I remember SHANA feeling a bit despairing...because she had learnt CHINESE 'putonghua' so well...the STATE language...but as she was then to tell me - the more that she learnt about CHINESE CULTURE - the less she understood...it was a reality and deeply depressing in a way...

I would counteract that one with this:

Understanding PUTONGHUA and CANTONESE will give you a very good understanding of CHINESE CULTURE...

You see - if you look at CHINA and all of its PREFECTURES...CHINA is the size of EUROPE and its prefectures are the size of EUROPEAN COUNTRIES...

So if anybody told me to give a description of EUROPEAN CULTURE...i could probably give an EU/BRUSSELS one, off pat....but in reality...look at the difference between DANISH CULTURE and ITALIAN CULTURE...and FINNISH CULTURE...and ENGLISH CULTURE...and then top it off with the people who live on the ISLE OF SKYE.