Working and living with Chinese for nearly a year, makes me kinda think that I know them pretty well. Of course, everyone is different and I can’t really put them all into one box with the same label. Here is my top 5 things you should know about Chinese and note this is only my personal opinion based on the interactions I have made for the past 10 months of my stay in China.
1. CHINESE ARE VERY DOMESTIC
-They always stick together and they would do anything for their parents, brothers, sisters and other member of the family.
– Every Chinese has at least 20 brothers even if they are not related but they call “brothers” their best friends, childhood friends and neighbours and they would devote everything for each other.
– When they travel they are very homesick and they can’t get used to living on their own.
– It’s also very difficult for them to move out from their family house to their own far away from their hometown so they mostly stay in their hometown and find a job there.
– They depend financially on their parents even when they work full-time.
– They do all they can to spend bank holidays, especially Chinese New Year and Spring Festival, together.
2. THE FOOD GOES SECOND AFTER THE FAMILY
– For Chinese food is everything and having a dinner is a ritual.
– They eat very long tasting all dishes placed on the table, making all important decisions during the lunch or dinner and make businesses also eating.
– If Chinese hasn’t had his meal at certain time, he/she will refuse to work.
3. CHINESE ARE VERY HARD-WORKING
– Chinese work a lot and they work very hard. A typical teacher in my school works roughly 12 hours a day 7 days a week teaching 20 classes a week and spending hours and hours in the office.
– They believe that if they don’t do their best, there are going to be at least 100 people who can do their job better, quicker and with a pleasure, and they’re probably right.
– Setting up a business in China is super easy so people usually cook some local food and sell it on the street. They are likely to work from 6 am to 10 pm without having a break (they eat food when there are no customers).
4. CHINESE ARE BAD-MANNERED
– Some Chinese might be disgusting picking up their nose, spitting, making a poo and peeing on the street and smacking while eating really loudly.
– They push each other when queuing and might be sometimes aggressive when trying to get somewhere first. I don’t think they understand the concept of a queue really.
– They sometimes don’t use a toilet paper, don’t wash their hands after using the toilet and use their hand instead of tissue when sneezing.
5. THEY ARE NEVER FLEXIBLE
– If they didn’t do something yesterday and will not do it tomorrow, they do not understand why they should do it today, so they won’t do it, full stop.
– They stick to one thing/ job and do it every day in exactly the same way, for example an oral English teacher will not teach writing or reading- his/ her job is to teach speaking so if the student comes to this teacher’s office and ask how to write the word, he/ she will be sent off to another teacher who is responsible for writing!!
