January 24, 2002
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A Taste of Civilization
Don't get me wrong, SH is cool and all, but after living in Toronto for so long, getting a taste of Western civ made me realize how accustomed I've become to China and made me miss, really miss, life outside of Big Brother's direct influence. Riding into HK on train from GZ, I think I know what a mainlander would feel. The bright lights the big city, all the wonderfully dressed people, clean streets, nice shiny cars... oh civilization once again. The people are so civil here in HK, they actually line up! I hope the habits I picked up in China budding into people doesn't get me into a good ass whooping. Seeing my relatives made me feel so dirty I quickly opted to go to the hotel so I could at least wash my face, comb my hair and change into a new set of clothes.
Since getting in last night, I've been able to find an Internet bar so here I am, on Xanga. I hope 3 weeks in HK will turn me back into a normal person. First thing I need is a good scrubbing. I feel almost racist for saying this, maybe I'm xenophobic, but the stark contrast of life in SH and in HK has made me realize how much more SH has to do. GZ was even worse, the urban sprawl was a mess. Whoever does urban planning there should get lynched. I was on my cousin's rooftop looking at GZ and it looked like a big mess of buildings, different colours, sizes all mixed together and fucking dirty.
As for SH, the people have to change. Save your spitting for private please, don't wear your pajamas in public, stop gathering around to watch whenever there is a dispute on the street, wash that greasy hair mr.mainlander, lower the screaming voices, stop littering and please learn to respect a queue.
It's my cousin's wedding tomorrow and since it is the first in the family, it's a pretty big deal, everyone's doing their last minute scrambling for the big day. I don't remember the last Chinese wedding I've been to, this is going to be fun.
One more thing, for those of you who braved the picture from the previous post, please do not think it was me. It was just something that I observed and thought I would share, I am much more responsible than that. Even if it were me, I would not have taken a picture of it, and yes, my shit is coming out firm now.
Here's a good story (click pic)
Comments (8)
I know what you mean man...the couple of weeks I spent travelling around there almost made me feel ashamed to be Chinese. Culture there has a long way to go before reaching the world stage. It's fucked up because people talk all this shit about China being a world power and what not...but the fact remains that they've only really come into their own since, say, the 50's or so. Walking through the streets you can still sense that 'third world' attitude around. I dunno....it's all fucked man.
The last time I went to china, it was pretty bad cuz ppl would just beat each other up over bus seats. My tour guide was bitten by a shanghai women cuz he tried to tell her politely that the bus was full and to wait for another.
Oh yea.. watch out for those disputes on the street.. they're staged so pickpocketers can do their dirty work! (next time you see one, stand outside and watch the people around the circle and their eyes.. you can usually tell which ones are pickpocketers)
Do you think China will improve before the Olympics? Civilization I think...is really a mindset. I bet you anything that the Chinese do not think North Americans are 'civilized'. People have very different views depending on where they were raised.
I've never been to China but I still really want to go visit... some of the things in your entries (haha, like yuor last one) are kinda making me have second thoughts tho!
Have fun at the wedding! 
Well, China is improving slowly, but unless they will remove those toilets and have clean clean ones, then the good part of China is only trying to cover up. Everybody went back to China tells me how much they miss the clean air in U.S.
ok if you would stop shitting on those toilets maybe china would be a little cleaner ...
learn to respect a queue - ok british-boy, take it easy with your fancy new words. and if you want people to stop budding, a quick kung-fu kick to the nuts will do. i guarantee, after that, they won't be cutting in front of you, or anyone alse again.
in regards to your last post, was that a picture of the toilet/squatter you use in your apartment? - and if so, i guess i won't be using your facilities when i visit.
well actually, i think hong kong is too focus on materialistic and physical appearance to let people think they are not up to date on civilization. unfortunately their manners are not as far from mainlanders as you would think. take a notice, next time when you line up to use the ATMs. in the states, when the person is using the ATM, the line is usually a little ways back so as to give the user some privacy, that will not happen in hong kong. and if you do leave a space, people will cut in front of you. don't think hong kong is that much greater. their egos are big enough already, no need to feed it anymore.
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