Home » Opinion » Opinion Columns
Real 'China threat' comes from obnoxious and arrogant people
By Wang Yong |
February 23, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THERE is no "China threat" as some in the West fear or fabricate, but there are some Chinese who are so obnoxious and arrogant that they are indeed a threat to civilization.
From Dublin to Dubai, from Paris to Prague, many Chinese visitors have proved to be a plague with their vulgar spitting.
They are no less offensive when they shop around overseas.
They flaunt their wealth like the upstarts they are. They don't stoop to say "thank you" to a clerk. They rudely throw or shove their cash on a counter instead of politely presenting it to a clerk.
On a sunny afternoon nearly 10 years ago, I was strolling on the Stanford University campus strewn with beautiful fallen leaves when a group of well-dressed Chinese men and women got off a mini van, apparently on a business visit. A rotund middle-aged woman spat loudly upon landing on one of the world's most beautiful campuses - right in front of me.
At that moment, I wished that Americans would mistake my fellow countrymen as visitors from some other Asian country. With the benefit of 10 years' hindsight, though, I have reconciled myself to the hard truth that public spitting is patently Chinese.
Habitual spitting
Not all Chinese spit, but when someone gurgles and spits habitually in public, you can bet (90 percent) he or she is from China.
If I were American or Japanese or Indonesian, I would have doubts about an economically stronger China that can't swallow its pride and stop spitting around the world.
So badly have so many Chinese tourists behaved that vice premier Wang Qishan said last week in a national conference on tourism that every individual Chinese tourist and tourist guide must behave properly. Indeed, they are an unmistakable part of China's international image.
The inconvenient truth about China's economic strength is that it has allowed a few nouveau riches to flaunt their garish new plumage abroad (and at home).
The more civilized but poorer Chinese (many high school teachers and honest farmers, for example) have not seen the world, nor been seen by the world.
With greater economic muscle come not only greater expectorations but also bigger mouths - represented by those Chinese reporters, academics and others who boast, strut and gloat in a show of narrow nationalism.
Big mouth
CCTV's young anchor man Rui Chenggang is a prime example, delivering long pronouncements instead of professionally asking questions.
During the G20 summit in Seoul in November, US President Barack Obama politely reserved the first questions for South Korean reporters. But before any Korean could speak, Rui stood up. Sadly, Obama mistook him as a South Korean and signaled him to go ahead with his question.
Thus began Rui: "I hate to disappoint you, President Obama, I am actually Chinese, but I think I get to represent Asia."
What a braggart, though he was slightly more modest than he was at the G20 summit in London in 2009, when he said he was asking on behalf of China and the whole world.
In 2007, a smug and self-righteous Rui called on the nation to drive Starbucks out of the Palace Museum (also known as the Forbidden City), arguing that the Western upscale coffee chain was a jarring presence inside the Forbidden City, thus harming China's traditional culture.
He did not bother to ask who allowed Starbucks to intrude or failed to recognize its odious nature.
Fortunately, not all CCTV anchormen are so arrogant, and not all Chinese spit in public. It's the arrogant and ill-mannered Chinese who represent the real "China threat."
Whether China is defined by (and perceived for) chest-thumping arrogance or traditional courtesy is a question that bears consideration.
From Dublin to Dubai, from Paris to Prague, many Chinese visitors have proved to be a plague with their vulgar spitting.
They are no less offensive when they shop around overseas.
They flaunt their wealth like the upstarts they are. They don't stoop to say "thank you" to a clerk. They rudely throw or shove their cash on a counter instead of politely presenting it to a clerk.
On a sunny afternoon nearly 10 years ago, I was strolling on the Stanford University campus strewn with beautiful fallen leaves when a group of well-dressed Chinese men and women got off a mini van, apparently on a business visit. A rotund middle-aged woman spat loudly upon landing on one of the world's most beautiful campuses - right in front of me.
At that moment, I wished that Americans would mistake my fellow countrymen as visitors from some other Asian country. With the benefit of 10 years' hindsight, though, I have reconciled myself to the hard truth that public spitting is patently Chinese.
Habitual spitting
Not all Chinese spit, but when someone gurgles and spits habitually in public, you can bet (90 percent) he or she is from China.
If I were American or Japanese or Indonesian, I would have doubts about an economically stronger China that can't swallow its pride and stop spitting around the world.
So badly have so many Chinese tourists behaved that vice premier Wang Qishan said last week in a national conference on tourism that every individual Chinese tourist and tourist guide must behave properly. Indeed, they are an unmistakable part of China's international image.
The inconvenient truth about China's economic strength is that it has allowed a few nouveau riches to flaunt their garish new plumage abroad (and at home).
The more civilized but poorer Chinese (many high school teachers and honest farmers, for example) have not seen the world, nor been seen by the world.
With greater economic muscle come not only greater expectorations but also bigger mouths - represented by those Chinese reporters, academics and others who boast, strut and gloat in a show of narrow nationalism.
Big mouth
CCTV's young anchor man Rui Chenggang is a prime example, delivering long pronouncements instead of professionally asking questions.
During the G20 summit in Seoul in November, US President Barack Obama politely reserved the first questions for South Korean reporters. But before any Korean could speak, Rui stood up. Sadly, Obama mistook him as a South Korean and signaled him to go ahead with his question.
Thus began Rui: "I hate to disappoint you, President Obama, I am actually Chinese, but I think I get to represent Asia."
What a braggart, though he was slightly more modest than he was at the G20 summit in London in 2009, when he said he was asking on behalf of China and the whole world.
In 2007, a smug and self-righteous Rui called on the nation to drive Starbucks out of the Palace Museum (also known as the Forbidden City), arguing that the Western upscale coffee chain was a jarring presence inside the Forbidden City, thus harming China's traditional culture.
He did not bother to ask who allowed Starbucks to intrude or failed to recognize its odious nature.
Fortunately, not all CCTV anchormen are so arrogant, and not all Chinese spit in public. It's the arrogant and ill-mannered Chinese who represent the real "China threat."
Whether China is defined by (and perceived for) chest-thumping arrogance or traditional courtesy is a question that bears consideration.
- 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.
