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“Typically Foreigners”
It is widely known that everyone in Sweden drink beer for breakfast, hunt polar bears in the backyard and enjoy eating chocolate and cheese inside our Alp cabins*… Well as a Swedish I know that this is not a good description for the majority of my Swedish countrymen, but when you arrive in China you will quickly realize that the Chinese people have just as many stereotypes of us western people as we do have of them. When talking to people in China you will quickly be told that “Westerners do this”, “African people are like that” and “Chinese people are like this” and these statements are frequently made in public with no embarrassment.
When starting to analyse this topic I realize that what I will analyse might be a bit sensitive and I would like to clarify that stereotypes are just simplified and standardized conceptions of a group of people and that they are likely far from true since not 2 people on this earth actually are the same no matter where they actually come from.
When people in the western world think of China there is probably a pretty clear image of certain characteristics, behaviours, outlook and style of the people living there, but we often forget that the differences between different groups of people in China are just as big as those between a Swedish, Greek and American so called “Western person”. For us it is easy to see how we are different from Americans, but for a man/woman from the Qinghai province in inner China (population density is lower than in Sweden) the differences will be small or most likely none.
So what are the most common stereotypes that the Chinese have of us Westerners? Well it is a long list which mostly is based on American, English, German and French westerners since they are the ones most frequently seen on TV and in advertising.
Top 5
1. Westerners are individualistic and materialistic while Chinese are more interested in the collective good
Comment: China is the second biggest market for luxury goods (after Japan) and you will see more Porsche cars on the streets here in Hong Kong during a day than during a lifetime in Sweden. How can owning a Gucci bag and a brand new Porsche be for the collective good and how can the income gap in China be much bigger than in Europe when people are less individualistic?
2. All westerners are rich!
Comment: Despite that the BNP in parts of China now is closing in on us in the western world a majority of the Chinese are still more poor than the average European, so this is partially true if compared.
3. All western people love alcohol and drink it almost every day
Comment: Well it might be true that many of us enjoy a drink or two, but not every day like many Chinese think. Truth is that the alcohol consumption in parts of China and also in South Korea is higher than that in for example Ireland which is famous (stereotype of course) for their beer drinking, perhaps too many Westerners have enjoyed the discount bar prices when visiting China to create this image? Other food stereotypes include that Western people eat at McDonald’s every day and that no westerners can eat spicy food (Mexicans are of Asian orgin?)…
4. All westerners speak English as their first language
Comment: Well not so much to comment on this, but it is a fact that most advertising of western products in China is made in a mix of Chinese and English and most movies shown on the cinema come from English speaking Hollywood.
5. All western people are pretty
Comment: Well it is flattering to believe so and if you look at movies and advertising it seems true, but who isn’t beautiful after some cosmetic surgery and some follow up work in Photoshop?.
* Sweden is often confused with Switzerland in China since the countries sound very much the same in Chinese and the Swiss has made a better job promoting themselves.
About Mikael Hansson
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