The incident that I'm going to share with you occured when my friend, Regina went to China for a holiday last summer. We were chatting one day and she happened to tell me about her bad dinner experience in Beijing.
On the first evening after arriving in Beijing, Regina went to a local restaurant for dinner with her friends, Charlotte and Ronald. The three of them are chinese Singaporeans. After getting seated at a table, they browsed through the menus and made their dinner choices. Wanting to place the order for the table, Ronald signalled to the waitress nearby and called out, "xiao jie! (which translates to 'Miss' in english)". The waitress stared at him and then walked away, pretending not to hear him. He called out to another waitress and got ignored once again. By then, he was feeling quite annoyed at the restaurant's poor service. Subsequently, he managed to catch the attention of a waiter who took his orders.
The food arrived shortly and the three of them were trying their hardest to maintain a conversation as they found difficulty conversing with each other. The local chinese sitting at the tables around them were speaking very loudly, thus drowning out their voices. They were quite shocked at how loudly the locals were conversing in public as speaking loudly in public areas is deemed as rude behaviour in Singapore. Unhappy with their terrible dinner experience, they quickly finished up their food and left the restaurant promptly.
Eventually, they found out from a local friend that it is actually rude to call a waitress 'xiao jie' because while this translates to 'Miss' in our local Singapore culture, in China, 'xiao jie' actually refers to a lady who works at nightclubs. Therefore, the right way to address a waitress in China is to call her 'fu wu yuan', which translates to waitress in english.
Also, they found out that while speaking loudly in public is deemed rude in Singapore, in china, to speak loudly demonstrates one's good health. Hence, the louder a person speaks during a conversation, the healthier he seems to other people.
Overall, this incident proved to be somewhat of a culture shock for the Regina and her friends. Although they were all chinese, they still found intercultural differences in behaviour on their trip to China. It was indeed a learning experience for them.
I made the same mistake when I was in China too! The colleague didn't blame us for it though cos she knew we are Singaporeans.
ReplyDeleteIt's also fascinating our "girl" or "小妹" is = 小姑娘 in China. Sounds so colloquial, eh?
Hi Hui Juen!
ReplyDeleteInteresting post! Although i've been to China a few times already but I've actually not noticed that! Oh my! I learnt something new!=)
I guess variations in cultures are not only confined between ethnic groups but between countries as well! Thus we cannot assume that practices among people of the same ethnicity to be the same. But have you ever wondered why is this the case? You see, our forefathers came from China but we definitely do not have the same practices as them today! Amazing right?=)
Hello Hui Juen!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this interesting piece of information. Knowing myself, I would probably have tried a "xiao jie" too! Now I know what to say =)
This sounds like a significant difference between the Chinese culture in Singapore and China. And as mentioned in your post, it can offend someone rather badly. Looks like one really should learn more about the culture of the country they are visiting although they might seem similar on the surface!
Hi Vanessa, Franson and Puva,
ReplyDeleteSo sorry for the late reply!
It's really interesting how differences can exist between people of the same ethnicity but of different nationality and how human behaviour changes as we move from one place to another.
Perhaps the culture that we have in Singapore can be said to be a result of the influence of other races and religions that are present locally, where everything comes together and reaches some sort of an equilibrium.
How I wish there was a guidebook that could warn me of such differences in behaviour across cultures so that incidents such as the one in post can be avoided!
Hi Hui Juen,
ReplyDeleteYour story is really interesting! I also had culture shock when I went to China a few years ago. Some toilets have no doors!! In the high school I visited, the students are used to go into separate cubicles with just low walls and nothing as a door to "conceal" themselves when they are doing their "business". I couldn't accept the culture and thus...refrained from going to that public toilet until I have reached my hotel room. Haha!