ISTM in Hong Kong

They are here and everywhere, you cannot avoid them... they can tell you the truth...but only a part of it... let's talk about stereotypes !

First, the French ! What did I hear about them ???
First of all, they are so... romantic ! ohhh !!! Is it surprising that most of the French boys here have a Hong Kong girl friend ? They are so popular ! But you also have the other side of the moon... the French are romantic... and thus, you cannot trust them... they flirt with you, but that does not mean they love you... (said my Chinese-Indian friend)
Then, the French "do not care"... (said a Hong Kong boy) it is true that compared to the Chinese people, we do not have this notion of face, we do not care about what people would think of us...
And...this is what I heard a lot from European people : the French are posh ! I even received an e-mail saying : "Now i also know that not all French people are snobs : )"
(and yes ! I am posh: that is why I was nearly the only one who dressed up for the CityU banquet...)


The Chinese (both Hong Kong and Mainland China people) are shy : so if you want to be friends with them, be patient... when I arrived here, I had to keep on saying "Hello" to my floor-mates during more than one week (without any answer), before someone said "hello" in return.... it is the same with my kungfu mates : except one, nobody talked to me during at least one month ! But they turned out to be very nice when I came to them...

The Hong Kong people are noisy and speak very loud (maybe that is why I do not like my neighbors... being waken up at 3 o'clock in the morning because they go to bed and "forget" that some people are already sleeping at that time, is at least very annoying !!!)

(And yes, here it is a low-context culture [1] : everything is written ! It is quite convenient when you are a foreigner and you do not know the local culture : you do not have to wonder how you should behave).

The American are pushy and not really cultivated... one of them even asked whether Denmark was a Swedish city....

And the Danes...studying all the time ! Even in a trip to Macao !
Then Denmark, according to Hofstede [2], is a feminine country : that means that people care a lot of their living condition, and that the housework can also be done by the man. Can you see this Danish boy cleaning the table ? It is nice, isn't it ? ;cD



Even though stereotypes can be very useful (when I have an appointment with American or Danish people, I come earlier or on time...whereas, when it is with French or Chinese people, I just take my time, as I expect them to be late ! haha ! ), be aware of them ! They are only a short-cut ! They are not true all the time !
For example, one of my friend here is American, and she is very cultivated, and she speaks a perfect French ! By the way, she is often annoyed by the préjugés people have against American people...
Then, I have a Turkish friend here... and no, he is not pro-Ben Laden... and he even eats pork...


[1] Hall, E.T. , and Hall, M.R., (1989), Understanding cultural differences: German, French and American. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press.
[2] Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations across Nations. 2^nd Edition Thousand Oaks. CA: Sage.