Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Culture and etiquette
Shanghai is cosmopolitan and sophisticated, and its inhabitants on the whole well
mannered - there's certainly much less spitting and queue jumping than elsewhere
in China. But because the streets are so crowded there is a widespread public
brusqueness that can take some getting used to. Pushy vendors will shout at you,
jump in front of you or even tug your arm, and it takes a while to train yourself to
simply ignore them, as the locals do.
As for personal appearance, skimpy clothing
is fine (indeed fashionable), but looking
scruffy will only induce disrespect. All
foreigners are - correctly - assumed to be
comparatively rich, so why they would want
to dress like peasants is quite beyond the
Chinese.
Shaking hands is not a Chinese tradition,
though it is now fairly common between
men. Businessmen meeting for the first time
exchange business cards, with the offered
card held in two hands as a gesture of
respect - you'll see polite shop assistants
doing the same with your change.
If you visit a Chinese house, you'll be
expected to present your hosts with a gift,
which won't be opened in front of you -
that would be impolite. Imported whisky
and ornamental trinkets are suitable as
presents, though avoid giving anything too
practical as it might be construed as
charity.
For restaurant etiquette, see p.112.
Smoking is widespread, and though pricier
restaurants have no smoking sections, cafés
and bars don't. Public toilets are of the
squat variety, and on the whole sanitary. But
if you blanch at going local, visit any decent
hotel - there are always Western-style toilets
in the lobby. The characters you will need to
learn are:
toilet
厕所
cèsu
男
nàn
man
女
n
woman
Sex and gender issues
Women travellers in Shanghai usually find
the incidence of sexual harassment much
less of a problem than in other Asian
countries. Chinese men are, on the whole,
deferential and respectful. Being ignored is a
more likely complaint, as the Chinese will
generally assume that any man accompa-
nying a woman will be doing all the talking.
In terms of sexual mores pretty much
anything goes in Shanghai these days, though
public displays of homosexual behaviour will
raise an eyebrow (see Gay and lesbian
Shanghai, p.127, for more). Prostitution,
though illegal, has made a big comeback -
witness all the new “hairdressers”, saunas and
massage parlours, every one a brothel. Single
foreign men are likely to be approached inside
hotels; it's common practice for prostitutes to
phone around hotel rooms at all hours of the
night, so disconnect the phone. Bear in mind
that China is hardly Thailand - consequences
may be unpleasant if you are caught with a
prostitute - that AIDS is common and the
public largely ignorant of sexual health issues.
Condoms are widely available, however.
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