Be more specific. What do you consider “conservative”? What do you consider “progressive”?
By “socially progressive”, I am referring to the things we usually refer to when it comes to social progress: acceptance of LGBTQ+, rights for women, anti-racism, respect for youth and elderly, etc.
By “conservative”, it would mean opposition to such advances in social progress.
I’m not the best at wording this.
As a Chinese person, I can share my own observations from both online and real life:
LGBTQ+ There is almost no public promotion of LGBTQ+ issues in China. LGBTQ+ individuals are not considered a mainstream group, and most people are indifferent to them. Online, many references to LGBTQ+ are just jokes or memes meant to entertain, not necessarily to mock the community. For instance, phrases like “Bro, you smell so good” are popular online jokes. In real life, if you are part of the LGBTQ+ community, it doesn’t really matter to most people; everyone has their own life. However, if LGBTQ+ individuals try to date heterosexuals, it usually leads to discomfort. If a child wants to identify as LGBTQ+, it depends on their parents, and most parents do not approve. Also, since LGBTQ+ concepts are seen as coming from Western countries, some LGBTQ+ individuals who are perceived as overly admiring Western culture can face backlash. Chinese public opinion generally acknowledges heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality, but concepts like “72 genders” and “gender fluidity” are seen as incomprehensible. Phrases like “My gender is an attack helicopter, and I want to screw a tank” are commonly used to mock the plethora of gender identities in the West.
Women’s Rights As a socialist country, women’s rights are well-protected in China. Prostitution is illegal (to combat human trafficking). In stable government jobs, women make up a large proportion. However, there are some peculiarities: women have maternity leave, and some declare pregnancy right after being hired to receive paid maternity leave and then resign afterward. In government jobs, some women may claim they cannot handle the workload and pass their responsibilities to male colleagues or other female colleagues, leading to a form of hidden hiring discrimination in some companies and government units.
Anti-Racism Chinese people generally focus on a person’s actions rather than their race. Discrimination tends to be based on an individual’s behavior, regardless of skin color or ethnicity. Ethnic minorities in China receive preferential treatment, with special funds to promote their traditional cultures and extra points on college entrance exams. However, as the economic conditions of some minorities have become comparable to the Han majority, places like Shandong are considering abolishing these extra points. Ethnic minorities like Tibetans and Mongolians also have the option to take their college entrance exams in their native languages. During my university years, Mongolian students often joked that they didn’t ride horses to school.
Respect for Youth and the Elderly I don’t quite understand the concept of “respecting the youth.” Is it similar to bowing to someone in Japan? In China, as the birthplace of Confucianism, respecting the elderly and caring for the young are considered traditional virtues and are commonly practiced in daily life. However, due to the “Peng Yu case,” where a judge asked, “If you didn’t knock the old person down, why did you help them up?” many people are now wary of helping fallen elderly individuals for fear of being extorted (which has happened multiple times). Such extortionists are referred to as “taking advantage of their old age.”
“72 genders” is incomprehensible to me too, and I believe that it is incomprehensible and illogical to most people in the world who are not familiar with the West.
The crux of the issue lies in the separation of the concept “gender” and “sex”. Wheras “sex” is material and observable, “gender” (as defined by Western leftists[1]) is anything but. It is measured by having the person “identifies” themselves as one.
But if a concept is not observable and not material, how is it different from a god? Should we, who adhere to dialectical materialism and scientific principals, see it as anything of worth?
Or maybe I am wrong, maybe the fluid gender can be objectively measured as a material concept with observable effects. If you think I’m wrong, please explain.
Western leftists are Westerners who identify themselves as leftists. They are not necessarily our comrade. ↩︎
I dunno, I feel the need to lightly push back…
A person telling you, “I don’t feel like man”, is something you can observe. A person telling you, " I don’t feel like either gender" is something you can observe. A person telling you, “I feel like a woman” today but next week telling you “I feel like a man” is something that can be observed.
What is “feeling like a man”? What is “feeling like a woman”? What is the biological mechanism that determine these feelings?
I can observe a person who has near death experience telling me they met god. Should I take it as face value?
A person telling you, “I feel like a woman” today but next week telling you “I feel like a man” is something that can be observed.
I don’t think my society is willing to accept such fickleness, even if we are willing to accept transgender.
What is feeling happy or sad? This is absurd.
Happiness and sadness are easy to comprehend because all humans experience it. Their biological mechanisms have also been studied and partially understood by science. “Gender feelings”, not so much. Let put it this way: How can a biological male, who was never a female, know the feeling he feels is that of a woman?
