general impression

[skylee]

gor gor zai = 哥哥仔

jai jai zai = 姐姐仔

mui mui zai = 妹妹仔

very cute.

[holyman]

imagine she was like 3-4times older... calling me a 'gor gor' makes me feel pretty awkward...

in beijing it was pretty much the same. the waitresses, common peddlers selling drinks or newspaper in roadside stores or makeshift stores from ground floor apartments are pretty harsh when u get things from them, no such things like service attitude whatsoever. but when u making a transaction with them, and asked them a simple thing like 'have u had ur lunch/dinner?' or 'good business today?', their stone cold face will also brighten up suddenly and they can *smile*(imagine, beijing waitress usually dont smile at all) and answer u nicely. i think they have not encountered people being nice to them for a long time.

[pazu]

In Hong KOng it's quite a custom for old people (especially old women) to call young people (especially those around 15 - 30) as "Gor Gor Jai" , "Jie Jie Jai", etc. Literally they mean "elder brother" or "elder system", but the word "jai" at the end implied "younger".

In Japan, people call young people as CHAN, if you're name is Kong then people call you KON-CHAN (コン　ちゃん), but if you're old enough, people can call you CHAN too. O-baa-CHAN (おばあちゃん）means grandma.

I've asked my Japanese friend why, and they said it's probably because old people are as cute as young boys and girls.

[holyman]

yeah my girlfriend always call me with a 'chan' after my name.

[Marco]

Living in China I can give you some stories about how rude chinese can be, even people from HK, but this is only skin deep, once they get to know you they are alright, do remember they are with so many, they cant be nice to every one, it would be come a day job, get used to it and make some friends there and you find out their great

[Guest cavebear]

I can not agree with Ian.

I guess when people talk about racism they mean the mass culture/mentality, not governmnet policy, although the latter is often based on the mob mind-set.

So it does not help much that you quote some ASEAN countries's policy to

prevent Chinese from grabing too much a share of the country's wealth.

I've been to HK twice and only stayed there for several nights altogether.

I had to say that I sensed quite some racism there , which kind of shocked me.

I would not say Hong Kees are more unfriendly than any other people. But if some one complains to me about some bad experinece in HK, I would not be suprised.

[Ian_Lee]

So after all these posts, can anybody state a personal encounter that you are slighted in Hong Kong?

None.

All were subjective opinions or evasdropping from so-and-so.

Well, I got lots of personal experience in Mainland China related to rudeness.

Just try the Lowu immigration counter on the PRC side -- they "threw" my "Return Home Card" at me for six out of the last ten times I gave them to check.

They are as rude as their US counterparts.

[Guest cavebear]

Personal experience of being sighted? Not for me so far in Hong Kong.

My stay there is too short for that, or I am too dumb to notice the subtlety.

But I know if I stay on I will. I think people are pretty much the same thing every where. People have different codes, bias, predudices. But there is not any people that is "politer" than others.So I try not take things personally. One does not have to travel all over the world to know that people get bad experience everywhere.

Is it too bold to say that? May be. But it is much worse to say that you won't have any bad experience at all in some place.

I have friends in HK, well educated ones. You know the way they talk about Philinino maids?

Or the way they talk about Indians?

I once asked " are those jobs held by the Indians well paid?"

The answer?

"what are you talking about? Even if the jobs are decent ones, just because they are indians, they won't be respected and paid well!"

[Ian_Lee]

cavebear:

Indians get jobs in HK and now they are even able to form a political party with other South Asians to run for seats in HK's legislature.

Just across the border in Shenzhen, Uighur kids only become kid gangs and specialize in stalking and mugging HK tourists.

In HK, will these kids be allowed to wander on the street?

Of course NOT. Their parents will be arrested and penalized in court for not sending their kids to school.

But in PRC, who cares about the kids?

Just those kids wandering in all the train stations inside PRC numbered 200,000+. HK government-owned RTHK made a TV documentary to show the miserable life these kids suffer!

[Guest cavebear]

cavebear:

Indians get jobs in HK and now they are even able to form a political party with other South Asians to run for seats in HK's legislature.

Just across the border in Shenzhen' date=' Uighur kids only become kid gangs and specialize in stalking and mugging HK tourists.

In HK, will these kids be allowed to wander on the street?

Of course NOT. Their parents will be arrested and penalized in court for not sending their kids to school.

But in PRC, who cares about the kids?

Just those kids wandering in all the train stations inside PRC numbered 200,000+. HK government-owned RTHK made a TV documentary to show the miserable life these kids suffer![/quote']

Ian,

Thank you very much for teaching me some thing about the indians in HK. As I stated repeatedly in my posters, I know very little about HK, I have no intension to portrait it as a "bad" place ( I have no right to do so and I do not think it is bad. On the contrary, as a Chinese I pride on it.)

I was not so eager to share my experience in HK either.

The point I was try to make is that people have defferent values and viewpoints ( rightly so) and no place will be liked by everybody. If in a place most people think otherwise--their place and value is superior without any doubt---I guess that place is a bit below average for many thinking people.

I guess there are many kids in Mainland China who are kept out of school against their will. However, school is not neccesarily a good place for every kid. When I was a kid I hated schooling and I consider it a basic human right that kids do not have to go to school if they do not want to.

Pennalizing parents who do not send their kids for schooling is Fascism.

Assumably kids have the most miserable life in such a place.