Quote:
Originally Posted by Inst
Like I said, I'm very stupid. You're being too subtle for me, but I think what I'm supposed to understand is that no other nation would have been creative enough to attack Vietnam in order to strike at the Soviet Union, and that, if the planning staff of other countries were given the task, they would choose a more conventional route.
Still, what I think here is that this is better described not as Chinese, but simply, as "smart".
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It's not smart or better, just a totally different mindset.
Like what zraver said, western thinking is very direct. We say what we mean and we mean what we say. We don't beat around the bushes and use a bushel of hints to kinda nudge someone into thinking what we might want to express.
Chinese civilization has been around continuously for 5000 some odd years. The inter personal relationship is very intricate and very refined. No one ever says what's on his mind. No one ever looks the other in the eye. That's considered very confrontational. Instead things are done in a very roundabout way.
I guess that's the easiest way to understand the Chinese thinking. No direct confrontation if at all possible. That's just not done. The west is not used to this kind of diplomacy.