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I think it gets more complicated than that even. A country like China is HUGE. My guests, friends, and colleagues all describe where they come from in ways that simply don’t sound like anyone else, except when they are from the same place. Our horsehair suppliers, who live in places like Zhejiang and Hebei, describe a completely different world than highly educated guests from Shanghai, who describe something different than the Harvard and MIT students that I have worked with. Chinese guests from sophisticated and modern cities are quite dismissive of people who live in rural areas. And, I suspect, like our country, this attitude goes the other way.
As hosts, we are only introduced to small slivers of any country’s population. And furthermore, people who travel tend to be those with greater resources which might give a different impression than the reality for a larger number of residents.
Of course different parts of a country will have different experiences. In remoter parts of the UK we still don’t have internet or phone access. That doesn’t mean that we don’t have it in our major cities and towns in most parts of the country.
I think in most countries unfortunately there are some who see themselves as more educated/ as from a better background who are quite dismissive of those they see as less educated/from less well off communities.
My point was if you told me the sky is blue where you live, I wouldn’t tell you it was pink because I read that it was on the internet.
That is exactly what happened (tongue-in-cheek included) and it has become very evident that this forum might be filled with some MAGA moms and bullish types that do not realize that: while it is ok to express your problems with Chinese guests (what the OP said), it is not ok for a non-Chinese person to negate an actual Chinese persons’ experience when they start talking about their own country. What if I told an African person how to be African in Africa while sitting in my home in Palm Springs? It’s tone deaf at best. Why do people even need to have these thoughts? is how I was raised. Thank you @Helsi for taking the time to read my posts thoroughly. You really hit the nail on the head.
That is exactly the type of stubborn perception that has put Americans in the lower position globally that it has. The type of progress I’ve seen in China in the past twenty years is staggering. It will easily surpass the U.S. in terms of leading position within the next ten years. I have no doubt. All you have to do is actually go there to see for yourself. But Westerners will continue to push this narrative that this noble savage is still getting used to Western standards, so unfamiliar… , when in fact, those standards have long been surpassed.
You are persistent in this characterization of what I said about Chinese guests, but you’re dead wrong. I never said that Chinese standards are lower, just that they’re different. I completely agree that China will surpass the U.S. as an economic power in the not too distant future.
Noted. I will clarify to say the characterization of Chinese people as:
No access to Google or any Western programming
Unable to purchase property
No Western toilets
No ovens
When spoken by a Westerner to another Westerner (original OP), comes across as standard measure setting and conveys a tone that feels demeaning to a Chinese person; If that is more clear.
I use the term Westerner in a tongue in cheek way. In America there is a movement which prides itself on “The West is the best” and reclaiming this dated concept. Mostly, I just mean white people.
Many guests from other countries learn about Americans from watching TV shows, often sitcoms. I actually think this is very sad.
You still haven’t said that my guests or the articles I cite are incorrect. I would love to see the articles that show that private ownership of property including land is the standard in China. Again, not superior or inferior, just different.
Western toilets generally means indoor plumbing. I said squat toilets which often are connected to indoor plumbing and are considered superior by many in the U.S.
No ovens is just because when your eating tools are different (knife/fork/spoon, chopsticks, hands) the food will be different. As steaks and roasts can’t be eaten with chopsticks, ovens are not needed in houses where chopsticks are used. This is information I learned from a Japanese guest. Prior to being an Airbnb host, I never thought about ovens in kitchens of people from other cultures. Americans don’t tend to own woks. This doesn’t make us superior or inferior, just different.
I never said and I don’t believe that “The West is the best.”
You are ethnic-splaining again. And concerning yourself with sand pebbles when we are talking about an entire beach. Your defenses are up and you seem very adamant to defend your second hand knowledge as the only possible fact. There is already a website that has been created to share the actual experiences of others. This forum. If you need more receipts, I suggest Google.
