Okay, so we don't understand the Chinese classics. Many more students study Latin and ancient (European)history in their final year than study Mandarin or Asian history. Like it or lump it, Australia is culturally orientated to US-Europe, and this isn't changing even for the children of Asian immigrants. What is happening, is a Chinese shift to the west, notably in popular culture. Many of their TV shows, for example, are basically imitations of Western shows with local variants. My half-Korean daughter watches a Chinese dating show which turns up on pay TV here (with sub-titles)because its so idiotic its entertaining.

Maybe Mr Little should stop talking to high-powered diplomats and start watching TV. He would be less censorious.

I agree with previous post.

Further, there are many aspects of Western culture that others should not take for granted in this supposed claim of the rise of Asia and decline of the West.

Sure, the west is struggling, but i dont rule out dramatic policy change in line with democratic expectations, should they arise.

I am an Austalian, but proud to be a Westerner, albeit we must also address our faults like any other culure.

Reg Little tells us that Chinese traditional thought and teachings are superior to the educational structures of the West and cites the success of Chinese scholars and academics in Western universities. This success comes not from traditional Chinese rote learning, but when they throw off this restrictive practice and apply their qualities of hard work and dedication to the flexible, innovative methods of thought that have served the West from the days of Ancient Greece.

Where on earth does he get his idea that Chinese thought and education is vital and flexible? Certainly they are very good at assembling Western components on their cheap-labour assembly lines, and they have developed a certain skill at hacking into Western websites to create mischief and steal secrets.

I have spoken to educators who have the task of untangling newly-arrived Chinese students from their educational past. How these newcomers see nothing wrong in plagiarising massive chunks of work from the internet and presenting it as their own in their essays; how they routinely crib from each other; how they have to be taught to speak out in class, to literally think for themselves rather than reciting the sterile facts and figures crammed into them by their Chinese teachers.

Little peppers his article with references to China’s peaceful rise. Ask the Tibetans about China’s peaceful rise Mr Little; ask the Uighurs; ask the Indians about the 1962 war and the fact that China still lays claim to great swathes of their territory.

The West has problems, but it has survived worse. In the meantime China will have to cope with the fact that 400 million of its population are over 65. Yes Confucianism will say that traditional Chinese family values will take care of the elderly, but Confucius never knew about the One Child Policy, surely the most ham-fisted method of population control that the wit of man has devised.

In a little while I will be making my 23rd visit to Hong Kong, that brilliant blending of the best that East and West has to offer.

Hong Kong is what China should be.

Timmy has got his rose coloured glasses on. Like a Michael Jackson fan he can't understand why others are not fans as well. We clearly are ingnorant or missing something.

One of those things that truly puzzle our Asian neighbours, is our allegiance to a foreign nation's Queen!
It Put us into the former all conquering colonist's camp?
Our defence alliances are with other partners!
And should we ever travel back to the old dart, we are just aliens, with less rights than Germans, or Italians!
You know, those nations we sacrificed 60,000 young lives fighting against, in loyal empire servitude.
Moreover, the Brits had no compunction in dumping us, our former trade alliance and our position as a larder for Britain, in exchange for entry into the European common market.
The old ties or apron strings need to be completely undone, and new one sort and created in Asia, which is clearly where our prosperity and future lies.
Ignorance is an issue, therefore, all Australian students ought to have a working knowledge of at least one Asian Language, history and cultural norms or mores!
Rhrosty.

In his article Mr Little said "Australian understanding of the character of China's rise today is unbelievably shallow." The same might be said of the comments thus far on the article, most of which it seems to me completely miss the point that Mr Little is making.

It is easy to seize upon one point, eg, the rote learning that is spreading rapidly, and then use that to illustrate some generalised point about the alleged group think of Chinese students in Australia. The more important point being made, it seems to me, is that Chinese learning in modern China is having extraordinarily good results. Compare China in 1949 at the time of the revolution, with India in 1948 at the time of independence. Which country has massively transformed the lives of the ordinary masses on almost any measure of welfare and living standards one cares to cite? It sure isn't India.

A second broader point that Mr Little stresses is that we in the west, including Australia, having an abysmal level of understanding of the culture and traditions of this immensely important country. We persist in seeing it through the eyes of the UK-US imperial framework and seize upon perceived transgressions (eg Tibet) as a stick to beat them with. For what purpose? Among many other failings it ignores the actual history of China-Tibet where the Tibetans in turn claim vast tracts of Chinese territory. A similar myopia is evident in the boundary disputes in the south and east China sea. Taiwan has an identical view to the PRC as to its territorial rights in the region yet that fact is completely missing from western media accounts who prefer to portray it as Chinese expansionism. Given the west's imperial history that is more pathetic than funny.

@ Graham Cooke. According to the 2012 Census in China, their population over 65 years was 9.4% of the total. The total population was 1.344 billion which makes the >65 population 126.33 million. Sure the one child policy has created problems but not as great as the problems associated with untrammelled growth.

James O'Neill
an interesting defence of the article but doesn't absolve the author from writing what is essentially a silly, shallow piece. We are culturally orientated to the Europe-US and no amount of huffing and puffing by Little will change that. Sure we don't know much about China, but then we collectively don't know much about any country outside Britain and the US, and we don't known much about them either.

China may be large but is there any particular reason we should start learning about them as opposed to, say, learning about Malaysia or Thailand? What about Belgium or Switzerland? Sure china's important but why should importance, as such, dictate our interest or focus? Why can't we go where we are interested? Modern communications and travel have put the whole world in our reach, if we chose to grab a part of it. But then why not learn about Sydney or Melbourne where most of us live? And what about that strange island off the south coast.. Tas something.. I'm told there are people there..

Reg, what are you doing? How dare you write an article that questions the imagined perfection of the West? How dare you point out that the West is being left behind by 'Asians' of all races!

The white men have looked down on colored people for centuries. How dare they rise up and beat us at our own game.

Unfortunately, one Australian in a hundred is capable of seeing the changes that are happening around us. The other 99 reckon 'She'll be right, Mate!' They think that following in America's footsteps will save us. How dumb can they be?

America is already a second-rate power which has lost the plot. It is run by psychopaths who think that endless war is the answer.

Eventually, China will sweep the U.S. under the carpet. The Chinese are much smarter than Westerners, not so full of hot air and Hollywood fantasies.

How long has China been around? Says something, doesn't it!

But why must it be China or the USA?

If both are wrong and corrupt, then we should have none to do with either.

Perhaps indeed China IS becoming the world's dominant economic power, but does it justify this cowardly article that suggests that we should sell our values for a lentil stew*?

Are we going to support the occupation of Tibet, the threat on Taiwan and the vast violations of the individual freedoms of the Chinese people? Are we going to admire the culture which does all that?

We must not allow ourselves to be guided in life by economic considerations. Let us do what is good and just, then let economics fall where they may. We already have a good country with sufficient food, water, minerals and energy, so we should prepare to go it alone.

* [Genesis 25, 29-34]

The last time I took a realist view of China, it was based on a book by James Clavell (sic).

China has a new (long-term) political face.

China is determined to build its internal economy, one that will be predominantly external of international influence, i.e. a consumer society that does not need to feed off the recent BRIC and other national mining economies of the world.

The US, most of Europe, Australia and its broader markets are technically bankrupt, China has long seen this coming, and Chinese growth will not come from Globalisation.

China is now completely focussed on building an internal consumer based economy. If the US and Europe and the broader 'first-world' won't buy their good, their growing internal markets will be forced to.

Australia has missed the boat completely, we are now on the down-side of a mining boom that our current government has squandered, incompetence at the greatest level, as was forecast by so many of us years ago.

We have not yet realised that we are in a deflationary spiral that is out of our control and any rational human being should have realised the good old days of 'growth' are over.

It's just such a pity our politicians, economists and the MSM have failed to realise the world has changed and we are, like the US and Europe, heading toward third world status, no matter the policies or programs we put in place.

As the old adage goes, you can solve a problem, you can't solve a predicament. Unfortunately we have a predicament and out so-called leaders have completely failed to realise this reality.

Cheers

Geoff

My apologies to James O'Neill, the 400 million is a projection for 2030. Still time for Beijing to set up a decent social security system if it stops spending billions on a military to bully its neighbours.

You seem rather confused, Grahame.

China is spending money on its military because it is being contained and bullied by the U.S., the world's largest imperial nation.

Again, it's a question of balance which seems to evade you!

David G,

so why then are most other Asian nations concerned about China?

Yes David, contained by the US, Chinese can't just use violence to take the oil in the sea common to them, Japan, Vietnam, Philipines and etc. Poor hard done Chinese, are you simple or can't detect a Bully till they take your lunch money?

Chris and MacKackie, obviously, in common with many Australians, you are both suffering from a surfeit of U.S. indoctrination.

Why don't you both move to the U.S. and experience some of the joys that can be found there like homelessness, poverty, illegal surveillance by the State, violent crushing of dissent, torture and rendition, gun massacres, and, wait for it, there is now talk of using drone attacks against dissenters ON AMERICAN SOIL!

Yeah, great place! Good luck!

David G, i agree with you, i hope Aust never mirrors the social development of the US. I was there in 1991 and it is probably worse now.

But why are the other Asian countries concerned about China rather than the US, that is all i ask

Chris, perhaps the smaller Asian countries see what the imperial U.S. has become and think that perhaps China will follow suit.

However I don't believe the Chinese psyche is predisposed towards war and killing whereas the American psyche certainly is!

Cheers.

Chris,

One would have to question the premise of your question. Are the countries of East Asia really concerned about China, or are they concerned for example, being caught in the pincer movement brought about by Obama's so-called "pivot" to Asia. That pivot in reality is another name for a policy of containment of China. The US does not accept any challenge to its hegemony.

Look at the American bases surrounding China, at the presence of the American fleet in the South China Sea, at the nuclear threats that have been made at regular intervals since 1949, at the highly provocative exercises carried out (with Australia and South Korea) on the North Korean border etc etc.

It is important not to confuse Chinese policy with what the western media persistently misrepresent China's policies to be. Africa is a good example. China is pouring billions of dollars worth of aid into more than 40 African countries, creating infrastructure that centuries of colonial rule neglected to do. The Americans are building military bases and promoting endless mini wars to both justify their existence and also to control the exploitation of Africa's mineral and oil resources. Only the terminally naive don't see it for what it is.