Quote:
Originally Posted by giallo
Short answer: No.
The Shanghainese are very 'inner circle' people. If you're family, a friend or even a coworker, they will bend over backwards to help you. Building a strong relationship with someone is very important in Shanghai culture.
If you're a stranger, go die.
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"Go die" being the Chinese equivalent of "fuck you" in English.
It was only during the "truly Communist" era of roughly the 1930s to the 1990s where there was a mindset of widespread acquiescence to the collective, though that was of course enforced. Being wary of outsiders has always been the norm in Chinese society. The best evidence for this is probably the fact that Confucius spent so much time banging on about being a good person!
My impression is that things are changing in Taiwan, though. Western humanist ideals as expressed in popular culture and media have been filtering in for decades, and have really started to take hold. For example, when I got there in 1994 you'd see dogs in 1-foot by 2-foot cages placed just outside the front door to act as watchdogs. They were never let out and they could barely turn around. They would spent their whole lives in these tiny cages. It was heartbreaking, but people you talked to would just throw up their hands. "None of my business."
These days apparently you don't see that much anymore, and there are lots of charitable organizations addressing animal concerns and the like.
Rambling a bit here. In any case, those videos were an eye-opener for me, never having been to Shanghai. It doesn't look half as chaotic as Taiwan.
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"hey bro, beer me. Out of your personal belongings." ....nah, doesn't work for me.
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