Culture Shock

Blog #3 - Culture Shock

I want to take one blog post and dedicate it to the various things that have been most shocking or unexpected to myself and the rest of the group. Many of our posts have been about experiences we have had, so I want to express some of the observations we have made while in China. 

1. America - SO many people wear clothes with the American flag on it! I can't think of any time where I saw an American walking around in anything with the China flag on it, but we have see everything from t-shirts and shorts, to bags and even shoes! I did not expect the average Chinese to wear the American flag so frequently. 

2. Babies - in some ways I think parents are troopers compared to American parentsw. At home, parents pack everything but the kitchen sink and prepare for battle every time they leave the house. However, in China, parents rarely had any diaper bags, and in most cases left home without even a stroller. Babies are simply carried in hand. This is very different, but the streets are already crowded as it is, I can't imagine adding thousands of giant baby strollers to the mix as well! Also, parents allow their children to use the sidewalk as their personal restroom. I saw children squatting in parks and on trees by the side of the road. 

3. Physical Contact - this one is very difficult for Americans to comprehend, and on many occasions members of our group had frusrations with this. Chinese people are physical in public and will not hesitate to shove or push you, specifically when you are waiting in some sort of line. I was repeatedly annoyed by this because they don't even find this rude (and they don't really believe in lines). At home when people shove, at least society looks down upon it, but in China there is nothing culturally unacceptable about pushing someone or even cutting in line (because lines aren't really a thing, they are a suggestion at best). This takes getting used to and Americans should be told this before visiting the country. It is much more tolerable if you understand this going in. 

4. Traffic - one of the Chinese students put it best: driving in China is ANARCHY. The streets are literally insanity. Nobody follows the signs or stays in their lane. Motor bikes and bicycles are driving every direction imagineable, including on the sidewalks. What is most shocking to me is that despite continually coming within centimeters of colliding at any point during a trip, there were surprisingly few accidents. I believe we only saw 3 total. It is hard to believe that in such a controlled society like China there is such pure chaos on the roads. There is just no law and order, which makes being a pedestrian a little bit like the game Frogger. 

5. Haggling - this was an expected culture shock, but at times exhausting none the less. I walked away from every purchase feeling like I got ripped off. If they were willing to agree to my price, I likely could have gotten them lower. Some of my classmates loved it and saw it as a challenge, but I just found it exhausting and stressful. 

6. Spitting - on our first day in Beijing I saw an adorable little old woman in the streets spit the most disgustingly phenomenal loogey that I may actually have been more impressed than disgusted. The whole world knows about the awful air pollution in China and the increased potential for lung cancer, but I never thought about how the air impacted their daily lives. People spent so much time coughing and spitting in public and it seemed painful. 

There is so much more, but I will end this blog post with that lovely imagery. 

Cheryl Landry

3 June 2014