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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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Dev
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
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 Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 5:13 pm Post subject: What are the Chinese like? |
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How different / similar are the Chinese to Koreans?
in terms of manners?
character?
quirks?
Manners are similar I hear. Not very organized.
From what I've seen, they're more outgoing and friendly than Koreans. At parties, I often see Chinese people walking around introducing themselves mingling with strangers. They're not shy.
Quirks? I have no idea. I'd have to live there to know them. |
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SPINOZA
Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Location: $eoul
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| Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 5:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Ever considered reading a book or a newspaper? |
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Dev
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 5:51 pm Post subject: |
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| SPINOZA wrote: |
| Ever considered reading a book or a newspaper? |
Ha, Ha, Ha! Funny & clever guy! You must have a lot of friends with your dry biting humor.
Listen, If you have nothing worth adding to a thread, don't post on Dave's. |
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philthy
Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Location: Incheon
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| Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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| They have bigger b00bs. |
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Boodleheimer
Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Location: working undercover for the Man
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| Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 5:59 pm Post subject: |
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| i heard that if you can't say anything nice about someone, don't say anything at all. so i can't comment on the Chinese AT ALL, though i'm really tempted to write a book on my three years in china. |
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flotsam
Joined: 28 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 6:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Dev wrote: |
| SPINOZA wrote: |
| Ever considered reading a book or a newspaper? |
Ha, Ha, Ha! Funny & clever guy! You must have a lot of friends with your dry biting humor.
Listen, If you have nothing worth adding to a thread, don't post on Dave's. |
How about, if you have nothing worth starting a thread on, don't start them?
Works for me.
P.S. Hi Mod! By which I mean, mom, of course. |
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Dev
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 6:13 pm Post subject: |
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| flotsam wrote: |
| Dev wrote: |
| SPINOZA wrote: |
| Ever considered reading a book or a newspaper? |
Ha, Ha, Ha! Funny & clever guy! You must have a lot of friends with your dry biting humor.
Listen, If you have nothing worth adding to a thread, don't post on Dave's. |
How about, if you have nothing worth starting a thread on, don't start them?
Works for me.
P.S. Hi Mod! By which I mean, mom, of course. |
Flotsam, You're the biggest loudmouth on Dave's. Full of hot air. You're the last person anyone on Dave's will take seriously. |
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rocklee
Joined: 04 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 6:28 pm Post subject: |
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| philthy wrote: |
| They have bigger b00bs. |
Firmer too. |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 6:41 pm Post subject: |
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I was in Beijing in September, and the first thing that struck me was how much more aggressive they can be. If you go anywhere around Tiananmen Square you'll be chased by a variety of merchants trying to sell you something you don't need. Taxi drivers are hard to trust, even in real taxis. Everyone will always try to overcharge you and you have to barter for everything.
It is a bit more of an international city, so if you're acting like a dumb foreigner they're more liable to tolerate you.
But basically if you have a hard time coping with cultural differences in Korea, then China is going to turn you inside out, tie a ribbon around you, and send you home. |
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flotsam
Joined: 28 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 6:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Dev wrote: |
Flotsam, You're the biggest loudmouth on Dave's. Full of hot air. You're the last person anyone on Dave's will take seriously. |
In order for a mantra to have an effect, you need to repeat it many, many times. |
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SPINOZA
Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Location: $eoul
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| Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 7:32 pm Post subject: |
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| RACETRAITOR wrote: |
I was in Beijing in September, and the first thing that struck me was how much more aggressive they can be. If you go anywhere around Tiananmen Square you'll be chased by a variety of merchants trying to sell you something you don't need. Taxi drivers are hard to trust, even in real taxis. Everyone will always try to overcharge you and you have to barter for everything.
It is a bit more of an international city, so if you're acting like a dumb foreigner they're more liable to tolerate you.
But basically if you have a hard time coping with cultural differences in Korea, then China is going to turn you inside out, tie a ribbon around you, and send you home. |
hehe! 
Oh good lord, can you imagine Dev in China? |
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periwinkle
Joined: 08 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 7:42 pm Post subject: |
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| KWhitehead wrote: |
| i heard that if you can't say anything nice about someone, don't say anything at all. so i can't comment on the Chinese AT ALL, though i'm really tempted to write a book on my three years in china. |
I'd buy a copy. You should do it.
I thought your topic was valid, Dev. I've wondered a bit about China, and I've even tried to sign up for the off-topic China forum, but I wasn't approved or something, because I never got an e-mail from Big Dave with a nifty password. =( I bet that forum is wicked entertaining. |
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Boodleheimer
Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Location: working undercover for the Man
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| Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 12:08 am Post subject: |
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| periwinkle wrote: |
| I thought your topic was valid, Dev. I've wondered a bit about China, and I've even tried to sign up for the off-topic China forum, but I wasn't approved or something, because I never got an e-mail from Big Dave with a nifty password. =( I bet that forum is wicked entertaining. |
it's insane. i stopped reading it. anybody who thinks the korean forums are negative haven't visited the Off-Topic China one. you gotta check up on it several times a day to read everything, as quite a few threads are deleted.... for flaming other users and for flaming China itself. i guess the chinese govt is watching! |
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Trumpcard
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
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| Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 6:14 am Post subject: |
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| I spent a month travelling through some of China's bigger cities in in the middle of summer to see if I would enjoy living there. Yes it's one thing to travel and another thing to live in a place but my overall verdict was a shithole. I did meet some really nice locals but overall, most people were horrid and "backward" for want of a better word. Was gawked at more than in Korea, was hounded by street vendors everywhere in Shanghai, ripped off by taxi drivers, ripped off by people seeling fruit and veg and drinks on the street, customer service from a Western pov doesn't seem to exist there. and the beer is awful. |
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stevemcgarrett
Joined: 24 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 8:07 am Post subject: |
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Trumpcard:
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| and the beer is awful |
You're really clueless if you believe this. While it sure ain't the best Belgian or German brew, or American microbrew, China does have a few decent beers. One, which is exported to Korea, is Tsingdao, from the former German port city of Qingdao. Nothing in Korea rivals it, especially on tap. Harbin in the northeast has Snow beer, which for the price is also good. And in the biggest cities you can get imported beer in greater variety than any Korean big city except Seoul, but cheaper than any place in Korea.
Dev:
China is still a developing country as even the government openly admits. However, it has enclaves of modernity that rival anything in Korea. In my opinion it's a heck of a lot more interesting culturally since, naturally, it has a more ancient and diverse culture. But then I find Korea almost painfully banal compared to almost anywhere else in East or Southeast Asia. But Dev, if you are indeed a marshmallow as some posters purport here, you had better stay put. The Chinese are less likely to tolerate whiners, or at least respect you among themselves.
Chinese students are much more outgoing compared to Korean students and their pronunciation is generally better. They're more like to act as individuals and reveal their personalities in class than most Koreans, too. And you're not likely to run into the hideous bell curve grading syndrome, although sometimes grades are changed behind the scenes (without affecting other students' grades, mind you). One big problem prevalent in all but the best universities is jiang hua, or idle chatter, during class even when their classmates are giving speeches. Unlike Korea, almost half of all high school graduates cannot find even one college with seats to accept them. It is changing, but the demand far exceeds the supply. That said, I got more effort and output from my better Chinese students of English than I do in Korea (and I taught almost all levels). This might come as a pleasant surprise: the larger urban school districts have superior English instruction and more ambitious standards and goals than in Korea. This is unequivocally true. So students who are English majors at all levels are better prepared than their counterparts in Korea. The textbooks are far superior nowadays in China, I might add.
If cuisine is your thing, there simply is NO comparison. For sheer variety, flavor and price the Chinese have the Koreans beat hands down (and the Japanese too, although the latter is overall healthier). The food tends to be much fresher, since open markets abound.
I wonder what all the grief is about Chinese taxi cab drivers. In nearly a decade in China I was cheated only twice to my knowledge. And most Chinese cab drivers are chatty, unlike in Korea. Their cars, except in the very biggest metro areas, are not as roomy or nice as Korean models but they are much, much cheaper to ride. I find most Korean cab drivers flaunt the rules of the road more than Chinese, who are more cautious because they cannot afford not to be. Traffic is more congested in big Chinese cities than in Korea and must compete with pedicabs and donkey carts in many smaller locales.
Of course, Chinese merchants are more aggressive; they have to be to earn even a basic daily wage. But you can buy the amount you want as opposed to here where the amount in the open markets is usually pre-determined. They also don't usually play games with sales in newspapers and if you return to the same merchants they will not be likely to cheat you.
The ratio of "ice princesses" to approachable women in China is MUCH smaller than Korea. Many wear no or little makeup; not fixated on it like most Korean girls. An interesting aside: far, far fewer Chinese girls smoke or drink in public compared to Korea and they are as a rule far stronger physically in terms of endurance (fewer lotus blossoms than you might imagine) and less likely to whine although they will opine. They are more even-tempered than a lot of Kimchee Chicks I've heard about, sentimental, less prone to cynicism in the main, and able to deftly balance femininity with charm. If you're an older guy, it doesn't matter much unlike in Korea where ageism is beginning to encroach from the West. While increasingly fashion-conscious, they aren't consumed by it, and most can't afford to be anyhow. Earthy and ethereal at the same time, with a lot of sentimentality.
On the flip side, you have to deal with the residues of Commie bureaucratic incompetence, much lower salaries (that doesn't quite offset the lower cost-of-living), guanxi (bribery) in its most corrupt form, often filthy sidestreets, beggars galore, and lots of air pollution. The medical care, save for a few big metro hospitals, is abysmal and scary and HIV is on the rise, especially in Guangdong and Yunnan. The country is experiencing massive upheaval and has probably the most cut-throat capitalist trends in the world. Nationalism is becoming almost jingoistic, egged on by the Commie leadership (CCP) who manipulate for their own devices. But, to be fair, it's also indicative of a newfound pride in what this once backward nation is so quickly accomplishing, at least economically. Of course, state censorship, even of the Internet, is pervasive and politics works its petty way into almost every nook and cranny of the daily regimen. Self-criticism is often expected and received sometimes to the point of sado-masochism. The Chinese can be alarmingly matter-of-fact, which is off-putting to unsuspecting Western neophytes but refreshing to those of us who stay longer and are tired of the euphemistic, safe and P.C. use of language back home. They have a high tolerance for noise, evidently, since noise pollution is rampant and surpasses anything in Korea. Horn-honking is incessant and often gratuitous and there's only one rule of the road: whoever gets there first. Personal hygiene varies widely depending on social class, hawking and spitting persists and in Beijing is a scourge on the landscape. The Chinese, while more polite in phone conversation than Koreans, are far less polite in terms of waiting their turn in line, waiting to board a subway, train, or bus and allowing personal space (especially where it's crowded or the people are older).
But the Chinese endure, they're mostly upbeat (things can only get better) and they're NOT insecure but confident, even coc-ky (albeit quietly) about their cultural heritage. They approach foreigners and stare at them alternately far more than the typical Koreans and yet their xenophobia I find more tolerable, because the educated among them are more aware of it. Parents generally are thrilled to share their babies with strangers and love to let foreigners dote over their children, unlike most Koreans. While far from egalitarian, and still stubbornly class-conscious (70% still live in rural areas), there is less of a drive among most to keep up with the Zhangs than I've observed thus far in Korea.
The food culture--and eating big dinners--is unsurpassed in the world and the Chinese are quicker to laugh and be animated with foreign friends and acquantances than most Koreans, it seems to me. Chinese live life with less complaint than most Westerners, and when I left I knew they had touched me more deeply than any other culture I've traveled in before or since. |
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