A Reversed Culture Shock

My trip to China ended with an eleven-hour flight back to Vancouver. We flew first to Hong Kong and then connected our flight to Vancouver. I arrived into Vancouver on 29 March. So as you can see, it%26rsquo;s already been 4 days since I ended my trip. I told myself to release the journal that I kept on the road, but my other half brain told me to hold. Yes, something went wrong here. What I kept in my journal does not match what I expected that I would write.

It seems that my trip to China brought me second cultural shock. I visited China four times since I left the country five years ago. Excluding the last visit, the previous three were either business type or out of family emergency. So, I should I say that this last visit was a real visit. And it brought me a reversed cultural shock, which I tried to deny but failed.

Shock One %26ndash; Traffic Chaos

Believe it or not, I was pretty scared when crossing the road. It seems that the traffic signals in the city where I stayed didn%26rsquo;t really mean anything. People crossed the road when the red light was on, and so did the drivers. I had to drag my dear wife and my brave boy whenever we went across the roads. %26ldquo;Do as the Romans do!%26rdquo; I told them. The real question is %26ldquo;What happens when the Romans don%26rsquo;t?%26rdquo; I have no answer to that question.

Taking a taxi was another unique experience to me. I never realized it was so unique until I revisited the city. Here in the city that I lived, the drivers (not only the taxi drivers) were the %26ldquo;bravest%26rdquo; and the most --- drivers that I had ever seen. Almost none gave signals when making left and right turns. Miraculously, I didn%26rsquo;t see traffic accidents while I was there.

Shock Two %26ndash; Sense of Privacy

I don%26rsquo;t mean to say that there was no privacy in China. But, what I experience in a notary public office made me wonder what privacy really meant to many people there. One day, I went into the office. Seeing people revealing their quite personal stories in front of many others made me uncomfortable%26hellip; %26ldquo;Do as the Romans do%26rdquo; I told myself. So, I waited patiently and tried to avoid the sound coming from the person in front of the line. Then, I sensed that someone was peering through my shoulder and stared at the paper that I was holding. %26ldquo;Do as the Romans do%26rdquo; I murmured quietly. Moments later, my brother came and we discussed at the corner of the office with the documents open on the desk. Almost immediately, I saw a man was staring at the documents. His staring lasted (about 3 minutes) till I politely reminded him that it was a personal document and %26hellip; My mouth dropped seeing him exploded at me, reminding me that it was a public place and he started just the desk not the document.

This incident made me remember what I went through when I visit doctors while I was living in the city. Whoever visited doctors knew that doctors questioned their patients in front of all the other patients or listeners. Quite embarrassing sometimes, I should admit, when you have to involuntarily take the intimate information of someone else, which you really don%26rsquo;t want to.

Shock Three %26ndash; No Title

The city that I stayed is well known for having rivers running across the city. It should be a beautiful Venice if people living along the river knew how to restrain themselves from dumping the rubbish into the river. Constantly, I saw through internet of this-and-that type of regulations and by-laws have been implemented to prevent rivers from the pollution. Well, the reality shows a quite different view. Black colored material floating with sickening smells catches people%26rsquo;s eyes once they go across the bridge or walk along the river. One day from my ritual morning exercise, I reported to my brother-in-law of what I just discovered. %26ldquo;I saw a very neat slogan today,%26rdquo; I told my brother-in-law. %26ldquo;It%26rsquo;s about the way to prevent people from polluting the river,%26rdquo; I said. This is how it said: %26ldquo;Whoever dumps on the river should be cursed to be terminated, three generations included!%26rdquo;

Again, this reminded me the time while I stayed in the city. We kept our rooms clean, the inside of course, not the outside.

Note %26ndash; this journal is totally out of my personal observation and does not reflect the views of this web-site. If you feel upset for what I wrote in this journal, please reply with facts. No personal attacks, please. As I said thousands of times, I am a Chinese, and I have Chinese blood, regardless of where I stay!