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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Why do some Chinese dislike other Chinese from other areas so much?
Inspired by my recent "unfriendly city" question; also I'd to emphasise the use of the word "some", as I've met enough Chinese who know better than not to make sweeping statements about others from other areas. However, the phenomenon does exist and is more prevalent than back home in my view.
One I often hear is Henan people are so and so..., Hunan people are so and so, Shanghai people are so and so... For a country that (at least in theory) tries to base its foundations on community and being as "one" so to speak (I refer to the 一家人 concept), I'm always confused when I meet such regional prejudices to the extent that it seems feudalism is what is really celebrated here. Beijingers are often guilty of looking down on the wai di ren, despite the fact the migrant workers are the ones doing all the rough jobs and are effectively holding up the foundations of the country. It's almost akin to the "immigrants took our jobs" garbage that you here in certain newspapers and areas in the UK. Anyway, dangerously leaning towards rant mode now, so......
What are your thoughts?
In China you learn one very important lesson at an early age. Different = Bad
philbravery:
disregard the twenty times I hit the up button canceled it out
Scandinavian:
It is OK, I already have all the flashlights I need, specifically zero.
I think the same small, rural attitude exists in almost every country. People locked in small communities, like the Chinese have been for most of their history, always seem to build up prejudice for outsiders. But I genuinely feel the same prejudices have built up in many other countries e.g. the "redneck" syndrome in the US, prejudices and stereotypes about those from the bush in Australia, regional prejudices in the UK especially views from Southern England dwellers to northerners etc.
GuilinRaf:
I noticed this in college way back in the 80's.
"Tod" (not his real name) had a VERY pronounced Southern accent, and as such almost everyone labled him a "white trash bigot". Very few of us actually got to know him, and learn what a really nice guy he was. But, then ( and even today) if anyone has a southren accent then he "must" be a Ku Klux Klan sister pucking racist redneck.
Anyway, Tod was always very liberal and progressive and did not let others ruin his outlook in life. Today, he is a card carrying member of the ACLU.
This is sadly, not just a "China issue".
Scandinavian:
@GRat: You are right this is not just a Chinese issue. Human nature dictates to do social groupings. In nature we were depending on living in groups for a number of reasons. There is safety in numbers, you can specialize in different things etc. The same thing still applies today. The modern human is not capable of living in infinently large groups. In modern society it doesn't matter. "Your group" is your family and friends, colleagues etc. These groups would be relatively stable. You will also partake in other groups. For example go and paint your face in the color of your favorite sports team, sit and scream and act like an animal for the duration of the game, and you can be sure as hell you will think those painted in the other teams colors are all a-holes. They are different because they are cheering for the other team.
However. In China the dislike is more distinct, people are a lot more prone to stick with their own. I live in south of Guangdong province, but effectively all people around me are from the same province to the north. And people will often, when talking about strangers, new acquaintances etc. be pointing out what province the person is from. I doubt many Americans (randomly picked tribe of people) would start of, when describing someone, by specifying what political grouping they belong to, what state they are from or car brand they drive. It might come later in the conversation, but not at first.
Its a similar situation in Australia between the two states South Australia and Victoria.
The point is....... Victorians SUCK!!! STOP coming to SA and drinking our beer and shagging our gals!!!
Watch an older Kung Fu movie and you'll know exactly why. Each place has it's own style and it's own master. It's kind of like how basketball is these days or any other sport for that matter. If you go to another city you will be the away team and the crowd will not cheer for you. It's all a big challenge issue! Some take it more seriously than others do!
He he, I said: "seriously"! (!
i once was on an elevator in atlanta with a old liberal aristocratic new york couple and the snob yankee lady says , look dear they have cnn on television, and in my best southern accent drawl, i said "yes maaam , it down yonder way , it aint far , just round that there corner over yonder way, and we dont charge you yankees for a tour of cnn like you carpetbaggers from yankee town."
the look on her face was priceless, the idea that cnn would come from a southern redneck town never occurred to her. the redneck southern accent while i was in a tuxedo was a nice touch also.
yes some people do look down on others completely out of ignorance, makes for good comic relief for a bad china day.
Because they are not well-educated and lack of knowledge of outside China.
So their horizon is limited within China and they use this way to make themselves feel "confident".
It is the same everywhere. Probably more noticable here in China because everyone speaks in a loud voice for all to hear !!
To those above who write this happens everywhere. yes I agree. But the extent it happens in China is baffling.
The other day I was talking a stroll on a street in an old neighborhood with an old woman whom I am able to communicate with. It is mango season and all over town you see people climbing trees, using sticks etc to get the fruit. This day all the mangos are still green, so I ask her why people are picking them now. The answer is that this kind of mango is ready to be picked now. She continues and says that a friend of hers says the mangos on the particular street we are walking (the street where the woman lives) are particularly tasty, tastier than from other parts of town. Jokingly I ask her if she has ever climbed the trees, she gets the joke and answer she has never tried the mangoes. The woman has lived 25 years on this street.
This tells a lot about how people view people from the next village. Why would anyone even think the mangoes on a specific street should in any way be better than those on the next street.
It just seems that way because Chinese like yelling and if someone is from another place, they have to yell louder for that person to hear. It's not that the person is farther away, he just comes from farther away.