Industrious Chinese Zhang Baotong 2019.2.12

Since I was a child, I have heard that Chinese are industrious and hardworking, and I feel that this is very common and should be, because the fields cannot be left unplanted, and the machines cannot be left unturned. However, after understanding the lifestyle of foreigners, I truly realized that we Chinese are indeed very industrious and hard-working.

There is a contrast to distinguish. The welfare of the Americans is good, the welfare of the French is good, and the welfare of the Italian is good. The French actually work about 7 months of the year, while the rest of the year is on vacation. For example, in most countries, summer holidays are only available to students, but in France, everyone enjoys summer vacations. It will be held from the end of July to the beginning of September. So, during the month of August, all the French are on vacation, traveling and vacationing with the whole family to the beach or abroad. Greece has had some economic problems over the years, and the government has to reduce welfare in order to pay off the debt, so the workers are always on strike. The reason for this is that there is too much vacation time and too good benefits.

In many Western countries and high-welfare countries, people work four and a half days a week, and there are so many days off in a year that we Chinese are envious of death, and they still feel uncomfortable living. Moreover, people in these countries view regular leave as a right and a personal freedom. Companies and leaders did not deprive them of their right to take time off. They work during working hours, and when it comes to work hours or vacation time, they don't want to work more than a minute, and they never work overtime, even if you pay them overtime. It's not like the Chinese at all, that is, you don't want to work overtime, as long as the company and the leader say a word, you have to work overtime obediently. Some people often do not take a leave of absence for many days, months, or even years.

In fact, it is not that people in Western countries and high-welfare countries do not like to go to work, or in poorer and less backward countries such as Africa and South America, people do not like to work. I heard from a friend that on the Zambian side, the Chinese opened some copper mines and hired local people to mine them. The locals are not at all as down-to-earth as the Chinese. They like to be lazy and grind foreign workers, and often they have no money, and they come back to work well for two or three days, and as soon as they get the money, they are gone. No matter how busy the company is, no matter how short of manpower is, but, it seems that these have nothing to do with them, he should go, he can rest if he wants, if you don't give him a holiday, he will give himself a holiday. The same is true for workers in South America, such as Brazil and Argentina, who come to work when they run out of money, and run out of money as soon as they get it. So, it's very difficult for these people to manage.

Why don't Chinese run around for a few days when they have no money and enjoy themselves when they have money, like foreigners? This is different from the education and ideological concepts that Chinese receive. In contrast, the people of China, Japan and South Korea in the Chinese civilization circle are simply model workers, they are like plugging in the power supply, never tireless. Japanese people spend a lot of time at work after work, and they don't seem to be in a hurry to get home from work. This is in stark contrast to the fact that Westerners do not like to work overtime. This has a lot to do with the influence of traditional Chinese Confucian concepts. Because they advocate hardship, they believe that as long as they can endure hardship today, the better the days will be better in the future, which can be described as "bitter first and then sweet". Moreover, in China, the competition is fierce, and no one can be lazy. Chinese parents teach their children to endure hardships so that they can study hard and live the life they want to live as adults.

In some countries, on weekends and holidays, the staff of stores and restaurants are on vacation, and the doors are closed. However, weekends and holidays do not mean that people do not eat or shop. At this time, only Chinese shops and restaurants are open, so these days, Chinese shops and restaurants will be relatively prosperous. Otherwise, why do some Chinese supermarkets or restaurants have a local advantage in those countries?

Some foreigners say that the Chinese are "labor machines", but in fact, this is because the Chinese have a strong sense of responsibility. As a man, there are three roles, the father of the child, the husband of the wife, the son of the parents, and the same is true of the woman. Men have to provide for their families, women have children, and children have to study hard. Chinese rarely live only for themselves, they are all living for others to see, for the sake of "fame", the so-called fame, in fact, is to judge a person's sense of responsibility.

Historically, the Chinese did not love to work, and some books from the Song Dynasty show that people were lazy and numb, and they were idle. However, in recent years, the Chinese have become poor and afraid. Especially since the reform and opening up, the peasants have been working in the fields to make money, the workers have worked overtime day and night, and the businessmen have been doing their best to open up the market. People want to get rich through hard work, and they want to live a better life. However, after the post-70s generation, the Chinese spirit of hardship began to change due to changes in living conditions and the reason of being an only child, and the spirit of hard work and hardship began to slowly deteriorate.