Wed 31 Oct 2007
No such thing as personal space
Posted by Kim Schiefer under experiences in China, Uncategorized
Comments Off on No such thing as personal space
Here in Beijing, I’ve noticed the locals do not believe in personal space, they probably don’t even know what it is! You have probably witnessed this lack of respect in the subways. Getting on or off and even while in the subway cart everyone is directly next to you, touching you as if they were hitting on you. Another example is when crossing the streets here. The culture is just go and dodge the cars and buses. Most people when crossing the streets here are literally millimeters away from cars because the vehicles don’t stop, especially the buses I’ve noticed. People are often caught between lanes while cars and buzzing by millimeters away from death. Quite scary sometimes. Even in NYC cars are ruthless and often zroom by but there’s a small ounce of respect and safety that people have. NYC locals don’t risk peoples lives like they do here. In my opinion, here in Beijing there is no such thing as personal space or respect for others. It’s kind of a society and culture that is very impatient, and only cares for oneself and your family, no one else matters. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just a different type of culture to get use to.