Day 12 - One World One Dream

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We had a cultural discussion in the second half of our lesson today. Up until now I’ve felt cautious about the way I behave in China because I’m not fully aware of what is culturally acceptable/unacceptable. I was told so many stories before I left e.g. don’t sneeze in public, don’t show the palm of your hand, don’t leave your chopsticks lying in the bowl and so many more!

Our teacher told us not to be worried about what we say in the discussion because it’s not about what is right or wrong. She was just as interested to hear about our culture, as we were to hear about the Chinese. It was a good opportunity to discuss our differences and begin to understand the reasons behind them. We touched on so many different topics e.g. the role of women, population control, the environment, the one child policy. I even have a slight understanding around why the Chinese push and shove foreigners out the way all the time! I know it might sound like a really small issue but it’s something I noticed the moment I got off the plane. The Chinese shove people out the way, they don’t hold doors open and certainly don’t wait in queues. They don’t apologise if they bump into some one either. Our teacher explained that with such a huge population it is difficult to keep body contact away. People don’t say sorry because they would be saying sorry all day - being pushed is unavoidable and expected. I would find it really difficult to get out of the habit of not saying sorry, I even say sorry when some one pushes into me! Chinese people are usually in a rush and they can’t risk being late for any thing, punctuality is very important. If you are late for work you get money taken off your salary! They really cannot afford to be late.

It has been another scorching hot day. A small group of us took a trip to the Olympic Stadium. We visited the Birds Nest (where the opening ceremony took place) and the Watercube (the swimming pool). I never really watched the Olympics but I was still really impressed, especially the architecture. There was such a feel good atmosphere; perhaps that is because they had the Olympic song on repeat!

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