Jane has been living in China for more than two years and she has come to know some of the differences between Western and Chinese culture. Here is what she has to say about this.
"In China people often try to avoid conflicts (争执). If somebody does something you don't like, you may be upset, but you should hide it, keep it inside, and act like nothing is wrong. If you must do something, you should not talk to the person directly, but talk to someone else. However, in western countries, things are different. If someone does something I don't like, I may say it nicely or I may get very angry, but at least I will do something. Also, I won't talk to other persons about it and instead I will talk to the person directly. In fact, in western countries, if you say something bad about a person to someone else, it is thought that you have a bad character."
She also told me another thing, "Every time I go out, people ask, 'Where are you going?' I am really tired of these." It's time for us to pay more attention to the culture difference.
