alienated in China
Pippen visited China recently and left with vivid memories of its culture and people, but also with a deep sense of alienation because of their ancient cultural influences.“Much of modern China is familiar,” says Pippen, “but ancient cultural influences remain and are totally alien to westerners.”
“Things such as the lack of personal space, the rudeness and the incredible bureaucracy – invented in China,” says Pippen, “but also the food and the lack of respect for life itself which is shown most cruelly in the way they treat animals.”
"Despite being bombarded with propaganda 24/7 -- endless messages encouraging people to respect each other, be good citizens and queue in an orderly way," says Pippen, "the Chinese are just outright rude, by our standards."
"The Beijing underground rail system is China at its worst," sighs Pippen. "Commuters barge onto the train as soon as the doors open and anyone wanting to get off is mince meat."
"Queueing is an alien concept to the Chinese," laughs Pippen, "Whoever shoves their money closest to the face of the sales assistant gets served first. It pays to have long arms and it most certainly doesn't pay to be a child or a small person because adults routinely push children out of their way!"
"Common courtesy is just about non-existent -- if you don't give way to people they walk right into you or push you out of their way – and public health is just about non-existent, too," says Pippen. "Everyone hawks, spits, smokes, farts and blows their nose (without a tissue) openly, on the streets, in restaurants, public transport and cinemas."
"What deeply upset me, though, was the social acceptability of bullying and discrimination," explains Pippen. "The Chinese seem to derive their main source of entertainment from disabilities, variations in size or appearance and all foreigners are fair game, too."
Read more by Pippen on China:
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