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Show TheSalt Lake Tribune : SUNDAY Sunday, November21, 1999 They Don’t Like Turkey, We Don’t Eat Sea Slugs “Though people of the world are more alike Avoiding UnintentionalInsults on the Cultural Front teachertold hertosit in the last seat of thelast row and not to stand up. Later BY JUDY MAGID THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE. £ Before President Ronald Reagan went to mainland China in 1984, he consulted Katherine Wei-Sender aboutpolitical etiF quette. Born in China, Wei-Sender is an known bridge player and ponsidered an expert in business negoti- itions with the Chinese. “J told him, Mr. President, I am advising you only one thing. Say ‘China,’ not the ‘Republic of China,” sherecalled, adding that she should have advised him ofone more “T should have warned him not to Sexve turkey whenheinvited the Chi- “T felt like I was from another planet,” she wrote, “How could I knowthat March17 was St. Patrick's Day? Everyone started pinching me.” Asa folklorist, customs andbeliefs are part of Dresser’s background as a teacher, columnist and authorof several booksinciuding Multicultural Ceiebra- tions, Multicultural Mannersand I Felt As If1 Were From Another Planet. Sheis \ funny as well as compassionate. “There are many guide books, but not one says, ‘Do not wear a nightgown or pajamasto school,” she sighed. Embarrassing? Not to worry. Such a ux pas is not an American exclusive. } 1980, Wei-Sender, recently named to the Bridge Hall of Fame,led the first groupof Americans to China as official fiver to the Chinese Shanghai Bridge The Chinese bridge players were so happy. Theyputona big fancy dinner expensivedelicacies, like sea slugs. ; aot‘you did not know whatit was,it slimy. “I said nexttime I would pick the menu.I told them Americans are not going to eatfish lips, either.” Though peopleof the world are more alike than not, morsels of turkey and hot dogs,or fish lips and real dogs can magnify differences, going from mild curiosity to intense distrustif not downright distaste. eeeae can cause hurt And as the world growssmaller and interaction between cultures grows more common,it would be nice to have a handy-dandylist of socialiy acceptable rules thatapply to all. “Nice, but not possible. But realizing there are customs different from your own andbeing willing to accommodate pepeis a good first step,” Dresser saic ling, “When in doubt you can always. aea Wei-Senderagreed. “Cultural traditionsofbusiness and is traditional in Chinese culture. There are rules. Gifts mustbe attractive enough notto be insulting but inexpensive enough to avoid improper appear- ance,”she said. ‘af ctked students who immigrated from SoutheastAsia to write a compositlon abouttheir experiences whencultural differences caused problems,” Los Angeles folklorist Norine Dressersaid. “An 18-year-old girl wrote that when she arrived from Vietnam at age 8 with her immediate family, the family memers already here threw a party and gave gifts. She received the most beautiful While good will goes a long way,gestures, compliments, even srailes, are not lace onthecollar, hem andat the wrists. “Shewore it the first day of school. A SeanNoyoe / The Salt Lake Tribune friendship in China are different from those in the U.S. Forinstance, gift giving feelin, dress she had everseen. It had white than not, wear in Cambodia. neae to Wash: people do noteat turkey. They do nothave turkeys in China.” hereryyss ytvyyt an aide working in an ESL (English asa Second Language) program scolded her, saying,‘In America you don’t wear your nightgown to school.’ Anothergirl wore the navyblue skirt and white blouse students traditionally universal. An unknown anthropologist once wondered aloud how manyexplorers had been eaten because they bared their teeth Even compliments are risky. “In someAsian cultures, a compliment maybe interpreted as subtle criticism. While Samoans welcome compliments about a new baby, avoid complimenting the Hmong,Hawaiians, Thai and Vietnamese,” Dresser advised. Among thepitfalls waiting for Ameri- cans whenthe world comesto Uiah for the 2002 Olympics: @ Giving flowers. In Armenian cul- ture, yellow flowers mean,“I miss you,” but yellow has negative connotations for Iranians, Peruvians and Mexicans. @ Whiteflowers are not a propergift in mostAsian cultures because white is associated with death. @ Neverwearred to a Chinese funeral. head. China, there are no buildings with a fourth floor, no addresses with the number four. Never knockfour times on a door. means“yes.” @ When someonebows, nod your versal but ordinarily with the Chinese andJapanese there is no heterosexual @ Shaking handsis pretty much uni- his hand. “No thanks!”said the church. As historian E.H. Gombrich explains in The Story ofArt, with the intimate, human portrait, Caravaggio crossed thelineof acceptable respectfulness. The artist needed the work,so he started sort of “consolation commission” for Michelangelo,after Pope Julius TI cancelled plans to have him design a spectacular mauso- JeuforSt. Peter’s (since the him to think it was a ruse mas- terminded by an architect rival (who wasdesigning the new, improved St. Peter's) to get him out of the way. Beingthe greatestart ist ofall time hasits drawbacks ~— Michelangelo even suspected plots to poison him. But, after snapping “I am not a painter,”hefinally agreed. He would decorate the ceiling andal tarof the small chapelbuilt for Pope Sixtus IV. (The walls had al pay been painted by other art ists.) ‘ For a novice with the brush, Michelangelo did a heck of a job, ing four years (1508-12) on his back creating the world’s most famous ceiling,all the while Deing nagged by his papal patron. The Old Testamenthe produced wiis well received. The altarpiece was finished muchlater. ' At the center of “The Last nepal sits Christ the resur. fected king, come to judge the and the dead. This Jesus is 4a+ quick no wiry carpenterfresh from a fast in the desert: naked andpas. sionate, he has a build likea line- hacker. The entire fresco Is alive powerful figures at various =o of fabric among them. Once unveiled the vivid master- Olympic Games, they took “dog”off the menujustfor you. Caravaggio produced a Roman church-commissioned portrait of “Saint Matthew,” showing him hard at work onhis Gospel. The disciple in this painting is a muscular, ling formerlaborer, writing on a tablet on his lap, with a young angelreachingfrom behindhis chair to gently guide Backingup a few years, the wholeidea of painting the Sistine Chapel wasitself a point of contention, specifically between the artist and the pope. The job was a wasbruised andhis paranoia led tions.” Andif it all sounds too complicated, rememberthis. At the Seoul, Korea invention.) The newfoundconservatism continued for decades.In 1602, @ Continued from J-1 pope later decided to rebuild St. get how direct we are with our speech. “If you say, ‘Wouid youlikethis, yes or no, Asians will not say‘No’ to you. You mayget a ‘yes,’ but the person does net mean it. Try to avoid yes or no ques- pieces from vastly different times and places togetheris a modern yearsofcreation unfold Peter's altogether). Mike almost hold a boy's hand. She was so surp: thatit felt warm,” Senderrecalled. She added thatin termsofinteracting with Asia in particular, Americansfor- ® Do noistick chopsticks upright in therice bowis. @ The word for the numberfour in Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese dialects soundlike the word for death. In ART Art is banned, burned, beheaded as a thousand refused the job: His massive ego “T had studentraised in Mainland China and taught she never should touch a boy. Ina folk dancing class, she had to first name. @ Whena Chineseperson nodshis head at what you are saying,it means Ui hear you,’ not ‘I agree w with you.” @ In Albania,a “no” shakeof the head touching. @ Do notcall people by their first namesuntilinvited to do so. Even though mostathletes are young,it is considered rude to address them by their ‘Al Hartmann / The Salt Lake Tribune Doug Snow'spainting in the Scott M. Matheson Courthouse as it appeared just before its completion. The painting has stirred contoversy. piece raised serious questions of decorum (much as Utahartist Doug Snow's abstract painting “Capitol Reef" has been ques: tioned as being suitable for a courtroom in the Salt Lake City’s new Scott M. Matheson Court house). In Art Context and Criti ism, John Kissick quotes e letter from Nicolo Sernini to Cardinal Gonzaga after seeing the fresco at thefront of the chapel: “The theatine fathers arethe first to say that it is not good to havenudes displaying them- selves in such a place ...others say that he has made Christ beardless and too young, and that He does not have the majesty whichis suitable for him, and so there is nolackof talk.” Finally, as the church faced ever more pressure from conser: vative forces within and a chang- ing puritan population elsewhere, Pope Paul IV in 1555 opted for the “fig leat” cure and painter Daniel de Volterra to put clothes on the naked figures.(In anotherpiqueof purity, he also forced all the married members of the Papal Choirto resign, accord: ing to Henry Raynor's A Social History ofMusic. The pope wanted to hear only the tones of celibate singers.) It may have been a similar fit of modesty thatled suffragette MaryRichardson in March 1914 to slash a Velazquez nudein the National Gallery in London. Whileat the time Richardsonsaid she knifed “The Rokeby Venus” to protest the imprisonment of suffragette movement founder Emmeline Pankhurst, who was on a hungerstrike in hercell, in an interview 40 years later Rich: Robert Hughes deseribes it in worshiped. Butit wasn't Luther wholed the charge againstart in church- es. His sentiment was not to blame the images, but the uses to which they were put. Kissick says the worstanti-art attacks camefrom the Calvinists of the LowCountries. “A popular dent, and apparently a critic as ing once-magnificent interiors well. Meanwhile, back in mid millennium,Renaissance and Reformation were running head. long into one another. And once again, the problems go back to that fancy new Saint Peter’s Basilica that Pope Julius wanted. Architectural wonders don't come cheaply, and this one was a true moneypit. Throughout Eu: rope, the faithful were being tapped for indulgences to pay for Rome's ambitious plans. In Ger many, a fellow named Martin Lather decided this not only wasn’t fair, it wasn't what God would have wanted, and he said 0, Marring the finish on the cathedral doors, he tacked uphis " And Caravaggio had emotion to spare. Before he died at age 39, he managed to make a major non- rewrote how muchof Europe long.” She was a formerart stu- men visitors gaped at it all day tioninit. thesis, was excommunicated and preoccupationof the Calvinists during the militant sixteenthcen: tury was to tear down and burn art from nearby cathedrals,leav. ardson said, “I didn’t like the way over. The approved painting shows a much more elegant saint wearing flowing red robes and a halo while writing at a proper desk, with his guiding angeloffering advice from on high. It's still anice image. There's just no emo- artistic reputation for himself around the Mediterranean. As whitewashed and Spartan.” As the 16th century turned into the 17th, more and more churches decided to forgo art works, with an important and unintentionaleffect. As Gamboni writes, “The expulsion of images fromreligious services eventually led not only to the flowering of profane art but to Kant's defini tionof art as the object of ‘disinterested enjoyment.’ * (Koop in mind,at that timeart was not sequestered in museums or art galleries there were none, Artworks were commis sioned and created to be func tional adornments of specific places, and were of their specific time, The practice of gathering morsels of turkey and hot dogs, orfish lips and real dogs can magnify differences, going from mild curiosity to intense distrust ifnot downright distaste.” Nothing IfNot Critical, “Thelast four years of his life were one longflight from police and assas- sins: on the run, working under GoldenAgeof art in Northern Europe, and suchartists as Rembrandt, Rubens and Vermeer. It was a timeof perfecting tech- nique,trying new tricks with light and,in general, not shocking anyone too much. Andit also becamethe time of excesses — mostspecifically Louis XIV’s palace at Versailles. Much as the opulentplans forSt. Peter’s helped spark the Reformation, the opulence of Versailles paved in gold a path to revolution. Even Louis himself reportedly said to his son “Mychild, do not imitate mein mytastefor build- ing; it spells the ruin of the peo- ple.” (Quoted by Kissick in Art: Context and Criticism.) Bythe 19th century, art was experiencing a sea change unparal- Jeled since the artist Giotto (12661357) broke painting free of the confinesof theflat and narrow (for those seeing his work for the first time, the feeling was similar to someonetoday putting onvirtual reality goggles). Then the reality changed. Newfangled photographs showed an entire new view, an exact view, of the world. The painter described by John Russell in a recent New York Times Magazine story as “the newsman whogave us not NEY, but our first unforgettale di of it” was suddenly ob- bert a chroniclerof events. Butnotfor long. In the mid- pressure, heleft altarpieces in 1900s, artists redefined their job, They began painting outside the lines. They changed colors; they changed perspective; they relied the groin during a ball game in on quick brushstrokes foreffect, to give a sense of what they saw Mediterranean seaports from Naples to Valletta to Palermo. He killed one man with a dagger in Rome in 1606 and wounded sev. eral others, including a guard at Castel Sant'Angelo and a waiter whose face he cut open in a squabble aboutartichokes. He was sued for libel in Rome and mutilated ina tavern brawl in Ni * Despite Caravaggio’s artistic setback, the Catholic-Protestant division was sendingart in new directions. Counter-Reformation Rome,after a brief period of backpedalling, responded to Protes- tant simplicity by plunginginto a celebration ofornamentation, whose description as “Baroque” was originally intended as an in- sult. As church art became less dominant, the growing merchant rather than a copy of what was there, And they were scorned.“Im: pressionism,” like the words “Gothic”and “Baroque” before it, began as an insult. But before long, the idea of art for its own sake was accepted and embraced,evenifit took a while for people to get used to it. Ask anyone to recall a time when people got all worked up over art in one form or another, and they don't have to reach far back in time. From Ulysses to Henry Miller, Little Richard to ‘Two Live Crew, and visualart whose scatological devices chal Jenged the line between sending a and being obscene In the past1,000 years, art has found ite whto tall the stories of times, And through it, the story of itself, te POOR COPY |