I grow up in China and I have been studying in the U.K for the past 6 months. But it was until today that I encounter the biggest "culture shock" and found it largely different between China and Britain.
I have realized for a long time that women's right in western countries is better compared to China, but before today I mainly attribute this difference to the government, legal system and media.
(Background Knowledge: March the eighth is international women's day, while for some reasons university students in China celebrate March the seventh as "Girls' Day" instead. If you guys are interested in it I may write something more about this.)
When I opened my WeChat (a social media largely used in China) this morning, I found that many girls happily posted the presents (usually breakfast or some cake) they received from their male classmate (not boyfriends, usually boys in a class raise money together and prepare together so that every girl can receive a gift). I consider it quite normal since I have study in a Chinese University for two years and know perfectly well that it's kind of the culture among university students.
But it leads me into thinking when I opened Facebook afterward. On Facebook, I saw tons of events held by women's association in my uni like "Women's March", Workshop for "Women in Academia", "Women's History", "Discussion about reproductive rights".
See the difference?
While in a much more developed country, females are still striking for the rights and supports and attention to feminism, in the country that I was brought up, girls are happy with the little gifts given by their male counterparts. Notably, there is no "Boys' Day" in parallel with Girls' Day, at least no such day in my department.
By receiving those material gifts, a lot of us forget about the greater rights and potential of women. None of my (privileged) peers in China raise their voice for women's right on this special day in remembrance of those who fight to see the end of inequality.
(To clarify, I am not here to criticize anything since I believe that on a personal level nothing legal should be criticized; however when the behavior becomes universal it's worth notice because the underlying value may be dangerous.)
All the presents have their price written, explicitly or implicitly.
Finally, I wanna share a sentence I saw on Zhihu last year:
“若核心权力不平等，则小恩小惠无意义。”
Which means, "If the core rights are not equal between men and women, all the little gifts are nonsense."