Asian psyche

Chinese reactions to the US election...

"I think the main reason Chinese have liked Obama so much is he's a black person and we Chinese have sympathy for the weak side," said Li Bingxin, an official with the China Journalists Association "They have fought so many years for equality. If the black side can win it will be a breakthrough."

One good Chinese friend had asked me days earlier if Mr. Obama would be the first black president and was surprised by the answer. "Wasn't Abraham Lincoln black?" he asked.
Um, no.
"But he did something really good for the black people, right?"

Another friend asked to know more about Mr. Obama. I played her a video clip of a speech and she was shocked when he expressed a litany of economic problems, including people struggling to pay for health care and send their children to school.

"Is this all true?" she asked, and was shocked by my affirmative answer. "We thought everyone in America was rich."