Post 4

What interested me from reading pages 100-150 was on pages 131- 140 Peter Hessler talks to a woman named Anne who described why the Chinese flag on the teaching building was at half-mast. She went on explaining to Peter that the flag was at half-mast because of Deng Xiaoping's death. I find this passage interesting because when the American flag is at half-mast it means we are in remorse. This same meaning is translated into the Chinese culture as well. To be able to understand one symbol in two different countries and cultures fascinates me because it's a way of understanding one another. On page 142 Peter talks about how America is different from China with Teacher Kong. Kong states, "Our China is different from America. The education level in America is higher." This quote surprised me because I had always thought that the education level in America was lower than the education level in China. It always seemed to me that in China, students were more serious about education and appreciated it more than students in American. Whether that's true or not I'm not exactly sure but it's interesting to see different views about the issue.