At the Chinese class today we were finishing up the discussion of spending money. As with many topics so far, I felt strangely connected to a culture that is at once changing and traditional. The topic of spending money was, however, thus far most personal to me. It made it clearer to me than any other time sitting in that class how much of a relic my family is, a snapshot from a past generation that was in the original country changing rapidly.
The discussion was about attitude towards spending money. Traditionally, the class material was claiming, Chinese people never spent more than they earned, and in fact, they hoarded their money as often as possible. It was understandable coming from a country whose population by and large suffered nearly continuously for millennia. To contrast this behavior was the American example. Americans for the most part believe in spending, and not only their earnings but also on credit. The different behavior reflects a difference in attitude towards life. Continuing with the generalizations, Chinese traditionally fear the future and would rather work hard now and suffer at a bearable amount so that later on when real suffering was upon them they would be prepared. On the other hand, Americans largely believe that life is for enjoying now, at the moment, and they would do what it took to enjoy it, even if they borrowed money. This would explain the nature of the credit collapse that is happening now in this country, and whose consequences have drawn the world into a recession. The Chinese, on the other hand, had been the creditor in this whole mess because their people still amassed large amount of money in their savings accounts.
These macroeconomic phenomena are interesting, but in class I was thinking about my own behavior, and their origins in my parents' behavior. When the teacher said that certain Chinese immigrants here still refuse to pay on credit, refuse installment plans, while their former compatriots in Mainland have opened their minds to buying things on credit that they would otherwise not be able to afford, I thought about how my mother insisted that I bought my car with cash. I thought about how my Dad could not sleep for nearly 15 years because he owed the bank money on their mortgage. I remember how they would refuse to use credit cards unless absolutely necessary. I, on the other hand, use credit cards, but never the way many Americans use, which is paid back in installments. I always paid the full amount back. Using credit card is merely a means of convenience for me, and often I do so to get some cash back, another typical attitude of immigrant Southern Chinese who think a lot about money.
I, too, have a mortgage to pay back to the bank every month, but I actually put in extra money each month just to expedite the process and at the same time lower my overall interest payment. This was the same method and attitude I held for college loans. I had no choice but to take out loans from the government, and only from the government whose interest rate was the lowest. I worked part-time to avoid other loans. And as soon as I got out of college, I frantically paid back my loans, and I paid it back within a year, much faster than anyone else I knew. In class we learned an old Chinese saying, something like "no debt no worries". Chinese people traditionally hated debt, it weighed on their finances as much as their minds. My dad told me no less than twice that I should never get into debt. For us, a mortgage is a worthwhile debt, not only because we couldn't otherwise afford a house, but more importantly, it was an investment. Investment was, for me, and for many traditional Chinese thinkers, the only justification for debt. If it weren't for investing in real estate I would rather rent. Renting not only means property ownership responsibilities are irrelevant, but also means free of being chained to the bank.
But American attitudes aren't the same. So many buy fancy electronics on installments, enticed by a financial industry that, until now, offered absurd rates. And the worst example is buying a house that they could not afford but until now were able to buy because of low down payments. When I put down my down payment for this house I put down more than the minimum required.
Sitting in my class I realized how different I was from many Americans, and strangely, how much I have been affected by my parents' beliefs. And I wonder if I am too extreme. Obviously, being financially conservative means safer future. I own the little I have in my life, except for the house. And the keyword is not just "own" but "little". Somehow, perhaps also through my parents' influence, I am not eager to own many things. I am not interested in the latest gadgets, game consoles, newest computer, and many things that many of my fellow citizens buy for no reason but to temporarily satiate an emptiness in life. I guess I fill my version of that emptiness with something else, but not with goodies and gadgets.
Watching the teacher speak, and the students' faces, I put myself in a strange perspective. This idea of how to spend money is very different in the two cultures I have embraced. It invoked questions dormant at times, questions about the origins of my behaviors. It sometimes feel like looking at a pixelated painting and trying to figure out what primary colors were used to create the dotted figures. I looked at those young faces and wondered what they have been and will continue to learn from their parents. And equally important for me, I felt most of their parents were very different from mine. They were mostly people who didn't have to survive through the years during and after the last Civil War. Their idea about the world might have started out more open than my parents' when they came to this country. So many assumptions I had about Chinese people, about their beliefs, about their attitudes have both gone through a re-examination, resulting in some being disavowed, others confirmed, and still others suffering no concrete conclusion.
I felt that in addition to learning Chinese and Mandarin, in addition to learning Chinese culture and the changes the country has been going through, I understood better what changes my family had undergone that affected my own attitudes and my own ability to adapt to this new country in which I have lived much longer than the one I have left behind and yet whose shadow had continued to this day been cast in every path I have chosen or taken.
