Forums > Living in Kunming > Why do miserable foreigners remain in China? @mmkunmingteacher : most of us are fully aware you have a great time here since you are always the first one to back up any Chinese habits on this forum. As well, you often leave comments like : "you should remember we are the guests of China and so we should follow their path".
I strongly disagree with you on that point. Yes, as immigrants we have to respect the laws and not try to impose our culture. I think bitching about China between foreigners don't harm any Chinese person and we are not imposing anything...
But when I got ripped off at the market or by a taxi driver only because I am a foreigner, I am not willing to take it with a big smile thinking "Oh yes I am just a guest of China, it's OK for me to take all the shit".
As someone else said on this thread, a very small percentage of the Chinese abroad are integrated in their new country. Most of them stay in their community, don't talk anything else than mandarin even after years of living there, eat only Chinese food and don't mix with the locals. I have seen that in France and in Canada, and I have never think that was wrong. This is quite normal actually.
So why can't us foreigners do that here ?
As well, of course you can learn tea ceremony and that kind of thing here, but this is not something common, I mean it's not on their every day life anymore. A small portion of the population has some knowledge, but what about all the others ?
I had conversations about this topic with few Chinese, very well educated and experts in traditional Chinese culture. They were the first one to tell me that sadly the culture is dead in mainland, and to find the real Chinese culture you have to go to Taiwan. The same people are equally sad that their fellow acting so rudely in the street. One scholar told me the other day that the real Chinese culture is now in Japan and Taiwan. The Chinese people used to be as polite as the Japanese, this was the way to behave here, but Mao ruined everything. Another of my friend, very well educated young woman is ashamed for not knowing anything about traditional stuff. All her education was focused on getting a good job and getting later on a good husband. She is trying to make it now, but when you see that rich people are clueless about how to serve tea properly, how can you tell me that the culture is not dying ?
So my point was that you can learn as much about the traditional culture abroad than in the country itself which is quite weird. If you go to Japan, you will get their culture in your face 10 times a day, same in Korea. But here no, you really have to look for it and can find only a few people able to teach you anything. And often the experts here are not better than the ones abroad. The educated people run away from China during the cultural revolution, they are settled down in Tw or in western countries now.
You should realize that you are strongly biased about China, you are totally in your honeymoon with this country. It's fine and I am happy for you, but you should understand as well that this cannot be the case for all of us here.
