A conversation with someone in China on exchange:


Someone: i forget why im here in asia.
prcs fucking piss me off.
so annoyed.

Me: you didn't know?
eh weren't you defending them the other time

Someone: gah.
fucking corruption.

fucking hell, we had to register our apartment
and for that, we had to pay a fee.
so i asked the landlord why we had to register and pay
and she said it was a way for the government to keep track of us and to "take care of us"

so then i asked how exactly were they gonna do that
and she said they can't....which just meant that the government was taking our money for no fucking reason.

and then she explained that this is common in china. the governemnt constantly taxes the people, and the tax money goes to the pocket of the officials whereas the common people just keep suffering.

now i know why there're so many illegal immigrants from china to the states or anywhere else in the world.

because china treats its own people like shit.
the gahmen treats them like shit, the people themselves treat each other like shit.
singaporeans may be kiasu, oh but prcs are fucking kiasu kings and queens.

Me: you used to think PRCs were so nice
I remember you said the ones spoiling disneyland were a minority

Someone: well. not everyone in china can afford to go to disneyland...so yeah.....
but

Me: but those who can't are bastards also

Someone: yeah.
i just didn't feel like being a complainer at that time.

but now im pissed.

Me: if the complaint is legitimate...

Someone: i don't know leh...sometimes i feel bad...

because it's like....

1) im a foreigner
im not a prc-chinese, so i feel that i don't have the rights to criticize.
and 2) im worried that im judging their culture in my culture's perspectives.

Me: 1) arguments retain the same level of validity regardless of who is articulating them
2) there're some universal benchmarks. like decency to your fellow man

Someone: why are things like this in asia though?
why, why?

why all this corruption
why this aggressive kiasuism
why? is it because of our history?

what's the deal?

Me: it's partially poverty
but in singapore people aren't that poor
but still bastards
so that's because of social engineering. you treat people like dogs, they remain dogs

Someone: being here in china makes me understand some of the shit we do in singapore.
why are we still bastards
are old habits hard to break?

i feel that even if the prcs receive a higher of standard of education and attain a higher quality of life, they'll just be like singaporeans and they'll still treat people like shit.

i feel disillusioned.
why does europe and united states seem better than asia?

Me: europe is not uniform
italy and greece are rude places

I'd say PRCs and Singaporeans are kiasu cos of materialism

Someone: i don't know. maybe singaporeans are kiasu coz of materialism.....

but today, i saw the prcs make a dash for seats on the mrt even though all of the seats were empty.
there was absolutely no need for that aggressive kiasuism.

Me: PRCs are materialistic
they were told to get rich
and heck care democracy

Someone: it was just terrible.
and i feel that good manners is a crime.

i apologized for stepping on someone's foot today
and that person looked at me like i was daft.

i was so touched by this young man yesterday who helped me carry groceries to my apartment.
that's the first kind act i've come across in my whole 2 months.

more people should be kind to each other then. sure win.

Me: maybe he was trying to pick you up ;)

well they don't see the point of kindness
and it's game theory. if you are kind but no one else is, you lose

Someone: human nature. oh well.


Addendum: dear GSSQ,

please let that someone who's complaining that china is bad and got kiasuism that europeans are guilty of that. just that they masked it with the ideals of being gentlemanly and stuff..

what utter bullshit and you are right about italians, they are like malaysians of europe. they are so good at producing masks in venice, that they can't even be bothered to wear the mask of being gentlemanly, thus explaining their rudeness or apparent rudeness.....

other than that, today in sweden, this whole bunch of Swiss exchange students were all cutting my queue, even though i showed them where the place to queue is and the best thing, they did it under the disguise of saying hi to their friends who's in front of me.

what the fuck. this is so bullshity. why i didn't say a word is that my gf asked me not to make any noise as that is my neighbour.

so PUBLICISE IN UR BLOG TO SHOW THAT EVEN THE SUPPOSEDLY HIGH STANDARD OF LIVING EUROPEAN BASTARDS WHO CAME FROM SWITZERLAND ALSO INDULGE IN KIASUISM... JUST THAT THEY DON"T HAVE A WORD FOR IT
WHAT HYPROCRISY

Editor's note: I would still say that Europeans are less kiasu, on the whole.