So let me disclaimer 1st: I am a Chinese myself. So please don't say that I am racist ok.

I grew up in a not-so-typical Chinese household whereby my father was locally English-educated and, my mother, was educated in a Western country until she graduated from University.

Nevertheless I went to an SJK ( C) and went all the way until SMJK whereby I also took my Chinese in SPM and got an A for it.

And now I am working in a medium-sized audit firm (already 2yrs+), whereby my colleagues are 80~90% Chinese (and majority of them are from TARC, UTAR etc. I myself went to a local government uni though).

Throughout my student life and also my working life, I've witnessed how hardworking are these Chinese-educated Chinese (despite I myself being one of them).

Dang, the amount they put into studies and also their work ethics is so.....beyond me. Very hardworking and competitive indeed. At the same time, very materialistic too.

But it really does create a mental stress to me when looking at them being so competitive and hardworking.

Sometime I wonder, is it me who has personality / attitude issues?

I admit that I was blessed with certain level of intellect whereby I could just slack through my way, and still got Full As in my SPM, and lucky enough to be accepted into a Matrikulasi, and went to a local government uni, and again, fortunate enough to got my 1st class by slacking through my degree.

I've never understood why they had to be this hardworking and competitive, when, at the end of the day, they might end up with same position as me, or perhaps end up to be at a lil better position than me. What's the whole point?

And I noticed that sometimes its like ingrained into their DNA you know? Like hardworking is the only way to achieve success. Not to mention on how they actually measure success - which is solely by your wealth.

It seems that the Chinese society doesn't let you say that "I'm not so into high salaries, if huge sacrifices needs to be made. I rather take care of my health, my happiness, etc.". It seems that the moment you say this kind of statement, you are automatically a loser (well, 1st hand experience from myself).

Until this day I still failed to figure out the reason. Could this be due to upbringing / family culture problem?

As explained earlier, due to my parents background, they were really not typically Chinese minded. I also always failed to understand all the stories which my peers / friends would say, like how their parents would force them to study, ask about their grades, how their relatives will gossip about your grades and also, your salary. They all never happened to me. My parents / relatives just didnt gave a single f**k. Just be a good person, take care of yourself and that's it.

Whereas for typically Chinese minded parents it seems that they want their children to be "dragon / phoenix among the people" (人中之龍 / 人中之鳳). And everything revolves around money, material success. IIRC comedian Ronny Cheng once said "Do you know what does Chinese wish each other in CNY? Gong Xi Fa Cai (May you get rich) ! Not Happy New Year."

The question is, why?

Seriously, I admire the Malay working culture more because they are generally more relaxed. Whereas most of the Chinese I know would label it with negative connotations such as "lazy", "unmotivated", "easily satisfied and no dreams in life". Well, what if my dream is to live a happy, normal life?

This post has been edited by hong8888: May 15 2021, 06:15 PM

Darwin evolution - survival of fittest

As the arabic phrase goes, man jadda wa jadda (Whoever strives shall succeed).

Success rates

Top - Hardworking, Smart & Creative
High - Smart & Creative
Medium - Hardworking
Low - Neither of the above

My personal observations across few industries

I can't say for the chinese but I can say for the Malay.

They are often content with what they have, and mental health/ child health is more important. To them, money isn't everything. (Although some thinks that it is-hence the corruption cases, etc)

On a side note, I do love having Malay bosses around since they tend to be more forgiving, and more approachable in the workplace.

But of course, you can't generalize the whole race due to one person. A human is very complex, its not always black and white. His/her past experiences will shape what he/she will be in the future.

Let me ask you this, how is your family's financial situation, are you well off? I am guessing you are well off (not the rich kind but also did your parent did not have to worry where the next meal will come from). Many Chinese within this generation have had 2 generations before them that actually worked their asses off to improve their financial situation so that at least this generation can go to Uni and do better in life. That is why the mentality and also outlook on life are totally different.

Who is lazy, hardworking, materialistic, and not, is not determined by who says, but by scale. if you are very hardworking, then you will view people who work slower and don't have the same work ethics as you as lazy, simple as that.

You say you admire the "more relaxed working culture", this also tell me you are quite young in your career.

I am chinese..

But i also have to say got hardworking malay n indian also just tat u r not in their circle so u cannot see only..

I understand what you mean by some group of Chinese people that are hardcore at work. I've noticed it as well throughout the years

Sometimes it just boils down to the values instil into them by their parents. It's something that was pass down from generation to generation

Maybe you were born into an middle class where your parents had the financial means to provide a comfortable living.

Perhaps this is one of the many reason why some chase material things because they never had any to begin with.

Our ancestors toiled really hard whether in mainland or in other countries. That willingness to struggle, to live simple so that the next generation can be better is something deserving respect.

I guess the struggle is why most Chinese parents teach their sons to work hard to get more money and their daughters to find a rich guy to marry to. The problem with this teaching is it doesn't consider many other things like to make money legally and ethically and for daughters, to find really rich guys not by their cars or house or watches they own.

Normal la immigrants are like that...if you see america, UK, Australia, is all the same observation..

Asian-american households make the most money...
Asian-australian households make the most money...
Asian-malaysian households make the most money...
Asian-european households make the most money..

especially from east asia with mongoloid features

Is the reason why they migrate from china...their ancestors had to battle disease, sea, and foreign land just to open businesses and trade...

Is in their DNA to work hard.

This post has been edited by Oklahoma: May 16 2021, 05:06 PM

My opinion is this;

By the turn of 20th century, China population is about 400million.

That is already way way more than the rest of the world. In a sense, there is an extreme urge to survive among many people around them. In long run, it become a norm and a culture.

in my opinion, each race has their own characteristic in their general population. So of course there are hardowrking other races but generally other races are a bit more relaxed.
I believe its not really about the gene. But more about a teaching that is too old n too widely applied so its hard to change. You can be the not so hardworking chinese but there are milions other chinese people that are hardworking that automatically will make you not preferred.

Its kind of like chinese also believe in the chinese zodiac (ox, dog, snake etc) its not from their gene. just a historical and cultural value that is too old n too deep rooted. Too many ppl believe in it that its pretty hard to stop believe in it. I myself don't believe in any of that astrology but so many other chinese ppl will tell me "its true". luckily i see growing number of ppl stop believing in chinese zodiac so the deep rooted tradition is slowly fading away. Maybe in the future if everyone starts doing it, the Chinese people can be more relaxed.

each ancestor is different. so each race will have some belief/ tradition that is too deeply rooted that its hard to stop doing it nowadays.

Depends really . The generalization is that Chinese are the hardest worker. But in truth across all races we have the hardworkers and the not-so-much.

It's all depends on your observation as well as mental conditioning.

generalizing through observation is inaccurate.
A person might only observe 100?200?1000?
There are actually 7mil Chinese in Malaysia.
Sample size too small.
I'm Chinese and I'm nothing like what you've described.

all your need base on what you do now.

That is why if you still poor mean something wrong in somewhere.

For me it was simple. From young we strive to be better so we can have better lives, is not for luxurious but better it is also a virtue.

My grandparents work at mine to fund my parents for education. It was tough, and my parents has decent education to raise me and my siblings.

It seems like is a logical thing to do to continue working hard, I don't wanna be a char siew and say hey I have enough because my parents give me sufficient things..
That seem a bit shallow too. My parents always tell me, we should try to be better than the previous gen.

Though can't say I'm I'm doing super good but I'm not reliant on my parent that much. Sometimes can give then some back.

Dosent mean that I don't like to be lazy, I fuck chill every weekend after hard-work. Most of the time I just work until I have time to chill, given the chance I will want to retire early. Is not an infinite material chase for me, there is a point I call it sufficient.

But until then, working hard and trying to be best of oneself is something good to strive for. Besides that, like me I'm working with ppl, I don't want my lazy ass drag other ppl performance down or causing trouble for my colleague.

It is not just me, but have to work hard for the minimum not bringing trouble to others. Others are doing the same to not trouble me so much as well. Is a civic duty I would say

Beside that, in future if I have spouse I will want to give her something better, ofc not giving her the world but the best I can provide. Ask many of my friends and colleagues with kids, they work every day for their kids, because at their age they pretty much have whatever they wanted, but family drives them, what else is better than giving good education, food, medical to loves one? And that requires money, they work hard for these.


I'm single and all, I don't earn a million. But even for me for my ownself I feel is sufficient to sustain my need. By spending less, I cna see my saving growing bit by bit. Kinda fun seeing that growth.

This post has been edited by littlegamer: May 15 2021, 06:42 PM

If one has gone through hardship, one know why one need to be successful.

But then again, there are few who always say is fated.

u joined the wrong gang / friend...

Wait you said partially true. Esp in salary. They all fought who have higher salary in my office. LOL!!!

Yes I know we cannot generalise the whole race due to one person. I've met demanding Malays in my work / studies too. But the chances are much lower than Chinese as I observed.

I know sometime Chinese among themselves kind of ejek Malay's attitude / culture of bersyukur, and say this is why they don't improve / earn big bucks (I know this is also abit racist. I myself dont agree with it). But to me its actually good because it brings you content, happiness, and satisfaction in your life. We should learn to appreciate what we have.