Cultural and national stereotypes: sometimes funny, sometimes bigoted, sometimes misinformed. But always fascinating to see things from another perspective.
I live in Hong Kong for starters. I always felt in between the “East and West.” I don’t feel comfortable anywhere except places that are more or less Eurasian culturally, which is only here and Macau. For those of you know about this part of the world, then you’d get me:
We can’t speak English.
However, since we’re all Asian, that automatically means we can speak Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, etc. with no problem.
We all look the same.
We live under $1000 GDP per capita.
We kill our newborn daughters (yes, I’ve gotten that before!)
We’re all Communist, have memorized the Red Book, and love Mao.
We still go through arranged marriages (yes, I’ve gotten that before!)
We only eat rice and don’t know how to use forks and knives.
We’re actually Japanese.
We are materialist opportunists (wait, that’s true… ;))
Hong Kong is in Japan.
We hate all things Japanese.
We have no understanding of European culture and nuances.
It’s a huge concrete jungle, a neon-lit metropolis. True, but we also have places of great natural beauty.
Life in Hong Kong is like a Wong Kar-Wai movie.
We know Confucian teachings by heart.
We fight like Jet Li, who is one in a 100 million.
We’re all spiritual and wise and stuff. I invite you to rush hour in downtown Hong Kong!
[quote=“Mrs Angel Eyes, post:1, topic:1999”]Cultural and national stereotypes: sometimes funny, sometimes bigoted, sometimes misinformed. But always fascinating to see things from another perspective.
I live in Hong Kong for starters.
14) It’s a huge concrete jungle, a neon-lit metropolis. True, but we also have places of great natural beauty.[/quote]
I’ve been to Hong Kong a number of times and this is the one myth I always try and steer people away from when they ask about it. Kowloon and a lot of HK Island are very built up but Hong Kong includes lots of other little islands too which are easily accessable on the local ferries. For example, I once visited Lamma Island. Short ferry ride from the hubub of downtown but has no cars or main roads on the island at all. Just 2 little settlements either side of a hill and a walking track linking the two.
I have the best stereotype for where I am from - North New Jersey - Everyone is in the mafia and it’s the worst place to live… oh wait that’s not a stereotype it’s TRUE!!!
Frank - that isn’t a bad stereotype. It gets you respect
Silence - Ikea? Beer. Likes to pick on Finns. Feels superior to Norway, hates Denmark. All blonde and beautiful. Spaced-out. No sense of humor.
LankyFellow - I’m not sure about that. It’s illegal to eat dogs here, but I certainly know people who have eaten them (I usually don’t like those people, it just so happens). Dogs are mostly loved and spoiled as pets. It’s a bit nebulous in mainland China though. I’ve known a girl who had a dog as a pet and ate dogs. You don’t just go to restaurants and order dog meat. There are special restaurants for dog-eating and other delicacies, even in the mainland. One guy said he had to go to a backwoods street restaurant especially for dogs, and then an actual dog (probably having sensed he ate his species) chased him down the street until he got into the van. One mainland restaurant had a huge sign that said dog meat is served here, like it’s a big deal. It’s not as frequent as people think, especially now that people are falling in love with canines and treating them more and more as humans.
Col Mort - yeah right, I bet you’d weep if your dear Rocky got roasted ;D
I think the whole Mafia, Sopranos nonsense is overrated and disgusting. You don’t hear a lot of Italian-Americans bitching about the portrayal but I guess any press is good press. I know a lot of the locations where Sopranos was filmed and people think it’s cool.
