101 Misconceptions about Foreigners

101 Misconceptions about Foreigners

While China is becoming more open to the world, and Chinese citizens now have greater access than ever to both foreign culture and foreign media, many Chinese still have few opportunities to travel overseas or to really get to know foreigners.

Indeed, for most Chinese, foreigners remain little more than faces on the TV screen, or funny figures in t-shirts and sandals at the front of an English conversation clubs.

Owing to this state of affairs, a large number of Chinese hold a great many misconceptions about foreigners, foreign culture, and foreign countries (for example, the belief that all foreigners speak English). So, in order to rectify the situation, ACB has written this short guide for Chinese, explaining a little more about foreigners and correcting a few misconceptions about them.

Of course, at this point, it's probably best to note that by "foreign" ACB is in no way referring to anybody from Taiwan, Tibet, Hong Kong, or East Turkestan. Whom "we all know" are Chinese, even if they disagree.

All foreigners are Americans

Not true. Foreigners come from a multitude of different countries and are as distinct a group of people as you could ever meet. For example, there are Canadians; who look and sound exactly like Americans, and there are English; who ... er ...... look and sound exactly like Americans....... then there are Australians .....New Zealenders .....er.... um...... Oh, I give up.

There are of course the Japanese. The can be distinguished from Americans by their fangs and the acid that they have for blood.

ACB has heard stories of places such as Africa, India, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Graceland. However, most of these stories originate from foreign media sources and so should be taken with does of salt.

Some people consider Taiwanese to be foreign. Most of them are wrong, the rest of them tend to disappear in the middle of the night. Never to be seen again.

Foreigners know nothing about Chinese history

While it is true that you'd be hard pressed to find more than a handful of foreigners who could tell you about events in Chinese history that occurred between 1079 and 1979, it's almost impossible to get their governments to shut up about the bits that happened in June 1989.

Foreigner wear expensive designer clothes all the time.

The roaring trade being done by China's knockoff factories suggest otherwise.

Foreigners are squeamish about what they eat.

Not so. Foreigners know what goes into a ballpark hotdog, but they eat them anyway.

Foreigners love democracy.

True.......just so long as you don't vote communists, socialist, liberals, environmentalists ...... or for anybody named Chavez.

All foreigners own guns.

This is largely a media driven myth. In reality guns are expensive, so some foreigners just borrow them from their friends.

Crime is rife in foreign countries.

While it is true that petty crimes like murder, rape and genocide are common in foreign countries, serious crimes a surprisingly rare. For example, few Americans ever attempt to cede from the Mainland.

All white men are hot for Chinese girls and will go to any length to get into their knickers.

An inaccurate stereotype. Indeed, some white men are homosexuals and aren't hot for any kind of girl

Foreigners don't spit.

Not so. Only last week my liaison at the US embassy spat his coffee across the room when I told him that I'd seen Chinese translation of the security arrangements for a forthcoming visit by an American official.

Foreigners don't urinate in public.

Equally untrue. When I told some friends at the Canadian embassy about the above incident, they wet themselves with laughter. As did the press officers at the French and British embassies.

Foreigners have loose mores.

This couldn't be further from the truth. Indeed, some foreigners have no mores at all.

Foreigners have fairer justice system than Chinese. For example, the right to due process and trial by a jury of their peers.

True, unless of course they are accused of being terrorists. In which case they have the right to an extended vacation in south Cuba and to all of the prison gruel that they can eat.

tags: china  japan  america  misconception  society  social  travel  

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