Special trains for ‘rude’ Chinese

[RealBitcoin]

It might not be 100% hardcore Stalin style, but it sure has enough remnants of communism left , to be still called communist.

Clearly - you don't know China and are just talking rubbish.

The vast majority of people have to work for a wage just like in the west so your idea of modern China is rather a fantasy.

Also when the natives don't call themselves communist you should probably listen to them (but it seems that you just listen to western propaganda instead).

Hey dont get me wrong, it's a nice place with nice buildings, and really good culture and enviroment, but I just think there are still a few ideological terms that are badly defined here.

You should check out here the definition, to understand what I`m saying here:
http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/communism

[CIYAM]

You should check out here the definition, to understand what I`m saying here:
http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/communism

Clearly you haven't read that yourself as you'd realise that Chinese have "private property" (and please stop being so arrogant - am pretty sure you are probably a lot younger than me and have a lot less life experience).

You do know that you can buy gold at any Chinese bank (and does your bank provide you with a gold buying service?).

[bryant.coleman]

You do know that you can buy gold at any Chinese bank (and does your bank provide you with a gold buying service?).

I am living in South-east Asia, and my bank allows me to purchase physical gold through my savings account. No KYC crap needed. And talking about China, it is not a 100% capitalist country. For example, people are free to trade in equities. But every now and then, the central government imposes restrictions, which makes conducting share trading very difficult.

[CIYAM]

And talking about China, it is not a 100% capitalist country. For example, people are free to trade in equities. But every now and then, the central government imposes restrictions, which makes conducting share trading very difficult.

For sure I didn't say it is 100% capitalist - and indeed the stock market is not something I would even bother with here.

It is the silly myth that it is "communist" that annoys me as really there is very little here that would strike you as being that (apart from perhaps the stock market but really that is just the SOE's and they don't work in a way that benefits anyone but those in power).

The entire "point" of Carl Marx's idea was to benefit "the people" (by their own efforts) - but there is nothing you can find here that actually does that at all (seriously not one thing - so to call China "communist" would be to call Carl Marx a guy who's vision was to actually screw everyone for everything and give them nothing).

For example I have experienced problems at hospitals where someone who has a seriously high BP is not treated until they do "pointless tests" in order to charge you more money (endangering the patient's life just to get some more funds). Now does that strike you as being something that Carl Marx would have ever supported (if so then I guess you have never read any of his literature - which is something that I actually did)?

Basically westerners who talk about the "evils of communism" have never read Carl Marx and have no idea about how governments like the Chinese one work (they just picked up from CNN or the like that "communism" is bad and don't even bother to try and research about how a county's political system actually works).

[panju1]

That is what happens when you get too much communism in your head.

Have to disagree with you here. The Arabs are one of the rudest people in the earth, and they were never ruled under communism. And if you have ever visited Cuba (one of the last communist countries remaining in the world right now), you will be surprised to see how friendly the people are. IMO, it is the sudden creation of wealth, which makes people rude.

Yup, it is the culture of the place. Has nothing to do with communism / capitalism.
Wealth doesn't make them rude, wealth just makes them mobile and exposes their rudeness to different parts of the world.

[CIYAM]

Wealth doesn't make them rude, wealth just makes them mobile and exposes their rudeness to different parts of the world.

Indeed - the problem is mostly due to uneducated people suddenly having enough money to travel (and nothing to do with the type of government and in fact if China really was "communist" then such people would never be affording overseas trips).

Uneducated people are generally the ruder people in most countries as typically better manners are consistent with a better education (if no-one teaches you what is rude or what isn't then how are you going to understand that you are being perceived as being rude). Certainly I've met plenty of very well behaved Chinese and for the most part they are the far better educated. Mind you I've also met some very nice "countryside" Chinese as well - so one should be careful not to blindly stereotype.

Many might be surprised to know that when mainland Chinese go to travel agencies (at least in the bigger cities) they are often given pamphlets asking them to "not behave badly" that have been created by the government (so the government is clearly aware and trying to address this problem).

Also "drunken Aussies" abroad in Bali or Thailand (and even in mainland China) can be even more annoying.

[Snail2]

I lived in a communist country so i know this from experience.

Again - China is not a "communist country" and if you believe that then you are a "brainwashed westerner".

What else can I say - I live in China and I know!
(you obviously have never lived in China)

They have "first class tickets" here - now what kind of communist country would have that?

Everywhere you can pay more to get "better service" such as "five star hotels" - again - what communist country would have that?

Jesus - even at the banks you can have a VIP account so you don't need to wait so long in a queue (they don't even have that in Australia so basically that makes Australia look more communist than China).

I'm also from a former "communist" country, and actually we had first class tickets, two, three four and five star hotels . Even it was possible to play golf and do such "bourgeois" stuff if someone paid some extra for that .

[CIYAM]

I'm also from a former "communist" country, and actually we had first class tickets, two, three four and five star hotels . Even it was possible to play golf and do such "bourgeois" stuff if someone paid some extra for that .

If you look at what China was like in under Chairman Mao it was a lot more similar to what Russia was under Stalin (and although the term "socialist" is probably preferred you could use "communist" for that era if you like).

They basically didn't even have banks or cash, most of the people were forced to work on collective farms and nearly everyone with any degree or education was denigrated if not put in jail or executed (this peaked during the Cultural Revolution but there had been other harsh treatment of educated people well before then).

After Deng took over he (re-)introduced capitalism to China (famously calling it "Communism with Chinese traits" or something like that) and that actually changed everything for the Chinese (who had been basically ruined and were starving after the disaster of the Cultural Revolution).

So when China was socialist/communist there were no "five star hotels" or anything like what there is today. Also there are plenty of 60yo Chinese around you can ask all about what it was like when they were children (and you won't find many of them saying that it was a great time).

[Raeg]

Often people just think tourists are rude because they just don't like foreigners so everything they do annoys them.

Some visitors to Mount Rigi in the Swiss Alps were upset by increasing numbers of Chinese tourists who blocked train corridors to take photographs, spit on the floor, and stood on toilet seats to relieve themselves, the Swiss Blick newspaper reported, according to Britain's The Independent.

I can understand the taking pictures because lets face it that's all your stereotypical Chinese tourists do, but it's not really rude. I'm sure the other things are exaggerations or lies to.

You do know that you can buy gold at any Chinese bank (and does your bank provide you with a gold buying service?).

I am living in South-east Asia,

Where abouts? In Thailand perhaps?

[CIYAM]

I'll just also state that whilst living in China I do regularly see people spit on the pavement (often after "hocking" it up and then usually done by stopping and spitting on the ground immediately in front of them between their legs) and even worse I have seen some people (generally elderly people) even spit on the floor in a bus or train (although I've only ever seen very uneducated countryside people do that - you won't see anyone well-dressed doing that).

This does tend to vary from city to city and without a doubt you'll see this mostly in the very polluted cities of China (and having lived in Beijing for some years I can actually understand it as very polluted air does tend to make you want to spit out the extra mucous that arises from the dust and other particulates). Unfortunately it tends to become a "habit" so even when placed in a pristine environment some may still feel the need to spit.

Spitting itself - if done in say a drain or a bin (or better yet in a toilet) is not so offensive to myself (without the hocking) - but I do think that spitting on the ground where someone is likely to be walking on is a bit disgusting (and of course is much worse if done in a vehicle or an indoor place). Note that the pamphlets that I had mentioned that tourist agencies generally show to potential tourists do tell Chinese that spitting is considered very bad in other countries (unfortunately I guess some just don't care or didn't bother reading the pamphlet or it is just a habit that they are not even really aware of).

All tourists tend to take a lot of photographs so I don't think that is anything special to the Chinese (actually I thought Japanese tourists were more famous for the amount of photos they take).

The toilet seat thing is a little more complicated than you may at first think - as many Chinese consider "sit on" toilets to be unhygienic (and squat toilets are more the norm throughout mainland China), however, if there is plenty of toilet paper available then often they'll just cover the top of the toilet with paper to sit on. Once again I am fairy sure that the tourist advisory pamphlets do mention this one as well (and I've even seen Chinese movies that make it very clear that this behaviour is not appreciated).

[CIYAM]

One point I'd like to make that might surprise some westerners is that Chinese think it is extremely rude to not take off your shoes when walking into someone's home (and would never do that themselves - so you always see indoor sandals or the like at the entrance to any typical Chinese home).

Yet many westerners will come into a Chinese home and just "walk in with their shoes on".

So things that people think are disgusting or inappropriate do vary from country and country.

[Pingu]

One point I'd like to make that might surprise some westerners is that Chinese think it is extremely rude to not take off your shoes when walking into someone's home (and would never do that themselves - so you always see indoor sandals or the like at the entrance to any typical Chinese home).

Yet many westerners will come into a Chinese home and just "walk in with their shoes on".

So things that people think are disgusting or inappropriate do vary from country and country.

I think this all depends on how respectful someone is. I live in the UK and its not customary or expected but most people (including me) at least offer or ask if they should take their shoes off. I'd rather keep them on if they're not dirty personally but I always ask.

[CIYAM]

One point I'd like to make that might surprise some westerners is that Chinese think it is extremely rude to not take off your shoes when walking into someone's home (and would never do that themselves - so you always see indoor sandals or the like at the entrance to any typical Chinese home).

Yet many westerners will come into a Chinese home and just "walk in with their shoes on".

So things that people think are disgusting or inappropriate do vary from country and country.

I think this all depends on how respectful someone is. I live in the UK and its not customary or expected but most people (including me) at least offer or ask if they should take their shoes off. I'd rather keep them on if they're not dirty personally but I always ask.

That is interesting as most Australians would not (so would you consider most Australians to be rude?).