About 2 months ago, me and my girlfriend got a dog – don’t ask me why, that’s another story. His name is Pepe. “Pepe Q-tip” to be exact, due to the fact that it looks like it’d be really easy to clean your ears with him. Anyway, to get to the point, it seems that little Pepe is growing up of late, often becoming quite… shall we say, “romantic” with his stuffed Doraemon toy.
Today my girlfriend had her Chinese tutor over for their regular Chinese lesson. The tutor is a young university student, working part-time in an agency specializing in teaching Chinese to foreigners. Whatever training she may have received in preparation for the job certainly didn’t prepare her for what she encountered during this morning’s lesson.
Ya, you guessed it: My little dog’s big wang. Pepe was having yet another humpfest on top of poor Doraemon, and making quite a scene. And my girlfriend was a little bit embarrassed, but nonetheless a little proud as well because our little Pepe seems to be growing up. Incidentally, she also thinks he’s hung like a horse, at least in proportion to his size anyway. That’s my dog!
The most interesting part of all this was the reaction of the young teacher to Pepe pushing out his lipstick, as we’ve come to call it:
“Is he sick?!” she asked, “Maybe we should bring him to the hospital? What’s wrong with him?”
I’m not gonna comment too much on the Chinese methods of sex education, but let me just say that there certainly seems to be a massive difference between the maturity level of a typical university student in China, and typical university students elsewhere. If I may generalize, it seems like many Chinese young adults are pretty lost when it comes to the proverbial birds and bees, and as a result some of them often seem a little less mature. Of course there are exceptions on both sides of the fence, but there does appear to be a marked difference, for sure.
In my mind, it often appears like many of my Chinese friends are actually 3 or 4 years younger than they actually are. In other words, a Chinese 20-year-old may seem to behave like their 16 or 17 year-old Western counterparts.
Maybe it’s because high school in China doesn’t allow much time for social development. Due to the fierce competition to get into the best universities, Chinese middle schools and high schools aren’t the best places to get all romantic and/or “push out your lipstick.”
I’m sure the titty-free Chinese media might have something to do with it as well. Man, I hate Chinese tv…
In any case, it seems to me that this is an important point for westerners (both men and women) to consider when dating in China. Be careful what you’re messing with, because 19 years old in China – when you factor in the exchange rate – may very well turn out to be only 15 American.
It amazes me Rick at how fluidly you always seem to work “titties” into your post. 😉
It’s a lost art…
Hey, I saw this and thought of little Pepe: Horny Dog Relief
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While I agree with you on what you are saying about most Chinese being sexually immature, I had to chuckle when you said that a 19 year old Chinese would be the equivalent of a 15 year old American. Most 15 year old Americans have probably already had sex, are lucky if they’re not pregnant or addicted to crank and are even more blessed if they haven’t been shot at in high school. So what if they’re a little naive and don’t have “titties” on TV. Let them keep their innocence for a while before life starts chewing them up and spitting them out.
*cough* or maybe its just the people you know *cough*
Teaching classes of late-high-school kids years ago in rural China (my “early years” in China) I had the opposite experience, as they were far more “sexually knowledgeable” than an equivalent class in “the West”. The things they would say because they didn’t think “teacher” could understand Chinese!
Remember: for 2 out of 3 people on this planet, “sex education” means watching/hearing your parents “do it” in their little section of your one-room house.
There may be sexually naive youth in the big eastern cities in China (like in big cities everywhere) but go west and you’ll find an entirely different story. No-one west of Pinguoyuan (to use the Beijing example) would even look twice at Q-tip’s q-tip…
@Yep: There’s the charming innocence of youth and there’s blind ignorance of the world outside mommy’s embrace – there must be a balance there in. I’m not sure where it lies, but I would imagine it comes from solid education (which in both Chinese naivety and Western over-exposure is lacking).
@Shan: That statistic brought chills to my spine. Two out of three… eek. And I think you’re absolutely right about Q-tip’s q-tip, if for no other reason than many of them have a quasi (or completely) rural existence, making them a bit more knowledgeable about how it all works down there. As with anywhere, you can’t live around animals and not know about the birds and the bees.
@Sean: That’s a bit combative.
@Ryan: Yes it’s a fun statistic isn’t it! 🙂 Hehe!
@Shan: if you noticed a bit disappeared… it was because Sean asked me to delete his comment.
what do you mean a 19 year old Chinese would be the equivalent of a 15 year old American?
it’ll be considered lucky if a 19 year old American has a equivalent IQ of a 15 year old Chinese.
@Jenny – book smarts vs. street smarts. And as this post is talking about sex education – we’re not talking books… well, not the kind you can buy in Xinhua.
@Jenny
While your response is off-topic due to a misunderstanding, I’d like to point out that there’s a difference between memorizing, understanding, and problem solving. In addition, modernized IQ testing eliminates age as a significant comparison factor, so..er….smarty pants……back that ass up.