It's a Chinese thing...

You wouldn't understand.

I've spent a lot of time in Asia. Starting as a kid - and continuing professionally as an adult. Every couple years or so - someone will find me and get me back over here doing some kind of film or TV work.

Not that I complain.

The majority that last 10 years have been in China.

Growing up I was in Taiwan and Hong Kong - and I thought there would be a lot of cross over between the two.

Not the case.

As a human being with natural curiousity - and as a writer - I am obsessed with people's thought processes. Why is it we do what we do? What were we thinking when we did it? What steps led us to believe that doing this was OK - or that we really had no other choice? Why do people who 90%of the time behave one way - suddenly decide to right turn and do something different?

This is even more interesting when applied to another culture.

And China operates as its own thing.

I've been here working on a show for quite some time. After making the companies, lawyers and clients happy in two different countries - we still had to pass a regulating board who has very specific rules that apply to the type of program we do.

After a back and forth of about 5 submissions - we got our approval. Two pieces of paper with big red stamps on them - one that was the letter of approval - one that is the script - showing nothing can be changed.

I immediately got a call from the Chinese office asking if I could go back in and replace some stuff that got cut out so that we could get approvals.

I asked "Isn't that wrong?"

Well - they will never know. And the approval doesn't talk about the shots - just the script. So how will they find out?

I've been fascinated with this back and forth ever since. When I asked them if they thought this was wrong to do - there was a lot of nervous laughter.

I asked my editor and graphics person if they thought this was wrong. They said yes.
I asked my assistant - and she said yes too - but also that "its just how it is."

When I first came to China - I was working for the Discovery Channel. I was negoitiating a shoot at Cho Ko Dien where the first Peiking Man bones were found. I sat down - all of 23 - in my shorts and T shirt - at a table with 7 smoking men all in their 50's and in suits. They tried to get me to pay $10,000 to film the bones.

I knew, like anyone who might have done even a second of research, that the real bones had sunk in a French ship back in the early 1900's. They wanted to see if I would pay that much to film replica bones I could buy anywhere for less than $100.

It's very easy to judge here by our western standards of honesty and ethics. But just cause you're trying to cheat the system - does that make them bad people?

It does make them harder to trust.

But I always try to look at things from their perspective.

Would the other shots make the show better? Probably. Would it be stronger? Yes.

In America - we're raised to believe one person makes a difference. Here - well - you remember that famous shot of the one person standing in front of a tank? And what happened to those people?

To get things done - you have to follow the cultural rules. Does that mean bribes? Yes. I haven't had to do it. But people around me have.

I was told - when you have a baby here - you give the doctor a "gift." One foreigner didn't want to do it. But the closer he got to his delivery - the more worried he got. What if something went wrong? What if the doctor was mad and didn't perform as well as he might have?

He gave a gift.

Part of the group think here is that as a society, we are cheated. We have been held down. Now we have a chance to get some - and we are going to do whatever we can to get it - and if that involves bending the rules - we shall bend them - because they were bent against us. It's a "everyone else is doing it, so why shouldn't I" type of thing.

Please know that these are the ramblings of a white man trying to make sense of something that he really knows not of which he speaks. This does not apply to all Chinese and is not meant to be some sort of blanket accusation of the culture.

But there's something here. Just not sure what.

I used to call it a short term disease.

In the West - we try to be honest in our dealings and give people a fair deal so that we can do future business. We take a long term view that if I do you good now - you will be back and we can continue to do good in the future.

Here - there is no future. Only now. So I better get what I can.

It's not about whats right and wrong - just about what I can get away with. And the rules are constantly in flux. I was told repeatedly when I got here - we don't break the rules - we bend them. There is the law - and there is what you can get away with.

You can see why its so hard for a lot of American companies.

I don't like to lie. But I know I do. I don't like to cheat. But I know I do.

Heck - I break the speed limit every time I get in the car.

I want to be an honest person. I want to be trustworthy in my dealings. Especially when I represent a company bigger than me.

I didn't change the shots.

But if that was the right thing to do or not?

Beats the hell outta me....