After the grad students left, I spent time speaking with my bartender. She asked what my thoughts were of China, now that I’ve spent quite some time here. I thought about it for a moment, then mentioned that my greatest surprise was the Chinese people’s strong desire for safety.

Most everything in Chinese society is grounded in and revolves around the need to achieve a high level of safety, from high-tech AI facial recognition software for security to a high household savings rate. This preference strongly permeates throughout Chinese society. Although China has had a long and storied history, it has also been marred by long periods of chaos, such as warring states, foreign occupation, and the Mao era’s political, social, and economic instability. These collective memories of unrest have created an intense desire for safety.

She was surprised that I would find this particularly noteworthy. However, I explained that given America’s relatively short history and mostly stable existence, we don’t value stability in the same way. Above all else, we value our individual freedoms. That’s why Chinese and Americans often can’t see eye-to-eye on many issues, especially social issues. This is something that, given our very different cultural histories and personal experiences, we could both understand.