Old Stone Age Culture Has Been Discovered in China

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https://www.livescience.com/old-stone-age-site-discovered-china

Surprising because its not surprising. The only thing thats surprising is that it took this long to find something that we knew MUST exist- a stone age culture in China from that period.

We have long known about the DISTANT past in China. The famous "Peking Man" and his stone tool kit from like a million years ago. The local version of Homo Erectus (even earlier than Neanderthals) and the "Middle Paleolithic".

And we know a lot about that last phase of the stone age- the Neolithic (new stone age), and about the Bronze Age, and Iron Age, in ancient China.

But until now not much about this intermediate period of around 40 thousand years ago was known. That was about the time that anatomical moderns (ie Cro Magnon man) was entering Europe and starting to displace the Neanderthals. Anatomical moderns were also moving into China about that time. And presumably encountering the Denisovians. But this article is vague. Doesnt state which group this site belongs to. Anatomical proto Chinese people, or the extinct Denisovians. Maybe they dont know yet.

Chinese government has been banning teaching of the "out of Africa theory"

They actually have a name for their own version called "Out of Asia" theory, So any prehistoric bones or tools found in archaeological sites are whisked away and paraded around to support their pet theories.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2659506

Yes. I was just gonna respond to your post by saying that "China is now playing the same racial surpremecy games with the past that the colonial powers of Europe played in the previous two centuries", and I was gonna mention the Piltdown Man hoax of 1920s (some hoaxter made a fake skull -planted in Piltdown Common in England...and British science found it and saw what it wanted to see...evidence that the first human was an Englishman), but the article even talks about that...compares it to the Piltdown Man hoax.

Aren't the English are still getting over Cheddar man

But yes, on a serious note, China is in the process of reinventing history in the same way as colonial Europe invented the concept of manifest destiny to justify their expansions. Anything archaeological to support this mythology is showcased as further proof that China was and is the ancient middle kingdom of earth.

As a Chinese, I think your statement is biased.
As you know, "Out of Africa Theory" is not included in compulsory education in China. Because our history education does not deal with human origins.
And the highly educated Chinese actually know the "Out of Africa Theory". Anyone who publicly claims to be a descendant of the "Peking Man" will be ridiculed.

And why do you think that is? I sense the education system in east Asian economic "tigers" is biased toward a kind of neo ethno-nationalism. But its different to the sense of identity held by the pre-colonial Chinese who believed (and many perhaps still do) a mystical origin for their people.

I have a copy of former Singapore prime minister Lee Kuan Yew's autobiography (a rather large and bulky book) and despite having an admiration for his tenacity and leadership he alluded to his beliefs which were shared by many east Asians of the time.

In the late 19th century both China, Japan and Korea started a period of modernisation which included wholesale copying of western Europe in all areas of building, science, medicine, technology and culture. The aim has been to emulate the west. According to Lee he (and others in east Asia) believed the northern Han Chinese, Japanese and Koreans evolved a superior culture to other Asians because climate/geography which made them more warlike/intelligent. This was a philosophy that was popular at the time called "Toynbeeism" (after the highly influential philosopher Arnold J Toynbee) which was also subscribed to by my many conservative leaders in Europe like Churchill (and late by Margaret Thatcher) that the harsh cold environment of the northern hemisphere created a more adaptable superior man.

When Chinese communities migrated into south East Asia they behaved much like Europeans behaved creating their own Cantons and controlled trade in the regions they settled. The Japanese did the same when they settled in Hawaii.

I think it's easy to see how these communities buy into the human heirarchy where they see themselves above other people from the south.

Because our history education focuses on important institutional reforms in Chinese history and modern Chinese history. About the pre-Qin period, we can only know their names.
The history of regions outside China is even less valued. The Four Ancient Civilizations, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, the World War, that's all. My mom taught history in high school and she didn't know more about the Byzantine Empire than I did.
This is Historical Materialism. Our culture hopes that historical research will give some reference to the current system. Human origins have no value in this view of history, like many other events.

I have also read a lot about Lee Kuan Yew, but I am a minority among the younger generation in China. His teachings have no influence among the people in mainland China. After China's reform and opening up, China was keen to send officials to Singapore to study, and this activity has gradually become ritualized. Some unofficial sources say that Singapore, for its own port status, opposed the construction of Shenzhen in teaching, thus delaying China's development.
In general, China and Singapore are very different, you can't deduce Chinese ideas from Lee Kuan Yew's ideas.

Chinese notions of race are complex. A doctrine that has no official English translation,literally translates to "reverse racism", which means self-dwarfing and self-denial caused by the stress of backward nations, is very common among the people and the leadership.
Universities provide international students with far superior conditions than local students. Foreigners' reports are more important. Foreigners are more likely to gain attention on social media and more likely to attract women. This is our current state. This does not require the foreigner to be from a powerful country, just that he is not from mainland China.

I agree Lee Kuan Yew's views on China are from the child of migrants so his views were that of "Straits Chinese", Lee was, however, a prodigious reader and had his pulse on China throughout his life.

I myself lived in Malaysia as an expat and knew many in the Chinese community while living there. In Australia I have grown up around Chinese people in Australia from south east Asia and China.

I recall in 1981/1982 many of my parent's Chinese family friends were quite excited about events in China opening up, I was in a christian organisation called "Boys Brigades" and the two leaders of our brigades were Chinese men (from China) who has children in the same brigade. During a camp one of the men asked me to watch a documentary on Mao Tse Tung and he spoke with pride about how far the Chinese people had come and that now the sleeping giant would awaken. It was bizarre when I think back because the gentleman was a christian married to an Australian who's parents escaped communism.

I have never heard of this?

This is used to criticize others, not to describe one's own ideas.

Many young people will cite the racial system of the Yuan Dynasty on the Internet to satirize the current system: officials and foreigners are at the top, ethnic minorities are in the middle, and Han people are at the bottom. (I'm a minority, if you're wondering)

It's hard for me to say they are completely wrong.
Institutionally, foreigners and some ethnic minorities have been given astonishing preferential treatment in education. This rarely sparks hatred of minorities themselves, but widespread dissatisfaction with the government. My best friend is a Han Chinese from a Muslim area, and she has to work very hard to beat those opponents who have a lot of bonus points in the college entrance examination.She has Muslim friends, but at the same time opposes discrimination between Han Chinese and Muslims.
Culturally, business models have a preference for white or mixed race. Many women have stronger preferences for men of other races. Some political ideas that were very popular a decade ago would exaggerate the superiority of the white race and its political system.

In short, there is no widespread sense of racial superiority in mainland China. In recent years there have been some advocates for a revival of Han culture, but it is closer to revenge for the above phenomenon，and are also quite niche.

This is what I observe. I posit that much of this is subconscious. For example anime is supposed to represent Japanese, but in the mind of Japanese people they aspire/see themselves as kind of a hybrid between western/eastern in terms of clothes/fashion/behaviour/looks. Of course in public they keep up appearances/social norms of the majority.



My wife is Malaysian Indian and I am experienced first hand with the social apartheid Malaysian Chinese maintain toward other Asian people. They particularly dislike Indians and the attitude toward them is not unlike that practiced by South African white people toward other races. it's a great pity since in ancient times the two people were much closer than they are today. Many Indian saints have travelled to China spreading buddhism.

Mainland Chinese do generally dislike blacks as well as Indians (except for certain women who have a strong preference for foreign identities). The disgust towards Indians is mainly based on their concept of hygiene, caste and femininity.
China and India have territorial frictions and conflicts of interest at the national level. Indian officials have preached hatred of China. I think the discrimination is mutual.
Few Indians travel to China. There are some Chinese who travel or trade in India, but their hygiene conditions and personal safety are not guaranteed, especially female tourists. A widely circulated video in China shows a Chinese female reporter covering a car accident on the ground in India, with a large group of Indian men stalking her at close range, even though the footage is on live coverage of national news.

I have not personally contacted Chinese in Southeast Asia, but as far as I know, many Chinese in Southeast Asia settled there during the Qing Dynasty or even the Ming Dynasty, so many concepts are completely different from those in mainland China. We cannot represent each other.
In my opinion, the xenophobia of Southeast Asian Chinese may be due to their fear of being assimilated. Because they are a local minority and do not have many physical characteristics.
This mentality is very close to the Hui people in mainland China, a Muslim nation. They emphasize their religion in more extreme ways than Middle Eastern Muslims, even interfere with non-Muslims eating pork near them, and prohibit intermarriage with non-Muslims.
This is incorrect, but it is not an isolated case.

Ok a lot of this makes sense in terms of why the perceptions develop. Thanks for your honesty. Yes India is a big culture shock and the smell/hygiene are really quite overwhelming to those of us from the west, In addition I have heard many Malaysian Chinese don't like the smell of curry/cooking and landlords don't rent to Indians. The odour can be strong as well in people's sweat.

I have not been to mainland China but I found Hong Kong to be honest it's only slightly better than India in terms of hygiene. I'm not a big fan of the smell of pork, people seem to smell of pork on the buses/trams.

When I was younger I was adventurous and willing to live in Malaysia. Today I am older and less tolerable of hygiene so the only two places I might visit are Singapore and Japan (I used to travel to Singapore regularly). It is interesting that the Indian section of Singapore is very run down. Although many Singaporean Chinese blame the Indians for letting their areas become run-down, the local people claim the Singaporean government deliberately doesn't invest in Little India.

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Interesting conversation you two are having.

WP has members from around the world, but Skinned Wolf is the first person I am aware of who is from mainland China. The tiny population country of Finland has had several high profile members, but China (with one fourth of the world population) has had practically no members that I have noticed in my ten plus years here.

And apparently Wolf isnt even a mainstream Han Chinese, but of a minority group.

Which minority are you - if you dont mind me asking?

Thank you for your acceptance. You seem to be implying that my expression is taboo in your culture. It's an interesting cultural difference.

I agree that some people will not like pork. But pork is one of the most important meats in China and it is unfair to interfere with other people's eating pork.
In some extreme cases, some Hui people will declare that they are preparing to carry out violent attacks on people carrying pork products in schools in Muslim areas (I don't know if this is actually carried out, but obviously no matter what the outcome, such news will not be released. ).
The wider reality is that non-Muslims married to Hui people need to ban pork for life (this is for more enlightened Muslims, those who are less enlightened will prohibit intermarriage). Some families conduct gastric lavages for non-Muslims married to their daughters and throw away their old kitchen supplies. Some young Hui people who wish to intermarry will suffer.
It's closer to a show than mere food preference.

I have traveled in Hong Kong and the hygiene in Hong Kong is higher than the average in China. The sanitation gap between China and India is not as wide as the gap between the western world and India. India is closer to rural China, if you ignore their customs on toilet issues.
The mockery of Indian hygiene on the Chinese internet goes beyond the actual level of the issue and comes close to a stereotype. Just as the western world also has some stereotypes about China.

I have to say, though, that the Japanese version of curry tastes great.