From: bliss@mouse-potato.com   
      
   On 10/8/22 08:42, John wrote:   
   > Bobbie Sellers wrote:   
   >   
   >> On 10/7/22 10:40, John wrote:   
   >>> Off topic - My question is about Chinese culture as portrayed in   
   >>> Chinese web novels.  Many of the novels (translated from Chinese to   
   >>> English) I've read seems to revolve around the concept of advancing   
   >>> one's martial arts and cultivation prowress in order to grow   
   >>> stronger either to dominate everyone else or to keep from being   
   >>> dominated by someone else.   
   >>>   
   >>> But how widespread is that in Chinese culture actually?  How much   
   >>> credibility should one give to that specific portrayal of Chinese   
   >>> culture?   
   >>   
   >> 	Have you run into Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne lately in the USA?   
   >> These are fictions and the stuff about excelling at Martial Arts is   
   >> an old theme.  It might inspire children. Not sure of the Cultivation   
   >> because I don't read much Chinese stuff.  Simply too much manga to   
   >> keep up with.  Is the Cultivation about increasing Chi or Ki energy?   
   >>   
   >> 	bliss   
   >   
   > Comparing those comic book characters with the impression I have of   
   > Chinese characters is a red herring.  The results of their motivations   
   > lead to completely different plots and story telling.  If I were to   
   > extrapolate from the Chinese stories I've read to Chinese society as a   
   > whole, you might decide the picture they present is a real-life society   
   > that is focused on the premise that might makes right and that is the   
   > only basis for relationships among people. I enjoyed cultural   
   > anthropology, but my teachers were clear about the pitfalls of such   
   > mental exercises, which is why I asked what I did.   
      
      
   `	Well consider what we do know of Present Chinese Government and how it   
   is done.   It is a society that is Totalitarian with a gloss of   
   barely regulated capitalism.  How is it maintained?  By the Red Army   
   which settled all the conflicts by conquering all the dissidents from   
   the Chinese idea of Communism and forcing the so-called Nationalists   
   to evacuate to the island of Taiwan.  The Red Army is loyal to the   
   Chinese Communist Party and its leaders.  They enforce the Will of the   
   Party Leaders upon the masses.  So the writers and artist who draw the   
   comics and write the plots extol the possibility of physical and mental   
   power.  It is all fiction but done for propaganda and the idea of   
   domination of all the individual in your sphere of influence abd   
   relationships.   It is just as unreal as the story of Kal-El and   
   Bruce Wayne.   
      
   	Now both these fictional characters are able to dominate but   
   aside from criminals and assistants they refrain, except in Alternate   
   Reality stories, from doing so.  When they dominate in those alternate   
   reality stores it generally is bad for Planet Earth.  In some Lex Luthor   
   is the hero who conquers Kal-El or who takes down the Evil Batman.+   
      
   >   
   > wrt the cultivation, in some stories yes, but I don't understand it   
   > much at all.  And I zone out once the author goes into too much loving   
   > detail about how many major and minor divisions of a cultivation level   
   > there are and keeping track of the variety of names used and just when   
   > you think someone may have topped out their cultivation level, the   
   > author introduces even higher levels to which the character can aspire   
   > to reach.  I quit reading those sooner or later because that is not why   
   > I read the story to begin with.   
      
   	The great problem with this sort of fiction is that the audience wants   
   it to on regardless of whether the story has reached a satisfing   
   conclusion.  The publisher wants to satisfy the Audience so the artist   
   and writer and forced to create reasons to extend the story.  We see the   
   same problem with DC, Marvel and other American comics.  When they touch   
   on classic fantasy LOTR for example they tend to over extend the   
   premises of the story.  And they want to reach the Audience to make more   
   money but having very little sense or taste they overdue the worst parts   
   and forget the valuable parts.  I think I have read all of the Addenda   
   for LOTR and it is lovely material but should not be treated as badly   
   as has been done.   
      
      
   > There are only three manga I like reading that I think are >written for   
   > the Chinese audience - "Versatile Mage", "Apotheosis" and "Star Martial   
   > God Technique".  I've read some others, but that was only for awhile   
   > and have forgotten their names.   
      
   	I attempt to confine myself to Japanese comics i.e. manga and the   
   forced extension is a problem there which is why we have Dragon Ball   
   with endless sequels.  I do look at some Korean stuff as well and have   
   glanced at some Chinese stuff in the past.  The stuff about domination   
   is a turn off to me.  I try to keep up with the DC stuff because at 85   
   I remember when I was immersed in this stuff and had never heard of the   
   stuff from overseas.  All of this stuff is fantasy.   
      
   bliss - “Nearly any fool can use a GNU/Linux computer. Many do.”   
                  After all here I  am...   Again...   
      
   --   
   bliss dash SF 4 ever at dslextreme dot com   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)