Differences between southern chinese and northern chinese?

[Peeter]

Is there said to be any distinguishable differences between the people in, say, Beijing and the people in Hong Kong?

I'm kind of guessing that people in the south are more outspoken and extroverted, since people in warm climates tend to be that way. Perhaps I'm wrong though.

[kelvinzhao]

Ha, it does exist difference between north China and south China especially along the coast.

because the cities along the coast were open to the world more earlier than inland cities. and people there touched and used to western culture more than people inland. so I think that cause the feeling you felt.

[kdavid]

I've heard of number of Chinese say that NEerners are "tall and white" while southerners are "short and black".

As far as personality goes, I haven't met enough southerners to say. Though it'd be interesting to compare (world-wide) how those coming from one/similar culture vary depending on geographical location.

In Europe, for example, I found the Spanish and Italians to be much more extroverted and outspoken than the Czechs.

It be interesting to see how climate affects personality this way.

Or maybe I'm just reading into this too much. Yeah, probably.

[gougou]

Or maybe I'm just reading into this too much. Yeah, probably.

Actually, you're not. Many cultural researchers link cultural differences to differences in climate. If you want to delve deeper into this, get a copy of pretty much any book by Geert Hofstede's, or have a look at this short summary of Hofstede's cultural dimensions for starters.

[sthubbar]

A chinese friend of mine told me this stereotype of three of the major costal cities. Anyone else heard this?

北京人说多 Beijing ren shuo duo -- Beijing people say alot

上海人穿多 Shanghai ren chuan duo -- Shanghai people wear alot

广州人吃多 Guangzhou ren chi duo -- Guangzhou people eat alot

He explained that this stereotype was that Northerner's were actually the talkers, Shanghai is known for it's fashion sense, and the far southerners are sterotyped to eat anything with four legs, or maybe no legs at all. Yummy. [After my recent bout of food poisoning in Beijing, I think some of that Guangzhou food might be just what I need.]

[kdavid]

I've heard the same.

When I first arrived in Harbin one of the first questions I had for my new friends were, "So, uh, when do you guys eat cochroaches?" They responded with a loud hiss and drilled it into my head that they felt that was disgusting. They followed it up by saying, "But if you go down south you can eat everything. Southerners eat everything but cars, planes and people."

[zozzen]

It's hard to tell the differences, because difference is everywhere. People in the north and the south are different. In the south, hongkongese is different from shenzhenese. Within Hong kong, people in Wanchai is different from Tin Shui Wei. And when we go deep into Tin Shui Wei, those who live in private estate Kingswood Villas (嘉湖山莊) is different from government public housing Tin Yiu Estate.

[BrandeX]

My cantonese gf says that northerners are "taller and more beautiful", but then she may just prefer tall people!

[zozzen]

BrandeX, the most common saying in Cantonese is that "杭州多美女" (So many beautiful ladies in Hanzhou). But Hanzhou is not the north, it's the south.

[atitarev]

When I first arrived in Harbin one of the first questions I had for my new friends were, "So, uh, when do you guys eat cochroaches?" They responded with a loud hiss and drilled it into my head that they felt that was disgusting. They followed it up by saying, "But if you go down south you can eat everything. Southerners eat everything but cars, planes and people."

I remember pictures of roasted spiders (large as a palm!) on sale in China. I asked a Chinese colleague (from the North), she felt disgusted, then I realised it was from South China. I know they eat spiders in Thailand as well and some other countries. I actually don't mind trying if it's done and served properly

[zozzen]

"But if you go down south you can eat everything. Southerners eat everything but cars, planes and people."

There was a horrible news that they do eat human.... human's embryo. When the Next Magazine reported it, it really scared many Chinese off. In the photos, the hands, legs and heads were clearly shown. It's illegal to publish these photos in Hong Kong now.

Check this out: There's a movie featuring this kind of ....cuisine. (No disgusting photos, don't worry)

http://forum.gamehit.net/lofiversion/index.php?t30289.html

[studentyoung]

"But if you go down south you can eat everything. Southerners eat everything but cars, planes and people."

There was a horrible news that they do eat human.... human's embryo. When the Next Magazine reported it, it really scared many Chinese off. In the photos, the hands, legs and heads were clearly shown. It's illegal to publish these photos in Hong Kong now.

I don’t know who eat human’s embryo. What do you mean “they”? Who are those southerner eat human’s embryo? How many are they? Do you mean all southerners eat human’s embryo?

Have you heard of Canadian Robert Pickton and his bloody and disgusting story? Please check the link below and tell me whether you think Canadians are man-eaters.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=+Canada+Robert+Pickton+&btnG=Google+Search

Check this out: There's a movie featuring this kind of ....cuisine. (No disgusting photos, don't worry)

http://forum.gamehit.net/lofiversion...hp?t30289.html

How do you think of “Bleeders” which is a US movie about cannibals? Can it prove that Americans eat human?

Thanks!

[skylee]

There was a horrible news that they do eat human.... human's embryo. When the Next Magazine reported it, it really scared many Chinese off. In the photos, the hands, legs and heads were clearly shown. It's illegal to publish these photos in Hong Kong now.

Indeed who are they? Did you mean this story ->

http://peer-see.com/blog/sinofoetophagophilia-east-eats-fetus-meat-meets-defeat/2007/04/24/

I've heard about people eating 紫何車, but never human embryo.

[gougou]

Actually I've had several Chinese friends show me web pages with pictures that supposedly proved that Japanese ate embryos. This seems to be a thing that pops up regularly in forums (I was gonna say in forums of a lower standard than ours, but sadly, here we are talking about who eats embryos and who doesn't...)

EDIT: I guess some people misunderstood this post. What I meant to say was that this will always come up due to its sheer extremity, and not because there is substantial evidence that this actually does happen. I have not believed it when I saw those web pages (it could have been anything on those pictures), and I still refuse to believe that it happens except for the very rare twisted mind.

I am sorry if I offended or disgusted anybody with the above post, that sure was not my intention (and to be honest, I still don't see how. Is my English this bad? )

[studentyoung]

Actually I've had several Chinese friends show me web pages with pictures that supposedly proved that Japanese ate embryos. This seems to be a thing that pops up regularly in forums (I was gonna say in forums of a lower standard than ours, but sadly, here we are talking about who eats embryos and who doesn't...)

Oh, dear! Please stop ~ ~ ! And it seems it is totally out of the topic.

Thanks!

[HashiriKata]

Who deleted my post (the post just after the last one by studentyoung's) ?

If you did, please enlighten me what's wrong with it. I honestly think the post that should have been deleted in the first place is #14. I do expect an admin should have more sense than posting stuff like this and talking of "forums standard" in one breath !

[gougou]

I did. See PM.

[HashiriKata]

I did.

I did guess it correctly. I forgive you but remember to be a little more careful with what you post and what you delete. Don't post irrelevant nonsense and expect people not to respond to it.

[gougou]

My previous post seems to have caused some misunderstandings, so I edited it. I hope that it is a bit clearer now.

[gougou]

Well, at least one person here understands me

But let's get back to discussing the original topic now. I am going to clean up these irrelevant posts later.