Eastern Love vs. Western Love

Well, for the past few days, I have been watching chick tv shows. And, since they are all about love, I have found that there is a distinct difference between the english speaking ones, and, the chinese dubbed, korean speaking ones. On a side note, Korean and Japanese cultures both embody, in a MUCH fuller form than what China has at the moment, elements of what chinese culture used to be. Korean being the more recent past. This was a part of my museum education by the way. So, if you want to understand traditional Chinese culture, they are probably good places to start. Ironically.

Anyway, what is different, is in the words of a Yao Ming video biographer, that "sweet, lingering eastern love". Versus the brash, brief western version. Let me elaborate a little. In trad. E culture, a girl and a boy is more love at first sight. They are supposed to talk to each other, get to know each other, the boy is expected to do good things for the girl and their family. Gifts, errands etc. The girl on the other hand, is supposed to act shyly, accept gifts grudgingly and be absolutely innocent of the boy's intentions. Well, I'm talking about love, not arranged marriages. This can drag on for YEARS with no action, before they get married. Thereafter, she cooks, breeds and looks after the children, and he goes on with his career, plus some one to cook, clean and breed for him. She then tries to live her life through him and her children. Quote from a movie I saw this morning : " Men conquer women through conquering the world, and women conquer the world through men". It's so....waste of time. Inefficient even.

Brash western: meet, like ea other, stay together, don't like each other anymore, separate. Split everything down the middle and find a new situation to be in. Maybe in a developed economy, one can afford to do such a thing more. But con: perhaps through years of trials and tribulations, emotions run deeper.

Anyway, I've been meaning to write some long, irrational post about if for ages, but then, after some slow, lingering music that I fell half asleep to, it hit me. We are all looking for the same thing in different ways. Someone to cross that wide, wide ocean with, and through mutual feelings of terror, find comfort. And also for one to catch the other in case we fall.

I've always told myself that no matter whether or not I'm scared, I have to cross it. Being not scared will improve my performance and minimise chances of falling. What is there to be scared about anyway?