OMF Blog
Odds and Ends
- Thursday 31 January 2008Clothes
If you want to be inconspicuous (not that it’s possible, but you can try) and adapt to the local culture, dress like a teacher rather than a foreign tourist or a hippie. Jeans, baseball cap and an expensive camera swinging on your stomach are tourist gear. Torn jeans or sports gear worn at work will not generate respect for yourself or your employer. You will notice that older Chinese ladies dress modestly to conceal their figures. When they see a large foreign woman with tight-fitting clothes, they are inclined to make ribald comments.
Any shirt with a collar, with long trousers, and shoes not sandals or trainers, is considered formal, suitable for teaching, for meals in expensive restaurants, and occasions like the above. Ties are rarely worn, except by businessmen. Sandals are acceptable for teaching in hot summer weather. You may see many Chinese men with their trouser legs rolled up. This is not rude, but they are usually doing this when they are relaxing. Of course, your clothing should also bear in mind the climate of the area, and other prevailing or religious local customs.
Feet
Don’t point the bottom of your foot towards someone, it’s considered an insult – and even more so in Islamic areas. Bear this in mind if you like to put your feet up on the desk. There are other ways of making a statement of informality.
Traffic
The traffic is not chaotic. You have just been evaluating it with the wrong dataset. You naively thought that the green pedestrian light means that it has all stopped for you! But the following all go anyway: vehicles turning right, taxis, vehicles caught on the crossing when the lights changed, buses which were in sight of the crossing when the lights changed, and cars driving onto or off the pavement; and cycles, electric bikes and pedicabs use the pedestrian crossing in all directions at once. The small bossy woman with a red flag and whistle can no longer issue on-the-spot fines.
Haircuts
Haircuts are a pleasure. You should get two free hair washes (one before and one after) and some head massage with a haircut. Sometimes the couch has a machine with wheels that knead your back, with a control to vary the speed and pressure. If you enjoy it, you can go in and ask for a hair wash only. You can spin it out by asking to have your ears and eyes washed as well. It’s done with running water, no instruments.
Massage
Massage is great here – once you have been able to explain how you want your hair cut (a picture may help). For foot massage and whole body massage (which is done through your clothes) you specify how long, an hour is normal. They are quite likely to go on longer, and of course charge you for it, if you don’t keep an eye on the time. Foot washing (=massage) may include most of the body as well. If the beds are open to the street you can assume the services are respectable and cheapo, but not everyone likes to be in full view of passers-by. Respectable establishments that offer privacy have cubicles, individual or for two or three friends together; they are often part of a hairdressing business and the massage, like the haircutting, may be done by a man or a woman. (A woman wearing a skirt may be offered a pair of disposable plastic pants for 5 yuan to put on). The first time, you could ask a Chinese friend to go with you. Sometimes, work colleagues (men and women) go together for a special treat.
Compass
A pocket compass is useful if you go walking. So is a pocket torch in the winter, and for when the power goes off. Chinese compasses point south, British and American ones point north. (Can you explain that?) The smallest roads on the town maps are often inaccurate. The Chinese often give directions by compass points: “Turn East at the traffic lights and then head North”…
Phoning
To use a public phone, go into a small shop with several phones and indicate you want to use one. When you have finished, they will tell you how much to pay. They may not do overseas calls.
Beggars
If you pass a disabled beggar, and you believe in helping the unfortunate, there is no harm in giving 1 yuan. In most cities you won’t be pursued by more of them – although beggar children, who are being exploited, may follow you, tug at your clothes and be very persistent. It is also acceptable to hand over food items.
Getting unlost
If you get lost and have no cell phone, get a taxi and show the driver the phone number of your (preferably Chinese-speaking) friend, written on a bit of paper. He will call him/her for you. Problem solved! Always carry a card with (a) your address in Chinese characters, and (b) where it is near, because a taxi driver won’t know all the streets in the city, and he may not understand your directions. This explains why foreigners are sometimes driven around and then dumped at a hotel - the taxi driver doesn’t know where they want to go. If you are in a place where many taxi drivers are from a minority group, they may not read Chinese, so you may have to give verbal instructions or the name written in pinyin or English.