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In the Mainland, for the most part people are non-confrontational, but I think that some young-to-middle aged men are more confrontational with foreigners than they are with other Chinese people (or Asians who may or may not be Chinese) because in any sort of conflict or disagreement, the onus is on the foreigner to prove that it wasn't their fault.
I recall on New Years that there was a German guy on the Bund in Shanghai who was walking with is (Chinese) GF when she tripped. A younger Chinese guy who had been mad-dogging him shouted, "THAT FOREIGNER JUST PUSHED THAT CHINESE GIRL!" and he rushed over to fight him, followed shortly by a small crowd who beat him into the hospital while his girlfriend screamed that it was her boyfriend and for them to stop. When the cops broke it up, they made no effort to detain any of the guys who beat him.
After this happened, my GF stopped giving me sajiao in public (thank GOD) because any time she did it, people would eyeball me negatively, and she worried that we were one drunk, sexually frustrated guy away from an incident...
A few months ago here in GZ, there was an expat who got bottled and then beaten by a drunken Chinese guy while sitting at a bar for no particular reason. The (Chinese) bar staff and a couple other patrons held the guy back, the cops came, the expat was taken to the hospital, and afterwards, the police and his lawyer tried to dissuade him from pursuing legal action because it was "a misunderstanding." He was later informed that if it went to court, security camera footage be damned, the judge would most likely reject his lawsuit because he's a foreigner and if he lost the suit, the Chinese guy could countersue for his reputation being damaged and would almost automatically win.
A friend of mine was walking near a park when three guys came up to him; two took up fighting stances, and the other went to grab his wallet. He actually has studied martial arts and is a pretty beefy dude, and he started fighting them. After a few moments, the guys started shouting for help, and a bunch of other guys who had nothing to do with it ran at him to try to fend him off while they ran. The cops came, hauled him to the police station, and he spent the night there being sternly lectured and warned that he'd be deported before they finally agreed to check the security footage and verified his story. They let him go and told him that next time, he should just do what they ask, because he could have gotten savagely beaten by the bystanders.
We were walking back to our apartment a couple weeks ago and passed by a couple having an argument; the woman was angry that a foreign guy had hit on her at a bar and her boyfriend/husband didn't do anything. The guy asked her, "what was I supposed to do?" and she said, "be a man, hit him, beat him, he's a foreigner, you won't get in trouble."
Yup... :smack
I haven't had many problems here, never really felt scared, but it is something that you always have to be aware of as a non-local.
Funny you mention all of that. I was in Guangzhou last summer. As I was walking down the street, some Chinese guy rammed me hard against the side, I turned to look at him, and then I saw him intentionally drop his bottle on the ground, then made a gesture as if I just caused that. Two seconds later he was grabbing me by the coat, and ready to strike me in the face. I shouted "NOOOOOO!" and he pulled his punch away and let go of my jacket.
But, yeah, I could definitely feel an anti-foreigner sentiment there on the China mainland. Anyone who has been to China is hyper-aware that they cluelessly run into people left and right while walking around. Usually they dont even notice. So, that made me feel even more like he was intentionally trying to setup the foreigner to take out his own anti-foreigner sentiments.
I lived in Australia and worked before with Brits.
I would say there is a 85% chance (barring the 15% chance that a person could actually amend his accent) this fellow is from England; not Wales, Ireland or Scotland, but the England part of UK.
I lived in Australia and worked before with Brits.
I would say there is a 85% chance (barring the 15% chance that a person could actually amend his accent) this fellow is from England; not Wales, Ireland or Scotland, but the England part of UK.
Tigerbalm !! You finally commented on this thread !!!
Tigerbalm !! You finally commented on this thread !!!
LOL!
That said, there are 2 points:
1) someone rightfully stood up to defend for a poor commuter; I have read that both are Singaporeans
2) The aggressor is freaking lucky that he behaved like this in Singapore and not Bangkok or KL. That said, the question needs to be asked is why he felt he could behave like that in Singapore? I am pretty sure that he would be far more cautious and respectful elsewhere.
I lived in Australia and worked before with Brits.
I would say there is a 85% chance (barring the 15% chance that a person could actually amend his accent) this fellow is from England; not Wales, Ireland or Scotland, but the England part of UK.
I've found that, on the mainland and least, the English expats seem to be the ones who are the most likely to vocally make a fuss about something in public as far as anglophone natives go. The least likely to do it are Canadians.
A lot of Singaporeans and Malaysians still have a deeply ingrained colonial mentality that causes them to defer/kowtow to "westerners". This is unfortunate, since westerners like this guy are typically losers back in their home countries and often go to Asia because they feel they will have "white privilege" and be able to get a job and walk all over the locals. In HK, there is a saying "failed in London, try HK" (FILTH).
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That's NOT an Australian accent......
