You Have To Love The Chinese...

[Padkapow Guy]

I am very surprised though that you mention they 'take/steal/ toast and/or eggs. Chinese don't eat toast or eggs for breakfast unless there's nothing else; Chinese eat 3 times warm food/day and would rather eat Thai food than toast.

Stay at the Mecure in Pattaya for a week, and if it does not happen to you atleast 5 times out of the 7 days of your stay I will gladly pay for your Hotel room. It was happening to me so much that the waiters & staff use to stand guard for me when I would put my toast in the toaster. They would stay there until I came back for my toast so that the chinese would not take it.

PKG

[LaoPo]

http://www.chinese-culture.net/html/china_culture_shock.html

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Heres a good link. my apologies to your wife, out of the 1.3 billion your very lucky to have found her, no no Im only joking Im sure there are many nice well manured Chinese around but I think as a nation they are seen as rude and abrupt. I wonder how they see us ? that might be an interesting one ?

Apologies accepted. I have been traveling in and out of China for almost 30 years and have witnessed the mind boggling changes.

However, many things in the blog-link you sent are true, and...... untrue.

I don't recognize the 'frightening and kind of scary stories' the author (and many others) write about China and Chinese. I seldom encountered spitting people, rude people, non-behaving people, shouting people or otherwise.

Maybe I'm an adapting kind of person and I get along very well with most populations around the world, including Chinese. I have that kind of ability (cant help it, it's in me) to make fun with people...always, and everywhere, except some few nasty places I've been to and which I better not discuss here.

Westerners (and Media) -most of them- are afraid of China, the Chinese and their culture but I'm used to hear about that. It's because most westerners are little educated (can't blame them for that) about China and form their opinion in what they read, hear or view in the media or from their governments.

The other side of the story is one NEVER hear about problems with Chinese minority groups in Europe or the US/OZ and NZ unlike other ethnic groups and/or religions (...). The Chinese work very hard and mind their own business. I have never heard of any of them taking advantage of social securities in my own country but there are thousands and thousands of other minority groups with whom 'we' have lots of problems with, lots.

G-7 meeting in Washington

G-7 = USA, UK, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Canada

I just read that the leaders of the G-7 countries urged China to increase the speed of rising the Yuan vs the $. The G-7 countries are 'responsible' for 2/3 of the world's wealth. The same G-7 countries have a total of around 725 million people.

China alone has 1.300.000.000 people; another neighbour has 1.100.000.000 Billion....India

We have to learn to work together with them; there is no other option.

The time the 'West' could push the poor East and tell them what and how to do it, is over, forever.

LaoPo

[LaoPo]

I am very surprised though that you mention they 'take/steal/ toast and/or eggs. Chinese don't eat toast or eggs for breakfast unless there's nothing else; Chinese eat 3 times warm food/day and would rather eat Thai food than toast.

Stay at the Mecure in Pattaya for a week, and if it does not happen to you atleast 5 times out of the 7 days of your stay I will gladly pay for your Hotel room. It was happening to me so much that the waiters & staff use to stand guard for me when I would put my toast in the toaster. They would stay there until I came back for my toast so that the chinese would not take it.

PKG

Sir, I believe I said that I believed you and I'm sure you are honest in what you say.

So, I see no other 'reason' than that the organizing Chinese travel-agent has not done it's job properly and I mean that they did not organize (with the hotel management) a normal 'Chinese' style breakfast. A breakfast Chinese are used to eat (which we westerners don't eat) containing hot soup, white rice and all the stuff around.

To 'feed' the Chinese toast is unheard of.

In EVERY Chinese hotel there are 2 buffets; 1 Chinese style 1 Western style...EVERY hotel ! Of course I'm not able to tell what kind of breakfast your hotel normally supplies...? Don't they have a Thai style (hot) breakfast ?

I'm sorry you had to fight for your toast but it happened to me many, many times before as well; I just arrange a waiter/waitress and ask HIM/HER to organize toast for me.

Job's done and easy; same-same with eggs, any style. Just order and they bring it to you.

Maybe the hotel you staid in has something to learn ?

LaoPo

[TokyoT]

I travel to China fairly regularly and I agree with much of what has been posted about the rude behavior. The high volume of talking can be a bit much at times and many times one would think they were talking into a tin can with a string attached rather than a cell phone. The line jumping use to get me really bent when I first started to travel there but now I just let it slide. The spitting can be a bit over the top at times especially when they really work their throat and make a bunch of racket when working up the lugie. It does get me a bit worked up when I see someone spit on the floor in a restaurant and then use their shoe to work it around a bit.

One thing that I find kind of amusing is in the summer months some of the men will pull their pants legs up near their knees. Not so bad when it is some old men sitting around shooting the sh*t or something. But I have been in business meetings and had the top guy sitting across from me do the same thing.

As for the hotels offering both western and Chinese breakfast this is true enough in most of the larger cities in the decent hotels. But not true if one wonders too far off the beaten track. Plenty of times I have not been able to get a western breakfast when traveling in China. Not that this is really that big of a deal.

All in China is still an interesting place to visit with plenty of nice and considerate people. Yes there are some pretty crude/rude folks in the bunch but hard not to have some of that with a population over 1 billion. The pollution is really getting out of control and the dust storms in Beijing can be unbearable and things like these take away from my visits more than any rude behavior.

[Tinkelbell]

I have to say the chinese love to try western foods, may be out of couriousity or whatever other reason which is unknown to me.

Had seen many times at the breakfast buffet in a hotel in BKK.

At a hote dining room I usually head for Thai food or chinese food section, but those chinese tourists would head to western food section, help themselves with bacon, ham, toast, sweet rolls..., they also big on catch'up, butter and jam. They love their eggs (with cheese, muchroom, bell pepper, onion etc) omelet too.

Yes, they are queue jumper, loud and quite rude.

First time when experienced this, I laughted to myself for seeing the chinese go crazy with western food and me ( being just flew in from State) gone wild with theThai food.

But after many visits to my sis ( and her family) in China, I always got a request to take them to the restaurants that serve western foods, it's something they treasure.

May be they think western food is a special treat for them.

[jayhech]

I was in Hong Kong last week and I have to say I liked how they walked very fast on streets (unlike it here where some people walk like there's no existing destination). People in HKG don't mind bumping into you, hitting your shoulders or you bumping into them, hitting their shoulders (though I avoided both like a fast-walking master...I knew what to expect!). I noticed that they smiled a lot and most of the time they were very helpful. I've heard a lot about spitting but I didn't see it in HKG. But I must say that I really hated it when they tried to jump queue. They seemed to know though that it's wrong so whenever I confronted them for my right they backed away. I've never been to the mainland China but it's my next destination. It will be very interesting and sure will be a big challenge.

[j_cheung]

I think that relates to a traditional Chinese belief that bellicose talk & laughter scares any uninvited spirits away whereas hocking a mouth full of phelgm could be due to the extremely dry & dusty weather up north as well as ... ahem ... an unhealthy mixture of cheap tobacco, too many shots of baijiu & chewing a handful of big onions.

As for rolled up pants, it's not just the men but their women & kids are like that too. Some even roll up their shirts to release excess heat off from their bellies

On the dust storms from the Gobi, the weather is a lot more pleasant & wetter down south in the Yangzi.

Having said all this, the life & habits of many mainlanders are almost identical to their compatriots in HK, Taiwan & overseas 30 to 40 years ago.