living behind the faade of ostentatious modernity. The Japanese ethos is more exclusive and insular; whereas it is safe to observe that the Chinese are furiously becoming more and more 'westernized' and cosmopolitan. One finds a sizable expatriate community living and working in many cities of China but the expatriate community in Japan is small in size and negligible in numbers. The Chinese are more receptive of foreign elements incorporating into their value systems: for instance, English is becoming a very important language to the Chinese, especially since the Olympics in 2008 and the World Expo due to open in Shanghai in 2010. Now if the English-speaking Westerner makes a vacation in Japan, he or she will face some communication problems unless aided by an English-speaking tourist guide. The situation in China is definitely better as the number of Chinese citizens able to converse in English is on the rapid rise. In Japan, you hardly hear any Japanese speaking to each other in any language other than Japanese. This is not to say that the Japanese do not realize the importance of mastering English; it is that the Japanese are too proud of their tongue and speaking Japanese only is deeply entrenched.

Reason #3: There are more places worth visiting in China than in Japan

While it is true that Japan does have many places worth visiting e.g the historic cities of Kobe, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Nagasaki; there is also the world-renowned Hokkaido with its beautiful sceneries all year round - but especially during Winter time - it is also true that China has more places worth visiting than Japan. Beijing, the capital of China, offers the Western vacationer many tourist attractions: the Ming Tombs, Tienanmen Square, the Great Wall, the Olympic Stadium otherwise known as Bird's Nest and the Water Cube, venue of the 2008 Olympics swimming events. And if you realize that China is a vast country compared to Japan, The contention here is that China offers more places for the Western tourists than Japan, especially if one factors cost into the picture. Japan is well-known for its expensive goods and services, although it must be said that the quality of Japanese merchandise and service are quite impeccable. The same cannot be said about China, at least for now.

Reason #4: China is more important than Japan economically and socially - to the Westerners.

Of course this is really a moot point: but it is true that China has become the international power-house especially for most manufactured goods, from consumer electronics to advanced machinery. If not for the fact that many cheap ( and of reasonable quality) Chinese consumer products have found their ways into Western and US markets, consumers in these markets will have to pay more for similar or equivalent products.

Reason #5: China is less familiar to the average Westerner compared to Japan - hence all the more a Western traveller should vacation in China.

Most Westerners are more familiar with Japan than with China: the media is full of stories of Japanese technological advancements in automobile manufacture and design; Japanese food, floral arrangement and even the Japanese language have become the objects of studies and close scrutiny by many ordinary Westerners, not just academicians, social scientists and professionals. Of course this is party due to the fact that Japan has become a strong Western ally - especially to the US. In comparison, China is relatively unknown and the Chinese perhaps even a little inscrutable to the Westerners, although this may change in the years to come. It is therefore imperative for more Westerners to make a trip to China than to Japan - to find out for themselves what make the country tick, what make China so important and strong economically, and along the way acquire a greater understanding of the Chinese nation.

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