Culture Shock !!!

If I had to travel to another country, I would travel to China. Chinese people are very different in terms of culture, and obviously, if I go to that country, I need to know some manners and customs in order to avoid a misunderstanding.

First of all, I imagine that I won the lottery. Therefore, I had enough money to travel to China and visiting my Asian uncle!! J. Finally, after having traveled for one long week, I arrived to China. In the airport, I could see a lot of people with strange eyes and they were walking in the same direction like the music video “Thriller”! After that, I tryed to find my uncle, but I could not see him. So, I walked around the airport and I could see huge buildings and industries without any green place around them, like some trees or a garden to take a rest. On the other hand, I did not want to be near any chinese because they think that is a very rude attitude being near and greet them with a kiss or a handshake. After wasting my time doing anything interesting, my uncle arrived.

When we were near, he did a Bowing as a signal of greet and respect and then I imitated that gesture. I did not want to be gross with my own uncle, because maybe he had kicked my ... you know, and that could have been the shortest travel of my life. During the travel to his home, we were talking in english about important things related to their customs and how much different are them in relation to Chile. He told me that a bowing is very important if I am in front of a Chinese person, that gesture replaces a handshake or a kiss. And then, if a conversation begins, I should not fell uncomfortable if the chinese person asks me about personal information like my sexual preference or if I have a beautiful sister, because for them is usual to ask about topics that in my culture sound weird.

Other important thing that he taught me was related to the gifts. You can not give them a wall clock, because that represents the death, but if a chinese person gives you a different gift, you must receive it with both hands as a signal of courtesy. Other signal of courtesy is to call a Chinese person by his surname and not by his name, because they are called by their names only by their relatives or friends. And finally, he told me that I should not lend money to a Chinese person, because that is another rude gesture for them, althoug they spend a lot of money in games betting all their fortune.

As you can see, is very important to seek information about a different culture, specially if you want to travel to another country. Some customs that we have in our country are totally different for other people, so we must respect their traditions and we could learn more about other ways of living.