http://tofflerann.com/2007/07/08/responsible-tourism-in-reverse-educating-the-chinese/ Cultural & Business Insights, Experiences, Observations Fri, 27 Aug 2010 22:31:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://tofflerann.com/2007/07/08/responsible-tourism-in-reverse-educating-the-chinese/comment-page-1/#comment-4944 Dynamic Tourism, China, Business » Olympics Behavior? Tue, 07 Aug 2007 08:47:52 +0000 http://tofflerann.com/2007/07/08/responsible-tourism-in-reverse-educating-the-chinese/#comment-4944 [...] Though I received a fair bit of criticism for my entry titled Responsible Tourism in Reverse: Educating the Chinese, I do not think I’m totally in the wrong.  Consider the following excerpts from an article in City Weekend, titled: One Year and Counting: With just one year until the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Jonathan Haagen takes a look at what’s being done to get the city ready for its world debut. Lu-Chin Mischke walks impatiently across the Lido Hotel Starbucks. She stands over the glob of phlegm, just discharged on the ground by a Chinese businessman, and hands the offending party a card detailing the harm done by public spitting. The man, stunned, stands dumbfounded for a moment, but then reaches for a napkin to clean the floor. “I suppose I could just let it go,” says Mischke, the founder of the Pride Institute, a non-profit organization aimed at improving Chinese etiquette, “but in just one year, the eyes of the whole world will be on China. We can’t keep hacking and spitting all the time.” [...] [...] Though I received a fair bit of criticism for my entry titled Responsible Tourism in Reverse: Educating the Chinese, I do not think I’m totally in the wrong.  Consider the following excerpts from an article in City Weekend, titled: One Year and Counting: With just one year until the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Jonathan Haagen takes a look at what’s being done to get the city ready for its world debut. Lu-Chin Mischke walks impatiently across the Lido Hotel Starbucks. She stands over the glob of phlegm, just discharged on the ground by a Chinese businessman, and hands the offending party a card detailing the harm done by public spitting. The man, stunned, stands dumbfounded for a moment, but then reaches for a napkin to clean the floor. “I suppose I could just let it go,” says Mischke, the founder of the Pride Institute, a non-profit organization aimed at improving Chinese etiquette, “but in just one year, the eyes of the whole world will be on China. We can’t keep hacking and spitting all the time.” [...]

]]> http://tofflerann.com/2007/07/08/responsible-tourism-in-reverse-educating-the-chinese/comment-page-1/#comment-4534 mjbphx Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:32:55 +0000 http://tofflerann.com/2007/07/08/responsible-tourism-in-reverse-educating-the-chinese/#comment-4534 I'm not sure that it's appropriate to regulate someone's behavior if it's not hurting you, i.e. you may not like someone cutting their nails in public, but what gives you the moral superiority to say that it is wrong? As to the things that do directly impact everyone's health, that's a different issue. But we need a collective consensus to change, and it will be most accepted if it comes from within. Being an obnoxious foreigner advocating for change because you don't like the Chinese culture is going to make you be regarded as an "Ugly American" -- not a good ambassor representative. I’m not sure that it’s appropriate to regulate someone’s behavior if it’s not hurting you, i.e. you may not like someone cutting their nails in public, but what gives you the moral superiority to say that it is wrong? As to the things that do directly impact everyone’s health, that’s a different issue. But we need a collective consensus to change, and it will be most accepted if it comes from within. Being an obnoxious foreigner advocating for change because you don’t like the Chinese culture is going to make you be regarded as an “Ugly American” — not a good ambassor representative.

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