So with time to kill at an event, I began talking wtih a 20-year-old Chinese vounteer at the Olympics about how our cultures cross. Here's the quick version:

Me: Do you watch any American TV shows?

Him: Friends and Desperate Housewives.

Me: What's the most popular show in China?

Him: CCTV1 and CCTV2 (they're station channels).

Me: What's on them?

Him: News. They're all news.

Me: What's your favorite American movie?

Him: The Godfather.

Me: What's the biggest holiday in China?

Him: The Chinese New Year or Spring Festival.

Me: What about Christmas?

Him: Some foreigners, but that's it.

Me: In a country where there are now 40 million more boys than girls -- and it's mostly a younger generational thing --- is it difficult finding a girlfriend?

Him: The girls have it easy. When they want to marry, they say, 'Do I want him, him or him.' ''

Me: What do you study about American history?

Him: We have heard of Abraham Lincoln.

Me: From the Civil War?

Him: Yes, I think. They called people Yankee then. Isn't that a bad term?

I could have been sarcastic and say Yankee is a bad term to a Red Sox fan ... So goes another night in China.

> Discuss this entry