Cultural Differences
9:19 AM Posted by SirMack
On May 10th I will have been in China for 2 years, it certainly does not seem that long although sometimes I do find myself trying to remember what it was like living in Canada!! Also I realize that I no longer notice that I am the only white person in the street, on the bus, or in the restaurant. Being stared at does not even register anymore and at least where I live in Xu Jia Bang, I am seldom given 'the stare' except from the very old but I have learned to say hello in the local dialect which results in a beaming smile and if there are more than one person the smile is usually followed by a noisy conversation about the foreigner being able to speak Suzhouhua. Children all want to say 'hello' followed by 'how are you, today?' often followed by gales of laughter. Englishis spoken by most of the young people who realize and/or believe that the best jobs go to those who can speak English.
Although I have been here for two years my Chinese is still poor because I use it so infrequently and also because I am at heart lazy and can egt by quite easily without it!! One of the great advantages and disadvantages of speaking Englishis that you can always get by.
The longer I am here the more I realize that I know so little about the Chinese. One thing I do know is tha the young people all want to make lots of money in order to provide for themselves and their families. Familie are still the most important unit here and my students, without expection all expect to genuinely want to provide for their parents.
March 9, 2009 at 5:22 PM
u said u lived in America for 29years,
and i am curious about what other countries
u have been to?
March 10, 2009 at 11:34 PM
Wow just found your blog on Traffic Splash lol. I am engaged to a Chinese Man and he is lovely. Yes Chinese are a great Enigma and a challenging one. Nin de Blog hen hao lol.
March 12, 2009 at 1:21 PM
Don't try to understand the Chinese. After I was shouted at by a strawberry seller at a Beijing market, I have since given up understanding the Chinese.
But, it must be hard for you to stay in China? I mean, harder than expats living in, say, Singapore?
March 17, 2009 at 2:33 PM
Very interesting post. It gave me a lot of insights and understanding about the Chinese values and culture.
Seek No More
March 29, 2009 at 1:48 PM
Ah, a fellow Lao wai! And interesting too to see Porters five forces there. I just taught that in my private class.
April 1, 2009 at 10:30 PM
I am currently visiting Shanghai, China. It is a very interesting place, however, language is a major issue. It is so hard to communicate. But anyway everyone wants to help so it is not difficult to get by.
April 21, 2009 at 1:52 AM
Family ties are strong in China. I live in America, I still think it is necessary to provide for parents.
May 8, 2009 at 2:05 AM
Chinese are really family oriented. :)
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