Culture shock is a sensibility of strangeness and disorientation experienced by people visiting a culture where things are being done very differently from their background. They can’t cause a sense of the cultural meanings and practices of what’s occurrence all around them. Culture shock is the impact you may test when you enter a culture very dissimilar from one to which you are accustomed. From the little time I have been in China, I can say I have moved from the shock one experiences from the airport to complete acceptance of the Chinese way of life.
The first day I was unimpressed by many things, the smog, social media being censored, a huge number of people, humidity, and poor condition in the Chinese hotels. When we took the taxi from the airport, I was shocked to see that our driver was about to hit a poor pedestrian that was crossing the way; to me, there seemed to be an absence of rules. You have to be very careful crossing the street. It’s congested with both cars, bikes, and pedestrians, and when they honk, it’s not to say “watch out,” they are saying “I’m coming through and if you don’t move, you’ll get hit.” It seems more practical to follow their local ways when it comes to traffic and “rules of the road.’
I have no problem trying new cuisine, but I hate not knowing what I’m eating, not saying that the menu doesn’t tell you but it’s in Chinese and no English translation whatsoever. Almost any living thing is possible food, and if it’s intended to be food, the approach is often very pragmatic. This varies a lot by region and individual, but don’t be surprised to see some horrific treatment of animals that are used for food. Also, don’t be surprised to see animals that you’d normally are endangered that are on a menu. It’s just a point of practicality and cultural type. Chinese people have a love for food, love talking about food, and love indulging it! The variety of nourishment and food culture is incredible.
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I’m a white South African male. At first, I will admit it was overwhelming. I have never had any attention focused on me being white, but here I’m pretty sure I got more attention than a movie star. I have no idea how many pictures I have taken with strangers so far, but every weekend when I go to the mall, I must be an expert to smile and pose for the camera. Besides that, I don’t even know how many photos of me are taken without my permission. People will openly stare at you, expressionless, and sometimes even point you out to friends and family by jabbing a finger in your direction. I noticed it doesn’t matter what kind of foreigner you are, you’ll get stared at.
Many Chinese people, in particular older generations, lack any sense of manners or etiquette based on my sense of manners. If you’re in someone’s way when they want to get out of the metro, hope an elbow to the ribs. You would see people spitting everywhere because they believe rather get it out of the body than keeping it in. Another very uncomfortable thing to see is naked babies peeing in open public places, right in front of everyone without any shame. So, our Western ways of proper manners and etiquette are shockingly different compared to Chinese culture.
I love China, and for everything that shocks me in a bad way, there’s always something that positively surprises me. At the end of the day, our experiences are what make us more adaptable. I might be wrong, and my experience may well be warped by the fact that I’ve been in one place in China, which is Dalian, but I think most of these cultural differences will be the same if not more exaggerated across all of China.
