Having been to all the major Chinese cities, I would say my trip to Yunan was the most memorable. Yes, The Great Wall was Great. The Forbidden City and the Portray of Chairman Mao was Magnificent. The Bund in Shanghai was Legendary. But somehow I felt these cities have become so modern that they have lost their soul. Any city can build skyscrapers or weird looking arts centres. As long as the government and the developers are willing to pump in the money, even Ethiopia can have a skyline which rivals that of HK and Singapore. I just couldn't feel the rich chinese culture and history in these cities. However, this wasn't the case in Yunan. The local culture of the minority groups are still very much evident and it is then that I could really get a feel of the rich and diverse culture that China has.
I'm a Chinese and I'm proud to be one. But I'm ashamed that my command of Chinese and understanding of the culture is not as good as it should be. I really admire Yi-Chiu ge. He exhibits such strong Chinese cultural values.. and even up to today, my dad agrees that his handwriting is one of the best he has ever seen (Save for the professional ones, of course).
I don't disapprove the usage of Singlish. I agree that it represents the culture of Singapore and I don't see any problems in the wide use of Singlish. BUT. It does become a problem if Singlish is so embedded in your language that you can't 'switch' back to normal English when needed. Many people think they can 'sieve' out the 'lehs' and 'lahs' when they need to use Formal English. Some people can. But not all. Trust me. I've seen it happen and it does impede foreigners' understanding of our English. A Chinese friend of mine didn't know I was a Singaporean 'cos "Your English and Mandarin sounded very different from the 2 Singaporeans in my class and sometimes I don't really understand what they are saying" I could see where the problem was coming from. Imagine phrases like, "Wah. This topic sibeh sian leh.". She could probably only understand 'Wah, This topic...........'. So I guess Singlish is not really a problem as long as you know when to remove the 'lehs' and the 'lahs'.
West is Best? I'm afraid Not.
Sunset at St. Kilda Beach. It's colder than it seems...
Yup, That's a Penguin, at St. Kilda Beach.
Guess I'm not that far from Home after all.
And even Fiona Xie gets in the act.
11 comments:
Way to go, drewie!
Excellent post. I'm glad the education we had in AHS hasn't gone down the drain, and we remain proud of our own culture and heritage.
I haven't been to a lot of countries myself, so I guess the wide travel of yours sure strengthen this sentiment inside you.
I hope to whatever few people that have read our posts, we can influence them, even in little ways, to be proud of our own culture and heritage.
"I'm a Chinese and I'm proud to be one."
At this moment, I'm proud to relinquish my hold on the 'quote of the day' to you!
More posts like this!
=)
hey
ahs de, great post!
我知道不是YOYOYO我的语言!
Marist rox!
hey! how's life there?
just some thoughts abt the service standards in sg...
i feel that angmohs generally tend to be friendlier and more polite to the service staff and thus they get the so called "better" treatment. so cant really blame the service staff since its a two way thing.
Hey zQ.. Well.. Life here.. It's alright I guess.. I understand what you are talking about.. Myself having worked as Sales Promoter before..
But from what I've observed, it's not so much about the attitude during the interaction. It's more on the first sentence when a Caucasian comes along. Before he/she even says anything, sales representatives seem to be extra polite coupled with a bright smile when approaching these customers.
It helps that Caucasians are generally more well-mannered than Asians but it's the perception of them before the interaction that holds the key. Because they are 'viewed' to be of a 'Higher Class', Sales Reps. have a tendency of approaching them with a different attitude as compared to Asians.
hi... great to know dat ur doing fine there...
to ur response about the pre-interaction perceptions, i agree and disagree.
its true dat sales staff have a better perception of caucasians. it helps dat they are generally more generous with tips and saying "thank you"s. at the same time, the perceptions of asians from some countries are very good too. for eg the japanese, thais and some singaporeans are super polite customers. thus the perception of them is generally good and hence they get the "better" pre-interaction treatment.
however, there are some asians from particular countries (which i shall not name here) who are known to be rude, fussy and bossy to sales staff and therefore it is they themselves who instilled the sense of poor perception in sales staff.
guess the issue here is which group of asians ur referring to?
Nice one drew!!
I was talking to my father the other day and he was saying that my sense of heritage is a lot better than most of his friends' children. I think being educated at AHS has done us good. Most of us have modern thinking yet we also have a good understanding of our culture and heritage. I think most of us also possess the ubiquitous ability to switch between english and mandarin easily, something not many can do well.
I'm proud to be a chinese. I speak quite a lot of mandarin in sch. It doesn't bother me that some of them call me a Han Zi* because I'm proud of my heritage. Those who embrace the western culture so readily and speak with an english twang should just reflect upon themsleves.
About the level of service in Singapore, I think there is still a long way to go before we reach the level of service that is comparable to Paris or Rome. I think much has to do with our culture here. The older generation did not grow up with the notion of good service so they do not really know how to provide good service; whereas some of the younger generaion like us are not tolerant enough to the preferences of customers. Of course, training does help a bit but do we not hear the occasional lament about poor attitude?
However, I think we got to look at the bright side too. I dined at Din Tai Fung a week back and found that the level of service there was fantastic, almost to the level where I felt like tipping them. Of course, some of the waitress there look like Singaporeans but I think their attitude certainly did help to inspire many. I'm sure service in many retail outlets have also improved years.
And when it comes to serving Angmohs better than locals, I guess I have to agree with you drew. Some of us still suffer from "post-colonial syndrome" and think that Angmohs are more superior than locals. I do not think that Angmohs treat sales staff better; it's just their skin colour and accent.
*sweet potato. akin to potato, mostly eaten by Asians
err, i meant "...do not look like singaporeans..."
Wow. I'm certainly very surprised to see the level of response that my entry has brought. Haha. Some very interesting comments indeed.
As said by zQ, service is very much a two-way thing. But as service staff, shouldn't you treat everyone the best that you can? True, some customers can be very difficult. But the good attitude of service personnel can appease even some of the most difficult customers. I personally think it's Wrong to treat someone better just because you Perceive them to be better. The interaction has not even commenced and you have already decided if this particular customer is going to receive what kind of service standard. It's a classic example of stereotyping. And to look at it from another perspective, if a service staff is to offer good service selectively to certain groups of people, I don't think he/she is suited to be in the service industry.
Of course, I'm not discounting the fact that there are also examples of excellent service in Singapore, as GengHui has mentioned.
And by the way, in the case of a Sales personnel, which would you prefer, a ultra-friendly customer who didn't buy any items or a difficult and rude customer who end up fulfilling your sales targets for the next couple of days?
If my salary was commission-based, I would rather have a rude customer fulfilling my quota. He might yell at me but ultimately, he's the one who fills up my pockets. A friendly customer no doubt makes you feel a lot happier but I guess the pragmatic side of most people would choose the former over the latter.
Speaking about service, I think Singaporean sales staff can take a leaf out of KL's book. I was there over the weekend and their service standards left an indelible print on my mind. Many of the sales personnel there, despite their apparent young age, always look so warm and friendly.
ya i agree with drew that sales staff do offer gd service selectively and this is a sad fact happening in sg. but this is such a deeply rooted attitude dat i guess it is hard to be changed in the near future.
and on geng's point, i would certainly much prefer to serve a friendly and nice customer who at the same time spends alot! haha~
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