Artist Compares Chinese Culture to Western Culture in Clever Illustrations

By
Ray O
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Seeing the differences between cultures can be quite interesting, to say the least. After all, the world wasn’t as connected before as it is today, and because of it, our respective cultures grew differently from others.

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In China, when someone says “thank you”, one of the ways to reply is “不客气”, which means “Don’t treat me like a guest.” Guests are considered very important in Chinese culture, and people would do all they can to treat their guests, they offer them with the best food and accommodation, and they treat them in a courteous manner. Yet this special treatment also indicates that a guest is not “one of us”. On the other side of politeness also lies distance and differences. My parents always told me to say “thank you” when someone who offers help or does me a favor, yet when I tried to thank my grandma, she wasn’t happy and told me that I was being too polite. She associated politeness with the category “guests“ which is at the opposite of a close relationship. I’ve also been told by people who have lived with Chinese families that they find family members are quite “rude” with each other: they don’t say “good morning “, “please” or use phrases such as “could you…”. It’s true that I rarely say these words to my Chinese family or close friends, because it kills the intimacy. #thanks #politeness #guest #family #relationships #chineseculture #sliceoflife #webcomic #tinyeyescomics

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This is something that an artist named Siyu Cao, who hails from Beijing, wanted to show. Creating funny yet on-point illustrations about Chinese culture and how it differs from the rest of the world, even from other countries in Asia. Siyu hopes that her comic series, tiny eyes, helps educate people about Chinese culture and how to show respect for it.

Make sure to scroll down below to see some of Siyu’s works.

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Declining gifts is a common practice for my parents’ generation and those before. Similar to offering help and paying for bills that I’ve mentioned in the previous episodes, this back-and-forth battle can go on for a long time before the recipient finally “gives in”. Although sometimes the battle can get too intense that people drop the gift by accident. I recently read in the newspaper that in a Chinese village, one family was offering money to another for the marriage of their daughter （It’s a ritual that the groom's family presents a set of elaborate gifts to the bride's family. The “gifts” will later be returned by the bride’s family). During the declining process, the money dropped on the ground by accident, and was seized by the passersby. 😬 #gifts #receivinggifts #giveandtake #chineseculture #ritural #humor #webcomic #sliceoflife #tinyeyescomics

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When it comes to our own culture in which we immerse ourselves, it can be difficult to appreciated it with the same passion of a tourist. The first time I went to the Forbidden City was in primary school with my class. It was mandatory as part of the school program. The second time was in high school when a group of foreign exchange students came to visit, and we were asked to show them “Chinese culture”. Other than these two times, I’ve never been to the Forbidden City with my family neither with my friends, because it was too familiar, too close and too touristy. Although in fact, I knew so little about it. The third time I visited the Forbidden City was after the first year of studying in the U.S. This time it wasn’t by requirement. It was by curiosity. The time abroad has created a distance that allows me to become a “tourist” in my hometown and to see things that I’ve ignored. It feels like a person that I’ve known for a long time, so long that I stop seeing her. One day we are separated from each other, and only until then I regain my sight and rediscover her beauty. #culture #tourist #dublin #whiskeymuseum #rediscover #see #sliceoflife #webcomic #tinyeyescomics

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