Dear Slate, yes there are chocolate bars in China
How AIDS in China is spreading
Shanghaiist Scrabble: We have a winner!
New sex change rules for China
Photo of the Day: Let it grow
That's the headline of a recent post by Bingfeng, a Chinese guy who blogs in English about life in Shanghai, business, politics and lots of other stuff. Here's what he had to say:
i took the metro last week and, for the first time, i saw shanghaiese lined up to enter the metro cars. interestingly, most of those who lined up neatly and quietly are young people and some middle-aged ones didn't get used to the new way and still jam-packed the car doors in order to get a seat.as you might find when you live here, the younger generations of china is quite different from the older ones and sometimes regarded as a new "race".
generally speaking, they are more individualist, independent and hedonistic, have less sense of hierarchy, work ethics and zero-sum mentality. i tend to avoid cooperating with middle-aged partners in business because from my experiences, many of them lack the qualities that are critical to business successes, like a win-win mentality, trust for others, respect for "game rules", tolerant for different opinions, etc. their age says a lot, although that also means they have many good qualities younger people don't have today.
Very interesting, but not surprising. This (the lining up part) may be hard to believe for anyone who has ever had to deliver a forearm shiver to the forehead of a 4-foot-9 Chinese grannie[1] in order to fight their way on to a mode of public transportation in Shanghai or (gasp) in the Chinese hinterlands. But a commenter over at Peking Duck confirms the Shanghai queue:
Its all true, people in shanghai metro, douring rush hour at least, line up quite nicely. Actually people are made to line up by the people who work in the metro. So if you are 1st, 2nd or 3rd you will probably get a seat in the first stop but after that the fastest is the one who gets it and its quite fun to see how grownups are reduced to children. Also metro TV's show how to act politely - people enter the metro from sides and exit from the middle - generally this rule is also followed. But they still like to push when getting out of the metro. And the most over crowded stops- People square and Shanghai railway station are still a nightmare even if they queue and to be avoided douring rush hour :).
But what happens when Shanghai's metro users aren't forced to line up. Back to the battle royale?
[1] Shanghaiist has never actually been physically abusive to a Chinese grandmother (or grandmothers of any nationality). But those little women can be ruthless.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
post to facebook
I'm not suprised to hear people queue but I would if most of them could wait to get on the metro until other passengers get off. Good thing I've experienced was if those queuing at the front part of the line could wait, people hehind them would follow, even at the station of People's square. I agree with Bingfeng that young, educated generation does have better manner.
Please be noted, very often 3/4 of the people on the metro nowadays are not Shanghainese, so your headline is a bit misleading.
I also wish people would wait for everybody to get off the Metro before getting on, because that would afford me plenty of time to cut in front of them and grab that seat!
In my opinion, I prefer the push/shove style that characterises the public transit system in Shanghai. Good practise for the upcoming football season!
Your quotes from Bingfeng's semi-literate blog provides interesting examples of how a "local" can nevertheless perpetrate the same silly stereotypes that are often viewed as Westerners' privilege.
For instance, what does this nincompoop mean by younger generation having less "work ethics"? Worse than their parents?!
And what does he mean by "hedonistic"? Don't use words you don't understand, dude.
And how does one "avoid cooperating with middle-aged partners in business"? By being an A-hole and age-based bigot? How can one afford to do business this way in China?
I suggest Shanghaiist be more selective with their quotes.
"......they are more individualist, independent and hedonistic, have less sense of hierarchy, work ethics and zero-sum mentality. i tend to avoid cooperating with middle-aged partners in business because from my experiences, many of them lack the qualities that are critical to business successes, like a win-win mentality, trust for others, respect for "game rules", tolerant for different opinions, etc. their age says a lot, although that also means they have many good qualities younger people don't have today."
Getting off the metro is a study in Chinese psychology, interesting but astonishing because it lacks fundementals in common sense, empathy and regard for others.
Having said that, if the train drivers held the doors open long enough for people to get on and off safely (i.e. while there aren't still people obviously walking onto the train), maybe people wouldn't bump and barge so much during the peak periods.