A Changing Society

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Hey everyone!

Yay, I managed to write this one on time! One of the reasons I really like living in China is because I spend so much time around the people and surrounded by the culture that I am able notice some of the more subtle cultural changes that I would be lost on a tourist. Bargaining is just one example.

https://www.iesabroad.org/study-abroad/blogs/kmcgeepugetsoundedu/bargaining-dying-art

Another example of cultural change is the gradual change from pushing and shoving to waiting in a line. This one is still on the rise, and is more commonly seen amongst the younger generations, but it is happening. For example, every morning during rush hour I ride the subway four stops from my home to the apartments where everyone else lives. Over the last few weeks I have noticed that the subway continuously gets more and more packed until we hit People's Square station, a large transfer station, where my train will briefly empty before quickly filling again. As the train gets more and more crowded, I have noticed that there are three types of people. Those who choose not to cram themselves into an already overflowing train, those who are determined to get on no matter what, and those who go into the train with their elbows out, ready to shove their way through people, regardless of whether the shoving is really necessary.

The other morning I was on the train as usual, isolated in my bubble of music and my phone screen, when we pulled up to Qufu Road stop, two stops from People's Square. That particular morning, the train was not yet as crowded as it sometimes gets, when a woman in her 40s or 50s gets on, immediately forcing people out of her way by physically pushing them. I have noticed that pushing doesn't really happen unless it's those last few people cramming themselves on, or someone is trying to get through the crowd to get off, because really, nobody enjoys being shoved. That morning, as I said, there definitely were not enough people on the train for her to have been shoving so much, so I looked up from my phone to look at her (usually I just let it happen) because the person she was pushing at was myself. When I looked up, I ended up making eye contact with another younger woman (probably late 20s), who was outside of this older woman's shoving range, but was still looking appalled and affronted at her behavior. The two of us made eye contact over the older woman's head, and she gave me a look that I interpreted to mean what the heck, that's so rude and I'm sorry, you're in an unfortunate situation. I just looked back at the older woman and gave a shrug to say eh, what can you do? And then we went back to being in our bubbles.

I thought this was an interesting situation, because it seems like the people who are the most pushy on trains are of the older generations. One of the things I would hear a lot back home is that Chinese people do a lot of shoving when it comes to getting on busses and subways and the like. However, I've noticed that this is starting to change, and people (especially in the big cities like Beijing and Shanghai) are more inclined to 排隊 (páiduì - line up), and I've even heard people get affronted when others try to jump line or refuse to follow these social niceties that we are used to in the US, but that I'm pretty sure are fairly new here in China. I think the nonverbal communication I had with the woman on the subway was also pretty cool, because with certain nonverbal communication, it is possible to communicate with someone whom you might have difficulty communicating with otherwise. Even if I had wanted to, I wouldn't have been able to express or understand a complaint about people being rude and shoving so much in Chinese. However, on the basis that I did in fact understand that woman's body language and facial expressions, I was able to have a short nonverbal understanding with her that was to my knowledge intercultural, although to hers was intracultural.

Anyways, that's all I have for this week! Until next time!

(PS. Sorry I don't have any pictures of the subways or of the bargain market...)

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Photos

Eggs of any imaginable kind
Eggs here are very rarely refrigerated. I'm not sure what it is that makes them safe to eat, but they're tasty and I haven't had any problems with them so far! (And people like their eggs here. I probably eat eggs in at least one meal a day.)

One meat stand
The upside? It's probably really fresh. The downside? It is unrefrigerated and out in the open in a building with lots of other kinds of meat...