spitting in china

[zozzen]

spitting is a national sport here in china, but what really shocks me is that many people seem to assume that it is okay to spit indoor in my room. i am recently living in a school hostel where everyone, from teachers, management and old and young students, is common at spitting. a few days ago when they visited my room, they spitted right into my floor. they were shocked as i showed my dramatic exclaimation, then some of them spitted directly into my rubbish bin. they thought it should be accepted, though it really made me sick.

i ve posted a few notices in my room to remind them not to spit at my room. it works...in a certain extent, because they just spit at the windows, no matter how many times i told them to do it in a toilet.

how do you deal with this situation?

[heifeng]

I spit in my own rubbish bin...so as long as they didn't miss it wouldn't bother me, but the floor bit definitely would so here is what I would do, (I usually do this when I see people throw garbage on the ground, but luckily I'm a girl so I don't think I would have to prepare for a beatdown or anything) I would start quoting olympic slogans really loadly:

迎奥运,讲文明,树新风, 请不要随地吐痰!

Then you can be dramatic afterwards and start mopping and talking about sars....

You can make an even larger sign saying the same thing:

请勿随地吐痰

but put it on the ground where they may generally spit so they see it. Worst comes to worse you just have to pick up the paper afterwards for quick clean up...

[cdn_in_bj]

i am recently living in a school hostel where everyone

Spitting on the floor or at windows is not ok! That is absolutely disgusting. Where are you?

how do you deal with this situation?

Move to a more civilized environment.

[adrianlondon]

I did notice the rare glob of spit on cheap restaurant floors in Beijing, but it was rare. And never in the "posher" places. And never in anyone's apartment (I visited quite a few apartments that locals lived in) and definitely never in my room in dorm. I would have thrown them out.

[zozzen]

i like the slogan for olympics. when i made any 'abnormal' request i said everything they do is 為了慶祝香港回歸十周年. it works quite well for kids but adults only take them as a joke, and think that your notice is just a part of fun, never take it serious.

i think i need to take some more aggressive approach now. after i stayed at the hostel, my door was knocked so frequently that even disturbed my sleeping. i told them not to do that and no one took it serious. two days ago at mid night the manager kept knocking my door, not only the knocking sound woke me up, many students of the same floor assumed that he urgently needed to see me and they yelled my name outside my room. when i opened the door the manager wonderfully explained that he just wanted to take a look on my room ----- at mid night and my answer is 滾蛋！你神經病？up to this moment, people only knocked my door for a few second and if i dont make a response they just leave.

i am staying in dengfeng, henan and practicing martial arts.

[johnd]

zozzen, sounds like you're getting the real genuine local Chinese experience. I've never found people spitting on floors (indoor), or unruly hotel staff. So count yourself lucky that they are treating you just as if you were family! You'll have lots of chances to practice your Chinese - which is often complained about on these here forums.

Take a deep breath, and have a laugh at your situation. Then see if you can develop some alternative strategies that don't involve being rude or getting aggravated (such as earplugs).

[gougou]

(such as earplugs)

Or mouthplugs?

[gato]

i am staying in dengfeng, henan and practicing martial arts.

Use your kungfu on them.

[adrianlondon]

You'd then need nose-plugs as well. I've seen quite a few people walk out of office buildings in Beijing, press one nostril shut, expell loads of stuff from the other one at full velocity, then turn around and walk back in again.

At least they didn't do it on the floor.

I wonder if these "spitting breaks" are complained about by non-spitters as much as cigarette breaks are ...

[zozzen]

i guess i am really getting a real chinese experience, but it isnt that desirable. the school prohibits all students to leave even in sunday and all have to attend an assembly at 6pm to listen to a boring presentation from a fat man. if i dont attend it, they will reduce the performace marks of my kungfu teacher, and his salary. at the first few days i found all these experience so funny, but when it comes to routine it is exhausting. now i am negotiating to break all these undesirable rules.(though i ve broken them all the time.)

practicing putonghua is actually very easy, as long as you are willing to stay away from big cities. in my school we have a french student who hardly speaks english but most people just assumed that he spoke english. most local only understand extremely limited english. they can understand a boy and a girl, but when you said 'how old are u? what is your name?' they just dont know what it is.

And the powerful nostril bomb is very common here in henan too. i secretly practiced it during a shower and it was really good. fortunately no one attempted to do it in my room.

[zozzen]

using kungfu on them? i would love to do it, but that must be avoided in dengfeng, a home of modern shaolin kungfu. yesterday we tried to break a window for maintenance purpose, the staff jumped, twisted his waist, and kicked. what you expect Jet Li would do in a movie, they do it in the everyday life.

[jonaspony]

While travelling through Xinjiang, sitting on the bus, there was an elderly man across the aisle having coughing spasms. With each spasm his wife would fish a little jar out of her bag and he would spit up into it and hand it back. I felt sorry for him, but found it pretty gross and was glad when he finally settled down, and even gladder when he moved to the front of the bus.

But then he started coughing again. His wife fished out the jar full of sputum and passed it down the aisle. It made its way to the front of the bus, hand over hand - with no objections at all. After that, I don't really care where folks spit, as long as I don't have to handle it.

The English habit of using a cloth handkerchief seems equally disgusting to some folks though - carrying your old snot around in your pocket is pretty wierd when you think about it. I don't think I can manage the 'nostril bomb' though, but then I have never had kungfu training of any kind.

[cdn_in_bj]

i am staying in dengfeng, henan

Well I guess that somewhat explains it...

I've seen quite a few people walk out of office buildings in Beijing, press one nostril shut, expell loads of stuff from the other one at full velocity

I saw a police officer do this in a subway station here. Fortunately, he "aimed" it at a garbage bin. Still, very gross but you must admit it does save trees.

[johnd]

With each spasm his wife would fish a little jar out of her bag and he would spit up into it and hand it back.

Maybe they were saving it for the vegetable patch, since water is precious in Xinjiang

[zozzen]

though i found spitting is very gross, i admit that i begin to love it. sometimes i chewed a chicken bone and just spitted them on the playground in the school, on the floor of others' rooms, at the office and apparently anywhere that i go. that is what can be called 有中國特式的自由．

[gougou]

sometimes i chewed a chicken bone and just spitted them [...] on the floor of others' rooms

You are joking, right?

[in_lab]

A fair number of guys spit in the urinals when they use them. It strikes me as weird. I prefer to spit in the sink, which they probably would find dirty.

[Lu]

While travelling through Xinjiang, sitting on the bus, there was an elderly man across the aisle having coughing spasms. With each spasm his wife would fish a little jar out of her bag and he would spit up into it and hand it back.

I'd say that's pretty civilized (although I do wonder why he didn't just keep the jar by him himself). I was on a bus once from Panzhihua to Lijiang, the road was long and winding. When I got sick I did so in a plastic bag, that was provided at the front of the bus, originally to put your shoes in. Not so the kid on the bed next to me, his father let him puke on the floor, several times, even after they had seen me puke in a bag. And then the father kindly told me to watch out for my backpack, cause the kid's vomit was floating towards it on the floor of the bus. (This is almost five years ago, I didn't realize it made such a big impression on me at the time...)

[Luobot]

(although I do wonder why he didn't just keep the jar by himself)

( What are wives for ??? )

[zozzen]

gougou, i wish that i was joking but the hygiene at my school often gave me surprise! after some students came to my room to watch TV, there is a mess of noodles on my floor and no one except me seemed to have a concern on it.

btw, after 'olympic warning' suggested in this thread and my numerous warnings;) , all people realized that when i say not to spit at my room, i really mean it and no one dares to do it now. i think my next notice should target noodles or any snacks consumed at my room.