Why do we lack a maverick attitude to life

Not long ago, we went to see a friend who was visiting family in Shanghai from the United States. My friend who grew up with me went to the United States to study 20 years ago. When he talked about his years of living in the United States, what impressed him most was that there was a big difference between the life pursuits of Chinese people in the United States and those of Westerners. That is, Chinese people in the United States seemed to attach great importance to the pursuit of material life, no matter whether they were successful in their careers or not, no matter what class they belonged to. As long as Chinese people are together, no matter they are from Taiwan, Hong Kong, mainland or overseas Chinese who have lived in the United States for many years, they are very practical and emphasize the enjoyment and happiness of life. The content of Chinese People's Daily conversation is nothing more than houses and cars, and they seem to have a strong herd mentality in the enjoyment of secular life, which is not as diversified as Westerners in the pursuit of life. It is true that there are many people in the West who only care about their material life, but it is also true that there are a large number of people who pursue other things. For example, there are people who like adventure and are quite casual in their daily material comforts, and there are people who have become professional billionaires but live very modestly and always drive a normal car. No amount of money makes you want to buy a limousine. They can be completely indifferent to how others live, what they pursue, and how well they live materially. Everyone is self-centered and pursues the value that he thinks is worth pursuing. In other words, Chinese people have a relatively simple pursuit of life, and they care a lot about what others think of them. Since material life is the center of the society, under the control of the herd mentality, people will naturally show off their wealth to show their success. The life pursuit of Westerners is more diversified. Even the Japanese are far more diversified in their pursuit of life values than the Chinese.

The question raised by this friend is actually a cultural question, which I find very interesting. I used to feel the contrast between Chinese and Western cultures in the pursuit of life goals. As far as I am concerned, there are not many liberal arts graduate students and college students who, as far as I know from my years of teaching, are quite strongly motivated to choose their major out of genuine love.

Not long ago I met an American woman professor who had come to Shanghai for a conference. Eighteen years ago, when I was a graduate student in Nanjing University, I became good friends with this foreign student who studied Chinese history. She now teaches at a less prestigious university in New England. What she wants, she says, is to retire early so that she can spend as much time as she needs to study Chinese culture and history independently, because she is too busy attending classes and what she lacks most is free time. She also says she lives a simple life and will be able to cope with early retirement as long as she saves some money.

This attitude toward academic pursuits as the most important value in life is not uncommon in the United States. The pay for an assistant faculty position in the humanities at American universities is not that attractive, yet there are often dozens of Ph.D.s or postdocs who would rather apply than go to a company and make a lot of money. I once asked an American friend why, if it is so difficult to get a liberal arts faculty position, so many people in the United States choose to get a liberal arts degree. This friend told me that it was because they really wanted to major in philosophy, history, literature and art, and they really wanted to do it because they really wanted to do it.