Maybe it’s just me, but I tend to get annoyed at conversations which devolve into endless queries as to my mental capacity. This happens quite a bit in China:
Person on plane: “I’m from Sichuan. DO. YOU. KNOW. SI-CHUAN?”
Me: “Yes, I do. I’m from New Hampshire. Do. you. know. New. Hampshire?’*
Person on plane: [blank stare]
Now I’m willing to admit that the average American knows more about toenail fungus than Chinese history or geography but…if I’ve just told you that I first started living in Beijing in 2002 and I’m finishing a doctorate in Chinese history, asking me “Do I like Chinese food?” or “Have I heard of Confucius?” is a pretty good way to make me reach for my iPod.
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*To be fair, there are McDonald’s in Sichuan that have more people at the dinner hour on any given Saturday than live in my whole state, so…yeah, I was being kind of a jerk. I know.
Do you know “SI-CHUAN”?: Maybe it’s just me, but I tend to get annoyed at conversations which .. http://tinyurl.com/95jtf3
All well and good, but “Can you use chopsticks?” That’s when I have to sit on my hands.
Wait, Szechuan? Isn’t that a spicy food or something?
Me: Hi, I grew up in Amish Country.
A: Oh, are you Amish?
Me: …Yeah…No!?
I live in China for 6 year, master in Chinese Language and after 2 years training courses in Chinese philosophy, at the beginning of my new job in a chinese cultural heritage protection centre a colleague after a conversation stares at me asking:
so do you know TIAN.TAN?
…I just heard about it:)
Tian.tan? hell, no. And chopsticks [hui yong kuai.zi chi.fan ma]? I always take my own fork, what do you mean?
I might be a bit more tolerant on the Sichuan example. I suspect the guy’s underlying anxiety there might not be “Have you heard of Sichuan?”, but “Do you have any idea what I’m saying?” The Sichuanese are used to their fellow countrymen failing to understand them most of the time because the regional accent is so severely eccentric.
I find the prevalent conviction that laowai lack the gene for chopstick-use to be rather charming.
I think my least-favourite ubiquitous, unimaginative coversational gambit is “Where are you from?” “I just told you, I’m from Beijing. Liupukang, actually. Do you know it? It’s quite near the Gulou.” “No, no, where are you from?” “OK, you got me. Actually, I’m from Outer Space. I only work in Beijing.”
No, you were not being a jerk. I would have done the same.
froog: you’re so right. What freaks me out is that other westerners in China seem to use this question a lot, too. I don’t regard myself as from anywhere much (I’ve lived in Xiamen longer than any other place), so when a German asks me, “Where in Britain are you from?” I have no idea what to say.
You guys take these questions way too seriously. Those are just small talks, actually people are trying to be nice to you. We Chinese in America get questions of a similar nature as well and I don’t see anything annoying in them.
Xujun,
Thanks for stopping by. Love the blog.
There’s several hundred thousand Chinese nationals living in the US, to know that not a single one has ever once been annoyed by a stupid question shows a remarkable breadth and precision of knowledge. Kudos.
Seriously though, I thought it was clear that I was more mocking my own impatience and grumpiness as much as anything else. Perhaps I should have made that clearer.
“Actually, I’m just finishing up my PhD in American history.”
“Oh really? I’m from TEXAS? Do you know TEX-AS?”
Yeah, I dunno, just seems like small talk. Small talk of a rather absurd and very patronising variety. Not a very good way to be nice. Perhaps if “PhD in American history” was swapped for “run a restaurant in LA” and “Texas” for “Delaware”, it would make sense. Likewise, swapping Jeremiah’s PhD for “source cheap and nasty products to hawk to dumbarse westerners” and “Sichuan” for “Ningxia” would make the exchange seem a little less ridiculous. I support Jeremiah’s right to be grumpy and impatient in this case.