Oriental and Occidental uses of similar spaces can differ. As Dr. Tian Xiaoli says in an interview published in the University of Hong Kong’s Bulletin, friction between Chinese villagers and western missionaries in nineteenth century China stemmed, possibly in large part, from the differences in the use of space.* The missionaries built churches with doors. The Chinese built temples without doors. The westerners practiced medicine in closed off rooms. The Chinese did not. The differences led to suspicions by villagers that missionaries stole body parts to practice medicine.
What was going on behind those doors? Word spread that the medical care offered by nuns specifically involved stealing eyes. When an outbreak of disease led to the deaths of orphan children taken into the convent and church by the nuns, locals believed the quickly buried bodies were proof of the bizarre medical practices. Dr. Tian looked at 207 anti-missionary pamphlets of the time to discover that differences in both medical practices and the use of space were the reasons behind the Tianjin Massacre of 1870 that took more than 50 Christian lives. Even the efforts of Chinese authorities to mollify the villagers did not stop what eventually exacerbated in villagers a decades-long tension between East and West. It wasn’t until the 1930s—a time of western support for the Chinese in their fight against the Japanese—that attitudes changed and suspicions about the use of spaces and medical practices abated.
We use place culturally. And the use of spaces can lead to death, to wars, to generations of animosities. When in Rome…
When in Rome, use spaces as the Romans do until you establish trust. Do you balk at such advice? If you do, is it a matter of security, ownership, or pride? People take the use of space personally. Now imagine a heavily trafficked highway as a space. Think of the deaths that resulted from road rage because someone was offended that another used his or her space on the highway. Now think neighborhood. Think of neighbors in conflict because of hedges or weeds, a cracked sidewalk, or a celebration next door.
Say someone deigns to use spaces differently from you. Do you start or believe rumors about the use of space? Do you exacerbate the tension? A state trooper working undercover during his early days on the force had to “look the part” of someone in the drug underworld. As he related to me, he went into and out of his house at odd hours, disappeared (on assignment) for a week or two at a time, and kept to himself and family at home so that no one would know his secretive job infiltrating groups of bad guys. What do you think the neighbors thought he did behind closed doors? They suspected among other things that he produced drugs inside; that his house was a “drug house.” It was only after he left the undercover detail that he could reveal his identity as a state trooper and the nature of his job to neighbors across the hedges and sidewalks. He wasn’t, as they thought, “stealing eyes” from children.
As silly as it sounds, judging others on their use of spaces is a common human practice that can have dire consequences. Is it not a bit curious that those who close doors and control their own spaces see nothing wrong in their own use but see others’ similar actions as suspicious?
What are you doing behind closed doors? I have my suspicions.
(May 2015, V. 16, #2): http://www4.hku.hk/pubunit/Bulletin/ebook_2015May(16.2)/#18-19/z
What was going on behind those doors? Word spread that the medical care offered by nuns specifically involved stealing eyes. When an outbreak of disease led to the deaths of orphan children taken into the convent and church by the nuns, locals believed the quickly buried bodies were proof of the bizarre medical practices. Dr. Tian looked at 207 anti-missionary pamphlets of the time to discover that differences in both medical practices and the use of space were the reasons behind the Tianjin Massacre of 1870 that took more than 50 Christian lives. Even the efforts of Chinese authorities to mollify the villagers did not stop what eventually exacerbated in villagers a decades-long tension between East and West. It wasn’t until the 1930s—a time of western support for the Chinese in their fight against the Japanese—that attitudes changed and suspicions about the use of spaces and medical practices abated.
We use place culturally. And the use of spaces can lead to death, to wars, to generations of animosities. When in Rome…
When in Rome, use spaces as the Romans do until you establish trust. Do you balk at such advice? If you do, is it a matter of security, ownership, or pride? People take the use of space personally. Now imagine a heavily trafficked highway as a space. Think of the deaths that resulted from road rage because someone was offended that another used his or her space on the highway. Now think neighborhood. Think of neighbors in conflict because of hedges or weeds, a cracked sidewalk, or a celebration next door.
Say someone deigns to use spaces differently from you. Do you start or believe rumors about the use of space? Do you exacerbate the tension? A state trooper working undercover during his early days on the force had to “look the part” of someone in the drug underworld. As he related to me, he went into and out of his house at odd hours, disappeared (on assignment) for a week or two at a time, and kept to himself and family at home so that no one would know his secretive job infiltrating groups of bad guys. What do you think the neighbors thought he did behind closed doors? They suspected among other things that he produced drugs inside; that his house was a “drug house.” It was only after he left the undercover detail that he could reveal his identity as a state trooper and the nature of his job to neighbors across the hedges and sidewalks. He wasn’t, as they thought, “stealing eyes” from children.
As silly as it sounds, judging others on their use of spaces is a common human practice that can have dire consequences. Is it not a bit curious that those who close doors and control their own spaces see nothing wrong in their own use but see others’ similar actions as suspicious?
What are you doing behind closed doors? I have my suspicions.
(May 2015, V. 16, #2): http://www4.hku.hk/pubunit/Bulletin/ebook_2015May(16.2)/#18-19/z
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