Being a Chinese American, I have extended family members in China and thus visit more often than most Americans. Last summer, I was in my father’s hometown of Chengdu with my parents, grandparents, uncles, and aunts. We visited many cities from there and explored many aspects of China that I had not known about before. However, one night at dinner I realized something. There seemed to be an underlying hierarchy system in the workplace, and it could easily be seen in places such as restaurants. Because my uncles worked in high positions at powerful businesses, my extended family could be considered part of the upper-class in China, and therefore took me and my parents to high-end restaurants to meet other important officials in their businesses.

At these restaurants, I noticed that the customers were rather harsh towards the waiters, waitresses, and other workers. They constantly demanded things while they raised voices and snapped there fingers as they called “fu wu yuan!” The workers seemed to just accept this and responded as if they were recruits at basic training (well, a little less then that, but still). As a person born and raised in the United States, and having been taught certain values about mutual respect, especially in the military, this environment seemed rather strange and I was kind of uncomfortable. When I placed my order, I did it calmly with respect and a smile, just like I would if ordering a burger from my nearby food joint; however, the waiter seemed a little shocked, much to my confusion and amusement.

My mother explained to me later that this was just a cultural thing, but this led to another discussion with her. We both had been noticing a much larger presence of Chinese tourists in foreign countries we have visited including Vietnam, Japan, France, and even Kenya, and of course the United States. I had been hearing stories about many natives of these countries disliking these tourists a lot. From personal observation, I strongly believe it is because the Chinese tend to bring their own culture with them while also ignoring indigenous traditions. Sometimes in certain countries, such as Vietnam, the Chinese tourists would treat the workers there with the same harshness as they would in their own country. This is probably a contributing reason as to why there is a large bribing issue with the Vietnamese customs at the border involving specifically Chinese travelers.

Tourists from China are also very concerned about spending money to buy items in foreign countries that otherwise would be expensive in their own nation. In France, my family stumbled upon a Chinese tour group at the Louvre during their own separate visit. They overheard the tour members all shouting to go to the malls and markets, but the tour guide responded with a hint of desperation: “Don’t worry, we”ll make sure that you’ll be able to spend all the money you brought here. But now that we’re here at this museum, you might as well take a look! Just a glance at least!”

As an American-born Chinese (ABC), I tend to react negatively to such behaviors, along with my parents (who have now lived here longer than they have in China since they immigrated) and the rest of my Chinese American friends, as it conflicts with many traditional American customs and culture that we have learned from birth. This is why it is easy to tell apart an ABC from a Chinese individual straight from the mainland, based on the way they act and interact. I tend to notice that many ABCs distance themselves from “authentic” Chinese people and interact much better with other ABCs, or even American-born Koreans and Japanese people; again, this is all just a cultural difference.