Questions, answers site can raise hackles
Print Edition
QUORA, a mainly English question-and-answer site that has become a popular platform for sharing knowledge and opinions, is drawing many young Chinese who want to explore the wider world and China’s place in it.
Lu Zungui, who is studying Arabic at Shanghai International Studies University, said he started visiting Quora to improve his English capability.
“People from different backgrounds provide answers. When reading the answers, you can gain knowledge about the world and see different language styles.”
Once on Quora, Lu said he found many users were interested in China and asked a lot of questions about the country.
Lu said he tried to answer some of the questions by himself, beginning last July. He told friends about Quora and they, too, became users and sometimes answered questions.
Lu’s group now has 42 people, most of them students at his university. “We answer questions according to our own interests and knowledge. But we do get to discuss interesting topics sometimes.”
Lu said some foreigners suspected “we were paid by the Chinese government to answer questions as along as we said positive things about China. I responded that many young people in China are confident in their country and culture, and we think rationally and are willing to speak our own minds.”
Lu said he sees Quora as a way of building better understanding between China and other countries.
Answers sometimes provoke disputes. When answering a question about what things Chinese people find strange about the West, Lu listed a few examples, such as lying in bed with shoes on, putting shoes in the washing machine and drinking iced water. He also mentioned that some Europeans seemed lazy because they went to work later and returned home earlier than Chinese workers.
His remarks drew 161,000 hits and some negative feedback. “Some said I was denigrating their culture,” he said.
Lu’s friend Huang Qianxia caused some fierce response when she commented that Westerners used strange Chinese characters in tattoos, seemed inept at mathematics and were clumsier than Chinese in handling change when shopping.
Controversies notwithstanding, Lu said he has benefited considerably from Quora. “The scope of my knowledge has expanded,” he said.
Lu and his friends have created a WeChat account, where edited answers from Quora users are displayed to show how foreigners view current issues in China. Lu said he will continue to participate on Quora as long as the exchanges pique his interest.
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