Chinese tourists in foreign countries

[Silent]

 

I think the term "Indian caste-system" is thrown around

Absolutely true, the caste system was not mentioned in the 'incident' it was just my way of linking the common habit that rich people get a preferential treatment with the cliche image many people have of India. To my knowledge treating people differently based on caste is illegal. Nevertheless I've, despite that it's sometimes hard to figure out what really is going on, the impression that in many places the caste system is still alive and kicking. Hope you don't feel insulted, it was not my intention to insult anyone.

[889]

So what if people spit or queue jump.

I've seen a lot worse behaviour than that in China.

Like eating food bare-handed. Getting a grab on a hamburger and chomping away, right in central Beijing. Disgusting. They could at least wash their hands first. Or wear gloves.

Then there are those who walk into a post office and lick their stamps in front of everyone. Yuck. If you've got to lick those stamps, and you shouldn't, at least do it in private.

Should we mention young women who smoke in public? Sure can make you stare, can't they.

Or adults who twiddle with their chopsticks like a five-year-old? And then point them at you? You think they'd know better.

Let's not forget the mega-backpackers on public transport who keep bumping their big loads into the public without a single duibuqi. Like they can't speak or something.

Guess they were all never taught at home to dong limao.

[Lu]

Apart from the chopstick twiddling and perhaps the stamp licking, these are all behaviours that plenty of Chinese people engage in at least as much as foreigners. If you want to make this point, try the hordes of drunk laowai in Sanlitun.

 

If the impolite behaviour of Chinese tourists would be limited to things that don't actually affect anyone (like smoking in public or licking stamps), then people would laugh a bit and shake their head, but their wouldn't be a world-wide trend of articles bemoaning the behaviour of Chinese tourists. In the 1990s (and possibly earlier, but then I wasn't paying attention yet), you'd see Japanese tourists all over Europe. They would take pictures of everything and travel in groups, and the locals and more experienced travellers would snigger at their tourbuses and incessant picture-taking and sun hats, but I don't recall anyone complaining of them.

[Touchstone57]

So what if people spit or queue jump.

I've seen a lot worse behaviour than that in China.

Like eating food bare-handed. Getting a grab on a hamburger and chomping away, right in central Beijing. Disgusting. They could at least wash their hands first. Or wear gloves.

Then there are those who walk into a post office and lick their stamps in front of everyone. Yuck. If you've got to lick those stamps, and you shouldn't, at least do it in private.

Should we mention young women who smoke in public? Sure can make you stare, can't they.

Or adults who twiddle with their chopsticks like a five-year-old? And then point them at you? You think they'd know better.

Let's not forget the mega-backpackers on public transport who keep bumping their big loads into the public without a single duibuqi. Like they can't speak or something.

Guess they were all never taught at home to dong limao.

 

 

None of these would be considered very rude in China though, as Chinese people also do all of these things. 

[prateeksha]

 

 

Nevertheless I've, despite that it's sometimes hard to figure out what really is going on, the impression that in many places the caste system is still alive and kicking.

Sadly, it is. But not in what you observed at the ticket counter or Mumbai local trains. 

 

 

 

Hope you don't feel insulted, it was not my intention to insult anyone.

No, not at all. This forum is pretty civil as it is, thanks to the moderators and participants for maintaining a pleasant environment (well, most of the times) here. It is amusing/sometimes annoying that people try to interpret most things happening in India through the caste system lens. Caste system does manifest in many spheres of our lives, but really, India is a pretty regular place.

[somethingfunny]

While annoying, can we really be surprised at the behaviour of Chinese tourists when everything written here is how Chinese people behave everyday in their own country?  I just got run into by a car that cut me up on the footpath during my lunch break so I'm going to have to refrain from writing anything at the risk of it getting out of hand.

 

One thing I have heard a couple of Chinese people mention is that when at tourist locations in other countries they see "No littering" or similar signs that are only in Chinese and no other language and it really hits home and makes them feel ashamed.

[AngelinaLu]

I guess we have to remind ourselves that China is the most populated country in the entire world, and so the people who live in it are used to doing what they perceive is right by their own life rules. It is not that they are very insensitive – or maybe they are – but perhaps they feel like all human beings have the same idea as they do that they have to always be first in anything even when just getting on the bus, going on the restaurant, or paying for stuff. I am not saying that the Chinese tourists are right when they do that, but I am only trying to explain what their point of view may be.