Comment by justicezyx | Hacker News Reader

Comment by justicezyx | Hacker News Reader

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GP here, I am moderately surprised that the parent post implied I am linked with Chinese government. Usually people would be more subtle.

I was born and raised in mainland China, left to US for PhD at 22.

I gradually understand why westners show various degree of hatred towards the Chinese government, CCP, and not so rarely the Chinese people. And also see the equally ridiculous negative biased of Chinese people towards westners.

From a self-interest perspective, I try to state the less emotional charged description on news relevant to China. Because I am seeing the risk of becoming one of the scapegoat of the Sino-US conflict. For example, while I was called linking to Chinese government, I am equally possible being called "banana man" (yellow skin with white heart, you get the idea) by passionate Chinese netizens.

I am actively risking my reputation on this forum by behaving like this. As for a long time I am well aware of the genuine political and cultural biases.

But I believe this is best for my situation. I cannot just watching the hatred grow between the common people without an action. That is also hurting the my own and my family's future.

This caught-in-the-middle position is common enough on HN that I wrote about it when a similar issue came up last year: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21200971. That's a long post; the part that your comment reminded me of is this:

What you're most likely getting is (for example, let's say) a Chinese-Canadian Amazon or Microsoft employee, who's been reading HN for years and is suddenly hurt and dismayed by all the aggressive anti-Chinese comments that have been showing up on the site—or (let's say) a Chinese grad student who stayed in the US, got a good job and played by the rules, and back home in China is the one holding the other side of the argument, defending the US and his American friends to his family who have been hearing nasty things about them over there.

It is a difficult position to be in, because you get attacked from both sides, and not just about something small, but in deep and painful places.

Thanks for the deep understanding shown in the posts. One correction: I am 36 years old with 2 kids born and raised in US now, was stating it was 22 years when I came to US. :)

I really appreciate that you understand the situation people like us are in. That is especially encouraging given the rapidly deteriorating situation in recent years. The great irony, however, is that, coincidentally, both China and US saw outliner leaders come into power. Like an old Chinese saying “the good fortune never come with a companion, but the ill-fortune seldom come alone” (福无双至祸不单行）.

Aside from activities here, I try to proactively engage with my network in mainland China to debacle common biases towards US. My personal goal is to improve understanding.

I have changed from a heavily indoctrinated young Chinese student to become one who is able to appreciate the deep cultural convictions and altruistic intentions of American people. I have seen the same vigorous pursue of better life and unwavering self reliance from both American and Chinese people. I firmly believe the value structures of American and Chinese people are inherently compatible. The confrontation should be avoidable.

I would be hugely disappointed if US and China end up into Cold War like confrontation. That will be an unprecedented waste of human value, and squander of historical opportunity of advancing the international community to a more productive stage.

>Like an old Chinese saying “the good fortune never come with a companion, but the ill-fortune seldom come alone” (福无双至祸不单行) .

This reminded me of the Anna Karenina principle [1] (but sort of the opposite): "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Karenina_principle

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