Ok I had this random cultural discussion with some people last night with regards to China and the reason why mainland chinese people behave in such ways.  Just for the record this is in no way stereotyping the entire nation of the People’s republic of china in anyway whatsoever. I have been to Shanghai about 5 years ago and the most evident thing that occurred to me was the behavior of some of the people in this very fine city. Now shanghai is a bustling modern city juxtaposed against some historical chinese architecture. As fast paced and modern Shanghai is, some of the people within the city still behaved somewhat primitively.  Children still took a crap on the streets where there was a plant and people did not seem to have a sense of what a queue is.  I was at the local Mc Donald’s shop in the heart of Shanghai, I was usually accustomed to organized queues like the ones we usually have at Mc Donald’s outlets in Singapore.   But to my surprise and dismay, I actually discovered that there was no such thing as a queue in Shanghai’s Mc Donald’s .  Everyone rushed to be in the front- almost in a mosh pit like manner! This made me ponder on what could have caused this behavior amongst it’s very fine citizens. There were definitely some social implications to this. Now, as we may know it China has had a long historical past. It was the jewel of the east and Shanghai was and still is the Pearl of the Orient.   The Chinese were the first ones to invent social etiquette in eating by using the chopsticks instead of chopping up food with a big old knife and fork. What has happened since this refinement? The answer is- Communism! We somehow tend to forget that China has only recently come out of its communist past.  Infact to be exact china is still somewhat communist in certain aspects.  Up until 1989 when the Tianamen square protests happened, then only did China had some sense of Freedom. It is because that the nation was suppressed to almost complete equality that the chinese people has no sense of social class at all. Everyone was the same and this had a detrimental effect on the sociological and psychological aspect of its people.   Most countries have social classes and it is because of this class system that people behave in certain ways.  For example, social classes or graces  make people too embaressed to rush to the front of a Mc Donald’s counter.  So the next time you see someone rushing to the front of the queue, analyse and ponder what actually made them do that, perhaps its their social class, perhaps they are just hungry *shrugs*

Ok I had this random cultural discussion with some people last night with regards to China and the reason why mainland chinese people behave in such ways.  Just for the record this is in no way stereotyping the entire nation of the People’s republic of china in anyway whatsoever.

I have been to Shanghai about 5 years ago and the most evident thing that occurred to me was the behavior of some of the people in this very fine city. Now shanghai is a bustling modern city juxtaposed against some historical chinese architecture.

As fast paced and modern Shanghai is, some of the people within the city still behaved somewhat primitively.  Children still took a crap on the streets where there was a plant and people did not seem to have a sense of what a queue is.  I was at the local Mc Donald’s shop in the heart of Shanghai, I was usually accustomed to organized queues like the ones we usually have at Mc Donald’s outlets in Singapore.  

But to my surprise and dismay, I actually discovered that there was no such thing as a queue in Shanghai’s Mc Donald’s .  Everyone rushed to be in the front- almost in a mosh pit like manner!

This made me ponder on what could have caused this behavior amongst it’s very fine citizens. There were definitely some social implications to this. Now, as we may know it China has had a long historical past. It was the jewel of the east and Shanghai was and still is the Pearl of the Orient.  

The Chinese were the first ones to invent social etiquette in eating by using the chopsticks instead of chopping up food with a big old knife and fork. What has happened since this refinement?

The answer is- Communism! We somehow tend to forget that China has only recently come out of its communist past.  Infact to be exact china is still somewhat communist in certain aspects.  Up until 1989 when the Tianamen square protests happened, then only did China had some sense of Freedom.

It is because that the nation was suppressed to almost complete equality that the chinese people has no sense of social class at all. Everyone was the same and this had a detrimental effect on the sociological and psychological aspect of its people.  

Most countries have social classes and it is because of this class system that people behave in certain ways.  For example, social classes or graces  make people too embaressed to rush to the front of a Mc Donald’s counter.

 So the next time you see someone rushing to the front of the queue, analyse and ponder what actually made them do that, perhaps its their social class, perhaps they are just hungry *shrugs*

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