你觉得中国人一般会怎么做?

[aline]

I have a homework to submit tomorrow. An essay about:

朋友请你帮个忙。帮忙 的时候因为急事打了车，打车 的钱是你花的 。你会问朋友要打的的费用吗？为什么？你觉得中国人一般会怎么做？为什么？

Concerning the 2nd part ;你觉得中国人一般会怎么做？为什么？, I'm a bit stuck. I don't know what Chinese people would have done. What do you think?

When taking the cab, there are two possibilities;

1. the person is alone

2. the person is with the friend who asked for help.

Do you think that the Chinese person would ask for money back in both cases?

[skylee]

I don't know what other Chinese people would do in general. But if that happens to me, I would not ask the friend to give me the taxi fare, because if it is a favour, it is a favour. And when you help someone you should not expect anything in return (family teaching here - 施恩莫望報).

But if the friend insists on giving me back the taxi fare, I would not refuse.

It makes no difference if the friend has travelled with me or not.

[elina]

I totally agree with skylee.

[xuezhongwen]

我希望你记住这样一句话:一龙生九子，九子各不同 (Dragon has 9 sons, each one of them is unique)

没有必要试图对中国人(或其他民族)公式化(Stereotype),在中国你也会遇到不同的反应，很正常，不是吗？

[imron]

没有必要试图对中国人(或其他民族)公式化

Yes, but at the same time, there are certain cultural observations you can make about a given country. For example, when going out to eat, Chinese people rarely split the bill because friend A knows that if he/she doesn't pay this time, then their turn will come up sometime in the future. I see it being similar to this situation. I don't think the person would ask for the money, because it's all part of helping their friend. They also know that sometime in the future should they need help, then their friend will probably act in kind.

Yes, these are generalisations, and yes they are not true in 100% of all situations, but I think in this case it's a fair thing to say.

[Outofin]

I, and I believe most people I know, won't ask for the money. I'm HELPING my friend, why do I ask the money back? And, it's not a big deal at all.

But if a person always takes advantages of these helps, you'll sense it. You will.

[roddy]

If the person asking for help is in the cab, i wouldn't even pretend to take my wallet out. If not, I wouldn't worry about it unless it was something like a return run to the airport. I'd maybe take the money if it was offered, but I wouldn't ask for it. I would happily accept dinner though.

For my guess on an 'average' Chinese response, I don't think the money would be asked for, and it would probably be refused (at least, oh, three times?) if offered, but a mental note in the Big Book of Favored Debited and Credited would be made.

Roddy

[aline]

Well, I asked a Shanghainese guy about this . He said:

8:22 PM] no offence, but... says:

如果是很好的朋友这样子我们不会问朋友要钱

[8:22 PM] no offence, but... says:

但是朋友会请我们吃饭表示感谢

[8:23 PM] no offence, but... says:

但是一般的朋友。或者是朋友的朋友我们会毫不犹豫地问他们要钱的

8:26 PM] no offence, but... says:

中国人要面子但是看是谁的

(It was on msn. )

Of course, he also added that that's his way of thinking but maybe for other Chinese people, it's different.

[Outofin]

Shanghaiese are different. I can tell many stories from my experience and from what I heard.

Particularly to the example of taking cab, I heard that some Shanghaiese would like to carpool to save some fare, with strangers. My reaction to the rumor was, "wow, that is smart, but I don't know if I could do that."