Phil Nadolny

1-20-15
AS215
Professor Kucera

Confronting Stereotypes
When I first began the Asian Conversation program, I was not quite sure what to expect.
I knew that we would be studying narratives about Asia written by classical and contemporary
authors to acquire a better understanding of what it is today and how it came to be this way.
Throughout our first semester of the Asian Conversation program, much of our focus was on the
historical and geographic aspects of Asia so I was surprised to learn that the main themes that we
would be investigating over the interim and spring semester would be Asias food and
environment. Before we began to delve too deeply into these themes, however, we read the
chapter entitled Stereotypes as Individual and Collective Representations from the Charles
Stangor and Mark Schaller book which piqued my interest about stereotypes and how they
influence our perceptions of experiences abroad. This also related to the seminar presented by
Wendy Allen that we attended before departing. The people that we need to meet, the places that
we need to go, and the experiences that we need to have all vary for each individual but are
dictated by what our stereotypes are; we need to have the experiences that involve our
stereotypes so that we can examine them, discuss them, and convert them into generalizations to
ultimately gain cultural insights.
Before reflecting on my own experiences with stereotypes in Asia, a brief treatment of
the usefulness of direct experiences and discussions is warranted. Reading and watching films in
the interest of gaining cultural insights can be very useful. This is particularly true when the

culture in question is one that no longer exists or is inaccessible for geographic, political, or other
reasons. Assuming that the book or film in question accurately portrays the culture that it covers,
this can be a good substitute for engaging with the culture directly. However, there are
limitations to this approach. For example, one must be able to find a piece of media that portrays
the culture in which one is interested. Even if one manages to find such a piece of media, there
still exists the possibility that it does not portray the part of the culture for which one is looking.
There is also the potential that the culture is not accurately portrayed which can lead to
misconceptions about it and perpetuate stereotypes in society.
For these reasons, it is desirable to engage in direct experiences and dialogues whenever
possible. If one is interested in investigating a particular situation in a particular culture under
particular circumstances, one can do so with relative ease. This is what we were able to do with
our ethnographic observations. Personally, I was interested in observing how Chinese people
interact with their environment while exercising so I chose the fields on the ECNU campus as
my environmental sites. In doing so, I was able to get a sense of how exercise works in China
and how this relates to the setting in which people exercise.
It is important to talk to people about whom one has stereotypes in order to think more
critically about these preconceived notions. Exposing myself to such people is the best way that
I found to reevaluate my ideas and convert my stereotypes into generalizations. I did not initially
realize that I had any stereotypes of Chinese people since many of them were positive. One
stereotype that I had was that Chinese people are all very smart and excel in school for this
reason. It was not until I had the opportunity to interview some college students that I realized

the incredible cultural and familial pressure that these students experience during their high
school careers that drives them academically.
One negative stereotype that I had about China and Chinese people is that there is little
regard for the environment, that Chinese people are far more concerned with boosting their
economy and that there is nothing wrong with the environment being merely collateral damage.
I found that this is very clearly not the case when I saw the lengths to which Professor Che had
gone to clean up the river system around Shanghai. I was taken by the three phases of his plan to
clean up Suzhou Creek and the amount of time and money invested in this project. I realized
during this lecture that my stereotype was very wrong, especially when the question of similar
efforts arose and Professor Che indicated that there are many other projects just like this one
taking place throughout China. This reminded me of the reading about the efforts of Buddhists
to take better care of the environment through their eight-year plan as well.
I had a similarly eye-opening experience when I shared a meal with Gao Laoshi, a
professor from ECNU that I met the previous semester at St. Olaf, and her family on the last
night of my stay in Shanghai. On our way to the restaurant where we were to eat that night, we
were discussing the differences between Chinese and American lifestyles and how they related to
the environment. She explained to me that the Chinese way of life is actually quite sustainable in
that Chinese people generally do not use clothes dryers or dishwashers. In order to dry their
clothes, many Chinese people substitute outdoor clothes lines for electric dryers. In doing so,
Gao Laoshi explained to me that the ultraviolet light from the sun also helps to kill pathogens on
the clothes.

Later that evening, I realized another way in which the Chinese lifestyle is more
sustainable than I previously considered Chinese food is more sustainable than I had imagined.
In the US, many would likely be inclined to throw away certain portions of an animal such as the
feet of a Chicken and the fat of a pig or cow. For example, I ate a dish that night called
Hongshao Rou in which the meat was entirely skin and fat. In this way, less of the animal is
wasted. Additionally, I noticed that all of the fish served contained bones. When I thought about
it, I realized that this serves a similar purpose in that it is much easier to get more meat off of the
fish by cutting through the bones and eating around them at the table instead of trying to cut
around the bones when filleting the fish. In this way, less food is wasted.
Another stereotype that I had was that street vendors in China were quite unaccepting of
foreigners. I realized that this was quite wrong when I met a street vendor selling Dim Sum. He
offered me an English menu when he saw that I was struggling to read the Chinese one and we
then struck up a conversation. He seemed genuinely interested in where I was from and what I
was studying. I was again pleasantly surprised by an interaction with a street vendor on my
second to last day in Shanghai. I was getting my lunch from a street vendor when she
recognized me as a repeat customer. I was able to start a conversation with her and realize that I
was wrong about street vendors. In both cases, my ability to speak Chinese was crucial. Without
this ability, I would not have been able to have these conversations and realize how wrong my
preconceived notion was.
When reflecting on how all of my experiences from the interim Asian Conversation
course impacted me, I realize that I held more stereotypes toward China and Chinese people than
I acknowledged when I started this program. More importantly, however, I came to realize that it

was only because of the experiences that I had that I was able to identify these stereotypes and
replace them with generalizations and cultural knowledge. In each case, it was direct experience
that made me realize that I held these stereotypes and that effected these changes in my mindset.
This was what I was hoping to gain from my trip abroad.