Confusing Pop Anthropology Plot Point from "Gilligan's Island" and elsewhere

https://ask.metafilter.com/156100/According-to-the-Chinese-when-you-save-someones-life
I can't even summarize right now, sorry, just read the link if you are interested and want to weigh in.

The latter never made any sense to me, I think both Skipper and Peter Brady had it right—lifelong personal slavery

So you don't like the "Kung Fu" approach?

My wife (who is Chinese) says this might refer to one of these idioms

滴水之恩 当涌泉相报

救人一命胜造七級浮屠

so you can google those, see what you get

Got more Chinese, thanks

some blog posts, may be helpful or not

1. https://www.littlechinesereaders.com/2017/11/22/giving-thanks-chinese-culture/

2. https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-english-pinyin-dictionary.php?define=%E6%95%91%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%80%E5%91%BD%E8%83%9C%E9%80%A0%E4%B8%83%E7%BA%A7%E6%B5%AE%E5%B1%A0

Thanks. Still not seeing any mention of servitude, indentured or otherwise.

The servitude thing in as much as it exists is a Confucian duty, roles and relationships are dictated by the interpretation of idioms like this. The western concept of loyalty is less transactional, you could say. But this stuff is often ignored.

In the early Han Solo novels, this was a major part of Han and Chewbacca's relationship. Han had saved Chewie's life and so no matter what irresponsible and dangerous shit he got himself into, Chewie felt compelled to tag along to protect him.

This is just the reductive and sophomoric version of a classic problem in moral philosophy which is a problem mainly because it cannot be resolved without resolving far larger problems about life and morality that, as you follow them, disappear down a rabbit hole.

The ascription of this to 'the Chinese' reflects the common folkloric tendency to associate some unfamiliar folkway or bit of folk wisdom to another culture, one that is considered exotic and strange, but still capable of expressing wise or useful ideas. Native Americans get this treatment a lot. This ascription to 'the other' allows the person introducing the idea to dissociate themselves from it, in case it is dismissed as ridiculous.

But surely, with all the examination of racism that goes on around here, you all understood how this stuff works.

thanks answerbot

your turn now. what do you think of the OP?