A few weeks ago, a Beijing study abroad student wrote a disturbing commentary titled “On the run in the Middle King-dom.” The article creates a vicious image of China, saying things like, “In Beijing, there are little dogs no bigger than large cats that appear passive, but then try to tear the flesh from your limbs as you jog past.” Not only are animals and people hostile, but inanimate objects such as car windows “glare” with animosity. After showing several of my Chinese friends this article, all were appalled and one student wondered, “Why would he do this?”
I traveled to and lived in the same places the author describes, but was struck by Chinese hospitality rather than hostility.
Once, while buying fruit with friends at a fruit stand, we met an 80-year-old Chinese man who invited us to his apartment twice a week to practice Chinese and teach English. Another time, I got out of class late and went to my favorite noodle place, a hole-in-the-wall down a residential alley, but it was closed. The owner saw me outside though, and invited my in to eat with 10 friends and family members from out of town.
Beijing was not the only friendly place, though. In Xi’an, where our author was “nearly run over by a grandma on a speeding, double-wide rickshaw,” my friends and I met two strangers that came with us to sing karaoke for a few hours.
In Mongolia, where the author “was accosted by a native,” my friends and I were hitchhiking and were picked up by a nice couple driving a brick truck. Then, 30 minutes south of the capital at a local university, we met a group of students who took us out to dinner and would not let us pay for it. When it came time to find a place to sleep that night, the students insisted that we sleep in the dorms because there were many empty beds with it being Fall Break.
I’m sorry to come off so angry toward the author of the previous commentary, but I think his view of China is so myopic. My neighbor’s dog attack’s me nearly every time I see him, and I’ve gotten too many fingers to count while biking in St. Louis. But I’m not going to use these as my examples of typical American life.
Beijing, as most foreign cities, definitely operates on a different set of rules. One practice that is quite different from the U.S. is that people also don’t typically line up, but kind of funnel their way into entrances and subways. At first I thought everyone was obnoxiously rude, but I soon realized that the Chinese people were not upset by these situations. This is simply the Chinese norm, and there is nothing inherently bad or good about it; it is a like choice between a country choosing to drive on the right or left side of the street.
I think studying abroad can be one of the most insightful experiences in a person’s life, but it can also be quite dangerous. It gives a student enough time to want to speak authoritatively on a foreign culture without necessarily having a very deep understanding. I certainly do not have a very deep understanding of Chinese culture, but I have met enough Chinese strangers to know that they do not deserve the atrociously mean label given to them by previous commentary.
Joe Eggleston is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences.
