"Chinese people love me because..... I show that I am 'one of the lads' (and not at all a 'sticky-beak') by always having a good hawk & spit whenever I go to use a public toilet."
The constant phlegm-gargling and spitting in China (particularly - but not only - by the men) is one of the things that foreigners here most often complain of. The Americans especially, surprisingly easily dismayed by 'cultural difference', when discussing their China experiences seem to talk of little else. It is one of the main reasons that I find most 'China blogs' insufferable.
Get over it, people.
The spitting really ain't that bad.
Indeed, in an environment this polluted, it is a natural, a necessary response - at times, quite impossible to withold.
3 comments:
Little pools of green gob on the street are gross, no matter where you happen to live!
Yes agreed, its better out than in but I happily note you refrain until you are in a bathroom. This is very acceptable. I also agree that it must make the MOST BORING conversation piece.
I "love" the fact that you feel its a way of 'making friends and influencing local males' - priceless.
Probably true.
Anthropologically speaking (ahem), I have to make the argument that spitting is not simply a natural response, unmediated by culture. We all endure the pollution (women, men, children, expats, people with "high" suzhi), and yet you don't see all of us hawking up loogies and launching them into public space.
But I do appreciate that you reserve your phlegm for the men's room.
And it is a great bonding ritual, sharing a good spit as you stand side by side at the urinals.
What amazes me is that many Chinese guys can do it while still smoking a cigarette.
Post a Comment