I went to China this year…Longsheng, Chengdu, Xian, Beijing…Chinese ppl love to spit! I’m not talking about a little spit but a massive one where they honk up all their guts and fleghm… They will do it litterally everywhere; plane, theatre, street, restaurant… Disgusting!!!
Do you know why they do it?
Also…wtf is with taking photo of me all the time?
It’s probably from all the smog they are breathing in. Air pollution might be causing excessive phlegm build up
These threads are becoming annoying.
Edit: That said, what’s up with Chinese people cutting in line? I swear if they see even the smallest space in a line they shoot the gap.
it’s a queue…not a line!!! Geez!!!
It’s a cultural thing I guess. US people used to spit a lot too - that’s why places used to have spittoons. On the topic of Chinese people though:
They don’t give a crap about anyone else, the environment, exam honor system, etc.
They don’t queue, instead just crowding into whatever place they want. This is probably related to 1).
No concept of personal space. Old Chinese guy will stand 12 inches from you and read your newspaper.
They eat all animals and weird things. You can buy stuff like pangolin or breast milk in some Chinese supermarkets.
However, they also have a “win at all cost” attitude. This is probably related to everything above.
From my experience, it takes 1-2 generations in the US to undo most of these traits.
I think that is actually because people used to chew a lot more tobaccy.
This post reminds me of a funny story my grandpa told me. He was in China during WWII and one of the Chinese officers was blowing a snot rocket. My grandpa asked him why he did that and he said “Well, what would you have me do. It’s a lot better than putting it in a piece of paper and carrying it around in my pocket.”
Just a cultural thing. I remember trying to explain how cereal worked to Chinese poeple around 1999. They were like, " So, you take some grains, like rice or noodles or bread and then you pour milk all over them and eat it with a spoon? Weird!"
And sugar… LOTS of suggar…
They don’t have Cap’n Crunch with Crunch Berries in China? That’s it, we need to liberate them.
i had some pretty appalling food in china…and had runny poop nearly everyday.
i was in China last year with work and we asked the brokers what all the spitting and hocking was about.
basically, in chinese culture, flem, snot, mucus etc are dirty and considered unhygienic and need to be expelled from the body to ensure good health.
of course, mucus, flem and snot are all essential to protect your health.
re queuing, the whole of asia and most of mainland europe don’t really do queues. the UK, US, Canada, Australia etc are very much in the minority on that one.
I was coughing a lot earlier this year - turns out that a radiator had leaked and there was mold growing under the floor.
One thing I learned while looking up more on cough-care is that phlegm is basically puss that comes out through your respiratory system.
That makes me want to cough it up and expel it all the more!
Those were more often for the spit from chewing tobacco than regular spitting.
Had the same problem at my old office. Radiators were old, carpeting was dirty and likely moldy, etc. so I asked management to tear out the carpeting in the room, replace it with something new, and bring in an air filter. Problem solved, but it was causing me all kinds of respiratory issues for some time.
I really think it is a cultural thing – Chinese people have had to hustle for many years during and after the Cultural Revolution. The wealth disparity is pretty wild there and even with the huge growth in the country in recent years (and likely to continue for decades), the gap between the have’s and have not’s is pretty huge. You gotta fight for your keep.
A couple years ago I was in Shanghai with a friend looking to get train tickets. Mandarin is my third language and while I’m far from fluent, my language skills are serviceable. Therefore, I prefer to get around in China speaking Mandarin, as opposed to trying to use English and expecting people to understand me. (Ironically, in most of the big cities, I find that Chinese people actually do understand English quite well, even if they don’t “telegraph” it to visitors – so be careful what you guys say, since I know American people often don’t have filters). Anyway, we were looking to get trains near the end of the day, and there were probably one or two more trains that evening before the station shut down for the night.
So we’re waiting in line for the tickets, which is packed with people. There are multiple people trying to cut us, and it seemed a bit silly because we were considerably larger than them (i.e. unlikely they can just push us around, though they definitely tried). The whole racket seemed odd to us Americans. Anyway, we finally make it to the front of the line and the ticket agent asks me how many tickets we need. I look to my friend and ask him if we should get a few extras for the next few days, since we’re already in line. When I turn back to look at the ticketing agent, someone has cut us. I look again at my friend in disbelief, smirking and wondering if that just really happened, and when I turn back around someone ELSE has cut us. Finally, getting tired of these hi-jinks I just put down some cash and buy a few tickets, and turn to my left once I’ve decided which “choice words” in Chinese I want to share with the punk that just cut me who’s standing around with a sh!t-faced grin. Finally as I’m ready to pick up my tickets, a third person butts in from the right, plops down a bill, and grabs his ticket and just leaves his change on the counter.
That was my first taste of rush hour in Shanghai.
I too am constantly having trouble with these people. Is there anyway to teach the country as a whole some manners?
Nuke 'em. It’s worked before.
Why do Chinese walk backwards?
When i was living in BK waiting for my bus to bring me to FiDi i would always see older chinese walking backwards without their shirts on.
I noticed that people in Beijing didn’t lift their feet when walking. Just scuffing along like fat girls in ugg boots.