(From an Australian who recently undertook a short-term trip to China.)
“There was a huge divide between how I understood reason and logic and how that was expressed in China. For example, I was instantly confronted with the way order was expressed when travelling on the roads. What I initially saw as disorder and chaos eventually came to be properly understood as simply a difference in the expression of their order. “
“There were significant differences in the value placed on health and safety. Coming from a health and safety obsessed society I found it difficult to feel comfortable and safe, especially when eating at local shops, using toilets and observing people in workplaces.”
“There was a difference in our value of freedom. My experience in Australia has been one in which I have the freedom to decide what I want to do and how I want to act. In China I found these freedoms overridden by cultural, social and relational expectations and obligations. But also, significantly, in our freedom to openly share the gospel with people.”