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mcguire

Could someone explain the point of this article? All I'm getting are:

* Everything is random.

* A generic Chinese man, who did really well on one test is smarter than most people in Britain.

* Americans, who are capitalists, don't seem to want to focus their lives on the supposed end goal of capitalism.

* MBA programs are nuts, especially if you are on the spectrum.

I'm probably wrong about most of those, but like the author, I just don't see the coherent picture.

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my takeaway: the western stereotype of chinese education is that there is herd mentality and groupthink, but the same thing exists on the western side, just with a different herd.

edit: this is highlighted by the conclusion, in which he points out the irony of the lesson from his western education (everything is luck) when the traditional message is "if you work hard you will succeed".

i thought it was a great read.

The sly sense of humor helped the presentation. Whatever his other qualities the author is a good writer, in a second language no less.

He reminded me of the "The Good Soldier Švejk" stories, especially the MBA part, the one with the professors telling him he can see that the author was feeling stuff, the brand thing and the part where he just told them that he wants to earn money (i.e. he was as honest as soldier Švejk was).

Isn't the obvious conclusion that opportunity is a necessary prerequisite to success? In a communist or puritan philosophy that would mean it's lucky to be working, whereas the juxtaposition is virtually the same, working to be lucky. I don't see how the question for chicken-and-egg-priority matters here.

I definitely think it was intended that way. From the beginning, the language seemed loaded with judgmental terms and obsessed with status. So the article seemed purposefully not to resolve itself, most likely because the natural conclusion according to the article's tone and content would probably be some asinine assertion like China > USA, Americans/British/people from Western society are silly/irrational/incompetent, communism > democracy, etc. of course all while being blissfully unaware of ones (and ones culture's) own biases, shortcomings, and contradictions. So really the article lacks a point so it won't make a crude/distasteful one. Like a polite person who gives a vague noncommittal answer in a group instead of a patronizing one.

> the natural conclusion according to the article's tone and content would probably be some asinine assertion like China > USA, Americans/British/people from Western society are silly/irrational/incompetent, communism > democracy, etc.

i agree that the article was underdeveloped, but im not sure your critique is entirely fair. the author did go on for a while about that girl, nian, and how inhospitable china was to someone very similar to him. he also hints at how warped the party's version of chinese history is. i think its far from clear that the author thinks china is superior to the west, or vice versa.

* luck has more to do with results than we think

* "focus on the process, which we can control, rather than the result"

This is also well explained by Scott Adams: "Goals are for losers... try systems that improve your odds of success."

He more so explained his story, which was essentially: “I studied hard, got into a good school, and got a great job,” rather than explaining how he focuses on the process. The only example of “process” was his discovery during his internship that he _should_ focus on process.

But the story you're describing isn't accurate. His story is more like "I studied hard, did not do well, as a result my parents sent me to a good school in a different country, and got a great job".

If he had done better than he did in his Chinese High School, his parents may not have sent him to the UK, in which case he may not have been as successful. So it still aligns with the idea of the story that we really discount the value of luck in our successes.

But he learned to focus on the process at GS, where he was rewarded when the process failed in his favor.

Adams is a fool whose primary accomplishment is badly drawing a comic which is occasionally mildly funny I cannot imagine reading an entire book by him.

Western capitalism strongly believes in meritocracy and that each of us can architect our own destiny. In reality, that's not the case and we can be affected by luck, historical forces, or force majeure. Our best laid plans may not turn out as we had hoped or we may experience the equivalent of winning the lottery for no reason other than being in the right place/right time.

As I read it, his conclusion in the end is that accepting this nebulosity is possibly the key to happiness.

That's far better than what I managed to extract. I only got the first two points, after which it all became a meaningless word salad (plus, he read a book that impressed him). I was about to post a WTF-type comment, but then I found yours.

I also couldn't ignore the headline referring to the "West" (whatever it is) in general, while the author only had some limited experience working in the US and studying in the UK.

I live in Singapore now, and one thing that made me laugh once was an establishment called "Johnson's Western food". Like, that tiny stall encompasses the entire culinary wisdom of France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and more. In reality, they sell soggy pizza and pasta sourced from Mars (at least by the looks of it).

This article is the literary equivalent of the Johnson's Western food stall, although with better pictures.

Now you know how Chinese people feel when they read any articles written by white men about China, or when they go eat at one of those asian fusion abominations :)

I know, but they sorta kinda miss the irony when they reference racial origin and "West" instead of referring to an individual.

How about Western people are super lucky to be born in a luxurious environment that most other people compete against each other to achieve as well, that you really need to work your ass off to achieve, and sometimes even despite working hard won't succeed at achieving.

I came to the comments expecting to be upset by people not finding this essay deeply disturbing and I'm glad I was at least a bit wrong :)

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