We made a memo for the Chinese who came to you

    The Chinese are usually very kind people. The problem with them is that they have a completely different culture and they do not understand much of what is considered the norm in our country. And vice versa, by the way. They would be happy to fit into society and be polite, but the main thing for them is to understand how it is. It works like this: they try to do something and, if nobody corrects them or nobody looks at them obliquely, decide that it is permissible. Or they repeat what the majority does.

    We decided to help the fraternal people to settle in Russia and prepared a memo. It is available under CC BY-SA license . You can download it and hang it in your hotel, shop, add it to a booklet or a book.

    Here is the memo:


    And now the explanation.

    Welcome to Russia!


    We have prepared for you some tips that will make your trip more happy.

    In restaurants and cafes, all servings per person.
    In Russia, it is accepted that everyone orders their own dishes, and each has their own plates. Usually the waiter gives a menu to each guest, and each guest orders food only for himself. But sometimes there are special dishes for 2-4 people on the menu, they are marked separately.

    It is cold in Russia, therefore we are always tightly fastened.
    In a restaurant it is considered indecent to bare a belly, for example. Yes, it is very convenient when it is hot around, but it’s cold for most of the year, so there is an ancient tradition of eating tightly buttoned clothes. On the other hand, in Russia it is not customary to wear a jacket around the house or sit in a jacket in a cafe.

    After 23:00 - time of silence
    In Russia, deep sleep is respected, because it leads to longevity. Please try to do everything quieter after 23:00. For example, it is not customary for us to talk in the corridors, because this may prevent someone from sleeping in the rooms.

    We bargain a little differently
    Boldly bargain in tourist places, but remember that if you climb on the usual routes, then there will be a different attitude to bargaining. If you see that a person is unhappy, it's time to stop. This usually happens after the second or third bid is lower.

    We are friendly, but a little different
    It may surprise you that people in small stores are not very happy to see you. Do not worry, this is part of the etiquette: in Russia it is customary to be a bit rude with strangers, but at the same time very polite with friends. Do not think that if a person has a “stone” face and he does not smile, something goes wrong. Most likely, everything is in order and this is just part of courtesy.

    Try not to touch anyone.
    For residents of Russia, it is very unusual, for example, to touch each other in a crowd, even on the subway or on the market. If you want to go somewhere, and you block the road, it is best to say that you need to go, and not touch a person.

    If you are photographing someone, ask permission
    It is considered impolite to photograph someone without permission. Just ask, and then you will have a completely different attitude.

    Respect the queue
    When people stand somewhere (for example, for tickets or purchases) in line, you need to stand behind the last one. Behind you, too, someone will stand up and wait patiently. Even if there is no special fence, we very much respect the principle that the one who first came gets the right to buy what is sold before.

    That's all the tips. Thank you for reading and have a good trip!


    What does each item mean?


    About restaurants. In China, most restaurants operate according to the model “order a huge portion at once for everyone.” People come to the company, agree on the dishes that will eat everything, then make one general order. The food is placed on the center of the table, and everyone can pick up part of it on his plate. If a Chinese wants to eat alone, he does not go to a restaurant, he goes to fast food or to a street vendor: there are portioned noodles, portioned ravioli or generally traditional chicken from KFC.

    In restaurants, a completely normal picture is to unfasten so that the belly becomes bare, roll up your pants higher and enjoy the sit. This is really very cool in the heat (which often happens in the regions from which this tradition originated), but is not well perceived by us.

    Slurping and burping for food is part of the etiquette of small cities in China, but this is not very common in big cities, so we did not include this item.

    About silence. Here we have tried to explain why it is important to be quiet, through the most respected concept of them - longevity. Everything that leads to longevity is unequivocally holy. On the other hand, the Chinese themselves do not perceive themselves as loud people: they just talk and behave like that. If the guests came back from the countryside, from our point of view, they shout as if they were announced, but for them this is normal. And in general, they love to communicate, which leads to the fact that in the evenings in hotels they can run up to two or three nights along the corridor to each other, hold consultations, change food and discuss impressions.

    In Vladivostok, a beautiful lady who tried to fall asleep in a hotel did not like it all that she called the reception desk and asked the Chinese guests to explain that people are sleeping here. After 3 minutes, there was complete silence. In the morning, when she went out for breakfast, the Chinese began to point fingers at her, carefully examine and whisper.

    About how we bargain and why we are not very friendly to strangers.The first part is purely for the Chinese, they have trade in blood. In general, in the East, bargaining is not considered something bad. No relationship "greedy barygan for a penny suffocate." This is something like a sport. Bargaining is completely normal and natural - this is part of building relationships, like how we say hello. This is absolutely normal. When the seller bargains that he already has tears from his eyes, after the transfer of money he can shake your hand and say that it was cool. It is in culture. We have the opposite. We have repeatedly seen that when a Chinese man trades with someone in a store, it’s scary. "The brain does not hemp!" Two hundred means two hundred! ”But at the same time, merchants around Chinese tourist routes have already become accustomed. At this point, we are simply trying to explain to them that when they insist on a lower price for the fiftieth time and are waiting for some kind reaction,

    You also need to understand that the character of the Russian person is probably much sharper than that of the average Chinese for strangers. The Chinese are extremely sensitive to the subtle state and emotions. For many of them, at first it is very frightening that people "from the street" are cutting with each other and with them. When a tourist from the Middle Kingdom enters a small shop in the Moscow region, and there he is met by a good kind aunt from the breed of vendors of the 70s and kindly bursts out, saying, well, why, son, you will take something - this is nonsense. The smaller their store, the more helpful and friendlier the seller. Everything will bring, everything will show. And there we have a man with a stony face, and it scares. The same applies to many foreigners from Europe - they initially look forward to a smile and a decrease in the level of obligatory politeness with further communication. In China, in Beijing culture, for example, friends are scolded in the spirit of: “Hello, you bastard!” - in the youth culture, if you were polite enough, it means that you are moving away from the person. We have the same Finns, for example, as you know, the opposite. At first - unfriendly, then - a much better attitude.

    About touch. The Chinese and many Asian nations have significantly less personal space. Moreover, if you pay attention to how they occupy seats at airports, you will understand a lot. We try to sit at the maximum distance from each other at first, and then fill in the empty seats (“urinal etiquette”), but in Asia it's the opposite: first, everyone sits in a heap, then occupies the edges. Because in the heap - power!

    So, their personal space is small, but we have a large one. Therefore, for the Chinese, it is not insulting to pave the way in the subway car or bus with your elbows, he himself will not even notice that he was pushed quite hard. And for us it is insulting and noticeable.

    They also often come across the fact that they photograph other people without permission (in particular honor they have women of any age with white hair - this is one of the ideals of beauty). The third common mistake is that they often stroke other people's dogs simply because the dogs are cute. Naturally, without asking the owner.

    About the turn. They are often taught before traveling abroad how to determine what is in front of them, how to find the last one, how to distinguish one line from three different ones, and so on. Even if they have forgotten everything, there will be no problems in a small group, they will repeat after the majority and successfully fit into society. If there are more of them than the queue before they appear, then the majority will no longer know what to do, and they will try to climb right through. It upsets many.

    Before leaving, they are also taught that they need to take off their jackets in the room (this is often explained by guides to groups from countries where there is no central heating), that you need to carry a passport (they have alcohol without it), they say that you can’t spit on the streets and litter. On the other hand, they note that in our hotels there are no slippers and there are not always toothpastes, therefore slippers and hygiene items should be taken with you. We also saw reminders where people are taught to go to the toilet preventively before the excursion: if in China this issue is resolved around each sight, then we have the absence of a small house can cause suffering and reduce longevity.

    Download the memo here .

    UPD: We slightly changed the wording of the Chinese version, so that instead of imperatives there were softer wording. The difference is between "Wash your hands before eating" and "Please wash your hands before eating."

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