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Q: Reputation of Americans in China?
Heard some wiiiiild stories. What do people think of us here? What's the stereotype?
Arrogant, arrogant and arrogant.
Well, I guess some of the arrogant 'Merican r not 'Mericans. But they just want to help, to make people hats Americans.
Sorry for that, but I do know nice Americans. Like one of our new intern, will go visit factories in QIngdao with me and will spend two days with my family as well, hope I didn't see her wrong, hope she is as good as what I think she is. 
Why Doesn't any company accept me as an intern?
Because i'm not american?
I think that since the 80s, Americans living in China have enjoyed many "above the law" privileges that Chinese people, and many other foreigners dont get. With that said, I also think that a combination of Americans behaving badly in China and the diminishing economic power of the US have/are contributing to our more normalized status/reputation in Chinese society.
While we enjoyed a great reputation in the past, it was probably just because of the massive amount of FDI we pumped in to the Chinese economy (for the last quarter century). That seems to be changing a bit.
Surely the "wild" attitudes of expats, especially on around bar time, is contributing our diminishing reputation, but more importantly, it is due to is our diminishing economic prowess. China up until recently (circa 2008 economic crisis) was still in the "student" role, wanting to learn all it could from the "american economic success story", but after the dust settled from the initial crisis, China was set to take on a more dominent role.
Oh, and China Is probably getting kind of tired of paying off our national debt.
Alva,
It's always going to be some nonsense: we're all arrogant or we're all rich or etc. etc. etc.
lokethebloke:
Why do people think like that? There must be something wrong with them.
Americans as a nation are often perceived as arrogant, brash, opinionated, stupid bullies. However, when I have had occasion to meet them as individuals without exception this has not been the case, with the exception of one particularly stupid US Army Captain a few years back, but hey we all have exceptions that prove the rule.
I have too many american friends and to say the truth they are cool and friendly..even my chinese friends like them.so i guess they are doing good in china when it comes to their reputation in china among Foreigners and chinese
I often get comments about how I must be rich because I am American. And even though they don't necessarily think this of americans they have met, they still hold the idea that we are all arrogant.
Also in class this week, in a class of about 30 students, 2/3 think that we all have guns at home.
"2/3 think that we all have guns at home."
maybe 2/3 of US citizens have it? 
(statistic)
ok, reality is - that almost half families in US have at list on piece at home (according to surveys from last year)
Americans (US citizens) have worked hard for all reputation They have. Teaching, that America is the best country in the whole world makes some people arrogant in behavior. (in any country...) While general education level is... hm... low could be good word. US citizens, whom I met outside US are mostly well educated and many of them are open minded. But I also visited US, and was "not impressed". People not ALLOWING me to do breakfest my way (pretty autistic?) was only the beginning. Then "You are from Poland? so it is long way from Asia"... Europe? I've vever been to that island.... etc.
WhiteBear:
well... I'm not talking about SERVICE in restaurant :)
in average motel, when preparing self-service breakfast some bloke from Texas (I talked with him first) not allowed me to eat pancakes with sugar (blocked access to the frying device by his quite huge body - saing "ain' no sugar shit with that, only syyyyrope" ), then used some well... rude words when I claimed that bean is not good choice for breakfast before 150 miles in car, and just took away my dish that I filled with plain toast with just butter... saying something like "Your in America! We have best breakfast in 'da Wooooorld, ain' no shitty european crap here, THIS IS AMERICA!!!"
I really didn't know how to react, but just laughed loud, when realized how funny was his "plastic pride", God of Breakfast :)
I still like US generally, but many people are extremely funny...
mattsm84:
About the education system, it's better than most people believe it to be. The standardized test scores are low, but that's because doing well on a those tests isn't really something that teachers or students focus upon--except in economically depressed areas where the schools are dependent on the extra funding that high test score provide. Something that is much more telling is that 8 out of the top 10 universities in the world are in the located in the the US. That's something that simply would not be possible without a quality primary and secondary education system.
WhiteBear:
I absolutely agree, that US have one of the best university system in the World.
MIT is the best example.
But in those few universities and academies studies how many people? and many of them also from other countries.
I talked with many US citizens, and they claim, that only primary school gives wide range of knowledge (wide, but - as addressed for very young children - shallow), then in other school knowledge is selected, and begins process of specialization, that leads for the great scientists.
It is quite natural, that US citizens know more about own country then of the others, but when one is not interested in getting knowledge - simply don't have to get it.
In Poland we learn about geography of many countries and continents, about their history etc. in both primary, secondary and high schools. And so it is in many other countries.
I found, that average Chinese have much wider knowledge about world, then average US citizen. Ok, this knowledge is always inclined somehow, but it IS.
Some says that Chinese way of thinking is "sino-centric", yes, it is.
But US are absolutely the same in that field (or maybe they even win this competition). And it is not only my opinion...
mattsm84:
Well, the Polish educational system pretty clearly isn't teaching much about rhetoric. Or at least that when you make an argument you shouldn't rely on anecdotes or buttress your opinions with phrases like "and other people think so too." Now, I could tell you that what you've said is inaccurate because it doesn't reflect my experiences, or that I've met Polish people who are dissatisfied with the Polish educational system, or even that in my country Polish people are often made fun of for their lack education and common sense, but none of those arguments particularly strong and I wouldn't expect any of them to sway your opinion. Rather, I think its better to attack your position by asking you to examine your own biases.
Here is a list of the world's top 400 according to an organization within the UK: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2011-2012/top-400.html
Notice how often American universities appear and how evenly they are dispersed through out that list. And I can assure you that international students and faculty are in a clear minority. A majority of the student and teaching bodies are, in fact, native. And that graduates of these universities go on to teach at schools both on and off this list makes the whole system stronger.
My suspicion here is that your opinions on my country are shaped more on the pride you feel in being Polish and in being European, rather than on what things in the US may or may not be like. In a way, you're behaving much like that guy you met at the motel.
WhiteBear:
Im NOT bein proud of being Polish or European. I'm not a patriot of any kind, shame on me.
Again - I CONFIRMED!!!!! (in previous comment) - that US universities and academies do great job.
Polish universities are far behind them.
But I claim problem in different field , but will not write it again, just please read my previoust comment.
mattsm84:
I read and addressed your previous comment. I'm sorry if you didn't understand.
All I can go on in guessing the average Chinese person's opinion of Americans is that people constantly assume I am one myself, and seeing as those same people treat me very kindly, even though i've long tired of setting them straight on my actual nationality, I can only assume they hold no particular ill will towards Americans on the whole.
Personally i've made some very good American friends while i've been here, my first week back in China 7 years ago I stayed in the spare room of an American fella in Shenzhen who had never met me and only knew me through a vague friendship of his. I was impressed by the trust he showed me as a stranger under his roof. Then a year or so later I was in trouble in Yangshuo with not a penny to my name and a friend in a nearby city who was dying that I needed to visit, without the means to do so. An American guy i'd drank with only once reached into his pocket as soon as I told him this and gave me three hundred yuan without anything but my promise to repay it. There was of course another American dude in the same town who was feeling up one of the waitresses one night, quite against her will, and I had to put him straight, but we're not a country among us perfect, right?
