By continuing you agree to eChinacities's Privacy Policy .
Sign up with Google
Sign up with Facebook
Q: Do Chinese know what a queue is? Can Chinese ever give way or be patient?
Also, you can add your other examples of scenarios where you have had the misfortune of having to risk death to educate the ignorant masses here.
In over four years, a regular occurrence. Seems to be more regular an occurrence the further inland you are.
Case in point is just about thirty minutes ago.
Father, son and son's grandmother are served by a different cashier. Boy then goes back to get a snack or whatever. Father is encouraging the grandmother and son which queue they should go for, or rather, which one they should queue-jump. I am at the ready, and sure enough, they try to walk around me to the front to be served first. I carefully placed my hands on the lady to direct her back to where she came from - behind me in the queue. I looked up at the father aware that he might jump in. He just looked and realised he'd upset the wrong person.
CASE TWO:
A while back, I went in to a McDonalds which is below my standard line anyway, but when you're hungry, you need to eat. Queued up. Someone in front of me. Another dick stands aside of me. I am ready to fight him for the place. The cashier has already seen me but then decides to serve the other guy first. Needless to say, I gave the cashier what for and then stormed out.
I then went in to KFC nearby, and again I was pushed in front of, except I didn't let this one go, and pushed him back - the cashier then went to serve me.
DO THEY UNDERSTAND THAT PEOPLE NEED TO LEAVE A FULL AND HEAVING CONFINED SPACE BEFORE ANY MORE PEOPLE CAN GET IN?
A week ago, I got off the Metro at Bao'an Stadium in Shenzhen. I normally don't bother with the lift because I understand that it is for those who need it, and not just a lazy bastard like so many others use it. However, there were only about four people in it as it was quiet, so I went in. Up we went. Out we try to go - one person in front of me. Except, everyone is also trying to get in - including a 45 year old-ish bloke who forces his way in except he came unstuck because I pushed his shoulder back and angrily said to him,
"How about you let people get off first, and then you can get in, ****ing idiot." His reply? "Oh. Hao. Hao. Oh" whilst nodding.
There are occasions when I feel like flooring someone.
You will find it in the Chinese book of manners a Queue is something those Funny Foreigners do . you will find it on page 2 of the 2 page manual between how to discretely chew your food and how to clear your nose in puplic
i always get mad at this shit
once it escalated when they tried to push me away from the bus, so the guy who tried that had my elbow in his nose. Maybe he learned his lesson but then he is chinese
1) Somebody jump the queue, just grab by the arm and pull back. No need to talk, just keep looking straight ahead completely ignoring the world surrounding.
2) Somebody stand in front of the door of elevators, buses, MTRs, and do not let you/fellow riders out before trying to get in, just lay your hand on the chest and push back. No need to talk, just keep looking.... same as above.
99% of the times there's no complain about.
If you find the total ass who even dare to complain, whether you want to further ignore, or just broke his nose depends on how many witness the fact.
They know its a letter in the alphabet that confuses the f**k out of them.
it takes time for people to become civilized. China has been concentrating on its economy for decades meanwhile moral and manners have left far behind the development. The situation has been better if you had been here long enough to know what it was like several years back.
Englteachted:
Like I tell my students, just because you can make up an excuse, that does not make the problem or mistake go away. China has 5000 years of history , civilization and culture (according to them). So why are they so far behind? Takes time, exactly how much more time do they need?
Scandinavian:
It just took a cultural revolution to become uncivilized. Confucian values are nowhere to be found in how people behave in public. Some years of starvation will do a lot. It's a duck eat duck world (yes yes, but I am a dog person so I could never use that saying)
Sarsaparilla:
have you ever thought of that what and when actually happened to the Confucian values?
Did you ever try to scale your veggies & fruits in Wall (Dalian) Mart?
Once, I was waiting in queue for scale so long, I almost asked for (manager's) help.
Every time I am in my local supermarket I am loudly berating people for trying to get in front of me to get their bags of stuff weighed.
At the till, I am berating people for trying to get in front of me. Although this is less regular as I am almost as wide as the lane.
Every-bloody-where I go I am shouting at or swearing at these bloody people who think they are more important than everyone else.
Ignorant pigs, the lot of them.
cooter:
I stopped buying my fruits at the supermarket. One reason was fighting for the scale, the other was I kept getting piss poor quality fruit compared to what you can get from a dedicated fruit shop (badly bruised bananas, dry stringy oranges, mushy grapes, etc etc. So that just leaves me to deal with the check-out lanes. Luckily, they're way too narrow for queue breaking....but that doesn't keep people from pushing their carts into your backside.
icnif77:
Chinese don't understand 'queue' same as we do! In July, I was waiting with few Chinese teachers/students for cab at not really busy street in Nanjing. After few minutes, 4 construction workers arrived, passed us, and......flag the first cab passing in the last 5 minutes.
When I complained to the teachers, they replied: 'OOh, we'll just wait for another cab!'
It wasn't raining - lucky me!
icnif77:
'pushing cart into my back in register line' is beyond me. Why do they do that? Do they want me to see what they'll buy? In UK or USA, I could discuss new cooking recipes, while looking at the contents of their carts.
In China, I often think I am invisible.
Scandinavian:
@icnf. You are not getting enough kryptonite in your diet, this is why people don't see you.
icnif77:
I just wish they would understand my Q, always when they bump into me: 'Am I invisible today (again)?'
Case 1: Queue busting at the KFC/McDonalds/whatever
You can't leave a space between yourself in the person in front of you...no matter how bad their body odor, or what your standard of personal space might be. If someone still has the nerve to try and insert themselves in front of you, just get right back in front of them....really, what can they say? Then it's on the person who's now behind the perpetrator to cause a fuss. If it's the last-minute queue break right at the cash register, then you just have to fight for the attendant's attention....screaming "ni hao" loudly and repetitively seems to work. And if it doesn't, at least makes both the perpetrator and the spineless clerk feel uncomfortable and struggle through the order process.
Case 2: Elevator shenanigans.
It's all about squaring your shoulders up and keeping a low center of gravity. You don't need to necessarily slam into them, but let them be the water that flows around the rock. I actually like being the first one off....being the laowai catches them off guard for just that split second to give you a head start for building up crowd busting momentum 
I vaguely remember a Japanese study about crowd control, how to most efficiently maneuver people around. China is nothing like this, all Japanese things are evil.
My answer is simply: too many people, and they don't care too much about strangers, but care more about their families. You can realize it in many parts of your life here, not only in the queue "lines".
Scandinavian:
"too many people" is a bloody lie. Hong Kong has higher people density than most places in China, in Hong Kong people behave politely, queues work. Go to Seoul, the biggest city in the developed world, all public conduct is happening without any commotion.
mike168229:
This is the excuse given by everyone. It is nothing to do with that and everything to do with their pig-ignorant attitudes.
Awful, awful people.
No they can't, we must be role models for them. It's their only hope.
That's life and that's the way things are in China.
Think of it as a skill. Start watching to see if you can learn how to do it. Those people who do that know that if they don't someone else will. Last week getting on a subway in Shenzhen, I was watching as we all lined up nicely waiting for the train to arrive, but I knew none of us would be the first to get in. Someone from behind beat us all. I looked for her once inside. She was comfortable in her seat while I stood for the one hour subway ride. While you may think of it as rude, it is obviously a way to get ahead, literally and figuratively.
