Why are many Chinese so extreme?

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I'm not really referring to the extreme views they hold as I kind of can understand why they do so. They seem to be extreme regarding nearly everything. A common theme I notice in Chinese forums and websites is 'cruelty to yourself'. There are tons of threads about that topic and lots of articles on how to be even more cruel to yourself.

I'll share somethings I've read.

A lady cut off a chunk of her arm to remove a tattoo of her lover's name. She could have gone to a professional, but chose to hurt herself this way. Then she cooked it with vegetables and ate it. She posted evidences. No one was alarmed. The comments were all applauding her.

Something less gross such as dude deciding to not eat his favorite food for the rest of his life after a relative humiliated him for eating more than he should have.

Anyway, you get the theme. Is this a cultural thing? I don't quite understand where this stemmed from. Thankful for all replies to help deepen my understanding. Curious to understand from your perspectives

Edit: they actually do extreme things to "grow" or improve themselves. I'm curious why they choose such a method? Are they taught that this is the best method to achieve their goals (in this case, to grow and improve themselves).

Update: thanks for all the insights. Very helpful and enjoyable to read. Not sure if I'll reply them later. But I really need to sleep.

 

[Creeping Death]

You think the Chinese are extreme, go to bestgore or liveleak and have a look at what goes on in Brazil.

 

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You think the Chinese are extreme, go to bestgore or liveleak and have a look at what goes on in Brazil.

I think that may be a different situation. I'm asking why the Chinese are extreme in this situation in which they are extreme in order to "grow" or to improve themselves. Maybe my writing was vague.

 

[Rook]

I have never been to China, so I have no idea whether the state you imply exists. I did live with three older Chinese people for a year though, and they seemed normal enough. Definitely more pragmatic than most other cultures I have encountered, though I must admit that the language barrier barred me from studying the more intricate facets of their souls.

Extreme? Saw none of that. Willing to be harsh in a situation to gain tangible benefits? Yes, though this was only the one male, the other was far more introverted and amiable.

Always expect to find humans do things out of the norm in all cultures, whether stealing babies due to sterility, marrying a cushion with Thatcher's face on it or keeping human limbs in a freezer for future nomnoms.

 

[Hadoblado]

I think most cultures appear extreme from a distance. Perhaps it's the culture most opposed to your own in expression, and thus most notably extreme? There's always going to be something that's farthest away from you, there doesn't have to be a reason.

Also, forums are not the place you go for a generalisable representation. Imagine being Chinese and thinking INTPf represented all whereveryoucomefromians?

 

[onesteptwostep]

Yeah like Hado said the question presented in the OP is incredibly.. huge.

For one, China has 1.3 billion people within its borders, that's x3 times the size of the US, which has roughly 330 million. Just by statistical average one would see a large amount of the populace being crazy just by the generosity of its size. If only 1 out of 100 people were 'crazy' (1%), then China would have 13 million crazies, which is basically one half of Australia or somewhere like North Korea.

Second, Chinese culture isn't monolithic, given the size of its geography (e.g. Northern and Southern Han). The urban life in the megacities, and the outlying rural shanty towns also have different cultures. Whatever you might have read on the internet could have been from an area where education was not as pronounced, thus allowing for this shamanistic ritual to happen. If this person was from a rather developed area, then I would imagine that she did this for attention. China went through an incredible internal migration during its modernization (ongoing, I should add), whereby education was promptly.. not well established.

Quoting wiki:

In general, rural-urban migrant workers are most excluded from local educational resources, citywide social welfare programs and many jobs because of their lack of hukou status. In 2011 a total of 252.78 million migrant workers (an increase of 4.4% compared to 2010) existed in China. Out of these, migrant workers who left their hometown and worked in other provinces accounted for 158.63 million (an increase of 3.4% compared to 2010) and migrant workers who worked within their home provinces reached 94.15 million (an increase of 5.9% compared to 2010).

I should also add that China does have incredible education systems, some that could match some of the Ivy Leagues- but they're centered around Beijing from what I understand. The range, dynamic, and disparity of China is probably one of the biggest in the world, though maybe Brazil or India could maybe match it (but I'm completely ignorant on that matter).

Imagine being Chinese and thinking INTPf represented all whereveryoucomefromians?

And yeah I doubt actual Chinese people from the mainland come on this site. There are some, but they're usually bots, or just bored expats/English teachers (in China). The internet speed is probably atrocious.

 

[Haim]

Sound to me like an "hurt" ego thing or you going to some really forum which has some fucked up people.

 

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Sound to me like an "hurt" ego thing or you going to some really forum which has some fucked up people.

It's actually something like the Chinese version of Quora. Pretty large scale. Not uncommon to get 5 or 6 figure likes. I came across "When were you the most cruel to yourself?" and then went to search up further and realized it seems so normal to them.

 

[Dorian Tullus]

dont they eat dogs over there

 

[Cheeseumpuffs]

Why do you spend so much time on asian forums?

Also, if you're on these forums, can't you just ask them why they do these things? Seems like a good opportunity to start a dialogue and actually learn about these aspects of their culture rather than coming here to discuss it with predominantly non-asians; as if they are creatures in a zoo to be talked about rather than humans you can actually talk to. (Notice how in your several "Why are asians...?" threads Steps has been the best source of info considering he's our resident Korean)

 

[Redfire]

Why are you so obsessed with Asians?

 

[Pyropyro]

Why are you so obsessed with Asians?

coz we are sexy as hell, duh