Hero is as hero does

While today's young Chinese may struggle to point to their heroes, the idea of heroism is very much alive.

In what ways does a Chinese hero differ from an American one? That was one of the questions I had to ponder before taking part in a forum discussion at the Bookworm bookstore recently. When The World of Chinese, the magazine that organized that event, first sounded me about the topic, the oft-quoted line from Hollywood movies, "You're my hero", dashed through my head. And it took a second for me to realize that we Chinese do not say it under similar circumstances. We would say, "You did great!" or, "It was so nice of you to do that!" The term hero occupies an exalted status in the Chinese language. It takes much more to be a hero in China than in the United States, for example. Based on my understanding, Americans often define a hero as someone ordinary who did something extraordinary. Even fictional superheroes like Spiderman have humble roots. The implicit meaning is, anyone can be a hero.

Not so in the Chinese context. Chinese heroes are usually ordained by the authorities, their qualities hammered home through the education system. If your neighbor risked his life to save you from a fire, you would thank him profusely. But it wouldn't automatically make him a "hero". For that, his act of courage would have to be covered by a contingent of government media organizations and selected by the government publicity machine for special prominence, which would then issue edicts to turn him into a model, a prototype so to speak.