coffeeshoptalk

"if you shop in macau or hong kong and ask for discount, please use english instead of mandarin. that's because the macau citizens simply dislike the chinese. for example, if you ask how much? in mandarin, you will get $450. now ask in english and you will get $250."

that was the advice given by jh who recently went on holiday in macau.

are the chinese (prc) so detestable?

not so long ago, there was a report about the readiness of the beijing citizens in hosting the olympic. being ready means they have to provide, among other things, a world-standard infrastructure in transport, building and environment. that also means the locals have to be able to converse in the international language (english) too.

anyway, the reporter tried to ask for direction (in english) to the forbidden city on the streets of beijing. unsurprisingly, nine out of ten being asked were unable to either speak english, understand or speak proper english. i thought she would never be able to get to anywhere by asking for direction. then the reporter tried to get off a bus. all the other passengers did not give way but stood at their spot like the statue of michael jordan in front of united center. she had to muscle her way down the bus. it took her 10 minutes. the reporter also observed people cutting queues and forcing their way up the buses, and almost resulting in fights.

what she reported is a way of life of the beijing citizens. over here, i have seen a fair share of what most of us would reckon as an ugly sight demonstrated by the chinese prc.

just a few days ago, while having lunch with a colleague at a food centre, two chinese prc naturally sat on the unoccupied seats of our table! they didn't even ask whether or not the seats had been taken by somebody else. they were simply rude! i was infuriated. "if they were in shirt and pants, their action were simply rude. but they look uneducated, so just ignore them. furthermore, they weren't irritating us", said soo. soo had a point. still, i felt a person should have basic, no-brainer courtesy.

i detest the behaviour of the chinese prc. so many times i have seen them behaving rudely and so many times i got upset over what i had seen.

i think i have answered the question myself.