1) Hawking a loogey. If throat clearing was an Olympic sport, the Chinese would take gold. In fact, I’m pretty sure at this past Olympics officials witnessed the skill and fervor with which the Chinese approach the activity and are considering it for 2012. Clearing your throat and spitting is a national pastime. It crosses all social, economic, religious, ethnic, gender, education, age, and political barriers and is not bound by any rules regarding time, place, or frequency. Stand on a street corner in China and you will hear the “aaahhhhgggccccchhhkkkk….ppppttt” (sorry, my pin yin is not that good) more times than your heart beats.
2) Honking your horn. There are four rules when driving in China. 1) Bigger and faster vehicles have the right of way. 2) Reversing and coming to a complete stop is never necessary. 3) As long as you can fit, lanes and lines are irrelevant. 4) Pedestrians never have the right of way. Whereas honking your horn in America is often seen as rude and unnecessary, horn honking in China is a life vest for drivers and pedestrians alike. It is a communication tool used to tell unknowing elderly pedestrians and bicyclist that you will be careening around the corner; opposing traffic that you will be crossing the solid yellow line and are ready to win a chicken fight if necessary; and small children that you will be creating an extra lane on the sidewalk so they had better find somewhere else to walk. It is obnoxious at first, but eventually the blaring horns become their own symphony. Hearing horn after horn reminds you that the city is alive, and thankfully, so are you.3) Squatting. No, this isn’t just a potty pose. In America we stand or sit and in China they squat. Eating, playing games, waiting for the bus, cleaning vegetables, washing clothes, talking with friends, picking your teeth/nose/ears, and people watching are all appropriate activities for squatting. You will see it on side streets in traditional hutongs as well as main streets in bustling Shanghai. Is it a tradition derived from the art of tai chi or just a habit formed out of necessity? I don’t know. I do know that everyone does it and eventually, if you can’t beat ‘em you must join ‘em.
Cultural norms are funny, because although you may think that “normal” is standardized across the board, it is actually very subjective. Traveling forces you to reconsider what normal is. You realize that your view is small and abnormalities as you see them aren’t that abnormal after all. In fact, after a little time away you may (and probably should) begin to wonder if perhaps the only abnormal thing in life is you. After a month in China, the things that made me flinch and cringe at the beginning of my journey became just another hum-drum whatever. They were commonplace; no double-takes, raised brows, or “what the…?”. “Normal” is just a state of mind, and if you are unable to get over your small-minded expectations of what should be, you will end up with a big, annoying headache. Stop living in what should be and get on board with what actually is. If you can’t get over yourself long enough to laugh at the world (yours, mine, and ours) with the rest of us, you might as well crawl back into the box you came out of weird-o.
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