Ignorance of Chinese on Four Weddings!

I was watching four weddings and one guest who was attending a traditional Chinese wedding, she was all excited as she couldn't wait to eat Chow Mein and pork balls, but when the dishes came out, she was disapointed as it was nothing like she expected! But all the food was traditional Chinese dishes but she still complained about the food, then her and another guest started asking the brides guests if they did origami and kept asking if they were going to do some. The commentator did mock her for getting Chinese and Japanese mixed up but then they thought the chinese dragon was sureal, it just kept getting worse! lol!

And to top it all off the guest had chinese tattoo on her arm which I found a little ironic.

But I was embarrased for her! Does anyone agree it is cringe worthy when people make sterotypes and then have no shame about them.

genevieve_autumn wrote: I was watching four weddings and one guest who was attending a traditional Chinese wedding, she was all excited as she couldn't wait to eat Chow Mein and pork balls, but when the dishes came out, she was disapointed as it was nothing like she expected! But all the food was traditional Chinese dishes but she still complained about the food, then her and another guest started asking the brides guests if they did origami and kept asking if they were going to do some. The commentator did mock her for getting Chinese and Japanese mixed up but then they thought the chinese dragon was sureal, it just kept getting worse! lol!

And to top it all off the guest had chinese tattoo on her arm which I found a little ironic.




But I was embarrased for her! Does anyone agree it is cringe worthy when people make sterotypes and then have no shame about them.

It's totally fine. Westerns aren't exposed to Chinese culture as much as Asians are exposed to Western cultural. It is quite natural that Westerns don't know what to expect in a traditional Chinese wedding party. A lot of Chinese people practice christian style wedding ceremonies these days but you don't see many westerners practicing Chinese style wedding. I call this cultural domination.

That would made me want to slap such a person for generalizing our Chow Mein or pork balls and getting mixed up for Japanese and Chinese, big difference. Fortunately, I don't hit women but I still definitely let her have a piece of my mind. Ignorance is bliss.

I remember once there was a girl here, my surname is Nguyen which should be obvious to most and not to mention it says I'm Vietnamese on my profile but she still ask me if I was Korean or Japanese, I was like "Really, generalizing the Asian race down to two ethnicity?" The more respectable way was to ask, "What ethnicity or Asian are you?" She apologize and still tried to talk to me but I just ignore it before more idiotic stuff comes out of her mouth.

well that does not only happen on weddings....
someone asked me where I'm from and if I eat asian food at home... I said yea I'm chinese and I do eat asian food.
And the next question was : Really? Do you eat sushi at home?
after that question I stopped to answer

BestNerdie wrote:

genevieve_autumn wrote: I was watching four weddings and one guest who was attending a traditional Chinese wedding, she was all excited as she couldn't wait to eat Chow Mein and pork balls, but when the dishes came out, she was disapointed as it was nothing like she expected! But all the food was traditional Chinese dishes but she still complained about the food, then her and another guest started asking the brides guests if they did origami and kept asking if they were going to do some. The commentator did mock her for getting Chinese and Japanese mixed up but then they thought the chinese dragon was sureal, it just kept getting worse! lol!

And to top it all off the guest had chinese tattoo on her arm which I found a little ironic.




But I was embarrased for her! Does anyone agree it is cringe worthy when people make sterotypes and then have no shame about them.

It's totally fine. Westerns aren't exposed to Chinese culture as much as Asians are exposed to Western cultural. It is quite natural that Westerns don't know what to expect in a traditional Chinese wedding party. A lot of Chinese people practice christian style wedding ceremonies these days but you don't see many westerners practicing Chinese style wedding. I call this cultural domination.

I accept if people do not know, then they will be ignorant but to be bold and brash and arrogant about your ignorance is not acceptable and if you are going to get a Asian tattoo at least know something of the culture otherwise it just comes across as redundant and unmeaning!

Wintersonnet wrote: That would made me want to slap such a person for generalizing our Chow Mein or pork balls and getting mixed up for Japanese and Chinese, big difference. Fortunately, I don't hit women but I still definitely let her have a piece of my mind. Ignorance is bliss.

I remember once there was a girl here, my surname is Nguyen which should be obvious to most and not to mention it says I'm Vietnamese on my profile but she still ask me if I was Korean or Japanese, I was like "Really, generalizing the Asian race down to two ethnicity?" The more respectable way was to ask, "What ethnicity or Asian are you?" She apologize and still tried to talk to me but I just ignore it before more idiotic stuff comes out of her mouth.

Exactly, don't presume, if you do not know ask otherwise you come across as a fool and that's what that girl should have done. The only thing in your post I disagree with is you no longer chatting to her, I understand completely but at the same time, though your chats you could have re-educated her?

onecallaway wrote: well that does not only happen on weddings....
someone asked me where I'm from and if I eat asian food at home... I said yea I'm chinese and I do eat asian food.
And the next question was : Really? Do you eat sushi at home?
after that question I stopped to answer

WAIT! ARE YOU TELLING ME ALL ASIANS DO NOT EAT SUSHI!!!!!! :O well you learn something new each day! ;P

I AM TEASING! Promise! I mean I do eat sushi as it is one of my favourite meals but as it is Japanese, it seems strange to bring that up with someone who is Chinese unless they brought it up first, she would have been better in saying something like I would have said as follows:

I love to cook and learn new recipes all around the world, as you are chinese I assume you have eaten if not cooked yourself traditional chinese dishes, what ones are you favourite and could you give me an tips.

That would be a little respectful at least but why ask if you eat asian food, of course you do! Then again I am sure there are some asian's who do not enjoy it, so it would have been better to ask if you prefer asian cooking to other dishes.

But it does seem a strange thing to ask and she was only asking it because you were asian, its like she didn't know how to start a conversation so she went for that sterotype but why not just talk to you normally, why make you being asian an issue. Of course I am only interested in asian guys but I wouldn't go straight up to them and start saying why I am into asian culture and men as it comes across as a little desperate, which isn't me, its better to just get talking to asian men naturally and then if they ask why you are interested in asian men etc then you can bring that up.

Don't you agree?

Where I live, it seems that anything Asian--whether it be kim-chi, dofu fa, kung fu, my school's Filipino teacher, my Taiwanese friend, or Lady Rainicorn--is officially Japanese.
For example, in an anime club they ate Chinese takeout food to celebrate anime.
I told them that Chinese food was Chinese and that anime was Japanese cartoons and that China and Japan are two different countries entirely, but they just didn't seem to get it.
le sigh.

What I can say is they don't know much about one's culture and sometimes, they make mistake or have the wrong thought over one race. So it's better not to scold them, but to educate them. You know some countries, they don't have much privileges like other countries which they can learn other countries' cultures, history and not expose much to other country's culture or news as well. So, educate them if they make the mistake in regards what they said or thought, because everyone of us do make mistakes but we don't realize it. For example, like me, I thought Czech Republic is at South America, but no it is in Europe, and I learnt a new thing from that. So, there's no shame in asking or get a lesson from someone who tries to correct or educate you, just like the Chinese idiom "不耻下问".

genevieve_autumn wrote:

onecallaway wrote: well that does not only happen on weddings....
someone asked me where I'm from and if I eat asian food at home... I said yea I'm chinese and I do eat asian food.
And the next question was : Really? Do you eat sushi at home?
after that question I stopped to answer

WAIT! ARE YOU TELLING ME ALL ASIANS DO NOT EAT SUSHI!!!!!! :O well you learn something new each day! ;P

I AM TEASING! Promise! I mean I do eat sushi as it is one of my favourite meals but as it is Japanese, it seems strange to bring that up with someone who is Chinese unless they brought it up first, she would have been better in saying something like I would have said as follows:

I love to cook and learn new recipes all around the world, as you are chinese I assume you have eaten if not cooked yourself traditional chinese dishes, what ones are you favourite and could you give me an tips.

That would be a little respectful at least but why ask if you eat asian food, of course you do! Then again I am sure there are some asian's who do not enjoy it, so it would have been better to ask if you prefer asian cooking to other dishes.

But it does seem a strange thing to ask and she was only asking it because you were asian, its like she didn't know how to start a conversation so she went for that sterotype but why not just talk to you normally, why make you being asian an issue. Of course I am only interested in asian guys but I wouldn't go straight up to them and start saying why I am into asian culture and men as it comes across as a little desperate, which isn't me, its better to just get talking to asian men naturally and then if they ask why you are interested in asian men etc then you can bring that up.

Don't you agree?

If I encounter this situation, I may try to explain the difference first, if they are interested to discuss further, I am happy to discuss with them, as long as they talk genuinely. If they obviously make fun of you, of course ignore them directly.

luckiicharm wrote: Where I live, it seems that anything Asian--whether it be kim-chi, dofu fa, kung fu, my school's Filipino teacher, my Taiwanese friend, or Lady Rainicorn--is officially Japanese.
For example, in an anime club they ate Chinese takeout food to celebrate anime.
I told them that Chinese food was Chinese and that anime was Japanese cartoons and that China and Japan are two different countries entirely, but they just didn't seem to get it.
le sigh.

I think they are just not interested in asian too much or they just don't care about their surroundings. They only enjoy some good food and funny anime.