I love the China...but the spitting!

I love China. I really do. The 5 months here have been great. There are certain aspects of Chinese culture that bother some westerners...the lack of lines, the loud talking on cellphones, the running around all night screaming in my building.

I don't mind them. Kind of charming, actually.

But the spitting. I can't take it.

The burbling hack. The wet spit. x100. Everywhere. Inside. Outside.

I had a 8 hour train journey. Went for a sleeper. Nice couple in the same compartment. They shared their food with me. Smiles. No English (and I have no Chinese) but I liked them. But all night. Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaack. Ptoewwww. Over and over. On the floor of the sleeper. Every 5 minutes. And not just in my compartment. All over the train.

I finally fall asleep. Wake up. Gotta pee!!!! Jump off bunk. Land in spit + mucous, covering the floor. Dammit! Ah, that's why they try to land in their shoes.

Spitting in the mall, in restaurants. Always the loud haaaaaaaaaack.

Trouble is, they don't even know they are doing it. If you got angry, they would have no idea why.

Sorry, rant over.

Totally okay CanJ...

You've been there long enough now where the romantic stage will start to wear off and some of these little things will start getting to you (and sometime in between your toes :lol8:) .

No worries though as it only get crazier the more you see. :deal:

:icon10:
CC

beeing in China now for 3 years, this is something I agree with you. They are spitting on "China"(!) and nobody cares!
All these years I tried to understand and the only thing I found was the health issue: They believe that spitting brings out the "bad influence" out of their body. For us it is simply ugly, bad manners and unhealthy for everybody else.
Imagine! we would do this in a chinese crowd! They would send us to prison!
Something they can do but we don`t.
Last week, my partner in life has had a big meeting and tried to explore something while he ripped a 1 Yuan note into pieces. BIG CRY, he had "damaged the Image of China"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There is a rule, they can, we don`t. Same thing is throwing waste where ever they are sitting or beeing outside.
Social rules, where are they made? who made them? sneezing into a paper towel is making them vomiting!
So, beeing here, I try mostly to ignore this kind of behavier, but every time it is happening in my present, this person gets an "unfriendly look".

HAHAHAH "bad influence" is more like daily accrual of various air pollutants like exhaust, dust, coal, concrete and incinerated waste particles.

Haaaaaaaaack-ptooey! :lol8:

CC

I lived in Leicester for a number of years. This UK city is host to a huge percentage of different races and some of the habits are a bit off-putting to us.

Blocking one nostril and blowing a torrent of snot out of the other one in the public toilet sinks. We find this disgusting but they're adamant that blowing snot into a handkerchief is abhorrent...

Crapping from a great height by standing crouched on the toilet seats rather than sitting on them...

Funnily enough spitting is a habit here in Spain as well, although confined to the older generations.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by forchetto

Blocking one nostril and blowing a torrent of snot out of the other one in the public toilet sinks. We find this disgusting but they're adamant that blowing snot into a handkerchief is abhorrent...

---

With all due sarcasm, You'd positively love west virginia. :lol8:

Same again all..3 times I have been to China and was amazed/disgusted with 3 things ..the amount of smoking ,spitting and those revolting dunnies..

In my 5 weeks there in April/May I was ignoring the constant spitting for the first week ..but was starting to get really sick of it ..most abhorrent habit ..especially when they spit in restaurants while you are trying to eat...the smoking is bad enough ..my wife is Chinese and it was not until our last trip back it finally clicked to her how disgusting these cultural habituals are..

She was proudly telling her friends at the dinner table one night how it is illegal to smoke in or anywhere near a eatery in Australia..and they sat stunned when she said it is extremely bad manners to spit in public let alone in a restaurantand that you would be asked to leave if you did it in Australia...:popcorn:
The only male who agreed with anti smoking and spitting was my Wife's cousin (he is a Doctor) lol !

I think as the place is exposed to more western culture over the next 5-10 years many of these things or ideals will change..
but I still love China spit ..smoke and all !:riding:

I have been in China for 20 months now.
I spent 2 winters in Shenyang, -15c or below. In the north, it frozen spit. I can also see the frozen vomit Monday morning as I pass by the KTV near my home. The spit habit is disgusting yet, but really its harmless. I learned to ignore it. I don't really notice it anymore, not that people spit less now.
The habit that really pisses me off, and i cannot ignore, i the carelessness. For many Chinese, the logic :: If its not my business, its not my problem, and i really don't care. Some examples include::

• Pollution: small or big scale, its really not something to be concerned about. As long as your home is clean, what do you care about the outside world? How is that your business?

• traffic accident:: the driver still stuck unconscious in the car, maybe gasoline dripping on the floor and ... and people are just standing around, as if watching a majiang game.

• your kid wants to piss or shit, no problem, anywhere is as good as a toilet, even better. Babies wear special clothes so they can poop whenever they want. On the sidewalk, infront of a shop's entrance, in or near the wastebin in a shopping mall, in the park in the middle of the walkway, not the bushes.

• You are eating in a restaurant, so everything but the plates that have food.. everything, you can use as garbage. Throw anything anywhere you want, you are not the one cleaning, so why do you care? Besides, did you see how other people leave their table when finished? Why should you care less?

The list could go on for sometime, but I think i made my point. For Chinese, it's always someone else's problem. This is one habit i hope i will not get used to...


PS:: A common misconception about China::The public toilets or shopping mall toilets are "clean". They are mopped frequently throughout the day. What are you complaining about? the cleaner just used a mop to spread the piss and shit from one corner to all over the place. Now think that this same mop was used for sometime now, so the cleanliness is a function of all the people that had business since this one mop is in commission.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by iamcanjim

The burbling hack. The wet spit.

---

That's the sound of the Chinese National Anthem.
I half expected spitting to be the demonstration sport at the 2008 Olympics. Medal sweep for the hosts.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nick in PRC.

That's the sound of the Chinese National Anthem.
I half expected spitting to be the demonstration sport at the 2008 Olympics. Medal sweep for the hosts.

---

I was drinking coke when I read that. You owe me a new keyboard. LoL

My wife doesn't spit unless there is something in her mouth she can't get out any other way and she gets pissy when I spit. She likes to walk around barefoot in the summer time and so she walks in the street rather than on the sidewalk. Less to dodge, I guess.

The thing that bothers me more than the spitting is that they think they are the only ones on the planet. You can be in a crowded store and there will be four or five just standing there gabbing blocking the isle. I got tired of going around them; now I bowl right through them and laugh when they cuss me out! This will happen anywhere and everywhere.

I poke fun at my wife and son sometimes.:poke They do the same to me, so its OK.:sissyfight: I tell them that if hadn't been raised by monkeys and grown up in a cave, they would know a few social graces.

Chinese are the most polite, insensitive, graciously social misfits on the planet. But they are cute, so I'll keep mine!

I suppose it's all POV. To them, Westerners are the "barbarians" (ye man) and if you go back a couple thousand years it wouldn't be so hard to imagine where that idea came from. Times being what they are though...

I jokingly imagine a frustrated Westerner in China must look like this... :taz:

Anyway, here's to happy barbarians! :goodtime:

Paz,
CC

Yesterday I saw someone who hit the Tri-Fecta of stupidity. It was a westerner, in a jacket and tie no less. He was riding one of those 3 wheeled motorized trikes. Had two young kids in the back. No helmets (1). Riding the wrong way on Jing Shun Road (2) (possibly the most dangerous road on planet earth) and he runs a red light (3) right in front of me. Is there a less painful way to get rid of unwanted kids????
Regds,
Jim
www.bmwsidecar.com



I jokingly imagine a frustrated Westerner in China must look like this... :taz:

Anyway, here's to happy barbarians! :goodtime:

Paz,
CC[/QUOTE]

Yeah it's amazing the things you'll see. I always thought the story of the guy who killed three pedestrians because an onion rolled from the back of his mianbaoche and got lodged behind his brake pedal was pretty special.

Oh well, the China has a short history of automotive ownership and will hopefully get better through the generations. Hopefully...

CC

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CrazyCarl

Oh well, the China has a short history of automotive ownership and will hopefully get better through the generations. Hopefully...CC

---

Given the actual traffic law and it's execution as well as the current conditions of traffic facilities in combination with non existing discipline, I'd bury all hopes right away :lol8::lol8::lol8: