Precautions

China is a vast country with over 1.3 billion people divided into 56 ethnic groups speaking hundreds of different dialects. Although 5,000 years of history has resulted in substantial cultural homogeneity, diversity has always been the counter force to any attempt at generalization. Democratic movements and socialism, and the Great Cultural Revolution in particular, have overturned traditional Chinese values and beliefs. Opening to the outside world and domestic reforms over the last two decades have ushered in an unprecedented flow of western ideas “ some soon evaporated, some remain foreign, and some have been distilled into the native value system. In a nutshell , today's China, like its marketplace , is a cultural kaleidoscope and no statement about Chinese culture should be taken at face value or have universal validity. Nonetheless, the practical value of this chapter rests on the presumption that the roots of a culture shaped by its long history are generally resistant to change. It is the author's hope that when readers are presented with the 'roots and soil', they will be able to identify or predict the fruit of the tree.