Say What You Will

I read an article online today.  The title was…”What Do Ex-Pats HATE About China?”…I goggled something totally different but I was curious.  I lied actually I didn’t read the article…I read the comments.  Most of the comments started with something like “I love living in China but…” and then it would go on to mention all the things that I have probably mentioned (spitting, crazy drivers, children using the streets as bathrooms, the fact that it isn’t rude to be rude, the staring, the picture taking).  It made me think of when I was a kid and we would come home from a party or something where there were other kids and adults.  My dad would spend the trip home saying how proud he was of us and how he was glad we didn’t whine when it was time to go or complain about things like some of the other kids.  He would tell us how he was so glad we used our manners and that we were great kids.  Of course there were other times where we got the disappointed speech; I mean we couldn’t make our parents lives too easy…right!

Anyway, it made me think about some of the things I have posted and a couple of them are full of complaints (I live it here but blah blah complain, whine, blah blah blah).  My parents (and now I) value the non-complainer, the fun to be around person, the person who isn’t rude.  To me it is rude to complain about the Chinese culture, I am living here, and yes…they have very different views on manners then I do, but they don’t have a problem with it.  I need to apologize for anything that may have come off as complaining.  Most of the time I don’t intend to complain, I just want to tell a funny story, and honestly most of the time the behaviors don’t bother me…but I do keep a running list in my head of some of the differences in behavior I come across because I am more curious about them then annoyed. 

SO…say what you will about the Chinese people but they value personal relationships above everything else, they don’t complain about their circumstances, they are satisfied with what they have, they will do jobs that most Americans would never do (for almost no money), and they are so excited that foreigners live near them, shop with them and work with them.  Don’t expect them to want to eat foreign food or take on the characteristics that the “western world” thinks is normal…but there is something special about the fact that their culture will never die.  Say what you will, but I haven’t met (well other than our first realtor) a Chinese person that doesn’t make me feel welcome, special, and important…or a Chinese person that didn’t try to help me…or a Chinese person that made me feel unsafe, or a Chinese person that I didn’t like.