Comments on: Mark Twain and China/India

By: Omar Pradhan

Omar Pradhan — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 22:51:05 +0000

I think what is meant is that we should be weary of attempting to find meaning in something when there is no legitimate meaning to be found…lest we expose ourselves to mistaken causality. How might this apply to China? Perhaps in the sense that if we go into China with a certain set of expectations on how it is going to be (not fully open to experiencing it for what it really is) then we will miss out on the richness of each new experience (hot/cold stove) from one to the next (hot/cold stove); we must keep an open mind about how everything should make sense…and do our best to withhold definitive judgments until after we gather a statistically significant sample of data points. As to the re-read of the Quality of Life, the second time through I keyed in on what you said: “Having lived in high octane California for well over 20 years now, I never fully understood or appreciated this view until I gained more experience with and in China and the Chinese (see below discussion) and how they spend their money and live their lives.” From this and from thinking about the Twain quote, perhaps you are attempting to draw on the fact that it can happen to us all…i.e. we think we understand something for so long only to have it shown to us in a new light…and when that day comes, should we be ready to appreciate it in the new light…only then can we avail ourselves to the deeper meaning therein. I will do my absolute best to go into our journey with an open mind and maintain an open mind.

By: Chris F.

Chris F. — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 08:42:44 +0000

My understanding on this Mark Twain quote is to not make generalities based off of one experience. This is especially true of China and our MBA trip as we will be only there for less than two weeks and therefore should not make generalities about all Chinese through our experiences. If you have a bad experience in China, then take it for what it is - an experience. However I would encourage you to “try again” and get a different perspective on another trip, say for example, if you took a tour-tour. I’ll try to keep my mind open about my travel experiences; I’ve had good experiences on my other international travels thus far, hope this is no different. If you just leave the bad experience to never try something again, you’ll be short changing yourself on the experiences of life.

Stupid cat. (Don’t be like it.)

As far as the quality of life, I’ll have a better opinion once I have experienced it firsthand and hear the perspectives of those who are actually living over there.

By: JP Salazar

JP Salazar — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 07:56:41 +0000

What I am talking away from this Mark Twain quote is two-fold. First, it is important to learn from our experiences. Like the cat, what we experience helps to shape how we see the world. Second, and more importantly, we can not rely on those experiences to always give us the whole truth. What we see and hear is only a part of the whole story.
So how does this relate to our China trip? We are going to be exposed to sights, sounds and experiences that we have never seen before. It is important to be able to critically interpret what we see. But we also need to keep in mind that we are only skimming the surface of what China really is. It is important to not make assumptions about and entire region or culture based on the few experiences that we have there.
That being said, I can’t wait to experience the sights and sounds that China has to offer. I am eager to take in as much as I can while I am there, but I will also be careful to not lump a group of people or an entire nation into my perception as a result of my trip.

By: J Vail

J Vail — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 20:27:33 +0000

I like this quote by Mark Twain and I’ve actually heard it before. Lesser known fact about Mark Twain; he lived his remaining years in the middle of nowhere in Redding, Connecticut – my home town. I think it’s also very fitting for this China trip. I’m sure that some people feel snake bit after an unsuccessful / unpleasant trip to China, but completely blocking yourself off to a type of experience will shoehorn you into others. I think that we have read plenty of other materials through these blogs that prove China as way too much to offer to ignore, even if the first time isn’t that great. Other posters threw out some other great Twain quotes, my personal favorite;
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

By: Kyle R.

Kyle R. — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 23:55:05 +0000

What I got out of Mark Twain’s quote it that we all need to experience China with a completely open mind, before forming opinions. This includes experiencing the culture, cuisine, history, business practices, policy and people in order to gain a deeper understanding of why China is the way it is today. Throughout the blog assignments, I have tried to keep an open mind when responding to various posts/articles from people who have actually been to China before. I don’t want to make assumptions now considering I have never visited China, let alone lived there. After returning from our trip, I think that I’ll have a better understanding of China, but still nothing compared to somebody who has worked or lived there.

By: Ben Raymond

Ben Raymond — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 20:59:21 +0000

I think the concept behind the Mark Twain quote is one we should keep in mind when exploring China. The trip will present us with a lot of new knowledge and experiences and we need to absorb as much of that as possible. We also need to be careful not to draw conclusions from the experience that aren’t really there. We will be seeing some of the greatest cities in China, but no matter how much we take in we need to keep in mind that our experiences will not be representative of China as a whole. I’m sure we will all have both positive and negative experiences, but we need to take them with a grain of salt and maintain an open mind. Everyone is going to take away something different from the trip and have a different view of China afterward. China may be right for some and wrong for others, but we have to keep in mind that while it will be valuable, we are only seeing a fraction of what is happening there.

By: Matt Streiter

Matt Streiter — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 22:33:24 +0000

It is crazy how Mark Twain quotes are so applicable to so many different things. Anyway, I think the quote is saying to go in with an open mind and apply the knowledge we have in an open and educational way rather than a judgmental way. Second, don’t fish for information that isn’t there to reaffirm a previous thought. As we also learned in our negotiations class, people tend to fish out information that has a positive correlation to what they think or are trying to accomplish and push the rest of it under the rug. Furthermore, do not let a bad or unpleasant experience be a representation of the population as a whole. Often times we meet people that we don’t care for or experience events that we would rather of not but you can’t let that define all the other people or events that exist.

Relating this to your “Quality of Life” blog, you can’t judge a nation based on figures that aren’t directly relatable to another nation. Looking at the figures, Chinese do make a fraction of U.S. workers but their expenses are also just a fraction of the U.S. workers. Stating that Chinese standards of living are much lower would be presumptuous by simply comparing income to income which is what is trying to be prevented in Twain’s quote.

By: Tara Millard

Tara Millard — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 22:12:51 +0000

This is a great quote by Mark Twain that perfectly sums up some key ideas behind our trip to China. Also, this quote aligns nicely with the statements Professor Carr made at the beginning of this post, namely “don’t jump to conclusions about anything you see in China.”

Mark Twain is essentially saying take out of an experience what there is to be learned but don’t go beyond that. We will be in China for two weeks. While these two weeks will be eye-opening and informative we cannot expect to have an understanding of the culture and business world of China. We are going to be getting a glimpse of China, so we can only expect to understand a glimpse of China, and we should not see this trip as a tell-all experience.

I believe this is a wise quote to live your life by. Take an experience for what it’s worth and learn from it what you can but be cautious not to infer further information that is essentially not there. Doing so will cause a misunderstanding of information and a lack of credibility on our part.

Furthermore, I must comment on the quote posted by Jessie Wilkie, as I found it to be all-telling based upon my past experiences.
•“Travel is glamorous only in retrospect.” – Paul Theroux

Too many people put so much pressure on themselves to have the perfect travel experience, whereas that is not where the true importance lies. In the future we will not recall being too hot, too cold, hungry, tired etc, but we will remember the essence of the trip and will be able to look back on the perspective we gained in a positive light. Essentially, don’t sweat the small stuff, take the trip for what its worth and nothing more.

By: j hurley

j hurley — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 18:30:14 +0000

Mark Twain’s quote tells me to remain open minded. When trying new experiences, learn from them and use them to help make future decisions. However, don’t let past experiences, if bad, destroy your chances of trying similar experiences again.
This applies to China, and reminds us that as unfamiliar travelers, we need to remain open minded to the new experience and gather knowledge from them. We must use these experiences for future decisions, but don’t be overpowered by them.

By: j hurley

j hurley — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 18:25:25 +0000

To me, Mark Twain’s quote reminds me to remain open minded. It is important to experience things first hand, and although you can use these experiences to base future decisions, don’t let them defer you from doing things again.
This does apply to our trip to China. As unfamiliar travelers in the area, we need to remain open minded and never stop trying new things.