High Voltage: You stay Classy, Beijing

I like Beijing a lot. I really do. It's a city that still holds many secrets for me to uncover even after over a year's worth of living here. One of the most interesting of these legendary mysteries of the East, for most people at least, is the way Chinese people behave and interact publicly. Most are quite familiar with the Japanese who bow, present themselves in such a formal way it boarderlines to the extreme and tend to apologise deeply even for the slightest of errors.When it comes to the Chinese, though, you're dealing with the exact opposite, and this is where most of my gripes are derived from. I find the Chinese to have an extreme lack of courtesy. Now I don't mean this statement as a comparison to the Japanese. I haven't been to Japan yet, sadly, so I can only use my possibly misguided and ill-informed idea I have of the way they behave. I also do not believe that people should be so courteous and considerate, they have to apologise by bowing 100 times in a row yelling "I am so so sorry for bumping into you". But I do believe the line needs to be drawn somewhere and quite  frankly I feel that the average Beijinger has yet to do so.

After the jump I will take you for a ride into what I consider the blacker side of Beijing and its society. Bare in mind I am expressing my own opinion here. I've heard the line "Oh but this is Chinese culture" or just simply "This is China" one too many times and I still do not agree with it. My girlfriend, born and bred in Beijing, has never shown any signs of such lack of consideration for the people surrounding her. Nor have the rest of the locals I interact with almost every day. So, yes, expect a good amount of ranting and opinionated statements this time.

Enter at your own risk!

Queue? What queue?

I can count about four to five occasions where I have been cut in line while waiting for my turn for anything ranging from purchasing movie tickets to getting my public transportation card recharged. I still distinctly remember waiting patiently in a relatively long line to go watch a film and a guy cutting Kim and myself because we didn't move to the ticket stall the nano-second it was available. Where I come from, that sometimes can even get your rear end kicked to next Saturday. I really don't see where the culture is in that. It's downright rude. I surely did not go out to have someone give me an example of how being slow in China will cost me my turn in line. I spoke up with a tap to the shoulder and of course the gentleman did not retaliate and let us go through. But a lesson was learned there for sure: be quick or be cut...in line.

From Hell's heart I spit at thee!

Okay, maybe not at "me" exactly but rather the ground. There hasn't been a day gone by where I haven't heard the sound of a throat gobbing, may it be on the street or even in the peaceful office I work at. It's everywhere literally and it's not just the older generations. Nor just the young males. No, no, no...Picture the last well groomed and quite attractive young lady you've seen on the street recently. Now imagine her taking a huge gob, its sound echoing distinctively everywhere, and unleashing it upon the world. Not so pretty now eh? It's not so common but there are young ladies like that who will spit loud and proudly. Honestly, it makes me cringe but I've made a game out of it. Every time I hear someone gob the very bowels of their mouth I imitate their noise as synchronised as possible. Yeah, I'm mean but it's the only thing that's keeping me from unleashing my rage through a series of Greek profanities.

It's all Greek...er...Chinese to me

The Chinese have a tremendous tendency to just converse with each other in their native language regardless of whether or not their company actually speaks it. My company's staff, bar one person, is quite capable of carrying out a decent conversation in English quite effectively. Yet, every day at lunch time, full blown Mandarin is flying all over the place. Now I don't mind this so much, as I like to eat in peace during work, but then suddenly my name pops up. Personally, I don't appreciate people talking about me in a language I don't understand well enough. The Chinese, though, don't seem to mind this very much. It gets sillier when we're out with Kim's friends and I get left out since I can't really contribute to any of the conversations. I have to admit, I've learned to live with this one quite patiently.

The long arm of the salesman

This is purely a rant about store employees and street vendors. They love grabbing you by the arm to get your attention. It's for this reason we no longer go to Zhongguancun, Beijing's largest electronics marketplace. The second we walk in there, employees from various booths and shops start grabbing us to check out their wares. One of my American friends here lives right outside a wide corner where a ton of street vendors flood it with their items. Let's just say, coming and going from his house is always a test of how many of them I can discourage just by putting on my "touch me and you lose an arm" face.

After living here for over a year I've developed a tolerance for a wide array of rude acts and disgusting sounds. It helps to have a sense of humor too. I know I'm ranting and no matter what happens, Chinese society isn't going to change for me. But I stand by my opinion, that the "This is China" line is just an excuse to walk around in society without caring much for ones surroundings. In fact, I call out for some more opinions on this. Even the haters.