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China flagLynne Yang
What do you think of Chinese people or China? I’ve watched a French movie about a magic and evil mobile phone, and that phone was sold from a Chinese store. The storekeeper is a one-eyed Chinese man who has a long hair, and he looks very weird. What’s more, the red lantern handed from the ceiling looks so creepy; the picture has a dragon on it looks so dangerous, seems like it would come back to life and eats people. In short, the scene in that store really creeps me out. A friend told me that some Chinese people were in that dangerous, weird way in some European movies. I’m sorry but I have no idea about it. However, the red lantern and picture has dragon represent lucky, help families away from evil and bad luck. I’m of the opinion that most of Chinese people are friendly to foreigners, and very glad to talk to them, to help them. For example, on italki, in major, f the notebooks what is written in Chinese have correction around 3to 8, however, the corrections of other language’s notebooks are from 1 to 3. The data are very interesting I think. Probably we’re curious about foreigners, and wish that Chinese culture could spread all over the world. It reminds me of a news that an American who living in China, that guy was very confused that so many strangers say HELLO to him when he’s walking on the street. So he wished that he could can not receive that many HELLO from the strangers. But that’s an old news, maybe now that guy doesn’t get that many HELLO when he walks. I think the strangers who say HELLO to him may just want to get a chance to practice their English. Most Chinese people would feel excited when they talking with a foreigners, except the person who working with foreigners everyday, I think. And me either, I’ll feel very exciting when I talking with a foreigner. lol Chinese even would show more respect to the foreigners. If you go to a restaurant with foreigners, the people in the restaurant would treat you better if all of you are Chinese. I am so confused about that. A friend told me that maybe they want to earn more money from the foreigners, lol, I have no idea about it. But it seems that foreigners who living in China are good at bargaining too. When I was traveled in Wangfujing, it was very fun to see some foreigners bargaining with those peddlers, they would even bargain about only 5 yuan. ^ ^

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on the street for all their friends to stare at makes said person very uncomfortable. Perhaps it's necessary to start notifying such people about the "人" in "外国人", yes, we're people too and yes, we can understand you. Anyway.. That's obviously not all Chinese people (if all the Chinese people I'd met yelled out at me, I'd be deaf by now).
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I'm not sure what I can really say about the movie. In Australia when Chinese people first started immigrating for the Gold Rush, they were banned from mines and were only able to dig for gold once the mines were abandoned. People thought that Chinese were demon-like (I think those 美瞳 that everyone seems to love to wear these days are pretty demon-like, ha ha). But I think in this situation they picked a Chinese shop for the phone to be sold at because Chinese products have a reputation for being dodgy. If the mobile is evil, then the shop it comes from has to look evil too. I think there is still a fair number of Australians who are resentful to immigrants (not Chinese in particular but certainly Asians), simply because immigrants are willing to work for less [money]. A lot of Australians think of immigrants as stealing jobs that they see as a birth-right for them and their children. I also feel it necessary to point out that not all Australians feel this way and a lot of us are embracing our new multi-cultural image. I HATE it when people yell out "HELLO" to me on the street. It's obvious that they have no intention of attempting to practice their English with me, simply because yelling at someone isn't a way to strike up a conversation with a stranger. I also don't think it a fair assumption that all foreigners can speak English. It's definitely awkward when it's a group of men yelling out at me. Oh and often people will yell out and then laugh about it, as though making other people feel uncomfortable is actually funny. -.-" What was funny, was when people yelled out to a certain friend of mine.. He'd walk up to the person who shouted out and just stand, staring at them while smiling. Oh I also hate it when people are walking along and feel the need to point and tell there friends that there's a 老外/外国人. If there is one word that EVERY foreigner knows, it's "外国人".. I understand that people get excited, but such people should realise that singling a person out
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argh! I wrote too much and it got cut off! The rest of my first comment was this: "They were men, and I was a woman alone on the street, so obviously this would NEVER be ok. I agree that this behavior is very annoying. I also agree that it is annoying when foreigners haggle over prices. They have heard some story from long ago about a buy that managed to get the price down to about 5% of the original price and they think they should do that or they are a fool. But they have no sense of appropriacy or context. For example, they will try to haggle in the department store, or with a vendor who is obviously poor. This kind of behavior embarrasses me a lot! I can also see this mentality when big corporations try to get products made very cheaply in Chinese factories. They demand such a low price, and then Chinese people get criticized for producing poor quality goods. This situation also frustrates me.
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ps: I just remembered that the movie was french, so my reference to American Chinatowns is not so relevant. Nevertheless, there is the exchange of ideas between writers, and also, France may have it's own history with Chinese communities. I'm not sure because I don't know much about France.
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This is a very interesting topic, and I feel like I have a lot to say about it! Firstly, I would like to say that Chinese ghost stories are much more interesting and exciting than western ghost stories usually are. For us, as foreigners, the ideas are new and unpredictable, and also Chinese ghosts have real motives to terrorize people! (for example, finding someone to replace them in hell). Nowadays, most foreigners aren't really scared of ghosts because we believe the ghost just wants someone to help it and then it will go away. But in CHINESE ghost stories, you really can make a scary movie! Another reason for the creepy scene in the movie that you saw is due to the history of "chinatowns" in America. For a huge number of sociological reasons, early "chinatowns" were very tight communities that seemed to have a lot of secrets, unfamiliar technologies and art forms (such as Kung Fu, Chinese medicine, Opium, and religious ceremonies) . Add to this the language barriers and you can see why american writers began to use Chinatown as a kind of mysterious "fairyland" from where magic potions can be purchased, prophecies could be made, or evil cellphones could be bought. I don't think this necessarily shows a bad feeling toward chinese, but tells a kind of history of how mysterious China has been to the west. Of course, it would depend on the movie. Maybe it really was hostile to Chinese people. (btw, I think faded chinese lanterns are a great image to evoke that creepy feeling....a celebration that has been long forgotten, faded joy, an abandoned home). Now, about the experiences and behaviors of foreigners in China. When I was in Taiwan, guys would aggressively "hello" me, and when I answered "hello", they would "hello" me again. and again. and again. It was very annoying, and I don't think it was really friendly. I felt embarrassed, and surely they could see that? Their "hello"s were loud and used a taunting tone of voice. They were men, and I was

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