Why are Chinese People Obsessed with Fortune? - Why Chinese (E3)

Why is money so seemingly ingrained in Chinese culture? In this episode of “Why Chinese,” we’re diving into a stereotype that most Chinese people agree on: Chinese people love money.

This is “Why Chinese,” a series where we’re debunking common stereotypes about Chinese people one Google search at a time.

If you liked this video, we have more explainers about China, including:

Why Do Chinese People Seem to Eat ‘Everything’? - Why Chinese (E1)

Why Do Chinese People Prefer Drinking Hot Water? - Why Chinese (E2)

#money #whychinese #explainer

Producer: Jessica Novia
Editor: Ray Ngan
Animation: Ray Ngan and Cyan Cheung
Mastering: Victor Peña

Music: Audio Network

[peachesbunny]

5:53 This is the reason why my father was furious out of his mind when I decided to not go on to the medicine or engineering career path. He believes that wealth AND reputation is much more important than one's passion so he'd keep trying to persuade me to pick something that can be guaranteed to provide a stable income when I know, for a fact, that if I choose the career path I do not like, I might end up with a lot of mental health issues

[egali]

fun fact: ronnie chieng's surname, Chieng, literally means money in mandarin

[heatherswanson]

Note, Qin Shihuang didn't establish a monetary system, we had that for dynasties before that. He just standardized money across the kingdoms in China to facilitate trade.

[jamjamc]

True story:
I had a Chinese classmate who named himself *MONEY* 💵💸😂

[dannguyen]

That last section on the relationship of money in their history was really insightful. Nice vid!

[potatoeskimos]

It's not a stereotype, it's truth. Other people work to live, Chinese people live to work. That's the difference.

[whywho]

Love this series. Keep up the great work and best wishes and happiness. What ever you do today have a FANTASTIC ONE

[kean]

This channel should have millions of subscribers, great content.

[andro]

Money doesn't bring happiness, but it does bring freedom.

[jaeminsamericano]

When my family moved to our new house 5 years ago my dad put my study table at a specific corner and I asked him why he said cuz that space would help me to concentrate according to fengshui and I’m like .-. Dude

[edgbarra]

I really wish more of this content was on mandarin. I'm looking for channels to practice my listening while enjoying good content and this is great content.

[keenheat]

i think it needs to be more specific, we as a group love financial stability, which is completely different than loving money in my opinion. If we actually love money so much, we'll be promoting more entrepreneurial culture like starting your own company, pioneer into new technology and creating new demand, invest in the stock market. Instead of advocating for stable career like engineer and doctor and invest in "safe" asset like real estate. The earning ceiling of these "high risk high reward" careers are several order of magnitude higher than those "financially stable" career like engineer, lawyer and doctor. But yet if we try to purse these career, our parent would definitely be against it, despite the much much much higher earning potential. A lot of time, even if you succeed in these high risk/high reward career, Chinese parents would still want you go to back to financially stable career. I think it's more accurate to say they love financial stability way more than they love money.

Even in the dish washer clip they shown, if they truly love money, they would realize the opportunity cost of not use the dish washer to save time, time that they could spent on developing a new business idea, grossly overshadow the benefit of water/electricity bill saved. And would opt use a dishwasher or just hire a house keeper, and use the extra free time to expand their business and earning several order of magnitude of greater money than the bill saved. It's more of an obsession with financial stability than actual purse of money imho.

[ivysn]

my dad was like when u buy a house and want a water fountain hire a Feng shui master LOL i would be so clueless

[zasddsaf]

A few things to note:
- Media representation and the news tend to focus on the very rich mainland Chinese
- Those are also the people that get to do business/ study/ travel outside, so those are the people that other countries are exposed to
And finally --- the perceptions do not hold up the same way for diaspora/ overseas Chinese who do not share the same recent history as Mainland China
Once again - great content!! :)

[singularity-]

Don't we all love having lots of money?

Money is essential in life but it's not everything life is for.

[SCzxjk]

If everyone in the world were like the chianse, the world would be a horrible place.

[Sakura]

1:23 i have to laugh 😂, the blue sign in Chinese literally said “ single dogs dating group” loll

[kylin]

oooh that's why my dad keeps insisting to buy an apartment for me cuz then potential dates would "be more interested"...and I'm just like no that's not how it is....

[tina-podx]

Yes I grew up Chinese I’m obsessed with money

[Keean_TTRealm]

Nice series ! Where is this channel based though ? What intrigued me is the commentator who sounds like a Malay lady from either Singapore or Malaysia covering a “Chinese” series