I think using fiction, especially folktales, is a good way of bringing together many of the elements of a culture: terminology, lifestyles, values and beliefs, etc. in personalized stories that allow a reader to identify with people that they otherwise would have seen as strange or foreign. Folktales usually focus on universal human characteristics and themes, e.g., fairness, courage, greed, etc. which young and old have experienced in one way or another, and so are able to understand and empathize with. Though different cultures may have different definitions or perspectives for these, readers can still understand the conflicts and feelings of the characters, and, in doing so, be more open to these differences in views and values. Also, the surperficial differences such as clothing, appearance, and even language, can then be seen in a more positive light rather than as something which marks other people as inextricably alien or bizarre. In fact, folktales often have this same purpose for the culture in which they are created; to be a non-threatening way to transmit ideas and different views about human values and behavior.

The readings for today, especially by Lu Hsun, but also, by other modern writers,
reminds me of a quote, "A cynic is a disappointed idealist." Lu Hsun's protagonist
says he has given up his illusions, but he has just traded the rich man's overly
idealized view of the world with the poor man's overly pessimistic view of the world.
He says that there are walls now that prevent Jun-tu from speaking to him as an equal,
but he also has put up walls by seeing Jun-tu as a pitiful lowly creature rather than as
a friend. The mother speaks as easily to Jun-tu as she does to her son, because she
sees them both as simply human. In many of the stories the narrator's resigned cynicism
leaves them passive and somewhat arrogantly passing judgement on all of humanity, even
if that includes themselves. In teacher terms we would say they are "burnt out." This type of realism that focuses on the negative aspects of life has sometimes been labeled
Naturalism. Another quote sums up the different approaches, "Romanticism shows only the
pretty shop windows on a street; Realism shows the shop windows and the dirty gutter;
Naturalism not only shows the dirty gutter but makes us roll around in it."

No doubt, part of the reason for this bouncing between extremes is the nature of Chinese
history, and perhaps other countries that have a traditional class system. When a group
that is used to a superior position is reduced to an inferior position--by civil war, colonial
imperialism, or simply becoming obsolete in their views--that contrast can be a shocking change that they can respond to by resisting or rebelling (often based on simplistic ideals,
e.g., Nazi ideology), by escaping with fantasy or deterministic cynicism or relativism,e.g., like many post WWI intellectuals, or by integrating these changes into a new picture of reality that then allows for new strategies to be created. The latter might be the healthiest method, but it involves viewing the world in a more complex way, and so this is usually the least popular method.

http://chinavista.com/experience/index.html

This website is a must for people interested in everything Chinese but do not know much about China and don't really know where to start.

It has arts and crafts, folk customs, clothing, festivals, articles, food and drink, transportation, script and calligraphy, literature, ancient relics, performing arts, architecture, and people.

The breadth is so wide that even the website is called the China Experience.