serpentza

[happy_hyaena]

Is Chinese people calling non-Chinese people 老外 really a huge problem in the grand scheme of things? And is it any worse than Japanese people calling foreigners "gaijin"? 

In my university, I got to know a bunch of Chinese students. Out of them, there's one Chinese person who is quite... special. I befriended a bunch of people (including him) on WeChat and I was able to see the comments he posted on other people's pictures, as well as starting to receive comments myself. Someone made a joking post about the Queue and I remember him getting worked up over it and commenting on that person's post, talking about how it was such a huge insult to the Han people. I figured that maybe some Chinese people were just that way and I just ignored it.

One day I saw him in real life on campus. Luckily he didn't recognize me, but I could hear parts of his conversation from some distance away, and it sounded like he was ranting about 老外 this and 老外们 that.

 

Cue a later point and I was with a group of my friends who had joined my university at the same time. I mentioned this guy and everyone basically rolled their eyes and the stories poured out. One guy straight up told me he that he was weird. Another girl told me of how they had discussed booking the same flight from their city in China to my city, but he pissed off my friend when he insisted on taking a really convoluted and expensive route that would've had them landing here at a very inconvenient time, all because he didn't want to fly through certain "bad" countries. The last girl told me that she had overheard him in a class they shared, where he had sat behind my friend and next to another female Chinese girl and was telling (read: bragging to) her about his dad and granddad who had apparently both been in the army and were heroes and such and such. So basically, no one really seemed to like him, but because they were polite and value group cohension they just tolerated him until they had managed to settled themselves down a little.

 

When I saw the guy and heard him talk about us 老外, it really did piss me off. But now, in hindsight and in light of that conversation I had with my friends, I think that the whole thing is quite pathetic. The guy who is the most proud of being Chinese is also the least liked person by all the other Chinese. And it would be a real shame if I let that kind of person affect me when I've had so many enjoyable encounters with other Chinese people.

PS: Using Youtube comments to make any kind of judgement of Chinese people (or people in general), is not something I would recommend at all.