Raoul's China Saloon (V5.0) Beta
The Bar Room => The BS-Wrestling Pit => Topic started by: Senor Boogie Woogie on April 11, 2012, 03:53:39 PM
-
Hello people!
I would be interested in stories of what local people do that make no sense and drives you up the walls. I have many stories, but this one is recent.
I live in a fairly large apartment complex, with probably 2000 plus units over several very tall buildings in a fairly compact area. We have guards to protect the place, basically at the enterances and patrolling somewhat in the evenings.
I live in the lowest floor apartment (3rd floor) off the main road, maybe 10-15 meters off the ground. For some reason, about once a week, the asshole supervisor forces the door guards to march and chant like they were in the Army. Around twelve guards in double file lines, marching on this jerk's orders, and the marching has to be done in a certain fashion.
The marching does not bother me, the chanting does. Like everything in China, this must be LOUD! So the guys are marching outside my window.........
Sargeant Asshole Yi (1) Er (2) Sen (3) SI(4)
The troops Yi Er Sen SI!
With the SI (4) yelled out at the top of their lungs.
I got tired of their bullshit, opened my window and yelled (in my angry, I am going to kill you dead voice) at Sgt. Asshole to take his troops somewhere else, called him stupid (in Chinese) and a MF'er (in English, like Bendan mf'er!) and asked him "Wei shen me, yi, er, sen, SI!" Sgt. Asshole told me "Fk you!" back, but I got the parade to move on somewhere else.
My question is this, why do Chinese dislike quiet? Does it arouse them somehow to be as loud as they can possibly be? Also, why don't the other tenants complain about this crap? This was in the middle of a Monday afternoon, but we have elderly people and babies sleeping, people watching TV or using computer, and what ticked me off was the fact that I was trying to do some work online with this crap outside, and I was offended to have an otherwise quiet afternoon being disrupted by this. I covet quiet in China.
-
I dunno but this synchronised chanting thing also seems especially popular outside hairdressing establishments (the genuine ones) for some reason.
-
Locals do a lot of things that drive me crazy but the chanting doesn't really bother me all that much as long as it isn't first thing in the morning.
I used to live right next to my old school and every morning at the ass-crack of dawn they'd do morning exercizes, which wouldn't be that bad, except that they would play Lady Gaga and Justin Beiber, top volume. My daughter was just a baby and oh man did I ever wanna kill whoever's bright idea it was to make Gaga part of the morning routine.
-
I have long held a theory that Chinese people are afraid of quiet, it makes them feel alone/lonely, and boy do they need to feel like they are part of a hot and noisy group at the best of times.
I've started going hiking at the weekend, and some members of the group bring speakers in there bag so that they can pump music as they go.
Different strokes, I guess...
-
Slam a door--the whole building shakes.
Stomp up stairs, clatter down--does no one have lower body muscle control?
Sing? Bitch, you want to sing? At midnight? At midnight, operatic voice work is indistinguishable from yodeling. Just... don't.
But really it's the pop and slap of open-mouthed mastication that I find endlessly unappealing. Mental defectives do it and so do stroke victims. How is this a habit that persists among the unafflicted? Control over the movement of your mouth and lips above and beyond that forced on them by the movement of your jaw is surely a sign of higher intelligence, linked as it is with the ability to make complex sounds on demand. Eating with your mouth open is... none of these things.
I also have issues with the slut walk. It's that strut girls and sometimes men get when walking in slippers. They can't lift their feet high enough to have their heels clear the ground. They walk essentially by tossing their own feet forward. Nary a step is taken, but through many a kicked out heel and jiggling wobble do they stagger their way forward. The nice young woman upstairs does it. I hear every step she makes.
And while we're here, people, is there any reason at all you put alarms on scooters? Do they ever keep your transports safe or do they just sit their waiting to be blown by the wind and start whooping at midnight?
And for the love of jesus, why, why, why oh why must you stand outside an apartment building and yell your neighbour's name? Repeatedly? Call, knock, arrange a damn time to meet, why are you standing in the street shouting at a house?!
*ahem*
/issues
-
Oh wow, nice venting.
ass-crack of dawn morning exercises...Lady Gaga and Justin Beiber, top volume.
Same (expect it was the Backstreet Boys at that time). School had these speakers all over campus, including several right outside the FT apartment building, joy!
I've started going hiking at the weekend, and some members of the group bring speakers in there bag so that they can pump music as they go.
Early memory of going 'hiking' for the first time in China - Yay, we're getting out of the city...and what's this...Oh a million other people are doing the same? and there are concrete stairs AND speakers playing Kenny G all the way to the top? Er...
why, why, why oh why must you stand outside an apartment building and yell your neighbour's name? Repeatedly?
I like to make a game of it by counting how many times they yell and then seeing if the next one I hear can beat that total.
-
Head down to some place with a bunch of street level shops selling phones. Each one has speakers cranked up to bone-shattering levels. And I'm supposed to test the quality of a cell phone in that area? mmmmmmmmmm
The cute girls chanting something about buy my products that no one else wants in front of clothing stores (and I see the same thing next to some vegetables that are on sale in supermarkets) are amusing. What really distresses me are the loud and semi-hypnotic sales pitches played in a loop in front of some shops. I feel my free will being sapped from me and have a compulsion to buy whatever is being sold. The only issue is that I don't speak Chinese, so I can't follow the command. ahahahahah
-
But really it's the pop and slap of open-mouthed mastication that I find endlessly unappealing. Mental defectives do it and so do stroke victims. How is this a habit that persists among the unafflicted? Control over the movement of your mouth and lips above and beyond that forced on them by the movement of your jaw is surely a sign of higher intelligence, linked as it is with the ability to make complex sounds on demand. Eating with your mouth open is... none of these things.
yep, this one drives me up the wall too. not so much in noisy Chinese places, but in quieter Western places where you are paying for the ambience... it just seems to echo (the slurping of pasta...)
also, it seems that some of it is affected, because it's actually more effort to make the noises than not... therefore I go back to my original theory, in that it has some sort of group bonding function, to reinforce the fact that they are not eating alone, and therefore are not lonely...
-
Haha, I think everyone that jumped on this thread is at least in the 5 year + category.
Just wait, you'll see...you'll see....
-
also, it seems that some of it is affected, because it's actually more effort to make the noises than not... therefore I go back to my original theory, in that it has some sort of group bonding function, to reinforce the fact that they are not eating alone, and therefore are not lonely...
You may be on to something there. I used to think it was a function of peasanthood: the older they were, the less educated, the more accustomed to Mao's supposed glorification of rusticity, the more they make with the chorus of cud. But no, the young still do it. So then I figured they learned it at home and didn't learn any better anywhere else. However, as disgusting as this seems, young men eat with their loving partners, lower face agape yet chewing as though endlessly surprised that anyone let alone a girl would sit across from this spectacle of sound and saliva, and, horrifically, their upper face remains resolutely sanguine. Perhaps it is a kind of broadcast system, like pissing on a post, indicating to all and sundry that here is some young man of sufficient potency and means that some sexual receptacle like this girl will put up with this level of sheer pig like disregard for humanity.
I have from nowhere that I can clearly determine a belief that were anyone to outright require people to eat with their mouths closed, those people would claim they could no longer taste the food. Which presumably means there really is some kind of cultural or social component going on.
Though why exactly this noisy eating is often accompanied by the jailhouse elbow protecting the food and a tendency to lean down to your bowl rather than raise the food to your gaping maw...
-
^ pretty much, yes.
The other side of the coin is the spitting, which I often find funny. Doubly so when women or girls do it. That higher pitch on the kkkkkkkack is just hilarious.
-
I have long held a theory that Chinese people are afraid of quite, it makes them feel alone/lonely..
Actually, many Chinese people I know are quite fond of the word quite. It may even make them happy sometimes.
Ooh, petty typo comment! I'm gonna be haunting your posts from now on looking for misplaced apostrophies. kkkkkkkkkk
As for the spitting, it really doesn't get to me anymore.
I was acutually seriously considering getting hypnotised back in Ireland so that the sound of eating didn't bother me anymore. Seriously. I think it would be a major quality of life boost!
-
It's an actual condition, though I doubt there's any special need to medicalise it. It's just a sensitivity to sounds that impinge in a certain way or at certain times. I was wondering today, for example, would it be a deal breaker with some hot babe. (Because it's not just the homely girls--I have seen, well, heard, the attractive... there's not even a word, I looked for a word but there isn't a word...)
To keep your mouth open while eating, it seems to me you needs must get your cheeks involved in marshalling the contents of your mouth... in a disgusting experiment right this very moment I am attempting to eat an apple open mouthed. If I'm completely slack jawed, there seems a risk of biting my tongue, but things are back under control again if I get some cheek squeezing action going on...
Oh god, what if it's a function of the language?! We all know different languages produce different mouth shapes and tolerances and whatever with the muscles... if you learn the mysteries of chomping and slopping, do you form Chinese words better???
Just working through the pain, don't mind me.
-
Things locals do that drive you insane.
Going out into public everyone morning smelling like a wet dog. One that is wet because another one pissed all over it. Seriously... deodorant. Get some.
(showering in the morning before hitting that bus/train when going out into public would be more civilized too!)
-
One thing the locals do is encourage, by *OUR* very existence, some kind of intolerant tolerance for the intolerable. It's the paradox of living among another culture: not a part, yet not removed; without attitude, yet opinionated; unable to join, yet UNABLE TO LOOK AWAY!
/meta
I get annoyed by the way people drive cars. Not the simple recklessness. It's the peremptory horn honking. I believe that to drive a car is to accept responsibility for taking up way more space than one person should and wielding with the nonchalance of daily use the ability to kill your neighbours and various strangers with the mere turn of a wheel. So someone honking their horn at me is about as welcome as someone waving a gun.
I HAVE ISSUES!
(eta: had to take out a comma, felt compelled.)
-
The compulsive urge to pass in front. Crossing the road, with a green light, and a car, or cyclist will cross in front of you....never behind! I have had cyclists actually swerve to make sure they cross in front of me.
Fozzy, I wish I had seen your typos first!! ahahahahah ahahahahah
-
If you took away the horns, the traffic "system," such as it is, would cease to function. There would be carnage on roadways throughout the land. The horn protocols are the duct tape that keeps the whole machine moving.
-
Well folks, some of your info helps me understand why the Chinese at the Casino can be very noisy. The ladies appear to make the most noise. I often remark to my fellow players that I'd hate to be trying to sleep in the next room while they are having sex. ahahahahah ahahahahah
-
If you took away the horns, the traffic "system," such as it is, would cease to function. There would be carnage on roadways throughout the land. The horn protocols are the duct tape that keeps the whole machine moving.
Nah.
They have managed to stamp out the excessive use of horns in Guangzhou, and the city is much better for it. Visiting there seemed like visiting a serene Buddhist retreat after living in my city for a while.
This needs to be rolled out across the country soon. The overuse of horns is the only thing that REALLY gets my goat here. I also heard the other day that drivers are actually encouraged to use their horns while learning to drive. My word...
-
Two women walking down a 5m wide sidewalk, and they somehow manage to completely block it. You try to pass them on the left, they drift to the left. You try to pass them on the right, they drift to the right. It's uncanny.
-
Two women walking down a 5m wide sidewalk, and they somehow manage to completely block it. You try to pass them on the left, they drift to the left. You try to pass them on the right, they drift to the right. It's uncanny.
In most cases you can just relax and enjoy the view.
-
Letting their dogs sh1t where our kids play and not picking the sh1t up.
Blocking the security door open so they do not need to use their pass cards to get into the building.
Closing the pool from 11am to 4pm during the summer since it is too hot to swim at those times.
Complaining about outdoor BBQs make too much smoke so should not be allowed then they cook some nasty crap and foul the entire building.
-
They don't throw a parade every time I walk out my door, fellows are not sacrificed on top of pyramids by the thousands to appease me (I know, I know, normally maidens would be the sacrifice-of-choice but really, that is just a waste of maidens), nor do they shower upon me vast riches and kow-tow before me in abject terror...instead they let but a miniscule part of the wealth of the country trickle unfathomably slowly into my account and expect me to get up in the morning to work for it...It is a habit I find both perplexing and rater annoying...and when I explain to random representatives that they should carry my aloft on a golden throne and sing hosannas in my glory, they merely shrug, say "ting bu dong" and try to sell me fake iPhones...life is soooooo hard at times... agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag
-
But are kowtows really that difficult to arrange, hm? Hosannas and iphones I can forgo.
-
They don't throw a parade every time I walk out my door, fellows are not sacrificed on top of pyramids by the thousands to appease me (I know, I know, normally maidens would be the sacrifice-of-choice but really, that is just a waste of maidens), nor do they shower upon me vast riches and kow-tow before me in abject terror...instead they let but a miniscule part of the wealth of the country trickle unfathomably slowly into my account and expect me to get up in the morning to work for it...It is a habit I find both perplexing and rater annoying...and when I explain to random representatives that they should carry my aloft on a golden throne and sing hosannas in my glory, they merely shrug, say "ting bu dong" and try to sell me fake iPhones...life is soooooo hard at times... agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag
They don't eh? Maybe you should move to Changsha.
-
A bit OT, but we're drifting there the whole thread through.
normally maidens would be the sacrifice-of-choice but really, that is just a waste of maidens
Oh no, this is quite a sane use of maidens. It discourages excessive virginity. I'm certain zero would approve.
CalachP, /meta:
You're on to something there. I could point to a hundred and one things that get to me here, from the horns to the passing in front to the queuejumping to whatever, but its not just about them, it's also about me as the observer. And yes, some of it definitely is institutionalised stupidity, but not all.
-
I agree on every post here, especially the need to turn in front of you. I might also add bicycles, electric bikes and motorcycles going the wrong way on a one way street. God knows how many times in Kunshan when crossing the divided street near my home, I make sure no oncoming cars are coming only to have a bike or motorcycle shoot in front of me from the wrong direction just as I'm getting ready to cross. i also am getting tired of dodging motorcycles and electric bikes who decide to drive on the sidewalk as opposed to the street.
On the open mouth chewing, even though my wife was born and raised in China, since I've known her she has always chewed with her mouth closed. She says she started doing it when she lived and worked in Russia. We used to have a boy whose parents wanted him to learn English, so he would spend weekends with us. He says he told his parents we are he quietest eaters he has ever seen.
-
Having a real hate china day today, you can't go anywhere without seeing children pissing on the street next to hookers, beeping horns and shitlike smells and an undertone of racism
-
I was on foot for about three hours yesterday, and in different busses for about two hours. I have a few things that make me asasasasas
I'm 178cm and 95kg, with an athletic build. I'm a big person, especially over here. If you're not a small child or elderly, don't expect me to move out of your way asasasasas I'm tired of tiny men shoulder checking me because I didn't move for them. I'm going to start stiffening up and knocking you down! Here's a walking guide: move for children, the elderly, and people bigger than you. You make absolutely no effort to avoid me, so I will make an effort to remind you why you should.
Dear bus driver, the bus has a maximum capacity. When I get on the bus and I cannot move past the door, don't sit there and scream at me to pack it in. This is why I sat in your seat with you yesterday and pretended to not understand a word you were saying! bfbfbfbfbf
I'm still bitter about yesterday. It's the peony festival so the locals are treating me like a tourist ahahahahah
-
In OZ i would wake up to the sounds of the bird calls in the morning. Here its waking up to the sound of the morning huck and spit! lllllllll.
-
Do some research on Individualist v Collectivist societies. You come from the former, but you live in the latter. Of course they're going to annoy the living shit out of you, and me when I'm there.
But it's life, it's China. Love it or leave it, because you're not going to change it!
Venting with similar minded individualists may help, however.
-
Closing the pool from 11am to 4pm during the summer since it is too hot to swim at those times.
Complaining about outdoor BBQs make too much smoke so should not be allowed then they cook some nasty crap and foul the entire building.
The first one hits home. My first apartment in China has a swimming pool and I learned quickly what the rules were. I used to come home from my crappy training school grind job (Shane's), grab a beer and get into the water myself. Technically, I did not "swim" but more or less floating and relaxing in the water not making noise. Invariably, a security guard would kick me out which would piss me off.
The only time that one was allowed to use the pool was after 4 PM, and the charge was 5 RMB. Didn't bother me, but there is a lot of people and kids running around then.
September 1st, the pool was closed. If you know Hangzhou, summer lasts more or less until October. I even went swimming one night at a now closed patio bar with a pool on October 2nd.
-----------------------
I don't know who this person is, but one of my neighbors cooks most afternoons and it almost always smells heavenly. I have always wanted to find this person and make her my cook. The only real nasty cooking smell I encounter is the infamous chou dofu. That sh*t should be illegal.
-
...
-
To Newbies, or even veterans, be careful with your ATM card. Getting a replacement ATM card is super annoying. In 10 years, I have lost two.
The ATM card must be reissued at the bank where the account originated. If you lose a Bank of China card, you have to go to the particular Bank of China branch where the card was lost. Just any bank branch will not under any circumstances.
The first card I lost, I moved far away from the bank branch who issued the card, almost as far away as one can go in Hangzhou proper. I explained to the bank nearest my home that I don't want to travel 1 hour by bus in a far off neighborhood, with the solution being that the bank would more or less vacate the other account and then give me a new account with a new card. This took about thirty minutes. 30 longass minutes of signing numerous slips of paper, pressing in my secret cold several times, staring at a skinny yellow girl tap away at her computer and other addin' machines, with me wondering why can't the same bank company just issue a card at any branch?
Lost my card the second time on the train from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. Took a pee and while stretched, took out my wallet to see something with the ATM card doing a swan dive straight into the toilet hole and gone in a flash.
OH bqbqbqbqbq, not this again!
My second card was issued in a small BOC branch in the middle of the city, a busy road called Qingchun Lu, since I lived in an apartment nearby there. This is a dinky bank branch and since it is in the middle of town, it is very busy. I have a BOC branch literally across the street from me that is rarely busy. Nope, I gotta go to town!
Of course, there are people freaking everywhere and I had to wait about an hour to talk to someone. I did have to fill out a form and I had my passport in hand for identification. Go up, talk to the lady, give her the passport and all that. We almost came to blows on my passport. Since the time I lost the first card, my passport expired and I got a new one from my tyrannical government in Shanghai. One thing tyrannical government did that annoyed me was to give me a new passport number. I would have thought that they would want each person to have their own passport number like social security, but that was not the case. I was a bit annoyed that I would have to memorize a new nine digit code and throw the one I have memorized as high importance from my brain.
The teller woman was going to turn me away since the passport numbers were different, even though she had a copy of my old passport with my face and know it was me. I stood my ground (wasn't a dick but firm) that this was my face, my ID and I have the old passport at the house and will give it to you for inspection the next week when I picked up the card. She was cool about it, because I was going to be livid and would be a dick if she turned me away.
No big drama the next week when I had to make the 30 minute bus journey to that location, wait another thirty minutes in line a closet sized bank (banks are the most boring places on Earth, unless you have a 12 guage to the manager's head demanding the vault be opened) I did have to produce the old passport.
Don't lose the ATM card. Sage advice.
-
Venting with similar minded individualists may help, however.
Yes, until one of the supposedly like-minded individuals tells you "it's China, love it or leave it" and sends you to the library to research collectivist cultures. bibibibibi
-
Come on now, we've ONLY JUST been told to play nice!
Re: Things locals do that drive you insane.
2. The hooker-chic look many of the young ladies around here find so fashionable.
'LOL' Yep, that'll do it. Why do you think so many of us have been here for so long?
-
.
[/quote]Yes, until one of the supposedly like-minded individuals tells you "it's China, love it or leave it" and sends you to the library to research collectivist cultures. bibibibibi
[/quote]
Isn't that standard advice anywhere in the world when you criticise the homies whilst living amongst them? Anyway, I've found life in China for a foreigner is far easier now than it was 15 years ago. Smell the roses. bgbgbgbgbg
-
Maybe it's just me and my British ways, but I HATE that people wait until the bus stops, and the doors open before they get up from their seat. They inevitably hold the bus up for a couple of seconds and shout "有下！！” just as the doors close. Why?! Get up a couple of seconds earlier and save everybody (including yourself) the hassle!
-
Dear bus driver, the bus has a maximum capacity. When I get on the bus and I cannot move past the door, don't sit there and scream at me to pack it in. This is why I sat in your seat with you yesterday and pretended to not understand a word you were saying! bfbfbfbfbf
We need to give out medals for things like this! agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag
-
The children are taught to YELL in school. Well, maybe it's not on the curriculum, but they're learning it. I have private students. The room I teach them in, in my home, is tiny. There are three of us in the room. I'm RIGHT HERE, across the table from you. If I ask them individual questions, they can answer in what I was taught to call my 'inside voice' when I was a child. If I read something and they are to repeat it, up goes the volume to ear-splitting levels and their little voices echo off the walls. I know why they do it. In a class of 40 or 50 kids, all reciting, it's the only way they can be heard kkkkkkkkkk
I'm working on teaching them to use inside voices. So far, the little munchkins (that are due to arrive in about 5 minutes BTW) go from shouting to whispering, but the idea is slowly getting across. Meanwhile I've put up panels of foam on the walls to absorb the sounds.
-
To Newbies, or even veterans, be careful with your ATM card. Getting a replacement ATM card is super annoying. In 10 years, I have lost two.
You lucky bastard. In 2 years I've lost 10 (or more). And yes it is a bit of a pain in the arse what ith taking an hour to reapply and then a week to wait for a new one.
Oh and:
(wasn't a dick but firm)
Haha.
-
...
-
Maybe it's just me and my British ways, but I HATE that people wait until the bus stops, and the doors open before they get up from their seat. They inevitably hold the bus up for a couple of seconds and shout "有下！！” just as the doors close. Why?! Get up a couple of seconds earlier and save everybody (including yourself) the hassle!
I was kind of surprised to read this, Tom. Here in Dalian, people get up and leave the bus they way they're supposed to.
On the busier buses in Qingdao if you are not near the door and ready to leap/push/shove/kick/bite your way out the door you will never get off. The number of folks doing the same to get *on* the bus can push you back like a foul smelling human tsunami.
-
I was kind of surprised to read this, Tom. Here in Dalian, people get up and leave the bus they way they're supposed to.
You and I obviously frequent different bus routes. <shrug> I wan't particularly surprised by Tom's comment.
What gets me about people's behaviour on crowded, over-crowded and you've-got-to-be-kidding,-no-I'm-not crowded busses is the habit some people here have of staking out personal turf right in front of the door and standing there for better than half the duration of the bus route. And of taking offense every time someone pushes past (or, heaven forbid, steps on their toes!) as they try to reach the door being blocked. Hey folks, didn't your fathers teach you how to use a door?
BTW, I have a lot of respect for bus drivers. No, not all of them deserve it, but if you watch the road, they have to put up with a lot of crap. It's a stressful job, not one that I could do myself.
-
This is the time of the year that I am looking for another school position. By visa expires in about 75 days and I want something to fall back on in case my employer does not want to renew my contract.
With my e-mail, I submit my name in a cover letter and my name is on my resume or CV. My name is G. L. Andrews (the letter has my full first name G****). For the past ten years, countless people eithe in person or correspondence have called me ANDREW. People who call me Andrew speak English, have hired and worked with foreigners and should know that the first name is my name and the last name is the family name. Today (which is the inspiration of this post), I got a reply with Dear Andrew.....
I can accept if only one dumb person does this, but almost everyone does this.
-
I was kind of surprised to read this, Tom. Here in Dalian, people get up and leave the bus they way they're supposed to.
Maybe it's just the Changsha ways. If Stil's around, he'll either back me up or throw me to the lions.
What gets me about people's behaviour on crowded, over-crowded and you've-got-to-be-kidding,-no-I'm-not crowded busses is the habit some people here have of staking out personal turf right in front of the door and standing there for better than half the duration of the bus route. And of taking offense every time someone pushes past (or, heaven forbid, steps on their toes!) as they try to reach the door being blocked. Hey folks, didn't your fathers teach you how to use a door?
This too! Being on buses obviously grates me a lot. I think I let out a lot of (mental) rage on the bus. I'm usually pretty chilled out, but once I'm on a bus, my brain goes mental.
-
Amen about the buses. God forbid people should step out to let people pass. And I don't know if it's just here, but I could swear it's "chengshi gaofeng" all the time on those things.
-
What gets me about people's behaviour on crowded, over-crowded and you've-got-to-be-kidding,-no-I'm-not crowded busses is the habit some people here have of staking out personal turf right in front of the door and standing there for better than half the duration of the bus route. And of taking offense every time someone pushes past (or, heaven forbid, steps on their toes!) as they try to reach the door being blocked. Hey folks, didn't your fathers teach you how to use a door?
This too! Being on buses obviously grates me a lot. I think I let out a lot of (mental) rage on the bus. I'm usually pretty chilled out, but once I'm on a bus, my brain goes mental.
Getting off a Shanghai subway and having idiots push in without regard for anyone trying to get off really gets my hackles up. I only rarely actually push anyone out of the way, but I'm tempted almost daily.
-
It's not just buses. Maybe with the volume of people I can try to understand. Maybe.
But even simple things like elevators. In my apartment block there is an elevator which services 3 floors. So I go to the 1st floor to leave and even if one person is waiting they will still try to get in first before I have even gotten out. I just don't understand! mmmmmmmmmm Drives me up the wall.
-
In the past month I have seen TWO actual honest to goodness fistfights on the bus. The last one was just Sunday and I had my 3 year old with me and I went nuts on those assholes, screaming at them that there was a child on the bus -- standing, because there were no seats -- literally like 2 feet away from where these nitwits were trying to kill each other. What's worse, the driver seemed totally oblivious, not even trying to stop them. I screamed at the driver to open the door so that those of us who wanted nothing to do with a bus-brawl could get off, took my son off the bus, and ran around to the front and yelled at the driver that it was a fight and he needed to break it up. He was all "oh, wo buzhidao."
I can understand, the bus is hot and crowded and it is easy to get irritated, but seriously, you're going to fight on a crowded bus, screw whoever gets caught in the crossfire, including small kids? Hells no, not on my bus.
-
Getting off a Shanghai subway and having idiots push in without regard for anyone trying to get off really gets my hackles up. I only rarely actually push anyone out of the way, but I'm tempted almost daily.
Haha, I adopted the strategy of making intimidating looking faces at the people as the train slowly stopped, sizing up my competition in the moments before the doors open. Then get the elbows out uuuuuuuuuu. I think they're being jerks for trying to get on before I get off, so I don't mind if I take a few down (side note: it's probably a good thing that the subway is not my primary form of transportation getting to work everyday).
Seriously folks, don't use your child in a stroller as a battering ram to force yourself onto a potentially available seat. Children are precious, not weapons.
-
Today (which is the inspiration of this post), I got a reply
Andrew, was the response promising? Are you going to interview with them?
-
Andrew, was the response promising? Are you going to interview with them?
Ahahaha, yeah, stop being such a linguistic imperialist asshole SBW and just change your name to something easier already. My middle name on my passport is 'Jack', but my other two names are slightly less common and slightly less easy to pronounce (I'm Scottish), and therefore I am called 'Jack' or 'Mr Jack' a hell of a lot....
-
...
-
^ rest assured, there are many fora available, some even in English. A quick glance through the China Daily Forum though suggests it's hardly as xenophobic as it used to be. Perhaps we are much loved nowadays.
-
Yep, Isidnar, try going onto the China Daily forums and starting a thread "what do laowai do that pisses you off" and see how long it takes for the thread to reach 20 pages. I promise you too that what is written here is extremely tame in comparison to the kinds of complaints our Chinese friends have about us.
-
I was kind of surprised to read this, Tom. Here in Dalian, people get up and leave the bus they way they're supposed to.
Maybe it's just the Changsha ways. If Stil's around, he'll either back me up or throw me to the lions.
Unfortunately I have to support Tom here.
But none of it bothers me at all. I just do the same. I also like it when no one lines up to get on the bus because that way I always get a seat.
-
For the past ten years, countless people eithe in person or correspondence have called me ANDREW. People who call me Andrew speak English, have hired and worked with foreigners and should know that the first name is my name and the last name is the family name.
Chinese find names with more than three syllables difficult. In fact, anything non Chinese is essentially impossible. Chinese kids in my Australian school call all their teachers "teacher". If I ask their Science teacher's name, they never know.
BTW, my first name is Andrew. Only a tiny number of locals-usually with Western Ph.Ds realised this wasn't my family name, so the rest called me Mr Andrew. As you know, Andrew translates as An De Lu. My in-laws call me Lao An, convinced An is my family name. After 15 years, they're not going to change!
The shoe on the other foot, Westerners can't handle Chinese names, unless they are FTs in China, or have studied the language. That's why Chinese kids choose retarded "English" names - Figo, Ronaldo, Fanny - to make life easier. Australian teachers murder Chinese names to the extent a kid won't even know its her that is being talked to.
-
But really it's the pop and slap of open-mouthed mastication that I find endlessly unappealing.
This used to literally make me gag. I haven't thought about it much lately, so I'm not sure when I got used to it. There are still occasions where I notice it, but I have learned to look away and try not to listen to it.
I eat regularly with a group of uni students. About a year ago one of the girls said I'm so polite when I eat; they never see the food once it enters my mouth or hear me eating it. I have my mother to thank for that. ("Chew with your mouth closed" was a common directive at the table when I was small.) Last weekend they asked me how they can be polite like me when they eat. Without thinking I blurted out, "Chew with your mouth closed." aoaoaoaoao Either I was harsher than I meant to be with what I said, or it was a concept they'd never thought of before.
I'm working really hard at letting irritating things go, but one I haven't conquered yet is the honking. Along the stretch of road that is my neighborhood and commute to work, the cars don't honk too often. Motorcycles have been banned on the roads of Dongguan but the motorcycle taxis still operate in the city where I live (an amalgamated part of DG). The drivers of these motorcycles have no regard for traffic rules, which is one of the main reasons they were banned in the big city. They weave in and out between cars. They drive down the wrong side of the road. They scoot through red lights without even slowing down. These behaviors, while irritating, do not appear to be too disruptive to the general flow of traffic. Carry on with your life. What is irritating to me is that they honk constantly, even when there doesn't appear to be a reason to do so. The honks seem to mean, 'look out for me, I'm coming at you on your side of the road' or 'hold up on your green light because I'm coming through on the red' or 'I'm little, but I can make noise.' Sometimes they just cruise along honking. Maybe it's a form of soliciting business. mmmmmmmmmm When it's late at night and I'm trying to sleep, these buggers are still out there honking. The roads are empty. Why is it necessary? I fantasize about a special place in hell for these guys. Constant honking for eternity. Or maybe that's their idea of heaven?
-
I don't like it when people yell 'f*** your mother' at me as they walk past. It seems excessive.
-
People who bring their damn huge E-bikes on the elevator. In my apartment, over half the people who own bikes/E-bikes haul them up the elevator. Okay, I get it. Many bikes get stolen in China but that doesn't give them the right to squash me against the walls of the lift as their dirty bike presses up against my leg. If you want to bring the damn thing up they wait for a empty lift. I've started to refuse to let them on if there is no room.
-
When it's late at night and I'm trying to sleep, these buggers are still out there honking. The roads are empty. Why is it necessary? I fantasize about a special place in hell for these guys. Constant honking for eternity. Or maybe that's their idea of heaven?
A proper hell for them would be a maze of crowded streets, no traffic lights, and a broken horn on the motorcycle.
qqqqqqqqqq qqqqqqqqqq qqqqqqqqqq qqqqqqqqqq
-
The constant talking. Chattering on about this and that. Asking inane, unanswerable questions all the time.
Now that I think of it, that may just be girls in general and not locals.
-
I don't like it when people yell 'f*** your mother' at me as they walk past. It seems excessive.
that happens? aoaoaoaoao in English or Chinese? mmmmmmmmmm
-
IT doesn't often happen to me, but it has happened. I always just shrug it off, but that's a lot easier for a man who is 1.8 m tall than for a woman with a child. It comes from the sort of young punks who really want me to start something so they have an excuse to phone their friends for backup, but don't have the balls to start it by themselves. Never happened while I was with my daughter, can't imagine my losing it unless she was directly threatened.
-
I guess "Ma de" should be taken as literally in Chinese as "Motherfucka" would be in English. Think of a witty riposte, or ignore: not worth a fight. I was in a scene straight out of "coming to America" one day.
Young guy on bike [back in the old days] : Fuck you!
Me [witty riposte]: Fuck you too!
It was probably the only English he knew, "helloooo???" aside.
-
It was probably the only English he knew, "helloooo???" aside.
Lotus Road in Zhuhai has a bunch of pleasant open-air bars and an amazing troupe of streetwalkers. Someone's contribution to the worldwide spread of English was teaching some of those girls the expression "No money, no honey." Bravo!
-
I don't like it when people yell 'f*** your mother' at me as they walk past. It seems excessive.
This is a simple matter of a common error among new English speakers. You need to explain to them that the proper way to say this is as follows:
"Your mother is a very fine looking woman who draws the attention of both my eyes and my heart. With your kind permission, I would like to ask her if she would agree to engage in an act of of passion with me so that I may express my profound love for her on a physical level."
-
It was probably the only English he knew, "helloooo???" aside.
Lotus Road in Zhuhai has a bunch of pleasant open-air bars and an amazing troupe of streetwalkers. Someone's contribution to the worldwide spread of English was teaching some of those girls the expression "No money, no honey." Bravo!
Next they could learn "Don't look at me, I got STD".
Further suggestions please.
-
It was probably the only English he knew, "helloooo???" aside.
Lotus Road in Zhuhai has a bunch of pleasant open-air bars and an amazing troupe of streetwalkers. Someone's contribution to the worldwide spread of English was teaching some of those girls the expression "No money, no honey." Bravo!
Next they could learn "Don't look at me, I got STD".
Further suggestions please.
This topic really deserves its own thread. ahahahahah
"You can do me if I can do your wallet."
"My love is available for reasonable hourly rates."
And, of course, "Me so horny. Me love you long time." afafafafaf
-
It was probably the only English he knew, "helloooo???" aside.
Lotus Road in Zhuhai has a bunch of pleasant open-air bars and an amazing troupe of streetwalkers. Someone's contribution to the worldwide spread of English was teaching some of those girls the expression "No money, no honey." Bravo!
GuangDong should rename themselves GuangVegas. Think Hu Jin Taio would go for that?
Next they could learn "Don't look at me, I got STD".
Further suggestions please.
This topic really deserves its own thread. ahahahahah
"You can do me if I can do your wallet."
"My love is available for reasonable hourly rates."
And, of course, "Me so horny. Me love you long time." afafafafaf
-
Korean teenagers used to yell 'Fuck you!' and 'I love you' at me as well as 'Hello' like they do in China so the ridiculous amount of money that Korean parents spend on teaching their kids English wasn't a total waste....
The thing that is really bugging me about China this week is the way a lot of otherwise intelligent people will tell you these ridiculous things about China like 'China has no racism' 'Chinese women are all chaste virgins' 'China won't ever have obesity problems because our food is so healthy' etc etc
I know that there are plenty of countries where people indulge in exceptionalism about their country but China just takes it to another level sometimes.
-
Its a collectivist society. They don't actually think/know/believe these myths, but have been taught to parrot them. Virtually all Chinese students abroad will, given the chance, tell their audience "my hometown is very beautiful", when you well know its a toxic dump. It does have the cleanest hookers after Taiyuan, but they fail to mention that. Oh, and Chinese food is very delicious. Well, it can be, but is often luke warm artery clogging congealed pig fat. And the rice is cold and has set into a brick like formation.The waitress picks her nose and the cook never washes his hands after visiting the toilet which he has to do many times each day as he has gastro. Etc.
Another habit they and their Riben neighbours bring is sniffing. Sucking nose water back, usually in a silent situation like an exam, because using a tissue is a filthy Western habit.
-
The thing that is really bugging me about China this week is the way a lot of otherwise intelligent people will tell you these ridiculous things about China like 'China has no racism' 'Chinese women are all chaste virgins' 'China won't ever have obesity problems because our food is so healthy' etc etc
I know that there are plenty of countries where people indulge in exceptionalism about their country but China just takes it to another level sometimes.
Yep. This lazy thinking, or parroting depending on how you see it drives me crazy too. I do enjoy poking holes in it in class (this can be pretty appropriate in an academic writing class as they ahve to learn to base statesments on observable evidence etc, not just common knowledge...)
-
I was thinking about some of the other things that bug me and I immediately thought of those crotchless pants they put on young kids here in China, especially in public (e.g. subways and buses). As a child I would have been embarrassed to be around adults with my junk (such as it was back then) hanging out for all to see. The wife and I agree and have told the family that crotchless was a big no-no. With all the weirdos out there, I'm not going to take the chance of giving some pedophile his jollies by showing him/her my child's privates.
-
A very small yet annoying thing.
I decided to treat myself to some Chivas Regal, so I went to my new super Lianhua supermarket to get the booze and one or two other items I have forgotten on my last tour there.
I love onions, and I was low on them (I cook onions in almost everything) and picked up two purple onions plastic wrapped that was attractively displayed. Buy my booze and go to the counter.
The onions had no price on them. What is annoying is that this has happened several times over the years, me buying something with no price tag on them. The cashier sees this, then coyly sets them aside hoping that I do not notice this. I always do because I would not buy it if I did not want it.
I mean, it is so simple. Anything put out in a supermarket sales floor should have a price on it. You can't just set it aside and say, "Sorry, no price." and let it go at that. The place was not busy and although I was not dying for onions per se (I have a half one at home), I am basically going to stick around here and cook and I make a salad with lots of onions, not to mention my eggs and other things.
Other markets pull this crap too, especially for produce. One would think if one buys a prewrapped amount of vegetables, that there is a price, and I have gotten mad at them for it. I wasn't mad (and I wasn't) but I called the manager over and did my weiguoren "外身me" bit. I asked another girl to get me another two onions, but she was so slow and inconvenienced over the whole thing, I said forget it and paid for my stuff I had and left.
It's a small and practical thing for foreigners living in China, if in a large retail place that is mostly a supermarket, make sure everything has a price. Especially vegetables, fruits and eggs. They forget (why, I cannot imagine), it gets on the sales floor, and it is almost impossible to make a worker go back and get what you want if they screw up.
Chinese are a scope of opposites. One example I use. Chinese are so hard working (and they are) but they are so f'ing lazy ....AT THE SAME TIME! Like I said, it is only 4 quai onions, it will save my breath from something (like embarrassment), but still....annoying.
-
Haha, it seems you're wound up pretty tight eh Senor? Hope you get your onions, without 'incident' next time. agagagagag
-
Chinese are a scope of opposites. One example I use. Chinese are so hard working (and they are) but they are so f'ing lazy ....AT THE SAME TIME! Like I said, it is only 4 quai onions, it will save my breath from something (like embarrassment), but still....annoying.
ha ha, I like this. seems to ring true for me. perhaps it's a case of conserving energy for the long haul, cos some Chinese do work ridonculous hours.
-
I always always explain to my students that in France and Holland the normal working week is only 35 hours but everything works better than in China where it's more like 50 hours because people working 50 hours a week are tired and unenthusiastic
'It's not the hours you put in, it's what you put in the hours'
-
b]The constant talking. Chattering on about this and that. Asking inane, unanswerable questions all the time.[/b]
The chatterbox culture. They go out of their way to ask questions about nothing and talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, and talk some more.
Chinese television is awful. 90% awful. A bunch of talkers, gawkers, noise, yelling and stupidity. Many
The Chinese cannot cobble together a football (soccer) team. Uh, there are 1,400,000,000 motherfukkas here. Lets do the math, 700 million men, with probably over 200 million men between the ages of 15 and 30. Let's lower it to a number that everyone would agree, 150 million men, higher than the population of the whole of Britian or France. 150 million men available and they can't make a football team.
The game of soccer is easy, run your ass off chasing a ball and try to put it n a goal. Bore the shit out of the crowd to the point that drink themselves stupid and start a riot. A girlie sport.
/snip You've crossed a line here. Lighthearted griping about China is one thing, maligning an entire group is another -TLD
-
Mygonistic trolls is all a Chinese man is.
Trouble with getting old is you forget a few words now and then. Like, I've forgotten what "mygonistic" means! ahahahahah ahahahahah Silly me! I do realise that there is a conflict in number in that sentence, though!
-
you overplayed your hand there sr. we can all see your cards now
-
I've edited a few of the more recent posts here. I don't want to lock the whole thing, but I will if I have to.
Venting about China and the cultural differences that we find hard to accept is one thing, being blatantly hateful is another.
-
I totally agree with you LD. Not a nice post llllllllll
-
The onions were a sign...time for a break maybe?
-
Maybe the Chivas Regal. That was a whiskey rant.
-
Well...I always look for a barcode on my purchases, especially when it comes to vegetables, since it is customarary in just about all countries in the world to weigh your veggies...As for griping about Chinese TV, music, locals talking too much etc...don't see the point really...if so many things in China makes you angry then a plane ticket home is a good cure agagagagag agagagagag
Things locals do that annoy me...hmmm...they smoke at my gym, that is rather annoying. Stupid really. Why smoke at a gym?
-
Maybe the Chivas Regal. That was a whiskey rant.
Haha
Friday 'something annoying happened in the supermarket buying whiskey'
Saturday 'ffffufuuuuuuuuuuu...'
-
Well...I always look for a barcode on my purchases, especially when it comes to vegetables, since it is customarary in just about all countries in the world to weigh your veggies...As for griping about Chinese TV, music, locals talking too much etc...don't see the point really...if so many things in China makes you angry then a plane ticket home is a good cure agagagagag agagagagag
Things locals do that annoy me...hmmm...they smoke at my gym, that is rather annoying. Stupid really. Why smoke at a gym?
Eric, you've been quite the ranty-pooper of late. There ARE legitimate reasons to gripe about living in China, and threads like this in the saloon are surely exactly the sort of safety valve that might just be needed...
I get p-offed at Laowais moaning about this that and the other too, but I'd like to think that the old-hands that be ranting in the above thread have earned the right, somewhat... (racism or whatever was deleted aside - I missed the posts in question) agagagagag
-
True, and a good rant about things like manners and such is understandable...but ranting about the quality of Chinese TV??? Really? I mean, I dislike it too and then...presto...I turn off the TV...but if it is so necessary to rave about things like the quality of TV and habits of the locals in a country which, I might add, never asked any of us to come to in the first place, then go ahead. It seems pointless to me...but proceed, it seems this place is turning into a whining central complaining about China...I will leave you and the rest of the members so inclined to do so...you will hear no more rant-busting from me.
-
I can rant on about Australian TV and to be honest, I do at times. Yes! I do turn off a lot of things and I tape shows so that I can fast forward the ads. bibibibibi Since I can't go to China, I like to hear about all of these things, particularly as It helps me to get some idea about the Chinese folk I meet at the Casino and how their lives are in their Country of origin etc; it helps me to better understand their behavior which often seems strange to me and to most Anglos that I speak to. No doubt I also have the same effect on them. ahahahahah I am happy that folks can be honest about how they feel, but I guess some are better at expressing their views. No doubt this is the same in any culture. I have an Asian man who always seeks me out at the Casino to see how I am going. He doesn't speak any English except he can point at my machine and say "all right"? We work on hand signals and I have no idea what language he speaks. I am trying to find out though but have had no luck yet. llllllllll I'm sorry ETR, but I don't share your views on the "whining central" aspect, but I can appreciate that we see things from a different perspective based on our life experiences. For example, I have observed changes in you as your experiences in China increase and no doubt the people close to you will see the same. Unfortunately, I know nothing much about China except what I hear from you folk. I like to hear both the pros and the cons. Thanks to all the folk who take the time to talk about their experiences. bfbfbfbfbf agagagagag
-
We all have different experiences in different cities and we are all in different stages of our China life. I have to go to the hospital once a week to get tests done. The hospital is the one place where I want to lose my mind and punch someone. Just once I would like to talk my doctor without someone rudely barging into my room to shout over me and try to cut their way past me.
ETR, I try not to share my frustration too much with Chinese friends but surely this a place where I can vent from time to time bjbjbjbjbj
-
As much as I hate spoilers and ruining some of the more amusing WTF moments for new arrivals, I guess this would be a good place to put a warning notice to newbies and a few old hands who may have erased a few memories while drinking counterfeit Chivas.
Those Walmarts (and other large grocery stores) in China are not like the ones you are used to. There is NO method to weigh and ring up fresh fruits and veggies at the cash register. If there isn't a bar code or price tag, look for a weigh table. Just find the closest one. If it's the wrong one, the pretty girl there will give you some completely bizarre directions, so just look where she points and you'll get to the right one. If that fails, go back and look totally lost and confused and the pretty girl will take you to the right table.
Beware of crowded weigh tables. That sweet little old lady who reminds you of your grandma will shove her veggies in underneath yours as you are setting them on the scale if she thinks she can get away with it. Consider it to be an abject lesson in how Chinese wives are more competitive than your average olympic athlete. ahahahahah
-
Things locals do that drive you insane.
OK. I took this to mean "insane"..not "angry". I encountered many things that drove me crazy, but nothing that made me mad. The "insanity" in China usually made me laugh. Crazy things happen here, you can't avoid it, so just lay back and enjoy it. No good getting upset about it.
-
EL - great examples. The weigh tables. I've been working on my patience level lately, and that is one true test area.
One that occurred to me last night while I was driving home: police cars that drive around with their BRIGHT RED and BLUE flashing lights on for no discernable reason. I was behind one at the stop light. It HURT my eyes. I eventually put down my sun visor, even though it was 9:30 p.m. and there was no sun. Where I come from, flashing lights mean emergency and cars are supposed to pull over and let the emergency vehicle pass. I really don't know what it means here. This guy was in no particular hurry to go anywhere. My luck - he turned into my little side street so I got to follow him even longer. He stopped by the convenience store and his buddy (not dressed in a cop uniform) hopped out. Flashing lights went on his way.
Maybe it was an important beer run. mmmmmmmmmm
-
Don't let the new people know about the police leaving their lights on. The utter panic a newbie feels the first time a police car pulls up behind the taxi he or she is riding in is an experience everyone needs to have (got mine during my first week in China bjbjbjbjbj).
axaxaxaxax axaxaxaxax axaxaxaxax
-
The Chinese Police only use lights when absolutely necessary.
E.G, my copper bro-in-law drove me home one night, and needed to go the wrong way up a one way street, to conserve PRC fuel resources. So he used his red and blue lights. Obvious.
-
Those can be turned off?
-
ive just walked back for a coffee from class. On the way i saw 3 aieees with 3 little children. one of the kids was pulling on a bit of string which was tied to a sparrows foot. the bird squealing in agony as this toddler swung it around.
not sure how i feel about it, but it didnt seem right.
I remember as a kid with a .22 airgun shooting at birds in the back garden. my mother came out furious and asked why i was being so cruel, i replied i wasnt killing them, i was aiming for their legs. llllllllll So i guess i cant be too judgemental.
-
I'd have ended up in trouble over that one Fox. bibibibibi Someone, perhaps more than one, probably would have ended up with string around their throat. bfbfbfbfbf We had slug guns as kids and the .22's were only used for shooting rabbits for food. bgbgbgbgbg When one is a child, one thinks as a child etc, so In your shoes, I would have been after the supervising adults. ahahahahah
-
At least they didn't show the part where she looks at her finger after all that diggin'.
'Nuff said.
http://b98.photo.store.qq.com/psb?/V11YB7ei4Qay4m/JVaiUztJ9BeWld375wPS2tR0Jic1SxB0sYwdD3trSrs!/b/YT7OcjoFVwAAYpm6bDpHRgAA (http://b98.photo.store.qq.com/psb?/V11YB7ei4Qay4m/JVaiUztJ9BeWld375wPS2tR0Jic1SxB0sYwdD3trSrs!/b/YT7OcjoFVwAAYpm6bDpHRgAA)
-
In the interests of fairness it needs to be pointed out that many Chinese find the behaviours listed in the above posts as amusing/bizarre/repugnant as we obviously do. Especially those who, my wife being an example, have lived in a Western country for some time. Many Chinese are embarrassed by their fellows who, it must be pointed out, are often ill educated and but a generation removed from a village without running water and electricity.
With the boot on the other foot, she points out many instances of behaviour that wouldn't be tolerated in China. Drag racing and burnouts in public streets. People who belong in institutions - both criminal and mental - being allowed to live in the community, and terrorising their neighbours. How many on this board have been physically threatened or assaulted in China? I've walked city streets from Shanghai to Urumqi without once feeling in danger. You couldn't say the same for parts of most Western cities.....and its not down to superior Chinese law enforcement either.
So I find it ironic, and a little sad, that this thread is so popular. And yes, my hypocritical posts can probably be found on an earlier page.
-
The thread is so popular because we're living in an alien environment. Grab a Chinese guy and drop him somewhere in one of those silly English speaking countries that most of us come from and he'll have his own share of WTF?!? moments, some of which will be accompanied by the urge to smack some sense into the locals.
-
"Grab a Chinese guy and drop him somewhere in one of those silly English speaking countries that most of us come from and he'll have his own share of WTF?!? moments, some of which will be accompanied by the urge to smack some sense into the locals."
As one who works extensively with Chinese students, and the broader Chinese community in Australia, I don't agree with this. Chinese here tend to work hard, mind their own business and keep their opinions to themselves. Maybe they're too busy to gripe about trivialities which help establish and perpetuate stereotypes. Please note I am talking about people who have made huge lifestyle decisions, and very expensive ones too. Most have burned their bridges and are committed to a new life in a new country. Not many posters on expat forums are in that boat: sorry about the mix of metaphors.
Anyhow, that was not the main point of my previous post. People are not looking at what they are criticising or ridiculing in a full social context.
-
The megaphones in front of street stalls yelling the same five words over and over ALL day long.
Drivers continuously sounding their horns at NOTHING.
Hallllooooo's
Spitting on the floor in CARPETED restaurants.
Firecrackers at 6am
The old lady who sells dyed red and green chicks in a dirty little box outside my school.
Chinese opera music at ridiculous volumes being played from the shop downstairs starting at 7am on a Sunday morning and continuing ALL day. llllllllll
-
The megaphones in front of street stalls yelling the same five words over and over ALL day long.
It's a hypnotic command to buy something. The only reason I don't follow the command is that I can't tell what they are saying. ahahahahah
-
Grab a Chinese guy and drop him somewhere in one of those silly English speaking countries that most of us come from and he'll have his own share of WTF?!? moments, some of which will be accompanied by the urge to smack some sense into the locals.
As one who works extensively with Chinese students, and the broader Chinese community in Australia, I don't agree with this. Chinese here tend to work hard, mind their own business and keep their opinions to themselves. Maybe they're too busy to gripe about trivialities which help establish and perpetuate stereotypes. Please note I am talking about people who have made huge lifestyle decisions, and very expensive ones too. Most have burned their bridges and are committed to a new life in a new country. Not many posters on expat forums are in that boat: sorry about the mix of metaphors.
Anyhow, that was not the main point of my previous post. People are not looking at what they are criticising or ridiculing in a full social context.
Perhaps the ones you work with are more accepting of what might seem like strange local customs because the are more committed, or perhaps they just know better than to complain too loudly about perceived local silliness in front of local people. ahahahahah
I'm sure there are a lot of things posted in this thread that the people posting wouldn't loudly proclaim on a busy Chinese street corner (especially with a translator handy to make sure that everyone understood every word).
As you pointed out previously, there are Chinese people who are less than pleased with the actions of some of their fellow countrymen. I've seen plenty of things done by westerners, both here and in the west that made me cringe too. Every country has its share of people who seem determined to give their nation a bad name.
Every country also has its share of accepted local customs that leave outsiders wondering just what the locals have been smoking. If everything seemed absolutely normal and made perfect sense no matter where you go, traveling would be a lot less popular.
-
All the usual suspects from me,
loud explosions in the morning.
Not being able to cycle in a straight line. llllllllll
Urinating anywhere.
Not speaking slowly when I ask them to speak slower.
-
...
-
What are you, like 12? It's okay for adults to express negative impressions. What have the local people done to justify this level of protection from... you?
omg...
Isdinar, have you been having the bad thoughts again?
-
...
-
Thread over!
Isindar doesn't like it.
-
Sometimes some 'Western' people's sense of humour is so different than my sense of humour.
-
I've often thought that holding a discussion with students of English, about this very topic, would be very helpful. I expect that many of you guys may do this, especially with the folk who are planning on going to a foreign Country. It is something I think about after every visit to the Casino. My observations are that most of the people I speak with are rapidly becoming sick and tired of Multiculturalism because of a perceived failure of foreigners to try to assimilate. Before I get howled down, may I just give an example of what happened to me yesterday at the "den". I was standing squarely in front of a money changing machine and had two $50 notes to change to smaller notes. Notes can only be changed ONE AT A TIME and the money can only be removed, once ALL of the notes,from the one transaction, have been dispensed. I removed my notes and put them in my purse and was about to insert my second $50 note when something happened. A very small Asian bloke who spends every day at the Casino, slid in between me and the machine. He then inserted a note into the machine. I got a surprise because I thought he might have had something else on his mind; I could feel his body heat on my private parts. uuuuuuuuuu afafafafaf ahahahahah I was SO annoyed at this rudeness that I'm afraid that I responded in kind, and said "Only an Asian" a few times. I suspect he got the message as he slunk off. I try to understand that this is often a cultural thing, but it annoys the hell out of me and most Anglo Aussies. If I lived in China, I would have to expect it and accept it. I think that the most important thing is to understand the culture of the people of the host nation. For folk like me, this type of topic is really great as it helps me to better understand what makes the different cultures tick. bfbfbfbfbf
-
My Chinese girlfriend complains about a lot of this stuff as well, I call people who let their babies piss on the street and things countryside rather than put it down to Chineseness. Hangzhou is a big city and there is a lot less of that sort of thing than when you go to a small city, Shanghai is the same, people are much less likely to shout hello or hock on the street
There are also plenty of things that people do in England that makes me shake my head and go 'idiots' so it would be weird if that didn't happen in China after living here for years, I did have a phase of not minding the antisocial behaviour because it was a novelty for me
-
What are you, like 12? It's okay for adults to express negative impressions. What have the local people done to justify this level of protection from... you?
omg...
Isdinar, have you been having the bad thoughts again?
They have been incredibly kind and welcoming to a foreigner, that's what they have done.
The "negative impressions" have become a broken record.
Hmmm, you seem to be suggesting that where I have formed negative impressions I have been in error in some way. And perhaps I could correct these impressions if only I would realise the truth that Isdinar has had a happy time?
Iz, you're obviously hiding something very unpleasant. Who else puts up such relentless positivity? And your propaganda chief-like commitment to having other people reflect that positivity is a really bad sign. "The Chinese" must be holding something very, very dark for you, that you've had to turn them into such avatars for goodness and light.
-
...
-
Wrong answer, Iz. You're preaching an alteration of focus. The people voicing negativity are to stop. But you haven't said why beyond noting your own pleasant experiences. This would imply that negative talk is harmful not to Chinese but to you.
Or is there some altruism going on here? You urge change in other foreigner perspectives the better for those foreigners to... what? Come to terms with the horror?
It always comes back to that, doesn't it? The hidden horrors.
Let the poison out, Iz. To deny negativity now is to see it burst out later, bigger and stronger and far uglier. You'll be getting swastika tattoos and walking about with your shirt off daring people to fight you. PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS INTERNATIONAL, TELL US TRULY NOW THAT YOU DON'T ADMIRE SPITTING!!!! DO IT FOR THE TEAM!
-
...
-
A lot of this comes from the fact that they were in the countryside less than a generation ago where spitting on the street and lighting up wherever doesn't matter.
Something I found interesting was that my grandmother in law was talking about how badly behaved her kids (my uncles) were when they were small. Swearing at elders, fighting etc. Many kids were like this because at the time of the Great Leap Forward and other Projects, the parents had to be out working otherwise they would be classed as counter-revolutionary or as a bad egg and thus couldn't look after the kids and teach them decentness.
I wonder if this explains a lot of the 'uncivilised' behaviour of many of that generation (50-60ish now)
-
Why should I repeat what has already been stated ad nauseam?
This thread has become an eight page circle jerk of negativity.
I'm out.
Don't leave our circle jerk! We're not done here! Just because you, uh, got it all out, so to speak, doesn't mean we're finished ...
-
And dammit, they actually have the audacity to speak Chinese! th_f th_bj th_bj
I was actually LMFAO at this one until I saw the fight that followed. kkkkkkkkkk
We've got threads about out great China is. We've got threads about things that annoy us in China. What drives one person stark raving mad might not even be noticed by another.
I'm firmly in the "I LOVE CHINA!" camp and plan to spend the rest of my life here. I'm also in the "I love to whine about things that annoy me" camp and reserve the right to publicly or privately bitch and moan about anything I feel like bitching and moaning about. This thread has been great fun during the parts when people weren't getting into serious arguments.
There's not a country on Earth that doesn't have something annoying going on inside of it, and very few countries that don't have plenty of good things going on inside of them.
If people want to disagree, please do it RESPECTFULLY (unless you are disagreeing with George - he gets no respect ahahahahah). If you think something said in this or another thread is a cheap shot, take a moment and realize that much of what is written in the Saloon is done so in tongue and cheek fashion. If you think something has gone way too far, report the post or PM one of the admins or moderators.
Ya know, it drives me insane when those crazy foreign devils get into fights about what is and isn't worth complaining about. ahahahahah
-
Don't leave our circle jerk! We're not done here! Just because you, uh, got it all out, so to speak, doesn't mean we're finished ...
Aiyaaaaa!!! Shouldn't you be posting this in the "Zero's Search for Sunflowers" thread? ahahahahah
-
Why should I repeat what has already been stated ad nauseam?
This thread has become an eight page circle jerk of negativity.
I'm out.
If you think there's something else that needs to be said, go ahead and unload it. That's right, just shoot. No need to hold back.
-
We could start a new thread called "Things USAnians do that drive you insane." agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag
The "negativity" is mostly in your mind, Izzy. The people posting in this thread, mostly, have been in China for years, and the things that drive them insane haven't driven them to leave China. The things that drive us insane are usually minor annoyances that most of us laugh off. What else can you do? I reckon you've got the bull by the horns on this one, and are reading far too much into these posts. Learn to relax a little.
-
i just moved this to the pit folks.. It seems more appropriate given the tone some of the posts have taken!
This thread has given the mods quite a bit of grief over the past few weeks so we're keeping a close eye on it and it's very much likely to be closed if it degenerates again!
So, how about we lighten up a bit? drinks on Stil
-
It's a fair point that expression of annoyance and distaste can wend their way surreptitiously past culture shock (that state where one is finds the legitimate differences in behaviour and values too extreme) and ease on into nurturing a race hate.
Or, less provocatively, that describing how one has felt tested in this environment can turn into an inappropriate disrespect for the noble yellow savage.
So yeah, there's a fine line between venting and... I dunno, setting oneself up as "better than them."
But who is the bigger outsider: the imperial visitor who finds fault or that same visitor finding only beauty?
It's a tough country. They don't make it easy for a fellow to just roll up here and live. You have to learn customs, a language, get a visa, have skills... it takes a while to be "at home".
-
Back on topic, the way that Chinese cities and the national tourism board always show people relaxing in front of lakes or whatever. There are plenty of reasons to visit and travel in China as a tourist but the way people have a really relaxing holiday, who are they trying to kid?
-
But who is the bigger outsider: the imperial visitor who finds fault or that same visitor finding only beauty?
Oooohhh... can I qualify for both? ahahahahah
Back on topic, the way that Chinese cities and the national tourism board always show people relaxing in front of lakes or whatever. There are plenty of reasons to visit and travel in China as a tourist but the way people have a really relaxing holiday, who are they trying to kid?
Then again, how many Disney World commercials show the signs that say something like "Approximate waiting time from this point is 1 hour"? ahahahahah
We could start a new thread called "Things USAnians do that drive you insane." agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag
Now that this has been dumped into the BS pit, go ahead and start one. Of course, we'll need similar topics for Hogandlanders, Limeys, etc. agagagagag
-
I get embarrassed when foreigners take out their venting in front of Chinese friends. That being said, I think there is nothing wrong with a bitch or two from time to time. I think people should notice that the people who have posted in this thread also post in the positive things about China thread bfbfbfbfbf
As George mentioned, many of us have been here for years and love it. That being said, being here for years also brings out annoyances that weren't there in the beginning. I could also post numerous times in a things that bug me about Canadians thread afafafafaf
By the way, I have to visit the hospital every week to get tests done. Anyone here who has to visit the hospital EVERY WEEK and can do so WITHOUT WANTING to strangle someone occasionally.... then I nominate you for sainthood :whorship:
-
@ babala --> I totally agree with you.
My first year in China I loved everything (ok all 6 years). However, I saw things differently each year. I think many FT's will see China with either 'rose coloured glasses' or very negatively the first year. Those who are very negative, or hate China during the first year rarely return. After 6 years, there were things that bugged me that were just novelties during the first year.
I think that many new members at the saloon are also new to China and so are in the 'everything is new and novel' state.
I think the new members need to allow the members who have been here for a long time to vent from time to time. Also, us folks who have been here forever have to remember the glow we felt when we first arrived.
-
I concur, something is only "quaint" for so long as it is new. Afew yers down the road that "quaint" behavior (or w/e) is no longer smirk-worthy and can become "That *@#$@#".
-
I'd have to say that Chinese expats living in foreign lands referring to us as "waiguoren" is a bit ironic. I know how Chinese works linguistically, and how the Chinese mind operates, but still...............foreigners in our own lands?
-
Soooooo ... you're ambling homeward on a Sunday, noonish, and you notice a t-shirt purveyor whose offerings include some potentially batshiat crazy-delicious Chinglish. You zeroe in on the most promising sample. It's black with a white splash of something that looks like the galaxy on it and the words "You ar ... " ... There's a third 'word' you can't make out, because the garment is folded neatly around a bit of cardboard that fits cleverly into a shallow box display unit thingy, and the third 'word' is lost beneath the bottom fold. You make a beeline for it, pointy finger extended, and you say to the young lady in charge, 可以看吗？...
Inexplicably, without hesitation, as though her response to your clear and unmistakable desire to further investigate THAT t-shirt were perfectly sensible, she calmly offers you a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT t-shirt. It's a flaming, utterly ridiculous shade of pink. It has a hideous applique rendering of a vaguely cat-like thing on it, and a couple of random shiny plastic things or a shameless abundance of them slapped on top of that. It might fit a 10 year old girl, but it sure as hell would not fit you. It couldn't be less like the t-shirt you have expressed interest in if it were a bicycle pump.
This has happened before. Many times. No matter how many times it has happened; it only makes LESS sense to you with repetition. You *should* just accept - nay - anticipate! - this chain of events. After all - there is no 'why'... but no. You are broken - again. The little wheels in your mind overseen by the tiny weeble who runs your logic centre suddenly grind wildly against each other. Your logic weeble's left eyebrow is twitching uncontrollably and the only thing that comes up is -
"WTF?! kkkkkkkkkk WHY? Why are you brandishing this thing at me wwwwwwwwww ? It's like I pointed at an apple and you are taking this as a sign that I want to buy a cured pig snout. llllllllll WHY is this happening?"
You don't say any of this out loud of course; that would be rude and pointless. Nevertheless, you and your mission are derailed. You mutter quietly to yourself and wander off down the street ... just another in a string of failed attempts to reach sidewalk-in-China enlightenment...
eeeeeeeeee
-
Oh, this topic... is asking for trouble.
I have seen large men walk down the street. Small men too. Average sized woman, porky children and slim, and students of all varieties. In general, should any of these be set on a path that somehow may cross or nearly cross that of some other person, these people, as a rule, neither bark nor hiss nor honk nor shout.
Yet, put these people in a car or settle their dumb asses on a scooter, and suddenly they are the prime mover and traffic organizer of all nearby persons. They honk and toot and tootle and parp.
It's getting worse too. There was actually a time when people merely drove their cars. These days they drive everyone ahead of their cars. And I find the incessant honking to have no redeeming value. Spitting for example is sometimes hilarious. Threats from cars never are.
-
Soooooo ... you're ambling homeward on a Sunday, noonish, and you notice a t-shirt purveyor whose offerings include some potentially batshiat crazy-delicious Chinglish.
You don't say any of this out loud of course; that would be rude and pointless. Nevertheless, you and your mission are derailed. You mutter quietly to yourself and wander off down the street ... just another in a string of failed attempts to reach sidewalk-in-China enlightenment...
eeeeeeeeee
These situations, like the t-shirt sale, are difficult to nail down.
-
gzwriter, can you pop into the Champagne Cabana and go to the first topic titled Introductions. I'd love to hear a bit more about where you come from etc. Thanks! bfbfbfbfbf
-
http://www.buzzfeed.com/daozers/27-signs-you-were-raised-by-asian-immigrant-parents
SOCIAL LIFT
27 Signs You Were Raised By Asian Immigrant Parents
Specifically East Asian (Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc.) See these other posts for Indians and Persians.
posted on April 17, 2013 at 1:21pm EDT
Dao Nguyen
BuzzFeed Product
Kevin Tang
BuzzFeed Staff
Share20KTweet998Email1KPin it
1. Before prom, your parents had stern words for your date:
Via: mothersdaymeme.tumblr.com
2. On vacations, your parents took photos like this:
You laughed, rolled your eyes, but years later you realize you should've taken more photos of them.
Via: m.lolsnaps.com
3. They did this at the fruit aisle:
Via: youtube.com
4. And ordered hot water at restaurants.
Source: electricgale.tumblr.com
5. They coached you on starving before a buffet and gorging only on ribeye and lobsters. Seafood-phobes were deadweight in buffet olympics.
Source: crazystupidshit.com
6. When the bill came, older relatives fought, i.e. yelled and screamed in the middle of the restaurant, for the right to pay.
Via: justkiddingfilms.net
7. Some distant cousin or family friend's son/daughter is always being trotted out as a paragon of perfection that you're falling short of.
Source: zazzle.com
8. When you got sick, your parents fed you bitter herbal brews, or sent you to weird bruising traditional treatments:
It didn't actually hurt, but you were always afraid someone would report you to Child Services when you changed for gym.
Source: youtube.com
9. Your mom's always convinced it's too cold without a jacket outside.
And you would never, ever, leave the fan on when you're sleeping.
Via: youtube.com
10. Your relatives stuffed you with awesome food. And they didn't hesitate to comment when your waistline ballooned.
Expert food trolls, those Asian aunts.
Via: fucking-hyolyn.tumblr.com
11. You ate savory breakfasts littered with jarred pickles. Rice was always involved.
Source: 4.bp.blogspot.com
12. When they visited you, they always crashed on some relative's couch, or kicked you out of your own bed.
They're convinced hotels were a ripoff.
13. The remote control is wrapped in plastic wrap.
Source: ressacjane.blogspot.com
14. For a household that was low on luxury, there were a lot of foot massagers, back massagers, massage hammers and massage accessories.
Via: themetapicture.com
15. Your mom put fluffy dried pork into your sandwiches, and your friends said it looked like hair.
Scarred for life.
Source: seriouseats.com
16. Your fridge was packed with jars whose labels never matched the food within.
You also saved every jar to store pickled stuff.
Source: bangkokgoplay.pixnet.net
17. You only had bowls. No plates.
Source: pzed
18. The dishwasher was only used as a drying rack.
Source: 3.bp.blogspot.com
19. In the drawers were free napkins, cups, utensils, and mini shampoo bottles they've hoarded from hotels.
Also shower caps, though no one in your family has ever used one before.
Source: pakermonkey.blogspot.com
20. Saturdays, you studied your parents' native tongues. Sundays, you practiced an instrument. Your dad was rad if he let you pick the guitar.
Via: castnet.nctu.edu.tw
21. Your friends were always wondering why your parents are arguing. That's just how they speak.
Via: shutterstock.com
22. Everyone was your Aunt or Uncle but you had no idea if they were actually related to you.
Also your parents call each other Mom and Dad instead of their first names. In fact you didn't even know adults had first names.
23. You know what durians smell like.
Source: hungrytravels.com
24. People always assume that you're related to another Lee/Chung/Nguyen/Hong/Kim that they know.
Source: daves4
25. Nothing will stop your aunts from trying to set you up with royal bores with Ivy League degrees.
"Mom, we have nothing in common." "But she's a doctor from Harvard!"
Source:
26. Every year, you got money in red envelopes on New Year's.
Source: kristinandkayla.com
27. Finally: your parents gave you everything they had and spent nothing on themselves. They know firsthand the dangers of the world, and their work isn't done until they see you settled and safe.
Their clothes are twenty years old, but they sent you to college. They may be too stoic to say "I love you" but you know they do, and you wouldn't change anything! Thanks Mom and Dad!
Source: ent.chinadaily.com.cn
-
27. Finally: your parents gave you everything they had and spent nothing on themselves. They know firsthand the dangers of the world, and their work isn't done until they see you settled and safe.
Their clothes are twenty years old, but they sent you to college. They may be too stoic to say "I love you" but you know they do, and you wouldn't change anything! Thanks Mom and Dad!
Source: ent.chinadaily.com.cn
Sounds suspiciously like my parents! akakakakak agagagagag agagagagag
-
27. Finally: your parents gave you everything they had and spent nothing on themselves. They know firsthand the dangers of the world, and their work isn't done until they see you settled and safe.
Their clothes are twenty years old, but they sent you to college. They may be too stoic to say "I love you" but you know they do, and you wouldn't change anything! Thanks Mom and Dad!
Source: ent.chinadaily.com.cn
Sounds suspiciously like my parents! akakakakak agagagagag agagagagag
Wow, I didn't know your parents were Asian
-
7. Some distant cousin or family friend's son/daughter is always being trotted out as a paragon of perfection that you're falling short of.
9. Your mom's always convinced it's too cold without a jacket outside.
10. Your relatives stuffed you with awesome food. And they didn't hesitate to comment when your waistline ballooned.
19. In the drawers were free napkins, cups, utensils, and mini shampoo bottles they've hoarded from hotels.
21. Your friends were always wondering why your parents are arguing. That's just how they speak.
22. Everyone was your Aunt or Uncle but you had no idea if they were actually related to you.
27. Finally: your parents gave you everything they had and spent nothing on themselves. They know firsthand the dangers of the world, and their work isn't done until they see you settled and safe.
Their clothes are twenty years old, but they sent you to college. They may be too stoic to say "I love you" but you know they do, and you wouldn't change anything! Thanks Mom and Dad!
That's straight out of "You Know You's Italian When . . . "