Những con lợn xổng chuồng
Saturday, January 24, 2015 2:18:58 PM
Thực ra những con lợn này không phải lúc nào cũng tệ lậu như thế. Chúng đã từng có một lịch sử cổ xưa, một nếp sống văn hóa, văn minh lâu dài, từng đi được những bước dài đầu tiên cho nhân loại.
Ðọc Nhân Sinh Ðích Nghệ Thuật (Một Quan Niệm Sống Ðẹp do Nguyễn Hiến Lê dịch) và Ngã Quốc Dữ Ngã Dân (Nước Tôi Dân Tôi) củaLâm Ngữ Ðường, người ta thấy ngay những điều ấy. Dân tộc Trung Hoa đã có lúc là đàn anh thiên hạ, coi các nước khác từ Âu sang Á là man di, mọi rợ, cỏ rác hết.
Nhưng từ khoảng một thế kỷ nay, Trung Hoa đã trải qua rất nhiều đổi thay, cả về đất nước lẫn con người khiến cho những nét đẹp của nó đã mất đi rất nhiều.
Tác giả Bá Dương sinh ra tại Hoa lục, lớn lên ở Ðài Loan là người có đủ thẩm quyền để đưa ra nhận định đó. Ông từng sống ở cả trong lục địa lẫn Ðài Loan, những chuyến xuất ngoại càng làm cho ông thấy rõ hơn những nét tiêu cực để viết lại trong cuốn Xú Lậu Ðích Trung Quốc Nhân (Người Trung Quốc Xấu Xí do Nguyễn Hồi Thủ dịch sang Việt ngữ), cuốn sách bầy ra tất cả những điều xấu xa của người Hoa ngày nay mà chính Ðặng Tiểu Bình cũng đọc rồi không nói được gì để phản bác lại tác giả Bá Dương. Ông Bá Dương coi nước Trung Hoa của ông là một cái vại tương hôi thối xấu xa, người dân mang tất cả những điều xấu xa tệ lậu nhất ở trên đời này, tranh nhau để sống bằng những trò giành giật ác độc bất nhân nhất.
Gần đây, một người viết phụ nữ ở tuổi rất trẻ, khoảng dưới 30, Echo Wang có viết một cuốn sách, về mặt văn chương không có bao nhiêu, nhưng những ghi chép qua kinh nghiệm của cô đã phản ảnh được rất nhiều về những người cùng gốc gác với cô.
Echo Wang không ra đời hay lớn lên ở Hoa Lục. Cô là người gốc Hoa sinh trưởng tại một nước trong vùng Ðông Nam Á, làm việc cho một công ty ngoại quốc, đã từng thăm viếng hơn 40 nước vì việc làm của cô. Trong những chuyến đi đó, cô có dịp quan sát những toán du khách người Hoa từ Trung Quốc.
Những điều cô chứng kiến đã làm cho cô kinh hoàng không ít. Những toán du khách này, qua các hành động của họ, đã trở thành những chuyện kinh hoàng cho dân chúng bản xứ vì sự thiếu văn minh và văn hóa của họ mà họ mang theo từ những vùng làng quê Trung Quốc nơi họ sống cả một đời làm lụng vất vả, kiếm được ít tiền rồi rủ nhau đi du lịch để xem thế giới bên ngoài như thế nào. Và nạn nhân của họ là những người sống kề cận với họ ở những nước “núi liền núi, sông liền sông” với họ. Ðó có thể là Thái Lan, Việt Nam... Xa hơn một chút là Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia...
Ðâu đâu người dân của những nước này cũng rất ghê sợ nhóm du khách từ Hoa lục này. Thị trấn Chiang Mai ở Bắc Thái Lan rất cần tiền của du khách nhưng lại rất ghét các du khách người Hoa. Tại một số nước Âu châu, du khách người Hoa cũng bị ghét không ít. Một số khách sạn không tiếp du khách Trung Quốc nêu lý do rất rõ là những trò khạc nhổ, ăn nói ồn ào, không chịu xếp hàng, đánh nhau ngoài đường, ăn cắp... khiến các khách sạn này không muốn tiếp họ.
Mới nhất là khách sạn rất sang trọng Zadig & Voltaire trên đại lộ Grenelle ở tả ngạn sông Seine thủ đô Paris, vừa khai trương năm 2014 đã nói rõ là không cho các du khách từ Hoa lục thuê phòng.
Một số ý kiến cho rằng
những nét tốt đẹp của văn hóa Trung Quốc đã bị xóa sạch trong hơn một chục năm cách mạng văn hóa của Mao Trạch Ðông. Du khách từ Hoa lục, mà đa số, căn bản chỉ là những nông dân thất học có ít tiền bầy đặt ra nước ngoài du lịch.
Echo Wang gọi những thứ ngợm này là một lũ lợn xổng chuồng thì không một cách mô tả nào chính xác hơn.
Trên một vài chuyến bay của hàng không Việt Nam mới đây phi hành đoàn nhiều lần đã bắt được mấy du khách Trung Quốc trộm tiền bạc của các hành khách Việt Nam ngay trên máy bay. Ðọc những bản tin như thế, nhiều người có thể nghĩ đó chỉ là những trường hợp đơn lẻ, quít Hoài Nam có quả chua, quả ngọt. Nhưng rồi những vụ đánh nhau, hành hung các nữ tiếp viên hàng không Thái trên máy bay, mở cửa máy bay cho... mát đã khiến người ta thấy quả thực những con lợn xổng chuồng này có vấn đề. Du
khách Trung Quốc còn cho trẻ con phóng uế ngay trong điện Versailles, Paris, tiểu tiện hồn nhiên trên ghế máy bay, vẽ bậy trên một pho tượng cổ Ai Cập, ném ly nước nóng vào mặt tiếp viên hàng không trên phi cơ...
Và mới đây, chính nhà cầm quyền Bắc Kinh đã phải nhắc nhở các công dân khi ra nước ngoài phải cư xử cho lịch sự tử tế để gìn giữ những hình ảnh tốt đẹp của nước Trung Hoa.
Nhưng lời kêu gọi đó được đưa ra thì đã quá muộn. Bọn lợn đã xổng chuồng đang giở những trò khốn nạn nhất cho thế giới thưởng thức rồi còn gì nữa.
Pigs on the Loose: Chinese Tour Groups
By Echo Wang
Copyright 2012 Echo Wang
Smashwords Edition
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Table of Contents
第 二章：旅游团
第 七章：污染环境
Conclusion
I consider myself a very fortunate Chinese because in the last 3 years I have done exceptional things that I never imagined I would have the opportunity to do.
Through both my employment and the people I have met I visited over 23 countries in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
I have decided to write this book based on things I have seen and comments I have heard.
It looks at the very poor image that Chinese tour groups are promoting overseas. The book is not designed to offend but hopefully wake up the Chinese who read it.
I am not saying that it is just Chinese who have developed poor images overseas. We see previous examples of the ugly American tourists who tell you everything is bigger and better in the USA, the bombastic German tourists, the arrogant French, the drunken boisterous Aussies. All are equally repugnant.
China’s economic success has led to an increase in the numbers of Chinese citizens traveling overseas in large tour groups however they are far from being good ambassadors for the Chinese people. They are giving the Chinese people the reputation of being loud, rude, inconsiderate, unsanitary and environmentally destructive pigs. From what I have witnessed the reputation is well deserved.
I am not the first person to make these observations as many writers have commented about the behaviour of Chinese both at home and abroad. Stories have been published in newspapers, books and on the internet
As part of the process of writing this book I have spent considerable time talking to foreigners about their impressions of China and Chinese tourists.
In places I found that many people did not have a great deal of knowledge about China other than what they read in newspapers or saw on TV. Those who had never visited China always said that they would like to one day.
I remember quite clearly the long conversations I had with foreign travelers while I was staying at the Jaffa Gate Hostel just outside the Old City in Jerusalem. These people were only too happy to tell me their impressions and experiences with Chinese tour groups. Apart from a few who had positive things to say, most had negative and less than favorable experiences with these groups.
In most instances, the positive impressions of Chinese travelers and tourists were of those Chinese who traveled as couples or by themselves and were able to speak English. The majority of negative impressions came from the Chinese tour groups who one foreigner described as “pigs on the loose.”
This book will hopefully give an insight to how embarrassing it is becoming to say “I’m from China”
“Many people around the world have the view that China is full of ignorant, uncivilized, Chinese peasants….Unfortunately Chinese tour groups have led to a lot more people having this view”.
-Joseph Sun (Author)
As the number of Chinese tour groups increases so does the number of people who develop a negative image of the Chinese people. Although the Government has implemented a number of programs in China to change the behaviour of Chinese tourists abroad, it seems that these programs have failed.
During my travels I have witnessed many incidents which made me ashamed to be identified as Chinese. I have always been proud of my heritage and when people have often mistaken me as Korean, Thai, Vietnamese and Filipina, I have always corrected them and told them I am Chinese. However I now prefer to keep my national identity secret and if people mistake me as a national from another country I tend to let them think that.
Hopefully the day will come when I can proudly travel overseas and declare to the world that I am Chinese, but at present the “pigs on the loose” prevent me from doing this.
Many people I have met in places such as Europe, the Middle East and Asia ask if I was educated in the West. They see me as being different from most Chinese they encounter from mainland China and assume I have had a Western education. However all my education has been in China.
I think that because I have worked with American and Australian companies, I have learnt much about their societies and the norms of expected behaviour. While most foreigners admire China’s economic success, they have often formed a very poor opinion of the Chinese people. Unfortunately, this opinion is based on what they see Chinese tour groups doing when they visit places outside China.
Tourists who come to China also see the Chinese people in a poor light due to their poor manners and lack of consideration of others. The behaviours they witness in China are the same ones that Chinese Tour groups display overseas.
The Southern Weekend reported, on September 28, 2006, that two Chinese government departments exposed ten sorts of bad behaviours that were not only offensive to foreigners, but should be eliminated from Chinese behaviour at home. These included:
"Littering", "spitting", "snatching bus seats", "queue-jumping", "taking off shoes and socks in public", "speaking loudly", "bad temper and cursing", "smoking in non-smoking areas" and many others.
I often find myself disgusted by displays of what are regarded as typical Chinese habits. I find men who spit in bins and on streets in public particularly disgusting. I was once told by a friend that he often saw beautiful Chinese girls walking along the street and though he was attracted by their beauty, when he saw them spit on the pavement it turned his stomach and they immediately became “ugly Chinese girls”.
Chinese people also need to realize that most people in other countries find the sight of a person walking along a street picking his or her nose or spitting disgusting. It may be acceptable in China but is definitely considered offensive in most other cultures.
People often complain how loudly Chinese people speak when using a mobile phone.
“We got to Venice quite early in the morning and there were very few people about. The magic and beauty of this magnificent city were magnified by the hushed silence and stillness of the early morning. We were given time to wander by ourselves. My friend and I ended up having coffee on the terrace of a café, the table laid with silver and china. We sat opposite the side entrance to a church and were exalted by the stonework and sculpture we could contemplate at leisure. It was one of those totally euphoric experiences that occur so rarely.
Suddenly, the air was rent by horrible screaming, screeching, angry noise – what else, but a middle-aged mainlander bellowing into a mobile phone (not from our tour group I should add). He was standing in the middle of the junction of two cobbled streets not far from where we sat. Everyone in the vicinity looked at him of which he was completely oblivious. One woman went up to him and made it very clear he should be quiet – he completely ignored her. Those very special moments in life are so easily shattered and it’s difficult to put the pieces back together again. What is it that breeds such insensitivity?”
-Barry (Brisbane, Australia)
I remember walking along a street in Nice with some members of a Contiki tour when we encountered a Chinese guy yelling into his phone. One of the guys from New Zealand yelled to him…”Tell your friend to get his hearing aid fixed!” His humorous comment surprised the guy on the phone and he just stared in our direction while the rest of our group broke into laughter. I am sure the comment was wasted as the guy on the phone didn’t seem to understand why people were looking at him and laughing.
I often asked people I met how Chinese people could improve their image:
- Wait for others to leave a lift before trying to get in
Chinese people also need to realize that most people in other countries find the sight of a person walking along a street picking his or her nose or spitting disgusting. It may be acceptable in China but is definitely considered offensive in most other cultures.
People often complain how loudly Chinese people speak when using a mobile phone.
“We got to Venice quite early in the morning and there were very few people about. The magic and beauty of this magnificent city were magnified by the hushed silence and stillness of the early morning. We were given time to wander by ourselves. My friend and I ended up having coffee on the terrace of a café, the table laid with silver and china. We sat opposite the side entrance to a church and were exalted by the stonework and sculpture we could contemplate at leisure. It was one of those totally euphoric experiences that occur so rarely.
Suddenly, the air was rent by horrible screaming, screeching, angry noise – what else, but a middle-aged mainlander bellowing into a mobile phone (not from our tour group I should add). He was standing in the middle of the junction of two cobbled streets not far from where we sat. Everyone in the vicinity looked at him of which he was completely oblivious. One woman went up to him and made it very clear he should be quiet – he completely ignored her. Those very special moments in life are so easily shattered and it’s difficult to put the pieces back together again. What is it that breeds such insensitivity?”
-Barry (Brisbane, Australia)
I remember walking along a street in Nice with some members of a Contiki tour when we encountered a Chinese guy yelling into his phone. One of the guys from New Zealand yelled to him…”Tell your friend to get his hearing aid fixed!” His humorous comment surprised the guy on the phone and he just stared in our direction while the rest of our group broke into laughter. I am sure the comment was wasted as the guy on the phone didn’t seem to understand why people were looking at him and laughing.
I often asked people I met how Chinese people could improve their image:
- Wait for others to leave a lift before trying to get in
- Don’t smoke in elevators
- Don’t urinate in public.
- Hold open doors for people who are right behind you
- Say “excuse me” after you burp/cough.
- Don’t talk when your mouth is full of food.
- Allow women to enter and exit doorways first
The above are just a few examples as the list is almost too long to publish in this book. The Chinese Government has published a lot of material advising people how to behave when traveling. Unfortunately, it appears that it has been largely ignored.
Many Chinese choose to travel overseas in organized tour groups. These groups are usually made up of Chinese who do not speak English. They are made up of middle-class people and those who have managed to benefit from China’s economic rise and have the money to take overseas tours. They choose to travel in a group mainly because they do not have the language skills needed to travel alone. They also have a fear of the unknown and feel more secure traveling with a guide, as well as their fellow countrymen. The group also provides them with the support they need to travel without changing any of their disgusting habits. Chinese who travel alone don’t have this support and normally are educated individuals proficient enough in English to understand and accept the social norms in the country they visit. They refrain from spitting, being noisy and other general pig-like behaviour.
Members of these tour groups are often on their first trip out of China and many members of the group have no understanding of other cultures. They tend to be people who believe they are now better than their friends because they can say they have traveled overseas. The group abounds with overstretched egos of people seeking to be noticed. Within the group individuals try to become admired and tend to want to show off and impress other members of the group. They lack self esteem and seek the group’s approval by often trying to appear as if they know more than they do.
A New Zealand woman once described these groups to me as “a flock of sheep and the tour guide is the sheep dog snapping at their heels”. In a way, that is often how it appears. Unfortunately, sheep don’t tend to cause as much trouble or damage as these groups. Perhaps that’s why I found the description “pigs on the loose” to be a much more appropriate description.
The groups are an annoyance in most overseas places for a number of reasons. Besides being seen as noisy, inconsiderate and lacking in manners. They tend to push into queues and block the passage of others. They tend to move along as a group with no awareness of what is happening around them. They often come to a halt on footpaths and outside doorways and block them so other users have to walk around them and onto roads or are forced to squeeze past them. They block other tourists’ views of sites and scenery by massing in viewing areas for long periods. The noise they generate in tranquil, peaceful places ruins the atmosphere for others. They ignore signs such as “no smoking, no loitering and do not touch”. They feel a need to leave a reminder of their visit by writing in Chinese on monuments and other tourist relics.
In many museums they have had to put up signs in Chinese requesting visitors refrain from touching or climbing on exhibits. These signs are not in any other language other than Chinese as Chinese are the worst offenders.
While staying in Florence in 2009 I was invited to the “Red Garter Bar” where I met John Zanetti who was the manager of a four star hotel in the city. The discussion I had with him gave me an insight into why Chinese tour groups are now being excluded by some hotels in Europe.
John told me that the problem with the groups was their total lack of consideration for other guests and total disregard for hotel rooms.
The group was booked into 12 rooms on different floors and their constant movement between different rooms caused noise and annoyance to other guests. Also they ignored the hotel’s ‘no smoking’ rules and often congregated near several rooms on the third floor where the guide and other group members were accommodated. The doors to the rooms were left open so group members could talk from the corridor or between rooms at the top of their voices.
The following morning quite a few guests checked out early, cutting short their stay at the hotel because of the noise and behaviour of this group.
It is not surprising this hotel has a non-advertised “no Chinese groups” policy
The behaviour of these “pig” not only provides a bad image of Chinese people, but also ruins other people’s vacations and holidays as highlighted by the anecdote below.
We went to Phuket at CNY this year. The resort's pool was invaded by a group of Mainland tourists - 3 men and 3 women. All of them proceeded to spit and clear their noses in and around the pool. One guy, in particular, whose spitting prowess was phenomenal, spat at the foot of a British girl sun-baking on a lounge - you've never seen a girl run so fast. In ten minutes the whole pool area was empty except for us and them. I stood up and yelled at the guy to get his attention and then used hand signals to show that spitting wasn't allowed - I'm pretty sure he got the message. Didn't see another soul (including us) in the pool except the mainlanders, until we left the resort.
-Elsie (Ireland)
The groups have created such a bad impression that other nationalities often try to avoid places they go. However, this is not always possible as these groups tend to follow well-established tourist trails and come into contact with many other groups from different cultures. This means that more and more nationalities are forming very poor opinions of the Chinese.
Chinese tour groups at airports are an embarrassment to China. They display selfish and inconsiderate behaviours when queuing at check in counters. The members of the group join different queues and then all leave their queue to join their friend in the faster-moving queue faster. This results in other passengers having to wait longer.
If two people are traveling together and they each join a different queue, other passengers don’t mind if their partner leaves the slower queue and joins the partner in the faster queue. This is because they are checking in together and it doesn’t add a lot of waiting time to others in the queue. However, when members of a group all move to join a member who has moved to the front of the check-in this causes a lot of anger.
I have been at Denpasar and Singapore airports and witnessed several of these incidents. Other travelers find this type of tour group behaviour not only annoying, but rude and unacceptable. Hence it often results in conflict.
At the Denpasar check-in, a member of a tour group who was third in line called all the other members of his group to the front of the line which meant that the passenger who was in the line before him went from 4th place to 19th place. The passenger was angry at this pushing in and told them to get back in line. The group proceeded to ignore his requests and only when he started shouting and using four letter words did the tour leader come over and try to talk to him. She offered to let him go in front of the group but he refused because it meant that the other passengers behind him would also be pushed further back because of the tour group’s actions.
I actually intervened at this point and explained in Chinese to the leader why he would not accept their offer to check- in in front of them. I also attempted to explain to the group but they totally ignored the requests to return to their place in line. Only when the other passengers started to vocally support the first passenger did the tour group leader call the group out of line to try and explain the problem. The Chinese tour group were both hostile and loud but withdrew in the face of a passenger rebellion.
The pushy behaviour that these pig-like groups display internationally may be common in China but they are going to find that they will not be able to use these inconsiderate, selfish and pig-like manners overseas without generating hostile responses.
In Singapore, I witnessed a similar incident but this time the guy at the check-in desk got out of his chair and instructed the Chinese tour members who had pushed their way to the front to get back in line. He spoke to them in Chinese but again they looked like stupid sheep and ignored him. No one was going to be checking in while he was trying to get these pigs to return to their place in the line. One of the members of the tour group who spoke English yelled out “but we are a group”. I then saw an Australian guy step forward and say very loudly, “If you don’t understand Chinese, I will translate it into English for you…..GET TO THE BACK OF THE FU...KING LINE. His response was greeted with smiles and applause and resulted in the group’s noisy withdrawal.
This type of incident will only increase and responses at airports will become increasingly hostile until such time as these pigs start behaving with good manners and stop giving all Chinese travelers a bad name internationally.
I have been unfortunate enough to be on a plane with these groups on several occasions, as well as hearing from other travelers about their experiences with these groups on aircraft. Not only do these groups display complete ignorance toward other passengers, they often put themselves, other passengers and the crew in danger due to their behaviour.
Even on planes where the announcements are made in Chinese, they ignore requests to turn off mobile phones. I observed one woman member of the group using her mobile during takeoff. When told to turn it off by a flight attendant, she became very upset and began to talk loudly with other members of her group before beginning to use the phone again. The man sitting next to me made me laugh when he said the flight attendant should have made her “step outside”.
Another thing I have witnessed on a number of occasions, which has resulted in flight attendants putting themselves at risk during landings, is the way members of these groups continually ignore the seat belt signs and get out of their seats before the seatbelt light is turned off. They open overhead lockers while the plane is taking off, still climbing or landing.
I have even seen one woman leave her seat and attempt to go to the toilet seconds before take off completely ignoring the flight attendant who was yelling at her to sit down. On this occasion the flight attendant had to unbuckle her own seat belt and escort the lady back to her seat while the plane was speeding down the runway.
When there is a Chinese tour group on the plane I have also noticed that the flight attendants are cleaning toilets much more frequently than when I have flown on similar aircraft without any Chinese tour groups on board. They do not leave the toilets in a fit state for other passengers to use. On a few occasions I have entered a toilet after it was used by a member of one of these groups. I have immediately left and sought another toilet. There is often urine and water all over the floors and tissue scattered inside the cubicle. In most instances, the bowl has not been flushed and the seat is wet or dirty.
It is also apparent that many of these members cannot endure a flight where they are not in close proximity to their friends. I have been on flights where there is a delay because Chinese Tour group members tend to ignore seat numbers. Flight attendants have to be summoned to try and sort out the problems that occur when they feel they can sit in any seat, ignoring other passengers’ requests to vacate their allocated seat.
Another problem occurs when a number of these loud talking “pigs” leave their seat as soon as possible and congregate around the seats of other tour members. This behaviour blocks the aisle and hinders other passengers who need to use the toilet, as well as flight attendants trying to serve other passengers.
I have seen a number of situations where they squeeze three people into one seat rather than return to their own seat. They don’t seem to understand that this inconveniences any other passengers who happen to be unlucky enough to occupy a seat in the row that they have decided to squeeze into.
This again reinforces the idea that Chinese are dirty, mindless and inconsiderate pigs.
The poor manners displayed and the lack of consideration towards other people in restaurants is something else that these “pigs on the loose” need to look at. They do not respect the cultures in other countries where people often go to a restaurant to have a quiet meal and chat. When one of these groups enters a restaurant their noisy pig-like behaviour can be offensive to other users.
The groups also remove food from buffet tables and wrap it up to take back to their hotel rooms. It seems that if something appears free such as soy sauce sachets, then instead of using a few they tend to help themselves and stuff these in their pockets. This includes ketchup, soy sauce, mayonnaise, sugar, salt and pepper and other sachets that are found in both take away and dine in restaurants. They even ask for additional milk and sugar in places like McDonalds, not to use in their drinks but to take back to their room.
‘No smoking’ signs in restaurants are ignored and very often staff have to speak to them regarding the lighting of cigarettes. The universal sign of a cigarette inside a red circle with a bar across it appears to be poorly understood. However I am sure even these pigs understand its meaning but choose to ignore it, thinking that because they ignore such signs in China they can do it when they are overseas.
In some countries restaurants have set aside special areas for Chinese tourists. This is not out of respect but due to behaviour, noise and disgusting manners that offend other people. Many restaurants have done this in order to try and placate their other customers while maintaining the business that these tour groups bring to the restaurant. However, some restaurants have even refused bookings when they find out the group comes from mainland China.
This new form of segregation comes as a result of the image the loose pigs have generated and continue to reinforce around the world.
In 2008, I was working at a License Show at the Hong Kong Exhibition Centre and met a girl from Hong Kong who was working in the booth next to ours. We chatted often as she had also spent considerable time traveling overseas. We exchanged many travel experiences including her impressions of Chinese tourists in fast food outlets such as McDonalds, KFC and Starbucks.
She told me that what annoyed her about Chinese tourists in these places was the way they would stand in line for ten minutes to get to the counter before even thinking about what they wanted to order. Then they would spend the next five minutes looking at the menu asking questions that other people might put to a waiter in a five star restaurant. Finally when they decided what they wanted they would need to discuss their order with the rest of the group to get their approval before actually placing their order. She also told me she often traveled with her Chinese-Canadian boyfriend who was born and raised in Canada. He often got annoyed at the long wait they were enduring and would sarcastically say to the Chinese in front of him…“Today???”, indicating that he would like to place his order today and not tomorrow.
She also mentioned the habit of waiting until they could see the price on the till display before reaching for their wallet even when prices were clearly marked on all items. It seems that most other people understand the concept of “Fast Food” and will usually have their money ready to pay so as not to cause longer delays.
People I have met have commented on Chinese using toilets. They say they would not enter a toilet after one of these groups had been in there, as the floor would be covered in urine and litter. Toilets would not be flushed and there would be shoe marks on seats and spit on everything.
When I have spoken to Westerners about this they have indicated that besides these habits, they find Chinese toilet habits extremely disgusting.
Some of the things they have mentioned include:
- Extremely loud throat clearing and spitting while standing next to people at a urinal.
- Loud conversations between two Chinese who are in cubicles that may be next to each other or separated.
- Loud phone conversations while inside a cubicle
- Discarding paper towels on the floor.
- Leaving toilets unflushed.
- Leaving dirty footprints on seats.
- Taking away as much toilet tissue as they can stuff into their pocket or bag.
One person whom I spoke with told me how he pushed open the door of an unlocked cubicle to see a Chinese guy sitting on a toilet eating food he had brought from the restaurant. His comment was “must save time…in one end and out the other.”
When Chinese tour groups display these types of habits overseas, it is little wonder they get the reputation they deserve.
Members of Chinese tour groups only ever think about themselves. They appear arrogant about things around them. They find it hard to change habits because they are with a group who has exactly the same disgusting habits. Chinese people who travel alone or as a couple are under more pressure to conform with local customs and expectations as they do not have the group mentality that these “loose pigs” have.
It seems that Chinese see a restroom as a place for throat clearing and I have often heard from people I have met how loud this throat clearing is. In fact, people are so startled by the volume and length of this throat clearing ritual that they often get the feeling that the person is choking.
The throat clearing is often followed by the spitting of a large blob of phlegm that very often ends on the floor, wall or toilet seat.
At Don Muang domestic airport in Thailand, I happened to go to the toilet at the same time as two women from a mainland tour group.
While I was in there the two Shanghainese women also entered the toilet talking very loudly. They entered cubicles quite distant from each other but the talking never ceased. The cubicle I was in was in the middle and they continued to gossip loudly the whole time they were using the toilet. They complained about their husbands, the guys in the group, their home lives, their kids and how thin the toilet paper was. They have no idea how annoying they are to other users.
Why is it that women from other countries can enter and leave a toilet in such a way that you hardly know they are there, but with Chinese women the toilet takes on the atmosphere of a country market.
Unfortunately, members of these Chinese tour Groups have also created an image of themselves as environmental vandals. They discard litter everywhere except in bins. They have no understanding of the environmental damage they do.
I sat on a beautiful beach in Boracay with a Canadian friend to watch the sun set over the ocean. Unfortunately, this tranquil and beautiful setting disappeared with the arrival of a Chinese tour group who sat on the beach about 20 meters from us. They were noisy and had bought take-away food with them. I do not object to them eating on the beach as both my friend and I were also enjoying a snack and drink. However the loudest of their conversation resulted in a number of people getting up and moving away from this group. Although I am sure you could have heard them even if you had moved 100 meters away.
After the sun went down, we went to leave and ensured we took the cans and food containers we had eaten from to a rubbish bin further up the beach. As we walked back we saw the tour group get up and leave but what they left behind made the beach look like a rubbish dump. All this plastic and foam would have been washed into the sea with the incoming tide.
The tour group’s image is not enhanced in the eyes of other tourists when they provoke this kind of comment:
“One mountain we drove over was 4300m. At the top we stopped to admire the stunning scenery. It was Easter and that high up meant there was still a lot of snow around. While us standing in slack-jawed admiration of the magnificent pristine snowy wilderness, a couple of Chinese tour buses rolled up. The Chinese tourists all piled out and proceeded to dump their rubbish everywhere. The bus driver waited until the last tourist was out and then swept the bus clean of the huge piles of rubbish they had discarded in the bus. The amount of rubbish he pushed out made me amazed the tourists had been able to get out of the bus: I can only assume they had burrowed under and through the rubbish. There was so much rubbish I couldn't help but wonder if they had brought some along from their homes. Taken a couple of bags on holiday with them.
While he was diligently doing his best to ruin the natural surroundings, the tourists were doing theirs by squatting wherever they felt like and relieving themselves - both number ones and twos.
After 5 minutes gawking, yelling, smoking, and happily taking photos of the now despoiled scenery they departed. As the buses trundled off they discovered a secret stash of rubbish in the bus. Windows opened and a stream of rubbish billowed out.”
-Simon Moore (Canada)
In some cities, I have witnessed these groups stop and eat food that they have brought with them on an excursion. Although they may only be a few meters from a rubbish bin, they do not bother depositing scraps and litter in these bins. The habits they bring with them persist and they do not understand or adapt to local practices. They have an expectation that cleaners will clean up after them.
In the city where I live, this same attitude to litter exists and the streets need to be constantly swept by others; otherwise most Chinese cities would be buried in litter in a few weeks. Many Chinese cities have lowly-paid street cleaners to pick up after the pigs, but in many cities outside China people have been educated to dispose of their litter in bins, resulting in the need for fewer cleaners. However, if the Chinese groups continue coming and bringing their pig-like habits with them, the cities will definitely require more cleaners. This becomes a huge problem when it occurs in coastal cities as it is much more difficult to clean the world’s oceans.
Chinese attitudes need to change as the litter they leave is ruining many beautiful sites. Already in China they have destroyed rivers and lakes with their polluting habits and they need to be educated about how fragile the environment is. However I don’t hold out much hope of this happening soon.
No matter when and how these “pigs” move they seem to cause problems for those around them.
They show total disregard for others and this can be seen when they use elevators, escalators or travelators. They have no sense of space awareness and often cause problems when using these modes of transport.
Many of them have no hesitation in entering an elevator smoking, causing inconvenience as well as health risks to others. They are so self-centered that they think it is their right to ignore ‘no smoking’ signs. They also enter elevators before other passengers have had time to exit. They push their way inside as soon as the door opens, often forcing others to squeeze past them to get out. They seem to accept that bumping into people without excusing themselves is ok as it is something that occurs often in China. However in most countries people who accidentally bump someone else say sorry or excuse themselves.
Another often-heard complaint is the way they use escalators and travelators. In airports these groups get on a travelator and stop to ride it to the end. This would not be so bad if they left room for others who walk on travelators to reach their destination quicker. Very often people wanting to move along a travelator in an airport find them blocked by a Chinese tour group. Even trying to move past them becomes a major task as they block the width of the travelator with their bodies and their luggage.
It is often quicker not to use a travelator or elevator in an airport or city if a Chinese tour group has got on before you, as people walking normally next to the travelator will walk faster than travelator is moving. I have seen quite a few people get annoyed at being caught behind a Chinese tour group on a travelator while they were hurrying to get to their flight. In Singapore, I even witnessed a passenger climb over the side of a moving travelator because his passage had been blocked by a Chinese tour group and their luggage. This is dangerous and people should not have to take these risks because of inconsiderate “pigs”.
A Chinese tour group or even two members of the group on an escalator can display inconsiderate behaviour towards other users. Often they gather at the start of the escalator blocking the entrance to other passengers. When they finally decide to get on, they block the escalator by standing side by side even when they can see all the people in front of them standing to one side.
When these groups suddenly exit from an elevator, escalator or travelator they tend to stop suddenly, forcing others trying to exit to come to an abrupt halt and having to squeeze around them or bump into them. They have no spatial awareness or the consideration to move out of the way of other users.
Many of the members of Chinese tour groups are more interested in shopping for luxury items than they are in the attractions and culture of the places they visit. This is especially true with the groups who visit Western Europe.
Western Europe has many of the luxury stores and items that many Chinese want to buy. They often spend considerable amounts of money buying originals of the fakes that are so widely available in China. This is more of a prestige thing as they can give gifts to friends and let them know that it was bought in a store in London, Paris, and Rome etc.
In 2009, I happened to be walking with a friend past the Louis Vuitton store on the Champs Elysees in Paris when I was approached by a Chinese couple, who asked if I would go into the store and buy them several items. When I asked why they didn’t go themselves, they informed me that limits were imposed on the number of items Chinese people could buy. They told me I could keep the receipt for the purchases and claim it back at the airport. The offer was quite tempting as the tax would have been substantial. However my friend informed me that in order to claim the tax back at the airport, Customs would require me to produce the goods.
I declined their offer but went into the store to have a look around. There were lots of Chinese in the store buying wallets and handbags. I later found out that there is such a market for these products in China that many tour group members will often go there and try to buy as many items as they can so they can resell them at a markup when they return to China. Some wealthier members of these tour groups give other tour members money to buy items for them.
I had previously encountered a Chinese tour group in a department store while I was shopping in Paris. The way they change the atmosphere in the store is truly annoying.
When I was wandering through the store, it was a very pleasant experience. I was looking at perfumes and clothes, and listening to the background music being piped through the stores speaker system when suddenly there were a lot of people near me talking very loudly. Their colored peak caps and logos immediately identified them as a Chinese tour Group. The whole atmosphere in the store was destroyed in a few minutes. The place started to sound like an open air market in Beijing. Group members were talking loudly and yelling across the floor to friends to come over and look at a particular item. I also noticed many of the shoppers in the store moving away from the group, trying to put some distance between them and these unruly Chinese. The sales staff was cringing probably hoping they would not be the ones unfortunate enough to serve these “pigs”.
Many of the members of Chinese groups traveling overseas believe that by taking a credit card all their financial requirements will be easily met. They often encounter problems when they find that the credit card they have been issued with by their bank does not work in all ATMs in many countries unless the machine accepts Union Pay. Most luxury shops do accept Union Pay as Chinese customers like to spend using their piece of plastic. Also many of the smaller retail outlets do not accept Union Pay, which limits the retailers that Chinese people can buy from unless they have cash available. This part is not good enough. Visa and MasterCard credits card are widely available in the world. Chinese people normally use saving cards which is union pay. I thought there was a story about what a sales guy experienced with Chinese tour groups.
It appears that many of the Chinese tour group members either have no knowledge of the world’s religions or are totally disrespectful of other people’s beliefs.
This ignorance or disrespect is often shown when a group arrives at a site that is sacred or of religious importance to the followers of that religion. It doesn’t matter if the site is Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, or another religion. Many members of these groups regard it as something that they would visit in Disneyland or Windows of the World. They see it as an attraction on their sightseeing tour, to be talked about, photographed or even to write graffiti on.
They often regard people practicing these religions at these sites as some type of entertainment, so they take photos without permission, touch sacred objects and generally ignore the customs required when entering these sites.
I witnessed this at Winchester Cathedral when a group attempted to enter but were stopped by an attendant because four members were smoking. When asked to put their cigarettes out they looked totally bewildered and had to wait for the guide to translate before giving the attendant a look of disgust. They then proceeded to throw their cigarettes on the ground although there were two bins 20 meters away.
Once inside the Cathedral they continued their loud talking, although requested by the attendant to lower their voices. Their loudness and photo taking soon attracted the attention of worshippers who quietly got up and left.
I have also seen similar behaviour at Hindu shrines in India where they regard the colorful statues of Hindu gods with the same attitude they would a statue of Mickey Mouse at Disneyland.
This total disrespect of religion is often seen as insulting and offensive to people who practice that religion. In fact it is often seen as the ultimate insult and members of these tour groups need to be reminded that some people are prone to respond violently if their religion or religious beliefs are not respected.
Tour guides have an obligation to explain to these pigs how to behave at these sites. If they then do otherwise, they may find Chinese tour groups being banned.
With social media a major source of information, people who have had contact with the “pigs on the loose” can now influence a lot of other people. On a well-known site that advises people about travel and where people share travel experiences, the reputation of Chinese pigs has spread quickly.
Below is an example of a comment left after a person had had a holiday in Chaaya
“and sadly the island was overrun with a lot of rude, loud Chinese people who had no respect for anyone else on the island both staff and tourist alike, we were very fortunate that where we were on the island we were only on the fringe of what was going on ,but we could still hear the never ending spitting that they did, and it’s with a sad heart that this will stop us going back to Chaaya as we might not be so lucky with our location on the island next time.”
If the “pigs” don’t wake up to themselves they will see more and more restrictions being placed on groups from China. The management of places that see themselves losing customers because they accept booking by Chinese tour companies may decide to stop taking these bookings for fear of losing other more civilized clients.
Unfortunately this is not an isolated case as I discovered when researching information for this book. There are hundreds, if not thousands of references to the bad behaviour of Chinese tour groups overseas. The criticism not only comes from non-Chinese people but from Chinese who have come across them during t
