Air China warns to watch out for “Indians, Pakistanis and black people” in London

[nik-]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

The definition of "acting like a #######" varies widely though.

But being overly sensitive about such things and scared to be impolite is part of Canadian culture.

So what? Being rude is being rude, and like I edited in above, if it's in their culture to act in a manner that is considered rude pretty much everywhere else in the world, then their culture needs to be changed.

Considering the Chinese government is obviously trying to change their behaviour, it seems they themselves are rather embarrassed by it and it's likely not something to be excused by culture.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by nik-

So what? Being rude is being rude, and like I edited in above, if it's in their culture to act in a manner that is considered rude pretty much everywhere else in the world, then their culture needs to be changed.

It's really not "pretty much everywhere else in the world" though. Not even close.

Rudeness is subjective based on culture, it isn't universal. You work with enough people around the world and you'll find that whether it's China, Colombia, Eastern Europe, etc. places have vastly different definitions of what it considered rude.

I'm sure you've unintentionally been rude while travelling, you probably didn't even realise it.

[nik-]

So what are you saying? We should excuse it? Obviously it's subjective, but I'm not here applying Canadian bias of politeness by proxy to the Vietnamese and Thai populations that are the ones that mainly complain about this.

I know you like to argue just to argue, but do you honestly believe we shouldn't try to correct ####ty behaviour or are you just being contrarian again?

And again, the Chinese government themselves is trying to correct the behaviour. Surely cultural bias by Canadians right?

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by nik-

So what are you saying? We should excuse it? Obviously it's subjective, but I'm not here applying Canadian bias of politeness by proxy to the Vietnamese and Thai populations that are the ones that mainly complain about this.

I know you like to argue just to argue, but do you honestly believe we shouldn't try to correct ####ty behaviour or are you just being contrarian again?

And again, the Chinese government themselves is trying to correct the behaviour. Surely cultural bias by Canadians right?

So the solution to tourists being dicks is to be a dick to them.

Neato.

[Teh_Bandwagoner]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

It's really not "pretty much everywhere else in the world" though. Not even close.

Rudeness is subjective based on culture, it isn't universal. You work with enough people around the world and you'll find that whether it's China, Colombia, Eastern Europe, etc. places have vastly different definitions of what it considered rude.

I'm sure you've unintentionally been rude while travelling, you probably didn't even realise it.

But in the world where people are wealthy enough to travel abroad, Chinese people are the worst at respective other people's etiquette. Just straight up don't care haha.

On a slightly different note, this one time in Paris, an older Chinese couple approached me to help them buy handbags because they saw I was Chinese. I only speak a bit of Mandarin, but enough to understand they wanted me to go into the LV store to help them buy hand bags that were on sale, limit 2 per customer. Lucky for them, I speak an okay amount of French, and thought it would be fun for kicks. They handed me a wad of Euros and I merrily went in and bought a couple handbags.

Were they appreciative? Hells no. They wanted me to trek across town with them right after to other LV stores to take advantage of the sale. After much arguing, I was at wit's end and nearly walked away with the remainder of their cash in my hand. But they saw that coming, quickly snatched the cash back from me and left huffing.

Seriously, what the hell? They could have at least tipped me lol

[JohnnyB]

Originally Posted by savemedrzaius

They have these stereotypes for every race, but to them they aren't stereotypes because they are 100% true. In Chinese the word stereotype doesn't even exist!

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by nik-

So what are you saying? We should excuse it? Obviously it's subjective, but I'm not here applying Canadian bias of politeness by proxy to the Vietnamese and Thai populations that are the ones that mainly complain about this.

I know you like to argue just to argue, but do you honestly believe we shouldn't try to correct ####ty behaviour or are you just being contrarian again?

And again, the Chinese government themselves is trying to correct the behaviour. Surely cultural bias by Canadians right?

Relax with the victim mentality, if you can't have someone disagree with you without getting defensive and catty then you shouldn't be on the Internet.

No, I don't think it's really worth correcting tourists behaviour. Maybe in a way we would deem polite, but there's no reason to be rude for the sake of rudeness.

I think it's even less useful worrying about how rude they are. Who cares? They're tourists. How are they supposed to know all the rules?

[nik-]

I disagree, teaching people how to properly behave in another country is worth the time. I'm glad the Chinese government is starting to do it.

[PepsiFree]

Pushing people and calling them "stupid ####s" is an excellent lesson on etiquette.

[nik-]

Not excellent, but he got the point and went in line. And I didn't call him anything.

[The Yen Man]

We were in Hong Kong waiting in line for a tram, and some mainland Chinese lady purposely told her 8 or 9 year old kid to sift through to the front of the line, and she then tried to get up to the front to "meet" her son. My uncle, cousin, and I blocked her off, and said nope, you're waiting in line like the rest of us. She was pissed and kept yelling at us in Mandarin to move out of her way, and we just laughed at her to her face. Sometimes you just have to be a jerk to show you won't be pushed around by their bad behaviour.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

We were in Hong Kong waiting in line for a tram, and some mainland Chinese lady purposely told her 8 or 9 year old kid to sift through to the front of the line, and she then tried to get up to the front to "meet" her son. My uncle, cousin, and I blocked her off, and said nope, you're waiting in line like the rest of us. She was pissed and kept yelling at us in Mandarin to move out of her way, and we just laughed at her to her face. Sometimes you just have to be a jerk to show you won't be pushed around by their bad behaviour.

At the Peak? Huh, we had the same kind of fools try to squeeze in the middle of the line there. Everybody called them out, they got loudly pointed out so that everybody nearby were aware of their shenanigans. They claimed they weren't trying to jump the line, just that they wanted to stand there and hang out.

Right beside the line for the tram. In the dark. As everybody else is leaving. Near midnight as everything was closing up. Ha.

Oh well, at least it didn't look they were smuggling baby formula home.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

It's really not "pretty much everywhere else in the world" though. Not even close.

Rudeness is subjective based on culture, it isn't universal. You work with enough people around the world and you'll find that whether it's China, Colombia, Eastern Europe, etc. places have vastly different definitions of what it considered rude.

I'm sure you've unintentionally been rude while travelling, you probably didn't even realise it.

There may be different customs around the world governing behaviour among strangers. But I think there's a core attitude that we'd call consideration - to what degree are you willing to refrain from doing things that would be to your advantage in order not to disadvantage other people around you. And by that metric, Canadians tend to be towards one end of the spectrum and mainland Chinese tend to be towards the other end.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Relax with the victim mentality, if you can't have someone disagree with you without getting defensive and catty then you shouldn't be on the Internet.

No, I don't think it's really worth correcting tourists behaviour. Maybe in a way we would deem polite, but there's no reason to be rude for the sake of rudeness.

I think it's even less useful worrying about how rude they are. Who cares? They're tourists. How are they supposed to know all the rules?

When people are actively degrading the experience for those around them, then yes, I would expect someone to speak up. And there is a far difference between "knowing all the rules" and "exercising basic courtesy". But when you are out to moon up a thread, distinctions like that get in the way of your argument and should be ignored, eh?

[peter12]

Originally Posted by chemgear

The only Chinese people who are able/can afford to leave and even be a tourist in the first place likely had to climb over and stomp on the bodies of the vast majority of other Chinese people too poor and left behind. At least that's the way I've guess at it.

Certainly it's an exaggeration but I wonder how much of it might be true.

I think that this is an excellent observation, and probably true.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

When people are actively degrading the experience for those around them, then yes, I would expect someone to speak up. And there is a far difference between "knowing all the rules" and "exercising basic courtesy". But when you are out to moon up a thread, distinctions like that get in the way of your argument and should be ignored, eh?

I gather the reference to moon isn't a positive one but I don't know if you need to resort to insults to make a fairly harmless point (rich, yes, I know I've suddenly become known for them).

I just think even something as simple as basic courtesy is fluid from culture to culture. Each culture thinks their way is "the" way, and our politeness is one of those things.

There's no denying the way a number of Chinese tourists act is rude by our standards, but I don't necessarily fault them for not having grown up with our standards.

[V]

Yeah, I'd agree that common courtesy is pretty fluid, but I also think it isn't rude to not allow yourself to be taken advantage of. If someone wants to be a jerk you don't have to let them get away with it. Cultural relativity be damned.

[peter12]

Chinese immigrants, particularly their children, will do much to testify about the common lack of manners exhibited by your average Chinese tourist.

I don't think there is anything wrong in remarking that our culture is generally more pleasant than another culture. Try being a single woman in Egypt or India or anyone in Russia, for that matter.