Bad behavior in Guangzhou

[egolessvegan]

My three trips to Guangzhou this year I have never seen any inappropriate behavior in public. As a foreigner I always felt safe and respected by the people. It makes you wonder why here in this country your life is always in jeopardy on the highway, a rock concert, a ball game, even shopping at the local mall. I guess thats why I like the Chinese culture and traditions. The people are generally speaking under control and considerate.

Ken

[turtle]

It's a generalization, to be sure. But I do have to say I feel much safer walking the streets alone in any major Chinese city than I do in a typical US city. Although I did once get heckled by some anti-foreigner guy in a small town.

[egolessvegan]

He must have been an American dressed as a Chinese citizen!

Ken

[mikem]

I agree wholeheartly never had a problem in China at any time..Very safe..

However they do not tolerate misbehaveur there like we do here..???

If you screw up there they just kill you and maybe thats what we need here.(sorry for the political incorrectness)..

[egolessvegan]

Maybe we need to be forceful with punishment to criminals in this country.

Ken

[lele]

I felt much safer there! Plus, the fact that almost no one has a gun (including police) tends to reduce crime (this is documented in China and in England, although their punishment schemes are quite different). So, one moral that one can take from this is that it is GUNS which cause violence (with Canada providing the only piece of data which goes against this trend, so in a statistical sense, I will ignore the single outlier).

 

In fact, there were stories told to me that people would never hurt a foreigner. This I can not believe, as I was targeted many times for financial crimes (like pickpockets or people trying to get me into rotten financial deals). But in terms of violent crime, the only time it even appeared, there were two people fighting, and when I came by, everyone stopped! How odd...

 

And I do not think that it is just China, as I think it may be the reverse: that just in America is it so much more dangerous than any of the other developed (or even many parts of the developing) world.

 

Just my liang fen

[egolessvegan]

Whatever the reason, it just feels safer in China. My spin is that in society the structure of the family or lack there of is the determining factor how an individual develops. We all know that in China the children respect the parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles etc. They are always accountable for their actions. Misbehavior is not accepted and punishment is doled out without hesitation.when necessary. Here in US with many children growing up the products of broken marriages there is very little accountability all the way around. The end result is havoc and confusion.

Ken

[wolffjw]

LeLe:

And I do not think that it is just China, as I think it may be the reverse: that just in America is it so much more dangerous than any of the other developed (or even many parts of the developing) world.

 

egolessvegan:

Whatever the reason, it just feels safer in China. My spin is that in society the structure of the family or lack there of is the determining factor how an individual develops.

I just have to add my two cents on this subject, and I truly hope I don't offend anyone.

 

I have personally lived in Europe for about nine years and found violence quite common (at least in Germany and Italy). I did, however, notice much less violence in Spain. I don't know what the crime rate is here in America by comparison, but it seems that it is much higher than other countries I have lived in or heard about. Is it because of our high multi-racial population, politics, or diverse religions? Seems China, by comparison, has very little of either of them.

 

My feelings are that benevolence in China lies deep in the roots of their cultural ancestry which was based on Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Their philosophy based on harmony is much different than that which is bred into Americans.

 

One quote I will never forget from a Chinese friend of mine was that she found Americans very aggressive (by comparison to Chinese). Is it just the nature of so many Americans (maybe not even the majority)? I wonder if there are rednecks in China, or gangs and other groups of people that simply take pleasure in hurting others like there are in America.

[MarkLuvsShuPing]

I agree with everyone about the lack of violence in China, but really, who would get out of line if you knew you could get your ass run over by a tank?

 

I do disagree about the gun issue, I've never once seen a gun jump up and shoot somebody all by itself. (We don't argue politics on CFL anymore, but if you want to debate, bring it to the Unofficial CFL Rumpus Room)

 

What I do believe is that our culture is more aggressive and violent than any other in the world, but at the same time we are the most lax when it comes to punishment.

 

If we Americans ever had the profound respect for our elders that the Chinese do, I think we wouldn't be so violent. We simply have no respect for each other and that breeds the violence.

[turtle]

While all of this is true, I find it interesting that, in China, it's nearly impossible to flip on a television and NOT see blood spurting and people fighting all over the place. Seems every movie shown on Chinese TV has to have people fighting, heads being chopped off, etc. Also, I've seen children's books in China filled with every manner of weapon imaginable (I mean, baby books, like targeted towards 3-4 year olds, filled with images of knives, guns, etc). Yet, it does seem so much safer and more civil there. Strange.

[lele]

It may also be possible that the Chinese people have really learned much after the abuses that they were subject to under the British, the French, the Americans, and later the Japanese. Maybe their sense of prior prosperity, as seen in the times from the Ming, the Song, and as far back as the times of Confucius, and the ideas that went along with all of them have something to do with it?

 

it is an interesting thread, and I hope can continue to allow us to look for ways that we can help import some of the calm back to the US!

[kfman]

I just wanted to add a little also, so I hope I dont offend anyone. Please dont forget the censorship that goes on in other countries, so how can you know of all the problems? For a small example, I was in the military in korea during the 88 olympics, and the boxing match where there was a problem with a korean fighter, the korean media rapidly pulled away and went somewhere else, the american media continued to show what was happening in the ring.

Now this is not the tell all, but dont forget America is open for all to see everything that happens, nothing is really hidden from public. And as someone who has worked law enforcement in the military and in civilian life, its not guns that kill people, its people. And on top of it, where is the threat of going to jail? We lack any real punishment, whereas other countries really deter crime. Everyone remember the 16 yr old american who spray painted cars in Indonesia? He was publicly caned due to their policies. Half of america cried out foul, half said way to go...

Again, only my opinion, but if America cracked down on crime really hard, then it would most likely ease up...

[Jason+Joanna]

I fully support the three strikes law here in Calif. you do the crime, you do the time. The third time, you are out (basically -- 25 yr. prison term). However, I am all for an eye-for-eye type law too. You steal, you get your hand cut off. I bet there would be virtually no lawlessness then.

[mikem]

WOW when I posted my response I thought I would be in trouble!!!

[awch]

I just wanted to add a little also, so I hope I dont offend anyone. Please dont forget the censorship that goes on in other countries, so how can you know of all the problems?

I have to agree with this one.... overall China IS safer, but that doesn't mean that violent crime doesn't occur. For example, just this week in Beijing 2 middle school boys kidnapped, tortured and murdered their friend and classmate because they thought they could ask for ransom money from the parents. It was on the Chinese news but I couldn't find it online.

 

A lot of "crime" in China are things like the graft and bribery, not necessarily violent. Also, if you read "China Wakes" in that book the authors interviewed the family of a mentally handicapped man who was beat to death during the bid for the 2000 Olympics... so that he wouldn't make China "look bad" to the commitee. There are a few other examples of things like this..... and what about the atrocities commited against political prisioners? I read online yesterday that China will be releasing Liu Jiansheng... who was a political prisioner for 13 years. He was once chanied by hand and foot for 104 days standing up....

 

I agree that China is much safer for the average citizen and especially a foreigner, but it is not necessarily a less violent society. It has the highest number of executions per year of any other country.