I'm sure everyone here has a take on some aspect of Chinese culture that is strange/odd to them when compared to what they're used too. I'm interested in hearing what others have noticed. (And I don't mean spitting, eating noise etc. We are all well aware of those kinds of things!)

Here's my list of oddities:

1) Glasses with no lenses. What's up with that?
2) People leaving stickers and packaging on things. (I noticed the same habit in Eastern Europe. Perhaps it's an ex communist thing?)
3) Eating/holding hamburgers in their paper wrappers.
4) Requiring foreigners to get a Chinese license when no licensed Chinese have any idea of how to drive correctly/safely.

Young kids dressed up in hip hop gear, looking all East Coast n shiiit, but listening to Backstreet Boys on their MP3.

Shanghai girls smoking - it looks like they're trying soooo hard.....

Middle-aged Shanghai women and their bullet-proof hairstyles.

Young girls from the age of 21 - 24 flirting with me. WTF??

Middle-aged Shanghai women and their bullet-proof hairstyles.

HAHAHA

In those lovely shades of orange too. Someone needs to make a photo book! I'd buy it!!

Young girls from the age of 21 - 24 flirting with me. WTF??

Better than the boy's right?

Oh the boys do it too. That's even more disturbing. It's one thing having a hard-stomached 22 year old chick telling me I look 'velly hansum' but a guy? Like chigger, please....

KalanStar wrote:1) Glasses with no lenses. What's up with that?

They got that from the hipster style I think...

Marakanis wrote:some stuff about cold water

I know it has to do with digestion mostly. The TCM explanation has to do with cooling the fire qi required to move some sh*t around or something (I'm not an expert, just grew up with this stuff). The only "western scientific" sort of explanation I've heard is that the body does heat up to help break down foods in the stomach, throwing ice water down there makes it harder and less of the nutrients get processed.

no idea if any of it's true, but i do it anyways just because it's habit now

1. People examining the contents of your shopping trolley-when we lived in Shanghai I bought cat food in bulk. This caused some surprise for the trolley divers, I just rubbed my stomach and indiacted it was very tasty...

2. My father in law trying to decapitate live eals on the kitchen floor tiles when there was a perfeclty good chopping board on the work top. The kitchen looked like a set from 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre'

3. Father and mother in law holding my hands (one each side) when I was trying to cross the road to get a taxi. And me trying to tell them I am 55 not 5.5.

4. In winter looking at the washing lines...niks, socks, duck, fish, shirt, chicken, jumper, ham...

[quote="KalanStar"]I'm sure everyone here has a take on some aspect of Chinese culture that is strange/odd to them when compared to what they're used too. I'm interested in hearing what others have noticed. (And I don't mean spitting, eating noise etc. We are all well aware of those kinds of things!)

Here's my list of oddities:

let me help you Mr. Kalan, I am not here talking about if oddities are right or wrong , but just give you some possible seasons.

1) Glasses with no lenses. What's up with that?
----some pretend to be cool and stylish, same like superman wear underwear ourside.

2) People leaving stickers and packaging on things. (I noticed the same habit in Eastern Europe. Perhaps it's an ex communist thing?)
---some of them wish to show off that they travel by airline a lot ( means welthy life style), but not to you foreigners, only to the local people who seldom have chance to take flight.

some of them are just lazy to remove the stick.

3) Eating/holding hamburgers in their paper wrappers.
---no idea why

4) Requiring foreigners to get a Chinese license when no licensed Chinese have any idea of how to drive correctly/safely.

---chinese drivers are 90% not qualified drivers. They are all killers. Drive lesson cost 4000 rmb here with 4 time exams.

if the examers would pay for 200 RMB for each exam to the Judge or policeman. Then they can 100% ensure to pass the exam and get drive license. If anyone failed in the any exam, 200 rmb corruption fee can be reutrned to the examer.

I almost forgot...
5) People yelling at each other on the phone. There's absolutely no good reason for this, but Chinese people suddenly becoming deaf when they answer the phone! I've tried talking in my normal voice on the phone, but the listeners always complain they can't hear me!

People covering their mouth when picking teeth after finish eating with mouth wide wide wide open....

nrgfink wrote:

Marakanis wrote:some stuff about cold water

I know it has to do with digestion mostly. The TCM explanation has to do with cooling the fire qi required to move some sh*t around or something (I'm not an expert, just grew up with this stuff). The only "western scientific" sort of explanation I've heard is that the body does heat up to help break down foods in the stomach, throwing ice water down there makes it harder and less of the nutrients get processed.

no idea if any of it's true, but i do it anyways just because it's habit now

I always questioned why only HOT water must be drunk and I have the answer.

Back 20 years ago in China no one knew much about anything so superstition stepped in to explain what we medically know today.

Chinese drinking water came from shallow OPEN wells and if you think hygiene and smells are "interesting" now imagine what it was like before. Water HAD to be thoroughly boiled to make it safe to drink. Boiling water 20 years ago wasn't that easy as it is now. Sticks and twigs had to be lighted to boil the water.

If someone gave you a cold (room temperature) cup of water HOW would you know they actually took the trouble to boil it other than their word? Think now what happens when locals say "no problem" and back then it was no different, in fact one might say it was worse! So you drink that cup of not-boiled cool water and what happens? Bloody hell its squiting out both ends! It wasn't such a stretch of the imagination to conclude that cool water is friggin bad **** to drink - that QI coming out the arse in a hurry!

The ONLY assurance that the damn water was boiled is that I came to you friggen HOT and steamy, and it was safe! No QI down the legs and on the walls.

So there you go. Superstition caused by a lack of scientific knowledge created a tradition that is still strong today.

victorinchina wrote:People covering their mouth when picking teeth after finish eating with mouth wide wide wide open....

HAHA! TRUE!

To the OP, I have been here now 15 years. Every time you think you have seen it all, another clusterfuck appears. Accept it, this is China. Our own little extraterrestial experience on our own planet.
Cherish it, because one day even these people will become normal, and boring.
Enjoy the entertainment value here, while it lasts.
Another 5000 years of developing, and it will all be gone.

Another 5000 years of developing, and it will all be gone.

That soon????

I think he meant dog years

1. Chinese farmers feed pigs and cows with some special medicines to help them lose fat, so that the farmer can sell more unit price per kg. While the medicines contains poison chemicals to the human body. Many of the meat inspection station are corrupted. Just stamp on the meet after collecting some "extra" fee.

2. Chinese "recycle men" with thier bike collect waste/used food oil( from the waste food from the table/kitchen) from the drain of every restaurant. Then refine the waste oil to certain level that looks similar to the food oil sold in the supermarket, then sell it to some small snack bar and restaurant to serve more customers. The oil is extremely poisonous, and no one care.

3. Chinese dye rice to green and srawberry to red with chemical dye stuff.

4. Chinese goverment in DongGuan city would kick out all the farmer-worker out of the city, by requesting a high-school diploma from very farmer-wrokers who wish to stay in this city.( 80% of them don't have, and already served for this city development for 10-20 years with bloody working ).
They call this to clean the city, to improve the quality of city population.

5. When you need dry clean service, 80% of Chinese laundry only ironing for you and give back to you charge you as "dry clean".
1/3 of the 80% laundry even do nothing for your clothes, and give it back to you ask charge for " dry clean".

6. In China, when you see some people are "rude"- pushing on/off subway, cutting in line, etc, pls don not try to stop them, otherwise they will beat you or stab you by knife

---Apr.08.2008 a man persuade anoher not cut in line, then got beated, he beat that man to disabled, then he was sentenced 2 year in jail.
---Jan.22.2008 one man being stab by knife 5 times, when he persuade someone not cut in line during buy train ticket
---Oct.06 .2009 a taxi driver persuade 2 men not cut in line, then got beated, taxi driver stab these 2 men with knife.

When crossing the street and there is a oncoming bike or scooter. It would be easier & safer for both parties if the bike passed behind the person, but they go in front.

Because they don't want to lose face.

This whole face issue is retarded in my opinion. Childish bollocks.

cantcheckemailnopw wrote:When crossing the street and there is a oncoming bike or scooter. It would be easier & safer for both parties if the bike passed behind the person, but they go in front.

car as well, they all think:" why should I stop/slow down for you?"

Shonriver I think you misunderstood the word "quirky". It doesn't mean "problem". It means: A peculiarity of behavior; an idiosyncrasy, something strange etc. In other-words, something a foreigner finds strange, and thereforr, interesting, but Chinese don't. What your writing about are problems.

As for your post, Western farmers feed their animals lots of hormones and antibiotics that may yet kill every living thing on the planet. The foods western people eat are often dyed, bleached, or modified to have an appealing appearance. In the West, it is common that you can't be employed at all if you don't have a High School diploma. Not sure if we have problems with cooking oil and dry-cleaning, but who knows???

Of course we have problems with dry-cleaning in the West, you fool!!

There's no way I could get my shirts dry-cleaned, ironed and wrapped for 10 rmb in England.

Are you out of your mind?

Why do Chinese people knock so lightly on the door that unless you are there waiting for them you would never hear it?

And when you DIDN'T hear the soft tapping they just OPEN the friggin door!! WTF is that about??

Talking about face, I love when people would rather point you in a random direction after you ask where something is, rather than just admitting they don't know wtf you're talking about

shonriver wrote:

cantcheckemailnopw wrote:When crossing the street and there is a oncoming bike or scooter. It would be easier & safer for both parties if the bike passed behind the person, but they go in front.

car as well, they all think:" why should I stop/slow down for you?"

but many times the person on the bike will have to slow down or swerve because of the collision course. pass behind the person and no slow down at all.

Marakanis wrote:Went to see Mulan at the cinema yesterday. What an EMO film... Holy crap, every other scene someone is crying. C'moooooon!
Even the characters in the film were telling each other to toughen up and not be so emo... And then in the same scene they're frackin' bawling!!!

like half of all locally produced chinese tv and film is like this - 1/3 arguing/struggling + 1/3 crying + 1/3 loathing/solemn reflection...

who in their right minds wants to go home after a day's work and watch this depressing and annoying crap?

my guess is that it's to make the poor/uneducated people feel better about their own miserable lives.

victorinchina wrote:People covering their mouth when picking teeth after finish eating with mouth wide wide wide open....

very good observation!

Why do so few of the restaurants have napkins? Not even paper ones.

Dogs wearing boots. Girls wearing tights or nylons and no pants. School uniforms that look straight outta New Jersey.

awilli8 wrote:Why do so few of the restaurants have napkins? Not even paper ones.

That costs money and people take them home. Its the same reason for no toilet paper or soap in the loo.

cantcheckemailnopw wrote:

shonriver wrote:

cantcheckemailnopw wrote:When crossing the street and there is a oncoming bike or scooter. It would be easier & safer for both parties if the bike passed behind the person, but they go in front.

car as well, they all think:" why should I stop/slow down for you?"

but many times the person on the bike will have to slow down or swerve because of the collision course. pass behind the person and no slow down at all.

Questions about Chinese driving habits... click the link.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Driving_in_China

Actually it's the best explanation I've ever read. Everything seems so clear now. I can drive with confidence here now

Actually I think if you can understand Chinese driving then you understand about 90% of Chinese culture!