Job Discussion Forums

[Seth]

I feel like the ugly side of Chinese culture has been rearing it's head the past few weeks, hastened by the SARS epidemic. I've also heard a few comments about foreigners bringing SARS, and occasionally students laugh and joke when I get near and say 'eee, feiyan!' They're also increasingly rude, as foreigners bomb Iraq, as well. Just to steal their oil. I was spat on by a 1st grader last week. As the fallout continues, I'm sure it will get worse from here, not better.

Today I heard the trademark stupid hellos, but I was sitting in my apartment. The hellos were coming from outside the school campus, apparently from a few locals who knew the school had foreign teachers. I also heard the word 'guilou' shouted a few times. A few minutes later I heard a large firecracker go off. This is not unusual as I can hear them go off occasionally in the little housing area not far from the school. This time, however, it was close enough that I could smell the gunpowder from my window, and I live on the 4th floor. The nearest house is at least 1/2 km away. I don't know their motives, but I can certainly make an educated guess.

I just hope things don't get violent, but with all the frantic behavior and open rudeness I've been seeing lately I wouldn't be surprized if it gets to that point.

I can't wait to get out of this country.

[gmat]

What type of school is this Seth? Your situation sounds highly unusual for a big city like Hangzhou.

[Seth]

It's a private primary/middle school. It's also outside the city limits by a good 3 miles or so.

[hubei_canuk]

Yes, Seth those behaviours are always lurking in the general population waiting to come out.
It almost chinese traditional culture.
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I really hate the hellos on the streeet from guys that are not friendly but sneering and looking to make fun of me.
I can speak chinese. One time i heard one of the "hello" guys say he wished he had a gun so he could rob me.
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Anyway here's something else from traditional chinese culture:
"REN"
- endure - patience
... from a culture that has learned to forebear much adversity.
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Endure and be patient with courage and fortitude is the long term survival strategy in everything. A brighter day wil always come.
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Life everywhere has problems i'm not running from one trouble just to find another. Especially cause i always have fun in China in between the rough spots.

[Steiner]

Here's a tidbit (or "titbit," for you Brits) from Yahoo! News. Notice that the border's been closed to keep SARS from coming in from Nepal, a country that doesn't have SARS. But it does have foreigners. The border closing is just fine. The reasoning behind it just prods the question to mind, but maybe that's because I'd just finished reading this thread.

Yahoo!News:
China closed its border with Nepal on Sunday because it fears the disease could spread from there, said a tourism official in China's Tibet province who gave only his last name, Liao.

Chinese officials worry that the virus would be difficult to control if it enters Tibet because of poor sanitation and low medical standards, Liao said. Nepalese health authorities say they have no confirmed SARS cases in their country.



Yup, it's dem furriners!

[Minhang Oz]

Most of us have been on the receiving end of some unpleasant anti-foreign sentiment,eg after the US bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade [a political masterstroke]you got spat at whatever your foreign nationality.Mostly however the perpretrators are a tiny minority,although when you are an outsider,they take on sinister proportions.Minorities have been convenient scapegoats throughout history to distract attention from governmental and societal shortcomings,and its certainly not an exclusively Chinese phenomenon-all of us can find examples in the recent histories of our own countries.This philosophising doesn't help when you're on the receiving end!Ride it out in the short term;if it gets too much find a more civilised location,but remember the vast majority of people [not only Chinese] are not like that.It would be easy to become paranoid and racist-and I'm certainly not suggesting that any of the posters are!-which would make us just as bad as those we criticise.

[Seth]

That's certainly true. Americans and Brits of Arab descent were harrassed for a while after 9/11, another time of worry and panic. However, that line of thinking does little to calm my nerves! It's worrisome and disheartening, nonetheless. With the recent riot near Tianjin, it's proven to be an explosive situation. I'm not a religious man, but now I pray every night that this stuff ends within a month else I leave on a big ol' jet airliner.

[Roger]

...recent riot near Tianjin? Source?

I have just read today that "several thousand locals rebelled against a town government order to quarantine some people in a densely populated area.
The place name is given as "Chagugang". Never heard of such a place. My source is a German website. Would like to know more!

[smalls]

Article taken from New York Times, saw on MSN:

Thousands of residents in Chagugang, a rural town northwest of the port of Tianjin, ransacked a junior high school Sunday night after learning that plans were under way to turn it into a ward for urban SARS patients, The New York Times reported. The riot, which was quickly put down by police and government paramilitary troops, was the first reported incident of civil unrest in China related to the outbreak.
China reported a total of 139 SARS deaths Monday among more than 3,000 cases, including 96 in Beijing.
At least 327 people worldwide have died from SARS, which was first detected in China’s Guangdong province late last year and has been spread by travelers to more than 20 countries. More than 5,000 people have been infected, prompting a rare global alert from the WHO and travel advisories for affected countries.

[MartinK]

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[arioch36]

Seth,

I think there is that ugly side, sometimes encouraged by the culture and government. A student spitting on me is unimaginable. I think I would quit on the spot. But I some of the anti foreigner sentiment should also be put in perspective.

[hubei_canuk]

"Happens in every country in the world. You guys never said such things when you were young? Never?" atrioch36
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NO. NEVER.
Not even wanted to or even thought it in any way shape or form.
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You'll have to look elsewher if you want to find some support for your kind of negative behaviour.

[Minhang Oz]

I suppose while a Chinese guy will say he wished he had a gun so he could rob you,in America he would have a gun,and he would rob you.Rich world,poor world.

[arioch36]

Uh, Canuck, I wasn't condoning the behaviour. Simply saying that when we thought we were alone, as young people, we often said such things. Wasn't looking for support. Not saying it is good , but that it happens in every country.
Listen to any rap music lately?

[hubei_canuk]

Uh, Canuck, I wasn't condoning the behaviour. Simply saying that when we thought we were alone, as young people, we often said such things. Wasn't looking for support. Not saying it is good , but that it happens in every country.
Listen to any rap music lately?"
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I've never said such things alone or otherwise.
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Also i never pay much attention to wheter i am alone or not. I have learned to always speak as if speaking to the whole world. Only sometimes with special effort i speak privately.
I don't like like racism, ethnocentrism nor rabid nationalism.
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I is a world Citizen and when i examine the characteristic of a country i compare it the the universal standard of the human being not the standard of another country.
BTW, how would street gangs in America know somebody is from France? America has every color of the rainbow.
I can just see the street gang now:
.. "Hey those are FRENCH socks! Hiya froggie..ribbet ribbet"

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I don't listen to rap. I like music not loud noise, swearing and drug talk.
..
although some rap may be ok.
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I prefer Vanessa Mae and Leonard Cohen and Cuban music and a million chinese pop and traditional songs.
Haven't listend to much Western Music for 10 years.