Superiority
I have been totally addicted to Ben Ross' blog. He is a trainee at a local hairsalon earning 600 rmb a month. He writes about his observation and experiences in that hairsalon, and it's very fascinating. In one of his blog entry he talked about "white people with white shelves", it was the best blog entry I've ever read. It really hit right through me.
I admit that I sometimes in different situations act differently in Shanghai than here in Stockholm.
I don't think I do it in purpose but it affects a lot of people around me. I know my relatives have thought I'm rude sometimes while I think what I have done is totally okay. I think during the period when I was 12 Iwas the worst person with the biggest shelve. I was really mean and told our ayi that I didn't like her food or if she could leave because I needed to study in that room, etc. in a nasty voice tone. Thinking about it now I feel so ashamed, who did I think I was?
From now on I really try to be nice and respect all people I meet in Shanghai, whether where they come from. But maybe sometimes without me even realizing, my shelve will shine through.
I admit that I sometimes in different situations act differently in Shanghai than here in Stockholm.
I don't think I do it in purpose but it affects a lot of people around me. I know my relatives have thought I'm rude sometimes while I think what I have done is totally okay. I think during the period when I was 12 Iwas the worst person with the biggest shelve. I was really mean and told our ayi that I didn't like her food or if she could leave because I needed to study in that room, etc. in a nasty voice tone. Thinking about it now I feel so ashamed, who did I think I was?
From now on I really try to be nice and respect all people I meet in Shanghai, whether where they come from. But maybe sometimes without me even realizing, my shelve will shine through.
Labels: Shopgirl's words
posted by Shopgirl at 10:47 AM
3 Comments:
Answer to that guy:
I dont see this as a Western vs. Chinese issue. With all due respects, your friends sound like ignorant brats. Most likely young English teachers from the US. And your boss has a whole theory about Westerners because he hasnt met that many or the few he has met were complaining when he almost ran over them with his car at the pedestrian crossing. In any case, the most obnoxious bastards you meet here are not the white trash that has poured on Shanghai since 2004 (your friends) but the officials in the big black cars and rich “entrepreneurs” (those who stole SOE’s assets).
I know your post has had a lot of success - good comments all over the internet, especially in China-related blogs (that how I came here). Congrats for that but I think your analysis is incorrect.
Cheers and keep up the good work at the barbershop
on the contrary i have to second the view expressed in ben ross'blog...i have found myself in such situations where countrymen of mine (i'm from italy) interacted with chinese people with such an arrogance that i felt ashamed to share the same citizenship as them. i think this 架子 thing is real, but i have to say most of the times i witnessed such an attitude it came from expats who are in china merely for the purpose of making money...hosting no interest in the culture of their "host country", they also fail to respect it. this of course is all abt their own ignorance and it goes without saying that there is a lot of foreigners (the most part i think) who actually love and respect china and its people.
^ You're right. Everytime I meet those people I just shake my head. I've realized there will always be people who are stupid enough to act in that way.
I was once upon a time, but now I know better.
thanks for writing so many comments :)
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