Worlds Apart

Empty subway car seats in Hong Kong in 2018

Hong Kong & Mainland China…

Found to be Worlds Apart

Here I am, standing in a crowded van-bus full of people who don’t know even one word of English. There are little kids staring at me along with a few people wearing U.S. Army uniforms. On this particular bus, some of the people are not even speaking Mandarin but some sort of local dialect. Imagine a bus full of Chinese farmers and me. In this place, I was not just Sean the UC Davis student, I was ambassador of a whole different world. I’m from a world of McDonald’s, the Internet, private cars, movies, TV, video-games and fancy schools. 

The world of the Chinese countryside is much different from the Chinese metropolitan cities. Here it is rare to find a person with a private car. Taxis almost don’t exist outside of larger cities, and the normal Western food chains are all absent. It is a slower-paced world, and many people can be seen just taking their time walking around the streets or sitting on some empty steps, Students wearing colorful uniforms are racing around on bicycles, and small shops are selling produce instead of clothes or knockoff watches. However there is one thing I have found consistent no matter where I am in mainland China: The people are all so friendly and so willing to help. And they are always very surprised if you can speak a few words of Mandarin — even badly. Traveling to mainland China has once again renewed my interest in learning Mandarin. 

Cantonese, as is spoken here in Hong Kong, is also interesting, but it is so much harder to learn with the nine tones (most locals can’t make all nine). The locals are not as willing to help you speak it and are not very patient if you speak it badly. Plus, I always think Cantonese people sound angry when they talk. Cantonese is a very limited-use language, while Mandarin is spoken by countless millions of Chinese. 

On the way back to Hong Kong I made a quick stop in Shenzhen, a city on mainland China just across the border of Hong Kong. Since the subway is new there, I decided to give it a try. On my particular trip I saw men lying down on the bench seats, taking up three or four spaces while others, most likely from Hong Kong, were getting annoyed. There were many empty seats, but no one seemed to be particularly interested in sitting. Since this is a new subway, maybe the “rules of etiquette” are not yet totally established, but in Hong Kong they clearly are. 

On the Hong Kong subway system people generally move about at a normal to lazy pace on the escalators, in the gate areas, or wait on the platform. However, when you get to an interchange station, something totally different happens. It is easy to tell when an interchange station is coming up; all the people on board who had previously been maneuvering for the best seats now totally shift their attention to being the first one to the doors that will soon open. Then there is a mad rush. Everyone is like a racehorse out of the gate, and people literally run across from the one train to the other. The goal is to be the first to the new train and once again get the best seat. However, as soon as you get to the seat, it seems you have to stand in front of it, stretch a little, act like you don’t really want it, and then slowly sit. 

So it seems mainland China and Hong Kong are very different worlds; the people look the same but that is about where it ends. The food is very different, the language is different, the actions are different and the way of thinking is different. I personally like both places, and I always feel at ease when in mainland China. — By S. Donohoe for California Aggie, 2006

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia