Some Gems:
“Chinese people need to learn brains.”
“It’s 2011. Chairman Mao is dead.”
And the kicker:
“See, I’m Canadian, I don’t have to shut up. Chinese people have to shut up. Canada people [sic] don’t have to shut up.”
Couldn’t be prouder to be a Canadian [shakes head]. Granted, I’ve no idea what happened before the video started capturing the argument, but JTFC that b’ys gone off, eh!?
I feel for the guy though. Obviously not for what he’s saying, that’s complete douchebag material. But I think most expats in China have felt that level of frustration at some point. The only two differences being that most of us a. didn’t lose it, and b. didn’t lose it with someone’s video phone rolling.
(h/t to Chengdoo on the Hao Hao Report)
Everyone has these in China. It’s just kinda funny when they’re caught on video.
Feel bad for the guy that he can’t speak Chinese, although that won’t cure the stupid you find in, say, the Ticket Office.
Quick question: what kind of education do you think is required to land a plum job at the å¯çš„ï¼7-11/Family Mart. None, right? What about the Post Office? The bank? Taxi driver? The train ticket offce?
And who in there right mind would want this nightmare of a job. Right.. people who have no other option. So here in China, we find ourselves in the ghastly position of having to deal with people, in many of these kind of ‘day-to-day-errand’ type positions with zero education and zero common sense.
Common sense would tell you post a sign, highly visible from any point in the line, telling people what was required to get a ticket (english and chinese). Why would someone who barely has a high school education, and has no stake in the outcome (eg. they don’t give a crap, make no money from giving a crap) do such a thing?? Exactly. And that’s what China’s like: one huge stupid fight after the next.
Learning Chinese doesn’t fix the problem, it just exacerbates it, cuz now the moron Taxi driver’s gonna try to convince you why he’s driving in the wrong direction/went through a red light,etc.
The new regulations requiring identity cards/passports to purchase train tickets have been widely publicised on TV including in English language CCTV broadcasts, in newspapers and on the internet, so anybody paying attention could have easily found out.
Above and beyond this, the fact is that Chinese law requires you to have your passport with you when you travel, so a dude planning to take a train trip should have had his passport handy.
The “identity card to buy ticket” regulation is designed to combat scalping and the gouging of the average Chinese traveller, a good thing. Foreigners in China should support improvements to the society, hell, we rant about the shortcomings enough.
This has nothing to do with the level of education of the person in the booth, who it must be said contributes to the success of hundreds of millions of train trips a year, and everything to do with a dude being a dumbass.
Michael,
Perhaps you should go back to the far superior, utopian society you are from where ticket office personel and post office staff are all highly educated and extremely caring.
Which country is this anyway? I’d be curious to know which country has top education as a requirements for the kinds of jobs you mention.
While I’ve had my bad days in China I’d never act like that. This clip shows a perfect example of the problem with many laowai in China. This laowai wasn’t adhering to Chinese law regarding the need to have your passport to travel and wanted special treatment. Rightly he was not offered this. Whether you agree with the certain law or not I think we should respect the law of a country we reside in or visit, as we demand the same in our own country.
Many foreigners in China think they are superior to the locals and expect special treatment. I’ve always found this hypocritical when you’re happy to bribe if it suits you, but constantly in a state of anger and frustration at others acting the same way.
Stop making excuses for fellow foreigners acting irrationally. It would not be accepted in your utopian society. It is therefore unfair to accept it in China.
A sign in English is for your convenience but is not a legal requirment. No one is obliged to provide you with English version in China.
No comment on the guy himself, but the subtitles are way off. Whoever wrote them clearly isn’t a native speaker, which begs the question ‘why aren’t they in Chinese?’
Not only does this take place in Wuhan, it takes place at a university where I used to teach.
I really feel for the FAO assistant or student who this guy know doubt reeled into helping him buy these tickets.
Hahaha Wuhan is becoming China’s viral video capital.
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjc4NzkxOTky.html
On page 6 of the comments for that video, you can see posts allegedly written by our peeved friend.
And if they are in fact his own comments, then they explain quite a bit…
Ah, I get it… Youku just auto-translates things into Chinglish… those comments are a mess.
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I’m just so embarrassed. Although, the new passport regulation does make ticket purchasing a bit of a nightmare. I mean, not all of the foreigners here are on vacation.
looks like the youku video has been hexie’d… (å’Œè°ç¤¾ä¼š) LOL
Yeah, WHY didn’t anyone have the foresight to download it and move it to Youtube??
oh wait… I think it’s this word: 河蟹
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I didn’t get to watch the clip because it was removed.
I hope this guys wasn’t too much of a jerk.
Remember expats: you are ambassadors for your country, so don’t be big jerks or you could end up leaving bad impressions for your entire nation.
There is only one country. The Abstract Nation of Foreign. 🙂
This point goes to the heart of Chinese insularity and hometown culture. China is a nation of hometowns. This culture will be destroyed by tge new super bitch agressive Chinese girl who resists her husbands ‘face by staying put’ impulses to control her. She will be swabbing up the filthy lucre and rattling her jewellry in the Belverly Hills government escape routes.
which country is it? its CALLED FOREIGN, there are actually 2 countries known to 90% of the CHINESE. FOREIGN and AFRICA. In Canada there is a level of courtesy and clear signage of what is required to purchase a ticket to a game, train, movie…. Sometimes even the atm card terminal is down, they will put up a sign that says Cash only. So Clinta you are a little misguided, did you come to china and loose your passport, its probably been a while since you went back to “FOREIGN” you should go. Also for a quick comparison goto a restaurant in say little Italy and then take a trip to China town. 2nd China is not a tourist destination it sucks there is not touristic value, come here for the cheap goods load your shit on the boat (after praying theres no melamine or lead poisoning) and goto Thailand for a wonderful vacation in Phuket or Phi Phi. Ive even asked the chinese on vacation there and they say the same… Thai guo bi zhong guo hao wan duo!
Raj, there is no obligation to signpost basic rules in English. In England, we dont,so…whats your arrogant point?
Thailand has distict advantages to China,but the sex industry..dont you think its a little in yerface?
I mean in England we dont signpost in putonghua,so wtf?
Raj, remember how your mother told you to lift the toilet seat when you pee? Then there were no more arguments at home. Same thing.
This guy was the first person I met when I came to China nine years ago. He ended up getting fired and deported from the teaching job we worked because he got drunk and went to the principal to complain about the cold. He ended up pulling down his pants and squatting chinese toilet style in the office trying to take a dump right there. I was called by the tourist police to come try to calm him down.