Thread: Rude Chinese Tourists - news story

Chinese wonder why their tourists behave so badly | Reuters

I used to think American tourists were the most offensive. But that is no longer true! THANK YOU CHINA! You have finally surpassed the US in rudeness while visiting foreign countries!

I mean, writing your name on a 3,000 year old Egyptian tomb and taking a dump at an airport in Taiwan... STAY CLASSY, CHINA!

Your deep love for the States can't stop amazing me, Deb =))

Originally Posted by Eric C.

Your deep love for the States can't stop amazing me, Deb =))

Oh contraire mon frere, I consider dissent the highest form of patriotism.

I was in China three years ago. I've visited a not rich region - Heilongjiang Province. I was surprised how our cultures are differ and how their life is hard. There are many Chinese in Khabarovsk, where I live. I still marvel at their behaviour but anyway when I was in China I understood that they do something not because they are coarse but they are just differ. Other nation, other culture, other mind. I think China has a great interesting culture. Unfortunatelly many ages people in China were and still are poor. So this one of the reason of their ignorance as we see it (in our comprehension). The boy in Egypt could be from any country. Here it is not about culture of Chinese itself, but the culture (education) of the boy and his parents. In any case, I didn't hear what Chinese are paint on the Great Wall of China. They are aware of the cultural values too. They used to speak loudly, because they have to shout in their noisy cities and on its bustling markets. I think that travel agency should talk about the norms of behavior in other countries, and Chinese must learn to respect them because it is natural and right to show respect for the country in which you are a guest. But it takes time.To be honest, sometimes I scare of their culture, their way of thinking, their adherence to the common cause. The Olympic Games 2008 is already something incredible. But probably it is just because it is alien to me and I have little familiar with this.

Ну, они привыкают к жизни в строгой стране. Так когда они наконец-то в другой, они пользует себя то, что они никогда не бы делали в китае.
Или, может быть, как американцы, они просто думают что их странна такая большая и самая сильная, и за это они просто выше закона.

Другими словами - казлы!

I dunno why they behave as they do. You have some interesting theories. I think their blind patriotism and belief that theirs is "the greatest country in the world" is why tourists from some countries (not all) act as if they are entitled to do whatever they want, no matter who they offend. I have a friend (American) who is married to a Japanese guy. They live in Saipan, and she is always telling me stories of rude Chinese tourists she has to deal with at work. Her husband is a pilot, and she told me a Chinese tourist actually pushed his face out of her way so she could get a picture. Rude, and kinda stupid, since he was the PILOT. Of course, not all Chinese tourists behave this way, and it's not fair to generalize, but there do seem to be a lot of stories like that circulating around, and this article confirmed that my friend wasn't the only one dealing with it.

I saw some stupid American tourists while I was living in the USSR and I chewed a few of them out! They were surprised when I turned around and spoke English. They assumed no one knew what they were saying. Not very smart, especially considering how many Russians know English. Chinese on the other hand, I would have no idea what they were talking about or if they intended to be rude in the first place, or if that's just their culture. But crapping on a floor in an airport and writing on a 3,000 year old Egyptian tomb is rude in ANY language!

It's interesting that here in the DC area we have the Washington, DC to New York, NY bus service. When it first started out it was called the Chinatown Bus because you took the bus from Chinatown in DC to Chinatown in NY. The girls and I had the unfortunate case to use the service as it was the only inexpensive means to get back and forth from here to there and I do mean inexpensive, under $20 each way, and to top it off, it ran almost every hour. These buses were like third world buses... the bathroom, if you could call it that was more like an outhouse. We learned to either not go or to bring our toilet paper, toilet seat covers and hand sainitizer. The bus was filthy too. The bus driver and other passengers, mostly Chinese, oh my... so rude. Don't look at them or ask any questions. Don't try to change your ticket or ask about the fact that the bus was full and you had a paid ticket and there were no more seats left. Just be thankful that you were in line and another bus would be coming at some point to take you.

Thank goodness there are now other bus services on the route now that are in competition and for a few more dollars you can get to and from safer, cleaner and with nicer people.

Originally Posted by Deborski

I dunno why they behave as they do. You have some interesting theories. I think their blind patriotism and belief that theirs is "the greatest country in the world" is why tourists from some countries (not all) act as if they are entitled to do whatever they want, no matter who they offend. I have a friend (American) who is married to a Japanese guy. They live in Saipan, and she is always telling me stories of rude Chinese tourists she has to deal with at work. Her husband is a pilot, and she told me a Chinese tourist actually pushed his face out of her way so she could get a picture. Rude, and kinda stupid, since he was the PILOT. Of course, not all Chinese tourists behave this way, and it's not fair to generalize, but there do seem to be a lot of stories like that circulating around, and this article confirmed that my friend wasn't the only one dealing with it.

I saw some stupid American tourists while I was living in the USSR and I chewed a few of them out! They were surprised when I turned around and spoke English. They assumed no one knew what they were saying. Not very smart, especially considering how many Russians know English. Chinese on the other hand, I would have no idea what they were talking about or if they intended to be rude in the first place, or if that's just their culture. But crapping on a floor in an airport and writing on a 3,000 year old Egyptian tomb is rude in ANY language!

Believe me Deb, that was smart enough of those tourists back then, considering how "many" Russians could understand English at that time And how were they supposed to know they had a WA girl in the middle of the evil empire, just a few feet away?

Originally Posted by Eric C.

Believe me Deb, that was smart enough of those tourists back then, considering how "many" Russians could understand English at that time And how were they supposed to know they had a WA girl in the middle of the evil empire, just a few feet away?

Hahaha, they didn't but I sure caught them by surprise

Originally Posted by Deborski

Hahaha, they didn't but I sure caught them by surprise

Pure English from a pretty, very much Slavic looking face... I wish you'd take some pictures there.

Lampada, one time on Невский Проспект an American tourist asked me what time it was and I told him and he said, "Your English is pretty good!" LOL >.<

I tried to tell him I was from California, but I was speaking Russian so much at the time that I screwed up my grammar and said, "I from California am" and he said, "Sure you are." I had to show him my passport before he would believe me.

Do you really think I look Slavic? Maybe it is my Norwegian ancestry )))

Originally Posted by Deborski

...Do you really think I look Slavic? Maybe it is my Norwegian ancestry )))

Lots of white Americans on the street look Slavic to me. And somehow I often could guess Americans from Poland, former Yugoslavia or Romania.

Originally Posted by Deborski

Lampada, one time on Невский Проспект an American tourist asked me what time it was and I told him and he said, "Your English is pretty good!" LOL >.<

I tried to tell him I was from California, but I was speaking Russian so much at the time that I screwed up my grammar and said, "I from California am" and he said, "Sure you are." I had to show him my passport before he would believe me.

Do you really think I look Slavic? Maybe it is my Norwegian ancestry )))

Это смешно
Но да, могу утверждать что это бывает... кстати, я сама преднамеренно всегда разучусь Иврит, чтоб освободить место для русского языка. И боже мой, русский язык требует много свободного пространства.

*разучиваюсь Ивриту
(лучше сказать забываю Иврит)

а вместо "преднамеренно" лучше "умышленно"

But crapping on a floor in an airport ... is rude in ANY language!

A slightly different take on this story, from a Hong Kong news site, complete with picture:

A photo of a mainland toddler defecating in public at an airport in Taiwan has sparked anger and criticism from internet users in Taiwan and China.
It showed a toddler relieving himself on paper possibly prepared by her mother. A toilet was only a minute's walk away, said the report.

"There aren’t enough public toilets in China and the ones they do have are usually dirty," commented a Taiwanese blogger, "This might explain mainlanders' poor hygiene habits."

"This is a typical mainland parent who spoils their children," said a mainland netizen on China's twitter-like Sina Weibo.
"This is so embarassing, " said another mainland blogger.

I thought the observation from the Taiwanese commenter was especially insightful -- possibly, the mother allowed her child to crap on a newspaper not because she was a terribly rude person, but because she believed (mistakenly) that the public toilets in Taiwanese airports are as filthy and stinky as the typical public toilets in mainland China.

It's also possible that in the traditional rural culture of mainland China, encouraging the kid to poop on a piece of newspaper is considered to be more hygienic/healthy than placing the child's bottom on a modern, Western-style public toilet seat (other people's asses have been on the toilet seat, and besides, brown poopy water might splash up on the child's butt!). In other words, the woman wasn't being "rude"; she was just acting like a hick/hayseed/hillbilly.

Finally, I would point out that while the blogger from Taiwan avoided moral judgement, the Twitter users from the Chinese mainland described their "fellow mainlander" as anembarrassing parent who spoils her child.

Which is to say, they were harsher towards "one of their own", just as certain Americans [waving at Deborski] are particularly critical of other Americans!

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

Which is to say, they were harsher towards "one of their own", just as certain Americans [waving at Deborski] are particularly critical of other Americans!

I think we ALL should be critical of our own! Criticism helps to bring about needed changes.

Гммм, интересно знать -- как будет по-китайски "Shanda für die Goyim"?

P.S. I suppose that the exactly literal Russian translation would be something more or less like стыд при неверных иностранцах иноверцах -- it's a traditional Yiddish saying that Jews criticize other Jews with, basically "Don't be a public disgrace to your own family/people/community in front of outsiders."

Throbert, Russians don't have exact saying (I think)
But we have a saying with somewhat similar meaning: "не выносить сор из избы" that means don't gossip and don't wash one's dirty linen in public. And can be used when your referring to a group of people: family, co-workers and even nation.

Originally Posted by Doomer

Throbert, Russians don't have exact saying (I think)
But we have a saying with somewhat similar meaning: "не выносить сор из избы" that means don't gossip and don't wash one's dirty linen in public. And can be used when your referring to a group of people: family, co-workers and even nation.

Я не думаю, что "не выносить сор из избы" используется, когда речь идёт о проблемах на предприятиях или о недостатках и проблемах стран, особенно таких больших и разношёрстных, как например, Россия, Украина или США. Таки речь идёт об избе, о семье.
Евреи так скажут, потому что предостаточно критики или насмешек они получают от других национальностей. Они, как известно, часто и повсеместно выбираются козлами отпущения.
Хотя все, включая евреев, любили еврея Jackie Mason, когда он насмехался над всеми подряд.

Sneak Peek At The Ultimate Jew At Work 3: Jews & Gentiles - YouTube
Jackie Mason - Jew at the Restorant.mp4 - YouTube
Jackie Mason on Jewish Husbands - YouTube

Кстати, я бы любила любую страну, где необязательно быть завзятым патриотом.