Same same but different

So much has been written about China in the recent months, that one could think that everybody should know everything about this country. Chinese Gold medals, Chinese Food, Tibetans being put into prison... And yet, when we told our friends, that we would go to Guangzhou for 2 years, most of them didn't even know where this city (of just around 10 million people) was. 

So what's really about our knowledge and mutual understanding?

How Euro-centered are we? 

Is everything we are used to do in Europe (or in the Western World) really so implicit to humans, that we are allowed to extrapolate it to the rest of the world? 

Do we maybe, nevertheless, have more in common with Chinese than we think?

Will China overtake the West or is it deemed to chaos? And if so, what will be the reason for it?

I am starting this blog in order to sort my mind about these questions, bit by bit, step by step.

Man man lai, as the Chinese say ('do it slowly').

A journey through this vast and complex country, but especially through our own minds. A sketchbook of short, funny or meaningful stories, but also of more complex thoughts.

A 'long-term' stay in China should trigger more than just looking at landscapes. Thus, Paradigms & Interfaces is meant to be an (almost) daily exercise in observing the Chinese lifestyle, habits and the tremendously fast changes, but also an exercise in questioning our own habits, ways of seeing things and re-thinking it all. A daily exercise in avoiding prejudices and rather trying to understand the other parties behavior.

Our work here is that of a human 'interface', of an outpost of a Swiss company in China, trying to make Western products work in a Chinese production plant, everyday confronted with intercultural, cross-cultural and whatever exchange, but unavoidably also a lot of misunderstanding.

Many others have such experiences and roles. Maybe totally different views about it. 

Many others also have much deeper knowledge about China and its culture than I have. The texts that will follow are by no means meant to be highly professional. Only very personal, subjective observations, which I would like to share with a wider community.