A limit to warm hospitality

THE Chinese are known for their good gestures and providing warm hospitality to their guests.

They are proud to display anything they consider the best of what China has to offer, serve you the tastiest food available and try to accommodate your requests in exchange for a good impression of the people and country.

It is their mianzi, literally translated as face, which refers to their pride.

But it becomes a problem when some locals are deemed too friendly to their foreign friends.

Two recent incidents involving “special treatments” extended to foreigners have sparked anger among some Chinese who considered such an act as degrading themselves and kowtowing to the lao wai (foreigners).

A news report on the good gesture provided to foreigners in Nanjing city has led to a heated debate on social media sites, with netizens discussing whether “the service” was necessary.

The article in Nanjing Daily, titled “Warm hospitality provided to lao wai in Nanjing”, interviewed volunteers and community workers on their job scope during the prevention and control period of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It said four teams – each comprising an interpreter, a doctor, a mid-level community leader and others – were assigned to assist 684 lao wai who were placed under home quarantine in the Xianlin street area of Qixia district.

The workers revealed that they had helped one family to collect goods and sent it to their doorstep 26 times a day.

“A lao wai only buy four slices of bread a day to ensure its freshness, so we send to him every day, ” they said.

At a walk-up apartment, the workers carried four huge bottles of water (18.9 litres each) for a resident who only drinks distilled water. For another person, they helped carry a huge item to his unit on the fourth floor.

They also helped the residents to purchase face masks to be sent back to their respective countries.

“A teenager was upset because he could not celebrate his birthday with his friends, so we bought a cake for him, ” said one of them.

The article, which was initially aimed to show the good gesture and hard work of the ground workers, backfired with the public responding negatively.

Netizens were unhappy and considered the extra requests from the foreigners an act of bullying the locals in their own land.

“A really strong country will not allow foreigners to enjoy more privileges than its own citizens, ” said an Internet user.

Another Chinese has alleged that their food was sent by rubbish trucks.

In response, the community office explained that the extra service was due to the communication problems in dealing with the foreigners. It said the same gesture was also extended to locals.

But a resident in the same area complained that there were only four workers serving over 1,900 local families at his apartment.

“It is fine to show our warm hospitality but I’m angry to see the unfair treatment between the lao wai and the Chinese, ” said a netizen.

I confess that I get better treatment from some Chinese, including civil servants, when they know I am a foreigner.

They would soften their tone, be more patient and speak more politely to me.

And because of this, I sometimes pretended I spoke very little Mandarin or did not understand at all.

Last Wednesday, a minor commotion took place at the Laoshan Health Centre in the eastern Shangdong province when three foreigners walked past a long queue and went straight for a test for the virus.

When the trio – two men and a woman – were asked by the public to follow the line, they claimed they had telephoned earlier and were told that they could take the test right away.

In a video clip that shows an excerpt of the incident, a female voice is heard in the background saying they have been waiting for a long time but the foreigners just jumped the queue.

“Foreigners don’t have to line up, the worker said give them face, ” she added.

As she was saying this, the two sides started arguing.

One of the foreign men – holding an American passport – snatched a slip of paper from a Chinese person’s hand and threw it away.

In the clip, those in the queue asked him to leave China and he responded by saying there were eight million Chinese in the United States and if he has to leave China, the Chinese in America, too, would have to get out.

Laoshan police said they had reprimanded the foreigner and warned him to respect local laws.

The man has written an apology note, admitting that he should have acted in a more civilised manner.

“Instead of yelling profanities, I should have spoken calmly and I hope everyone can pardon my action.

“I want you all to know that I respect China, its people and culture, ” he wrote.

The health centre said it was sorry for the mess, adding that it would be investigating whether their worker had informed the foreigners that they need not queue up.