Presently working in China - 10 curious observations
Discussion
Been here for 4 months now, anyone else who has been here should be able to identify with these:
1. You will never, ever see a car in China pulling a trailer
2. In China, a Chinese restaurant is still called a 'Chinese restaurant' not simply a 'restaurant'
3. When in a Chinese restaurant in China you never get a drink order taken before you eat
4. You also never get anything accompanied by rice - the dishes are served without rice and rice is only served at the end if someone in the group is still hungry
5. 99% of toilet facilities are utterly minging
6. In the office, 99% of the ladies wear the exact same clothes for the entire week
7. Whilst there are countless thousands of scooters on the roads, you very rarely see a petrol one, they are almost all electric
8. Everyone lives in a flat
9. You can still buy a brand new rover 75 or streetsmart but they are called something Chinese now
10. There is no concept of chicken fillet - even in KFC the chicken burgers contain brown meat. McD's however is spot on
1. You will never, ever see a car in China pulling a trailer
2. In China, a Chinese restaurant is still called a 'Chinese restaurant' not simply a 'restaurant'
3. When in a Chinese restaurant in China you never get a drink order taken before you eat
4. You also never get anything accompanied by rice - the dishes are served without rice and rice is only served at the end if someone in the group is still hungry
5. 99% of toilet facilities are utterly minging
6. In the office, 99% of the ladies wear the exact same clothes for the entire week
7. Whilst there are countless thousands of scooters on the roads, you very rarely see a petrol one, they are almost all electric
8. Everyone lives in a flat
9. You can still buy a brand new rover 75 or streetsmart but they are called something Chinese now
10. There is no concept of chicken fillet - even in KFC the chicken burgers contain brown meat. McD's however is spot on
Turbodiesel1690 said:
9. You can still buy a brand new rover 75 or streetsmart but they are called something Chinese now
There was a Roewe 750 (think that is what they call the 75!) proudly displayed in one of the main Beijing underground stations as the next big thing back in 2008 when I was there. What about the endless spitting as well, seems it happens everywhere outdoors or indoors
Fascinating country if a little weird at times
cs02rm0 said:
Turbodiesel1690 said:
brown meat
What the...I can identify with many of the observations above, great place though....
pokethepope said:
The most annoying thing I find is the bones. I'm not talking a roast chicken here where of course you eat the meat of the bone, but a chicken cut up into little square inch bits where there is as much bone as meat. Very tiresome to pick all the meat off, especially with chopsticks!
Yeah the bones is an annoying one, worst when in Soup IMO. I live with a chinese girl in the UK now, she still cooks with the bones no matter now I try to educate her.Turbodiesel1690 said:
Been here for 4 months now, anyone else who has been here should be able to identify with these:
1. You will never, ever see a car in China pulling a trailer
Although you will see them being pulled by people, scooters, trikes, mules, horses, bikes, dogs and sometimes elephants. They are always full to overflowing.1. You will never, ever see a car in China pulling a trailer
I'm off to China this weekend for two weeks on a sort of working holiday. Having never been to the far east before, has anyone got any recommendations/ tips/ advice on things to do/ avoid and social/ cultural faux pas to avoid??
I'll be staying in the Shanghai and Zhejiang regions.
Many thanks.
John.
I'll be staying in the Shanghai and Zhejiang regions.
Many thanks.
John.
JohnoCup said:
I'm off to China this weekend for two weeks on a sort of working holiday. Having never been to the far east before, has anyone got any recommendations/ tips/ advice on things to do/ avoid and social/ cultural faux pas to avoid??
I'll be staying in the Shanghai and Zhejiang regions.
Many thanks.
John.
As a Westerner, you're forgiven for not knowing the customs.I'll be staying in the Shanghai and Zhejiang regions.
Many thanks.
John.
Get a guide if you can (University is a good start - they like to practice their English!), you'll get a LOT more out of the trip with a local or two in tow.
When giving money to a taxi driver, make a note of the serial number on the actual note, a favourite trick is for them to (with a sleight of hand), change it for a fake one and refuse it. You then give them another real note. They get paid twice, you end up with a fake note you can't spend. Or get a guide and avoid this!
You don't need local help to visit places, but you'll see a lot more of the place with help.
I'll be there next Friday for a couple of weeks too.
Have fun!
Excellent list!
You missed;
11) When going for a 'western' meal, it's still served Chinese style. Which means (for the uninitiated), the food comes out as it's ready. You may start with a cheesecake and salad, and then get something hot. You won't be served together, and will probably find you're on your dessert while somebody else has only just finished their starter.
12) There is NO chivalry. They will happily slam a door in the face of little old ladies, women, and children.
13) It takes at least 5 Chinese people to do one westerners job.
14) People sleep everywhere. On park benches, in the office over their desk, sitting on a pushbike....
15) The lack of an appropriate vehicle in no way prevents them from moving goods. Say, for instance, you want to move 10 sheets of 8' x 4' plywood. The most natural thing would be to use a Transit van, rather than a bicycle.
You missed;
11) When going for a 'western' meal, it's still served Chinese style. Which means (for the uninitiated), the food comes out as it's ready. You may start with a cheesecake and salad, and then get something hot. You won't be served together, and will probably find you're on your dessert while somebody else has only just finished their starter.
12) There is NO chivalry. They will happily slam a door in the face of little old ladies, women, and children.
13) It takes at least 5 Chinese people to do one westerners job.
14) People sleep everywhere. On park benches, in the office over their desk, sitting on a pushbike....
15) The lack of an appropriate vehicle in no way prevents them from moving goods. Say, for instance, you want to move 10 sheets of 8' x 4' plywood. The most natural thing would be to use a Transit van, rather than a bicycle.
maser_spyder said:
Excellent list!
You missed;
11) When going for a 'western' meal, it's still served Chinese style. Which means (for the uninitiated), the food comes out as it's ready. You may start with a cheesecake and salad, and then get something hot. You won't be served together, and will probably find you're on your dessert while somebody else has only just finished their starter.
12) There is NO chivalry. They will happily slam a door in the face of little old ladies, women, and children.
13) It takes at least 5 Chinese people to do one westerners job.
14) People sleep everywhere. On park benches, in the office over their desk, sitting on a pushbike....
Im in HK, I only found "everyone lives in a flat"' from the OP's list ring true, but all yours do. I always hold doors open, and a lot of the time they just stand there staring at me with a blank look on their face, they're not used to it!You missed;
11) When going for a 'western' meal, it's still served Chinese style. Which means (for the uninitiated), the food comes out as it's ready. You may start with a cheesecake and salad, and then get something hot. You won't be served together, and will probably find you're on your dessert while somebody else has only just finished their starter.
12) There is NO chivalry. They will happily slam a door in the face of little old ladies, women, and children.
13) It takes at least 5 Chinese people to do one westerners job.
14) People sleep everywhere. On park benches, in the office over their desk, sitting on a pushbike....
pokethepope said:
maser_spyder said:
Excellent list!
You missed;
11) When going for a 'western' meal, it's still served Chinese style. Which means (for the uninitiated), the food comes out as it's ready. You may start with a cheesecake and salad, and then get something hot. You won't be served together, and will probably find you're on your dessert while somebody else has only just finished their starter.
12) There is NO chivalry. They will happily slam a door in the face of little old ladies, women, and children.
13) It takes at least 5 Chinese people to do one westerners job.
14) People sleep everywhere. On park benches, in the office over their desk, sitting on a pushbike....
Im in HK, I only found "everyone lives in a flat"' from the OP's list ring true, but all yours do. I always hold doors open, and a lot of the time they just stand there staring at me with a blank look on their face, they're not used to it!You missed;
11) When going for a 'western' meal, it's still served Chinese style. Which means (for the uninitiated), the food comes out as it's ready. You may start with a cheesecake and salad, and then get something hot. You won't be served together, and will probably find you're on your dessert while somebody else has only just finished their starter.
12) There is NO chivalry. They will happily slam a door in the face of little old ladies, women, and children.
13) It takes at least 5 Chinese people to do one westerners job.
14) People sleep everywhere. On park benches, in the office over their desk, sitting on a pushbike....
Chinese chaps just don't look after their ladies like we do, so when a nice Brit comes along and makes her stand on the inside of the pavement, walks here home, and holds the door open, they think it's just wonderful.
I have this on good authority from my Chinese staff!
Turbodiesel1690 said:
Been here for 4 months now, anyone else who has been here should be able to identify with these:
1. You will never, ever see a car in China pulling a trailer - That's quite true, can't remember ever seeing it.2. In China, a Chinese restaurant is still called a 'Chinese restaurant' not simply a 'restaurant' - but they have Thai, Japanese and Korean restarants everywhere as well, so they need to distinguish.
3. When in a Chinese restaurant in China you never get a drink order taken before you eat - Not in my experience, I've almost always ordered drinks before the meal, and even if ordering at the same time, they always arrive first.
4. You also never get anything accompanied by rice - the dishes are served without rice and rice is only served at the end if someone in the group is still hungry - True, I was always asked at the end of meal if I would like any rice, it's really not used as an accompanying dish.
5. 99% of toilet facilities are utterly minging - The old tale of footprints on Western style toilet seats rings true!
6. In the office, 99% of the ladies wear the exact same clothes for the entire week - True in some cases, and I found some of their hygiene to be rather lacking too!
7. Whilst there are countless thousands of scooters on the roads, you very rarely see a petrol one, they are almost all electric - I never saw this, I owned a petrol scooter and was always surrounded by other petrol ones when riding around, saw a few electric bikes, but not many.
8. Everyone lives in a flat - I lived in a new apartment complex, but the surrounding older buildings were two or three storey townhouses.
9. You can still buy a brand new rover 75 or streetsmart but they are called something Chinese now - You can still buy a Mark 2 VW Jetta or a Mark 1 VW Santana. Up until recently, you could also buy a new Maestro, but with a Montego nose on it. The old Audi 200 was also considered an executive car.
10. There is no concept of chicken fillet - even in KFC the chicken burgers contain brown meat. McD's however is spot on - I found KFC one the bone chicken to be grey and stringy, the burgers weren't bad. Maccie D was exactly the same as in the West, only a meal cost around £1.50!
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