Chinese Parental Wisdom: Never tell the truth to anyone but your parents – China Rants
www.chinatravel.net — Sometimes you realize that there are fundamental differences between Western and Chinese appreciations of "honesty". One of my favorite examples of these different approaches to truth-telling was when a Chinese friend of mine told me that his parents instructed him as a child not to be "too honest."
Shocked, I asked for clarification, "wait a minute, your parents TOLD you to lie?"
"They told me not to be too honest to other people because if I was too honest, people would take advantage of me. My parents told me to always tell them the truth, but not to be too honest with other people."
I was surprised to hear this of course, because it so contrasted with what my parents told me, "Never lie, always tell the truth."
