An interaction that I had with someone in a place that is "foreign" to me
In 2002, I embarked on an interdisciplinary study trip to Beijing & Xi’an and encountered an intercultural situation.
In 2002, I embarked on an interdisciplinary study trip to Beijing & Xi’an and encountered an intercultural situation.
On Day 8, our first itinerary was a visit to Jinghua School in Beijing where we attended a Chinese language lesson. The atmosphere was tense as the place was foreign to us. When the teacher finished teaching her lesson, she began posing questions to the class.
“When I ask a question, I want all the local students to raise your hands immediately and answer me. We are from The People’s Republic of China and we want to show the foreigners that we can all do it. Is that clear?” said the teacher aggressively before she began.
Subsequently, all the China students responded enthusiastically as instructed by their teacher.
At that instant, I was speechless after hearing the teacher’s words. I could not understand why the teacher had to say that in front of us. This is definitely not practiced in Singapore. In light of my understanding of cultural values and beliefs, I would interpret that the people from China have a strong sense of belonging and loyalty to their country as well as take pride and strive towards excellence in whatever they do so as to do their country proud and fly their country’s flag high. Such characteristics are prevalent in the academic and sports areas. For example, China athletes trained hard and won 51 gold medals in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games which resulted in China clinching the world first position.
