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Q: What stereotypes have you come across in China about people from your country?
I've been told that British girls are elegant (I would challenge anyone who believes this to go to a tiger tiger in any given city, and then see what they think) and that British men are a confusing mix of gentlemen and football hooligans...
Me as a german I constantly ran into the common stereotypes...
Good:
- always on time
- can drink a lot of beer
Not so good:
- drink too much beer (beerbelly)
- don't have humour
- always speak english with a strange accent
you know the usual stuff
SwedKiwi1:
Not too bad those things. As a Swede I run into very similar stereotypes regarding punctuality, and being able to drink a lot. But especially as far as the locals are concerned I think they are right 
royceH:
I met a couple of German fellas during the last World Cup and they surprised me by being great company. They were able to inject humour into the conversation and laugh easily. Of course we were heavily into some kind of German beer at the time. Delicious it was, too. Forget the name...I've had it a few times since and it's a top notch drop. Name starts with W, I think. I comes in a lighter lager style and a darker, more bitable style. What's the name of it... I'll remember in a sec. Anyhow it's a damn site better than this Chinese piss.
royceH:
Erdinger. The grog I couldn't remember the name of is Erdinger, and I can recommend it to you.
In fact, I wish I'd been drinking it tonight instead of Wusu. But at least Wusu is better than other Chinese beers. Maybe the best Qingdao drop is on a par with Wusu.
But the rest of it...piss.
Tiger Tiger? Bit up-market that isn't it? How about Walkabout or your average nasty scream bar?
Lord_hanson:
My hometown wasn't classy enough for a tiger tiger. The walkabout got a bit rough on the weekend. They had to close it down. I miss the good old north.
1. If you have a child, you can't marry a foreigner, or the foreigner will rape your child endlessly... LIKE OPRAH WINFREY WAS. You must forever remain single. (this one shocked me)
2. Foreigners have big JJs (see the small penis thread for an example)
3. Foreigners are all immoral liars is not is true? (guffaw)
"You live in China? Marry Chinese Girl? So you hard to find job back home? Maybe is English Teacher? Or..((one notch higher)) foreign trader?" bleh~
Englishmen are gentlemen (they should meet some of the English men I have back home), all Englishmen like doing the garden, and English people carry umbrellas everywhere.
annoying stereotypes rank on top of the reasons to not learn Chinese. It's obnoxiously certain and willfully misinformed ignorance lacking even the willingness to consider new information. Even worse than the migraine inducing attempts at logical reasoning, or the rude, insincere social conduct.
humbug:
How will they ever be challenged on these stereotypes if you don't learn to communicate with them?
coineineagh:
I don't want to bear the brunt of neuralgic reactions, after I've "hurt the feelings of the Chinese people". If I can't even talk about these things with my wife without her getting angry, imagine what a complete stranger is likely to do. I'm all for educatiing and leading by example, but bursting people's bubble, their cherished beliefs, cna be risky for my children. You first.
humbug:
I don't think stereotypes about how fat/ well endowed/ alcoholic foreigners are (or whatever stereotypes they have) are cherished beliefs. I think you can refute these without upsetting anyone...
coineineagh:
Most of the stereotypes about foreigners aren't harmless things like fat, hairy, endowment and whatnot. Most of the stereotypes that locals confront us with are insulting and convey an undercurrent of Chinese people's illusions of superiority. Talk of promiscuity, poor hygiene, uncivilized behaviour by foreigners, etc. And the truth is usually the opposite: They're the ones usually guilty of what they accuse us of. I don't even want to know what they're saying! If you can challenge them without criticizing them in return, I commend you for it. Most of what I experience, is not being seen as a person worth considering in any way. Chinese are selfish already, but when there's a foreigner, it's like an effing toy to them. They'll stare at you, touch you, take photos without asking, talk about you in a diminutive way right in front of your face, enjoy chummy jokes at your expense, patronize you and so on.
bill8899:
It's bad enough hearing 'guilo' when I go downtown. Really not interested what else they say, but I'm sure it's all butterflies and rainbows.
mike695ca:
I was going to ... Not necessarily disagree but point out that we often have all kinds of stereotypes. But i couldnt think of a single chinese stereotype that wasnt 100% true. So carry on! I will say this. Knowing chinese certainly helps to know exactly what they are saying so you know the exact moment to tell them where to shove it. No point arguing with them. Their brainwashing has surpassed the point of return. So cussing them out is my only satisfaction.
expatlife26:
This attitude sounds horrible and my mom used to give me tons of shit about it...before she spent a lot of time here and saw I was pretty much right (I was raised in a liberal state by two big ol' leftys) but part of the reason I abandoned any desire to learn chinese after my first year here was just the lack of interesting dialogue I felt I was missing out on.
I mean there isn't really any great literature or art being produced here that I feel like I'm missing out on experiencing in it's native language; the way I would certainly feel if I was living in France, Germany or Japan. I've also never met anyone whose career really popped because they learned Chinese.
One of the unfortunate truths I think has actually benefited me here is that arrogance plays shockingly well. They talk shit about people they are jealous of, but do nothing but give them what they want to their faces...and honestly I don't have a problem anymore with milking that system. If someone comes at me with arrogance or tries to bully me, I can play the arrogance game right back at them. They want to be uncouth about things? I can outcompete them at that too. I'm sure it helps that i'm bigger than they are, though!
On the other hand, I also do a pretty good job of just avoiding local bullshit. There are some really cool people here, and if you make good decisions you can avoid 95% of local BS. I wouldn't live in a old concrete block house and complain that I lived around obnoxious, ignorant people. If you make good decisions consistently you very rarely have to get upset.
But on my honor I will not let an arrogant loser win against me...unless they are actually better than me at something. In that case I would tip my cap.
Robk:
Meh, if you do speak the language and understand their culture it does help a lot.
They have been brainwashed to fear, and loath the foreigners but they ARE human and do have curiosity. Sometimes they want to put it to the test and act like pricks... if you act like a prick RIGHT back too early... you will instantly prove all the negative stereotypes they are brainwashed to learn.
Sometimes taking a step-back, laughing at the guy and just carrying on like it doesn't bother you will show a group of Chinese that you really ARE superior to many of them and possibly to their previous images of foreigners.
Chinese will see you of two things until you prove them wrong... an angry, dirty beast after all of their women... or a stupid, goofy, child-ish clown that is there for their entertainment. Acting out aggressively and you cement the former... acting like you care what they think and your feelings are hurt... like the latter.
Also, don't limit your conversation to Chinese women in English only (which tends to happen). If you can speak Chinese, you will find that many Chinese men are actually logical and will agree with you on many points. They will also be surprised how much you know about their culture.
A few of my drinking buddies were chatting, and one started looking around and whispering. We were talking about how Chinese go to Sanya and come back extremely dark... Then one of the guys turned to another and started whispering... Most foreigners may take slight offense and think he is talking about the foreigner but I could hear some of his words and caught on quick that he was talking about his Xiao San (except they use different words like wo de mei mei "little sister" HAHA)... that's why he was whispering and looking around... not because of me in the slightest. Shocking them is more fun that fighting with them. If you aren't like the other foreigners that they stereotype then show them... We do the same thing... when we run into a Chinese guy and assume... this or that... which is REALLY nice when you run into one that is different. Then the other guy speaks to him in a local dialect and looks at me and asks if I know what they are talking about... I said... yes I do. They were like oh yeah... what? He is talking about how is Xiao San went to Sanya and came black really dark and he didn't want to see her for a month... they burst out laughing. It was pretty funny because that was EXACTLY what they were talking about.
It seems we only have English people in this post. A canadian friend told me that thanks to Da Shan the chinese believe every canadian is fluent in chinese.
At the end-of-term dinner, a CT told me 'we think all westerners are lazy.' This after they gave me an 8 am class M-F at and average uni, not a high school. How do you even react to the inanity and stupidity?
MissA:
I got this one too - from one of the Chinese TAs. "Hon, I teach ten classes a week, you are the TA for four, and we both work a 40 hour week - all of which I am awake for!. Do you think I'm lazier than you?" No reply, but she didn't talk to me four a couple of days.
"So lomantic-a! Eiffel towah! Chirac! Sarkozy! Hollande!
Your-a people have very open minded, have-a sex with everyone everywhere at all times, YES? Women are very suibian, huehuehuehue"
DrMonkey:
When my wife say I'm French, people are all like "ho, French are very romantic !". My wife rolls her eyes and cut them "NO. Not romantic AT ALL" with a cursory look at me, while I grin and giggle 
But then, the definition of Romanticism here is hu.... With Chinese characteristics.
Being a Scottish person, I tend to get more stereotype comments from foreigners than I do from Chinese.
Right.... I'm off to the pub
ScotsAlan:
Aye, how tiresome this is. But I must endeavour to live up to my stereotype. I shall therefore answer Mike " I am not pretentious ", in my local Scottish dialect......
Awa in bile yeir heid, ya stuck up bam.
Please note that I included a smile after my Scottish comment. This indicates my statement was made in jest. This is just one of the many finer points of online etiquette that non pretentious Mike seems to have no understanding of.
Only joking dude. But you really do set yourself up for big falls. Are you into sadomasochisim by any chance? I know a taxi driver that knows a place in DG. Nudge nuge wink wink .
PM me. we can meet up there tomorrow.
mike695ca:
Awa in bile yer heid? Wtf? I have spent real time trying to translate that hahahaha and im lost. Ps. I thought the gov shut DG down??? Are the happy times back???
ScotsAlan:
Here you go Mike. A taster of my native spoken language
http://www.glesga.ndo.co.uk/glesgaglossary.htm
apart from coming from a country that in some places (banks and some hotels) people don't believe actually exists, when i do meet people that have heard of my home country, they proceed to tell me 'facts' that they got off the internet.
i laugh and tell them it is all wrong, and say:
'why didn't you ask me about my country ???' 
they never have an answer.
I'm British so I'm supposed to be a gentleman!
Ex-colleague of mine is a strapping 6+ foot tall & very well build white South African. 3 of us were having lunch one day in a restaurant near work. Table next to us was 5-6 Chinese ladies, the older one was obviously the laoban as everyone else was pouring her tea and ensuring she tried every dish first. She started talking to us in reasonable English. The conversation got round to where we were from.....two of us were English, no real reaction, then my other friend stated he was South African....she looked astonished and said "you can't be, you're not black!". 
ScotsAlan:
I'm sure I saw it posted here. So apologies to whoever posted it first.
Geography 101 with Chinese characteristics.
Countries of the world:
China
Japan
Africa
Foreigners.
JanSk:
ScotsAlan: I'd add USA or a more ill-defined "America" to that list. Otherwise spot-on.
MissA:
I had the great good fortune to be walking past a white South African coleague's classroom a few years back as she taught a beginner class "I'm African and you're Asian". The looks on their faces made my month.
Lord_hanson is right...
When a Chinese person hears I am Canadian they basically think I must be fluent in Chinese like "Da Shan" (seriously, fuck that guy)...And then they always ask me about Norman Bethune... some doctor that came over and helped teach medicine and save Chinese lives like 100 years ago. Before I came to China, I had no clue these guys even existed. But EVERY SINGLE damn Chinese person knows them.
The good side is this... when they find out I am Canadian a lot of them feel like they owe me something (maybe the doctor saved their great grand-father) and because they have a cousin, aunt or something living in Vancouver or Toronto.
So I get a lot of free dinners and drinks.
mike695ca:
Did you know that bethune dudes direct decendant is now the mayor of vancouver? Wierd! You think his name had any impact of the voters? 30% percent chinese and all?
expatlife26:
Yeah it's weird how they harp in on little facts like that, as if the most interesting thing to Canadians has to be some random 19th century doctor tangentially connected with China.
I've been asked about Chiang Kai Shek's wife by a few people who had heard she was really popular in America. I looked her up and yeah, she was in the news a couple times in the 40s-50s. But because she didn't really DO anything everyone forgot about her. I imagine she was kind of like a Michelle Obama type...she had a high public profile in her day and enjoyed some popularity, but wasn't likely to really have much staying power in the public consciousness. I'm guessing most Chinese people know about Michelle Obama right now, but in 50 years unless she really does something amazing she'll be no more than a footnote. (nothing against her)
This genuinely seemed to surprise them...my hunch is that some common history textbook really hammered that fact home for some reason. And then they never really thought about "why WOULD any modern americans care about a foreign leader's wife from 60 years ago?"
haha I asked them back about who Eisenhower's wife was and of course they have no idea.
Robk:
@mike - really? That is weird... I knew it was a little strange that all Chinese HEAVILY favor that city besides just the warmer weather. And I wouldn't doubt he would be 100% favored from the mainland Chinese that vote.
Something to mention to my Chinese drinking buddies to blow their hair back, thanks.
@expatlife26 - I didn't know that about the dude's wife being a reporter in the US either... I am not sure if a Chinese person has ever asked me about that they sort of limit their questions to nationality to try and look scholarly to their buddies and use something to connect common ground with the foreigner.
expatlife26:
Nah nah she wasn't a reporter but she was in the news a few times.
Her English was good and she said nice things so she would make official visits and be interviewed. she was just an ancillary political character of her day nobody important but someone who might have been mentioned at the time.
But I didn't know any of this until I looked it up after being asked for the third time about her.
I think Chinese people believe all white people hate black people since when ever the subject of Africa or Black people is brought up they try and tell me some racist joke. Most don't even have a punch line they are just a slughty offensive sentence. They seem confussed when I shake my head and ignore them.
When I first came here, I was told I couldn't possibly be an American, because all American's should have blonde hair and blue eyes. Guess they only watched American movies with Brad Pitt? 
When discussing cultural differences, I teach my students that I am mixed and they assume that one of my parents is African (black) and the other is American (white). I understand the confusion, their definition of mixed is based on nationality not ethnic background.
But the truth is both families of my parents are mixed going back 3 generations, so I'm basically a mutt with dominant African and recessive Anglo phenotypes. Describing that would blow their minds.
Why yes children I am the product of master and slave extra-martial affairs not often discussed from American history. What noun would you use to describe that action? Haha
DrMonkey:
You can blow their mind even more by lecturing them on genetics (ie. chromosomes, genes, and gene expression, talk of Mandel, Darwin, etc) and modern history (age of discovery, slave trade, colonization of North-America, emancipation and struggle for equal rights), under the pretext of explaining you ancestry. That would be quite a work to compile pictures, short video clips, putting that together in coherent & digestible lectures... but there would be lots of unused brain connections that would suddenly light-up in those heads. I'm sure they would appreciate it a lot as well.
Australian people.... Like sport, like beer, American sycophants, John Howard; man of steele. Kevin Rudd; Mandarin speaking arsehole.
Reality.... true, true, not exactly true, true, and true.
Chinese people....morally and intellectually superior in every sense.
Realtiy....har har har...morally bereft, intellectually retarded and dumb as dogshit.
juanisaac:
That is complete disconnect between Chinese people and reality. They wear our clothes, use our technology, and learn our science but we are the dumb ones. How does that work?
Robk:
@juanisaac - Yeah but mention that to them... and their eyes start to glaze over and I can swear I can faintly hear the Chinese national anthem start playing in their heads...
All logic is drowned out. All hope is lost.
Eorthisio:
Not even, when you face locals with the truth stated by juanisaac (note that they also follow capitalism a western model and communism is also a western ideology) they become immediately much less receptive and act as if the last 10 seconds (your argument) never existed.
Chinese: China is a peaceful country!
Foreigner: If China is peaceful why does it send warships to threaten its neighbors.
Chinese: We are defending out territory!
Foreigner: China keeps claiming to own more and more territory, how is this different from imperialism?
Chinese: But China is a peaceful country!
Circular logic.
The stereotypes speaks a lot to the quality of geography in China.
Kind of makes me think the schoolbooks have these maps
Jewish:
Good:
Good at business
Smartest people on Earth
Einstein
Bad:
All stereotypes are bad
American:
Bad:
Have AIDS
Don't respect true love
Only want sex
astrongman:
Sorry. . .here's a $1.25 and go to hell. Thanks for playing.
humbug:
I once found a Chinese book on how to succeed titled 'Jewish People: They Don't Think Like You' with pictures of Einstein on the cover
From what I gather there is no individual country stereotypes. ALL foreigners are the same, American, Irish, African....... doesn't make any difference....
As a Brit, the usual ones are: men are all gentlemen, women are all ladies, England is beautiful and safe. Err... take a walk into the cities on a friday or saturday night and see how many of these points are a true reflection!
Most Chinese people do not know where my country is. So that does not make a conversation. Of the ones that do know about it, they just tell me "I know your country. It is south of the United States." And that is the end of it.
Stereoptype: "Australians are easygoing, relaxed, ignorant, tall, tanned and loud...."
Actually, I am short, quiet, serious and pasty as well as being deeply interpreted in a wide range of fields. I got told often that I wasn't a very good Aussie. I never gave a shit.
I am south-african and all my students think SA is so rich because we have "diamonds". 
