#culture exchange

[callimara]

Imagining a Sundanese guest experiencing Ancient Greek hospitality rules is the funniest thing because the hospitality wars would’ve gone crazy.

Every nice thing their Greek hosts would try to do for them, they’d need to insist on because the Sundanese guest would insist on not troubling them and then proceed to match—if not double—the favor, creating an endless cycle of hospitality that would send Zeus into a state of overdose.

[fandom-hoarder]

RedNote culture exchange, American healthcare, one of the downsides to the influx of American users (IP segregation separating Chinese immigrants from connection to their culture)

[maddystudyabroaduk]

Ending the Best Semester of my Undergraduate Degree

I ended the semester feeling fulfilled in so many ways, I'd worked so hard to grow academically, socially, and culturally. I'd accomplished such close connections with others in a relatively short amount of time, something younger and more shy me would have never believed I was capable of. I was proud of how well I stood on my own so far from everything I had ever known. It was thanks to the guidance and kindness of many people in both universities that I was able to fulfill the dream of traveling the world.

I found myself excited to go home and tell everyone about my journey, but also already beginning to mourn the change of environment and the loss of being able to spend time with friends I would face. I would miss how on the sunny, warm days everyone would get so excited and lay out picnics all around campus. I would miss how fresh the air smelled and how green nature was. I would miss how warmly I was treated, and how I was privileged enough to learn about the cultures and home countries of so many friends. I would miss the celebrations and city nights with my friends, who became my family along the way. I would miss how walkable and picturesque Leeds was with all its cute malls and cafes.

It was a journey I wished never ended, and the moment I can, I will find my way back to those bustling city streets and warm arms of my friends, who I will always have to thank for showing me a new world and sharing theirs with me. If you ever have the desire to study abroad and meet more of the world, I'd of course encourage it. If you have any questions, please message me and I will help in any way I can. Thank you for listening, and I hope I was able to inspire a few to go find parts of themselves halfway around the world.

[tyiaunia-harris]

Amechu week day 7: Culture exchange of each other's history and what they are most infamous for as well both the good, bad and in between, plus each other's culture shocks.

[sarroora]

My absolute FAVORITE thing about online friendships in addition to all the previously-mentioned is sharing pop culture and slang sentences that are completely acceptable in one culture and horrifying/offensive in the other XXXD

themes commonly found in international friendships

- ‘u dont have (insert food/music/restaurant here) over there??’ - ‘wait what time is it. shouldnt u be asleep’ - alternatively: timezoned/clockblocked again - ‘do u need a hug. have a virtual hug’ - weird slang terms - ‘i will fight everyone thats mean to u. i will fight them rn’ - vague embarrassment regarding ur accent - ‘dont maKE ME COME OVER THERE’ - ‘oh yeah i have a friend who lives in (insert country here) and apparently’ - no real hugs :(( - suffering - fahrenheit vs celsius - the measuring of things in feet fucks one of u up, probably

[ayatheav]

Silesian Miku

[fozmeadows]

There's a lot of conversations to be had around the current influx of Americans to Xiaohongshu (RedNote/Little Red Book) ahead of the TikTok ban, many of which are better articulated by more knowledgeable people than me. And for all the fun various parties of both nationalities seem to having with memes and wholesome interactions, it's undoubtedly true that there's also some American entitlement and exoticization going on, which sucks. But a sentiment I've seen repeatedly online is that, if it's taken actually speaking to Chinese people and viewing Chinese content for Americans to understand that they've been propagandized to about China and its people, then that just proves how racist they are, and I want to push back on that, because it strikes me as being a singularly reductive and unhelpful framing of something far more complex.

Firstly: while there's frequently overlap between racism and xenophobia, the distinction between them matters in this instance, because the primary point of American propaganda about China is that Communism Is Fundamentally Evil And Unamerican And Never Ever Works, and thinking a country's government sucks is not the same as thinking the population is racially inferior. The way most Republicans in particular talk about China, you'd think it was functionally indistinguishable from North Korea, which it really isn't. Does this mean there's no critique to be made of either communism in general or the CCP? Absolutely not! But if you've been told your whole life that communist countries are impoverished, corrupt and dangerous because Communism Never Works, and you've only really encountered members of the Chinese diaspora - i.e., people whose families left China, often under traumatic circumstances, because they thought America would be better or safer - rather than Chinese nationals, then no: it's not automatically racist to be surprised that their daily lives and standard of living don't match up with what you'd assumed. Secondly: TikTok's userbase skews young. While there's certainly Americans in their 30s and older investigating Xiaohongshu, it seems very reasonable to assume that the vast majority are in their teens or twenties - young enough that, barring a gateway interest in something like C-dramas, danmei or other Chinese cultural products, and assuming they're not of Chinese descent themselves, there's no reason why they'd know anything about China beyond what they've heard in the news, or from politicians, or from their parents, which is likely not much, and very little firsthand. But even with an interest in China, there's a difference between reading about or watching movies from a place, and engaging firsthand, in real time, with people from that place, not just through text exchanges, but in a visual medium that lets you see what their houses, markets, shopping centers, public transport, schools, businesses, infrastructure and landmarks look like. Does this mean that what's being observed isn't a curated perspective on China as determined both by Xiaohongshu's TOU and the demographic skewing of its userbase? Of course not! But that doesn't mean it isn't still a representative glimpse of a part of China, which is certainly more than most young Americans have ever had before.

Thirdly: I really need people to stop framing propaganda as something that only stupid bigots fall for, as though it's possible to natively resist all the implicit cultural biases you're raised with and exist as a perfect moral being without ever having to actively challenge yourself. To cite the sacred texts:

Like. Would the world be a better place if everyone could just Tell when they're being lied to and act accordingly? Obviously! But that is extremely not how anything actually works, and as much as it clearly discomforts some to witness, the most common way of realizing you've been propagandized to about a particular group of people is to interact with them. Can this be cringe and awkward and embarrassing at times? Yes! Will some people inevitably say something shitty or rude during this process? Also yes! But the reality is that cultural exchange is pretty much always bumpy to some extent; the difficulties are a feature, not a bug, because the process is inherently one of learning and conversation, and as individual people both learn at different rates and have different opinions on that learning, there's really no way to iron all that out such that nobody ever feels weird or annoyed or offput. Even interactions between career diplomats aren't guaranteed smooth sailing, and you're mad that random teenagers interacting through a language barrier in their first flush of enthusiasm for something new aren't doing it perfectly? Come on now.

Fourthly: Back before AO3 was banned in China, there was a period where the site was hit with an influx of Chinese users who, IIRC, were hopping over when one of their own fansites got shut down, which sparked a similar conversation around differences in site etiquette and how to engage respectfully. Which is also one of the many things that makes the current moment so deeply ironic: the US has historically criticized China for exactly the sort of censorship and redaction of free speech that led to AO3 being banned, and yet is now doing the very same thing with TikTok. Which is why what's happening on Xiaohongshu is, IMO, such an incredible cultural moment: because while there are, as mentioned, absolutely relevant things to be said about (say) Chinese censorship, US-centrism, orientalism and so on, what's ultimately happening is that, despite - or in some sense because of - the recent surge in anti-Chinese rhetoric from US politicians, a significant number of Americans who might otherwise never have done so are interacting directly with Chinese citizens in a way that, whatever else can be said of it, is actively undermining government propaganda, and that matters.

What it all most puts me in mind of, in fact, is a quote from French-Iranian novelist and cartoonist Marjane Satrapi, namely:

“The difference between you and your government is much bigger than the difference between you and me. And the difference between me and my government is much bigger than the difference between me and you. And our governments are very much the same.”

And at this particular moment in history, this strikes me as being a singularly powerful realization for Americans in particular to have.

[charlesoberonn]

Cultural exchange is great and I'm glad that Americans and Chinese people are interacting on RedNote. But you should be aware that:

RedNote is largely used by the upper-middle and upper classes of China. It's basically a copy of Instagram with extra emphasis on the lifestyle flexing. It's not a representation of wider Chinese society but rather a curated experience for the top 20% or so.

On top of that, it is heavily regulated and censored by the government. LGBTQ+ content is heavily censored. And criticisms of the Chinese government or Chinese culture are deleted instantly.

So please continue using RedNote for as long as it's available and learn as much about China from it as you can. But take it with a grain of salt and realize that what you're seeing is basically the Chinese equivalent of American Instagram models as curated by the government.

[cicigreen03]

I learned as a recent migrant to Red Note, until the influx of folks from US TikTok, the Chinese thought Elon was truly the inventor of Tesla and SpaceX, as well as a savvy businessman. They did not know he was a dirty imposter with too much money and not enough brain cells. The culture exchange this past week has been amazing.

well yes!

[eulaties]

general thoughts about the 2025 小红书 boom

i feel like we're at a really interesting point in time right now, particularly in regards to the shift in american consciousness + changing world order, so i thought it would be fitting to document my thoughts about the xhs situation as a chinese american. however, please note this post is NOT speaking on behalf of any community, and i am only speaking to my own personal opinions.

the good

american propaganda is getting dismantled in real time. there's so much cross-cultural communication right now in relation to america's political issues, everyday life, and what china is really like

im already seeing people starting to learn the language, becoming interested in visiting china, etc. and i truly haven't seen this kind of mass interest in chinese culture in a long time

to be precise, the last time there was really "chinese soft power" in america was during the mid-to-late 2000s. notably this time period included the 2008 beijing olympics which was monumental for china on the global stage, as it showcased their prosperity, openness ("北京欢迎你"), and equal footing in the modern world. ive seen people compare the xhs phenomenon to this event and while both are drastically different, i do think this is an apt comparison (though obviously this xhs thing is on a muchhh smaller scale...)

so many new friendships and connections are being made!

the bad

to add on to what op said, theres definitely a difference between just generally understanding that as diaspora, most people around you will hold sinophobic views about china and chinese people VERSUS actually having empirical evidence that most normal people didn't see chinese people as human before. its jarring to say the least. like everyone is praising chinese people on xhs now, but just last week everyone was fearmongering about us?? really reminds you that in the eyes of the public, favor for any asian culture (and by extension, its people) is fleeting and will often change easily with the season

and yes, its definitely weird to see people talk about chinese people as if they've never seen a chinese person in america before. like obviously there's a HUGE difference between mainlanders and diaspora, but there's also international students that come to america to study so... ??

the memes are funny, and i like how the people on xhs are playing along with them, but something about the "chinese spy" memes rubs me the wrong way. tbh, most mainlanders actually have a positive view of westerners and america, and if they don't study abroad themselves or know anyone that went abroad, they will never truly understand what it's like to be discriminated against simply for being chinese (there's a difference between knowing and understanding ofc; not saying that they're ignorant & don't know anything lol). this is just the honest truth, just like how i'll never understand what it's like to live and grow up in mainland china since im diaspora. anyways, i kind of question if mainlanders are actually aware of the loaded context behind those words. while americans are using the "chinese spy" memes as jokes now in reference to why tiktok is getting banned, it doesn't change the fact that many other americans truly do believe that there is mass chinese surveilliance/planted chinese spies in america (i.e., see modern-day mccarthyism, like how chinese researchers are often stripped of their titles/reputations, interrogated, and then silently deported). like language and framing does matter, and it has actually affected chinese people in america, but now you guys are treating it like a joke?

anyways, even with all of the bad there's still overwhelming good that has come out of this, and i do feel like its better to be more positive than negative about these things in the long run! who knows where tomorrow will take us but at the very least i hope everyone actively continues pissing off the american government 💖 amen

[thesmegalodon]

you all need to be my minions i think it’d be wonderful if we made hope posting a trend on tumblr

[kataangiscanon]

HAPPY KATAANG WEEK.

Day 1 - Cultural Exchange/ Culture Sharing/ Revival of Traditions.

[rosethorndragon]

I know someone who claims she and her girlfriend had stumbled onto one of these years ago in the american northwest when they started working in a new area. They loved the food and became regulars and would frequently get drinks on the house. Observations from the story teller:

- people would go up and to a room behind the bar

-not all of them had guns, but the fact that any of them had concealed guns on the Seatle side of the mountains was suspolicious

-the house had Italian accents. Some of the special guests with guns had Russian or Japanese accents

Being a fan of mafia related media, she realizes she is in the local Italian mob "hq". After attempting to share this information to her drunk girlfriend one night to her girlfriend disbelief (and continued insistence to dine there), (If I remember this right) she stops being charged her food at all. With the presumed Italian mobsters nodding and doing 🍻.

Some time later, they are in later than usual after some sort of event, and both women are tired and hungry but not drunk. They are the only guests in the restaurant when they move tables around to accommodate a large party. The party makes up some of the people that are presumed Russian mob and Japanese Yakuza. The Italians proclaim the two women eating are cool and start the business meeting. The girlfriend isn't drunk for once, so she is catching all of the clues now and has to be muffled when the bodyguards start posturing with hands on their guns as the higher ups (bosses?) Start arguing heatedly.

No one gets shot and everyone finishes eating and leaves. As the story teller and her girlfriend get ready to leave, the Italian restaurant manager apologizes for their friends' rudeness, comps their meal, and tells her if she comes in without her girlfriend who seems to either be too spooked or too drunk most nights, she is welcome to go to the back room to play some poker with the vips if she wants.

I don't remember if she said she investigated the gambling den out of curiosity or not, but the moral of her story is if you find the best Italian food ever and it is in the part of town either dominated by warehouses or other transportation/shipping hubs and armed shady people wander in and out; you likely found the Official™️ mafia hang out.

Thank you for proving her right. I actually have a true an accurate observation checklist!

Wait wait you can't just drop that off and not elaborate. What do you mean is there a mafia presence in Wales?? Please spill, what things did you notice??

Okay so bearing in mind that I have ADHD and Chronic Terrible Observational Skills:

I am in Cardiff

For a concert I am attending solo

Doors open at 5

4:15 ish I go 'hmm I should eat something'

Cardiff is - unsurprisingly, being tiny and yet home to FOUR concert venues - Very Busy

Find McDonald's

McDonald's is very full. I recall my last concert related McDick's experience, and promptly bounce

Directly across the street

Is an Italian restaurant

It looks closed but fuckit maybe I can beg for like. Bread or some shit

Go over

Am immediately pounced upon by the hitherto unnoticed chain-smoking woman hanging out by the door mostly hidden by a potted ficus(?)

"I was wondering if you were open and if-" "yes yes we are open what would you like?" (strongish Italian accent)

Inside restaurant is Deserted

Explain that I'm sort of in a rush, am assured it's fine

Order chicken milanese which is generally a pasta dish with a breaded chicken component

Am led to seat nearish the front and promptly provided with a pint of coke in a glass tankard

Am then provided with a front row seat to an absolutely incomprehensible series of people entering and exiting (and in one case walking directly into) the door to what I can only presume is the kitchen

Starting with the guy who had been sitting at a table chain-smoking over a pile of papers

I counted at least three people exiting at least twice without actually entering in between

Am finally brought food

It is a breaded, butterflied chicken breast approximately the size of my face and a small pile of pasta approximately the size of my fist

It is all delicious

Chain-smoking papers man reappears, now wearing a chef's apron labcoat thing

Go up to pay, chain-smoking ficus lady is now having a very loud argument in a language I did not recognise but was not Italian Welsh English French russian Gaelic or Spanish

She sees me, says, and I quote 'ah little girl lost, one moment' and promptly hangs up

I am 27 and only nominally female

I am not remotely lost

She charges me for the pint of coke but not the food

I try to point out that she hasn't charged me for the food

'do you want to pay for the food?'

'.... Not if I don't have to?'

'good'

I leave. The door is now full of half a dozen very tall very Italian men and one absolutely adorable cocker spaniel

I ask if I can pet the dog (I have my priorities straight okay)

I am allowed to pet the dog. The dog and I are now best friends

The dog lead holder asks me in extremely accented but impeccably correct English if I had enjoyed the food

'yeah it was great!'

Everyone laughs a bit

I smile and pet the dog and realise I'm now late for the concert and hurry off

I see a post on Tumblr about mob fronts and several connections are made in my brain all at once

[royalarchivist]

Dono: Did you know that Festa Junina usually there's lots of little flags hanged up all around? Those are called Bandeirolas and in the past were used to honor 3 saints (some places still use them with that intent)

Phil: [Talking over dono] Yep, I learned that– I learned that in QSMP, when they did the Festa Junina event at the Favelas, or like, right next to the Favelas. It was really cool.

Phil: I learned like, so much cool sht about other cultures in QSMP. I'm always gonna be thankful for that. And friends, oh my god. Would NEVER have met some of the people I met like, any other way, really.

[davidaugust]

Xiaohongshu = RedNote app

[spellmage]

my Nevarra headcanon is that they love Memento Mori rings