Related News
Situations in which Western outbursts shock Chinese reservedness
By Zhou Yang |
March 28, 2011, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE cultural differences between China and the West certainly cause confusion and misunderstanding but they also bring fun. Chinese often contrast their implicit and restrained attitude to open and frank Westerners.
I took spoken English as an elective course when I worked on a postgraduate program. The teacher of the course is a tall and handsome Australian popular among female students. He'd like to ramble about his past experiences during the courses and sometimes he would spare a minute to talk about his love affairs. Once his cell phone rang in the class, we all stared at him, wondering whether he would answer or let it ring off. Suddenly, he threw his phone onto the door to everyone's surprise. The ring tone stopped as soon as the cell phone broke into pieces. His violent behavior left us all dumbstruck. However, he turned round calmly to say with a smile, "Don't worry. The second-hand cell phone was worth only 100 yuan (US$15)." We were speechless with surprise and figured out that this was just a show. He merely wanted to draw attention from others. A person with such bold performance desire is rarely seen in China.
While a US teacher was teaching British and American literature for English major in China, a presidential election was taking place in her country. She is a Democratic advocate while her mother is a supporter of the Republican Party. They often argue with each other based on their different political stances. One day in class, the teacher said she could not give lessons next week because she had to fly to the US to vote for Democratic candidate Barack Obama as her mother was voting to support Republican John McCain. She said that she had to go back to the US to balance out her mother's ballot. We felt rather perplexed that she flew back to the US only to vote for a person whom she may not meet in her entire life. We all suggested that she call her mom not to vote, but she was strongly against the suggestion. She didn't think she has the right to interfere with her mom's vote. Politics appear to be far away from daily life for most Chinese while every American is capable of participating in government and political affairs.
A foreign teacher moved to China with his whole family. His parenting methods have startled many Chinese parents. Take dining as an example, he never pushes his children to have certain food but respects their own choices. Compared to Chinese parents who tend to coax their children to eat more, he will let them put down knives and forks and leave the table when they feel satiated. Once he dined with his family at the canteen, several Chinese students sat right beside them. The students tried to give meat to his son when he only had vegetables. The teacher said seriously: "You should ask him whether he wants it or not." His son said he didn't want any meat. Since then, we won't arrange anything for another person without consulting them.
I took spoken English as an elective course when I worked on a postgraduate program. The teacher of the course is a tall and handsome Australian popular among female students. He'd like to ramble about his past experiences during the courses and sometimes he would spare a minute to talk about his love affairs. Once his cell phone rang in the class, we all stared at him, wondering whether he would answer or let it ring off. Suddenly, he threw his phone onto the door to everyone's surprise. The ring tone stopped as soon as the cell phone broke into pieces. His violent behavior left us all dumbstruck. However, he turned round calmly to say with a smile, "Don't worry. The second-hand cell phone was worth only 100 yuan (US$15)." We were speechless with surprise and figured out that this was just a show. He merely wanted to draw attention from others. A person with such bold performance desire is rarely seen in China.
While a US teacher was teaching British and American literature for English major in China, a presidential election was taking place in her country. She is a Democratic advocate while her mother is a supporter of the Republican Party. They often argue with each other based on their different political stances. One day in class, the teacher said she could not give lessons next week because she had to fly to the US to vote for Democratic candidate Barack Obama as her mother was voting to support Republican John McCain. She said that she had to go back to the US to balance out her mother's ballot. We felt rather perplexed that she flew back to the US only to vote for a person whom she may not meet in her entire life. We all suggested that she call her mom not to vote, but she was strongly against the suggestion. She didn't think she has the right to interfere with her mom's vote. Politics appear to be far away from daily life for most Chinese while every American is capable of participating in government and political affairs.
A foreign teacher moved to China with his whole family. His parenting methods have startled many Chinese parents. Take dining as an example, he never pushes his children to have certain food but respects their own choices. Compared to Chinese parents who tend to coax their children to eat more, he will let them put down knives and forks and leave the table when they feel satiated. Once he dined with his family at the canteen, several Chinese students sat right beside them. The students tried to give meat to his son when he only had vegetables. The teacher said seriously: "You should ask him whether he wants it or not." His son said he didn't want any meat. Since then, we won't arrange anything for another person without consulting them.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
