First - - I am an American (well-traveled - - over 30 countries).
One can find "bad" things throughout the world. There are areas in East Los Angeles and suburbs of Washington, DC where things are just as bad or worse than all the complaints mentioned here.

If all you look for are the bad things, why are you still here? Perhaps you can find your Utopia in other places.

Good Luck - - and - - Cheers - - JJ

just as there are bad areas all over the world, there are stupid people who will find any reason to moan and complain. mind you, seeing a pretty young girl make disgusting noises and then spit in a restaurant would turn my stomach in any country and i believe that's a reasonable reaction!

15 seconds of my life I'll never get back...

You're lucky, I have a slow connection and lost more than 30 seconds. But then the ADSL may also be poor in Los Angeles and the suburbs of Washington, DC and therefore I have no justification for complaint.......

Hey JJ, I'm with you on this one, I'm fed up with seeing posts complaining about China. Why the F are you surfing around gokunming.com and complaining about china do something more productive like buying a ticket to singapore if you don't like girls spitting in the restaraunts.

JJ<br>
Well said - it's easy to complain, difficult to fix or take action. Most of the complaints reflect the historical social gap between city dwellers and rural and migrant workers - which the central government takes great pains to narrow. I've lived in LA - land of the carjackers, SFO and even San Diego where some big ol hunkin dude twice my size in a big ol hunkin SUV forced me off the freeway because I wasn't speeding fast enough in the speed lane on the freeway - jumped out of his car and wanted to beat me up (or kill me) because he didn't like the way I drove and "oh look - it's a tiny oriental guy driving an expensive car..I can bully him (and no, I didn't kill him - he walked away alive and unscathed).<br>

FYI - aside from harmless me - don't piss off tiny oriental guys driving certain expensive foreign cars in California - they're usually asian gang bangers and they're usually well armed. If they don't kill you on the spot - you'll always be looking over your shoulder as they just might decide to make you and maybe your family and friends their personal hobby - and they don't have regular day jobs - they have LOTS of free time on their hands.<br>

Back on point, I propose part of the problem is media manipulation - China uses SARFT and CCTV etc, the USA uses AP, Reuters, CNN, etc. US propaganda is incredibly subtle but incredibly obvious upon simple retrospect. <br>

For Example - the recent flare over the Nobel Peace Prize. The USA once again took the grandstand to chat about democracy, Tibet, etc - but neglected to mention its "extraordinary rendition" program or the incredible "collateral civilian damage" incurred during it's Iraq and Afghanistan missions. Human rights is Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's pet peeve yet I've never read a peep from her about the "extraordinary rendition" program.<br>

Another example - the seemingly out of control drug wars raging across Mexico. This problem is caused predominantly by massive and rampant consumption of casual drugs by certain segments of US society - but I have yet to see any politician step up (once again) to head a task force to seriously combat domestic drug abuse - as its not really causing the obvious problems in the USA that Mexico is combatting.<br>

Spitting and letting kids pee in public seems so trivial compared to these kinds of issues - and perhaps more importantly - the effects media manipulation has on western cultures living abroad.<br>

Media consumption - just like selecting a hospital or doctor, or even a restaurant - I'm equally cautious when consuming media - both domestic and foreign.

Many of you think that people who rail against Chinese or complain about what they consider bad habits all come from America or Europe or one of those nice rich countries. It would be good for one to pause for a moment and remember the world is much bigger.

I am a citizen of Guyana (a country seldom heard of). It's a third world South American country and the situation there aint all bright and peachy. Back home i was never afforded many luxuries or what first world country citizens may call necessities. Many schools and other places have bad sanitation but we don't make it our duty to make the situation worse.

So even when people have day-to-day hardships we still try to be good to each other. We are known for our warmth and hospitality in the Caribbean. My point is that it doesn't take a German or someone from Singapore( one of the cleanest countries) to recognize some serious bad habits displayed by Chinese or any other national.

I am a student and many times I experienced situations where other students are spitting a mere inch away from me. How can this be an environment conducive for learning? Repulsive annoying sounds fill the air throughout class and the classroom itself insanitary.
I saw a woman indecently expose her child in public. I was in a store and was taking an escalator to another floor and by total accident I unwittingly saw the child's private part. The child was urinating right by a glass panel that was next to the escalator. So the child was on "show" and the panel was all that stopped the urine from wetting me. Now tell me does this kind of situation only offend certain kind of people? I think it would offend Chinese as well. Tell me if I'm wrong please.

Well done JonMei. Yours is the first post in this thread with any sense whatsoever.

These grandous stories by the others in efforts to compare hpw much worse the US is to China in terms of "social issues" is bullsh&t!
There is no excuse for rude, unsanitary behavior by people in any country. You all here that condone this behavior, are probably right in there with the rest of these nasty people.

It!s wrong plain and simple. China even has laws against this behavior. Pretty bad when the govt must actually make a law about spitting!

This behavior should not be tolerated by foreigners or Chinese, and people who do this should be publicly humilitated by any citizen witnessing this crap. Period, end of story.

What idiots you are dismissing this behavior by describing how much worse it is in your own country. Jesus Christ!!!!

With nothing really worthwhile to say - - resort to name-calling. Oh Well!!!

Cheers - -

Some Chinese people have bad habits. Most don't. And there is definitely a difference between urban and rural levels of "decent behaviour". But the Chinese people also have a lot of admirable traits - patience, adaptibility, hospitality, curiousity, generosity. It's a shame if we forget, or dismiss, the all the positives because of a few people spitting. (My parents recall a campaign in the UK telling people "not to to spit" as recently as the 1960s!).