A superiority complex

There's a sense among the mainland Chinese that some Singaporean Chinese look down on them. When Misha said this to me during our walk along Shanghai's Bund, I could not bring myself to lie. In fact, a lot of my Chinese friends, more than the non-Chinese ones, were surprised I'd bought tickets to Shanghai. Some said they would never visit China.

'Why not go to Taiwan? It's better and the people are nicer.'
'Have you been to Shanghai?'
'No.'
'Some other part of China?'
'No.'

There's nothing new about people being presumptuous about cities and countries without them ever having been there. I faced the same questions and looks of horror when I announced plans to go to Bosnia-Hercegovina and Romania. But with China it seemed to me a different story altogether. You see, the Chinese Singaporean has his/her roots in some corner of China -- that's where their grandparents or those further back in the family tree came from. Yet, so many of them today have a problem with the motherland. It's the same with Singaporean Indians I suppose, but from what I gather, the issue is more pronounced in the Chinese community.

Why? A lot of the complaints centre around the PRCs (as mainland Chinese are referred to in Singapore) being uncultured and loud. This perception stems not necessarily from having been to China, but having observed the behaviour of PRCs living and working in Singapore. Be prepared to go deaf in China, some people warned me. I have to admit I did share some of those concerns. Don't get me wrong -- I don't have a problem with loud PRCs, my problem is with loud people, regardless of their ethnic background. The bottomline is, you can't stereotype a whole group of people because of the actions of a few.

This belief was reinforced in Shanghai as I observed people in the trains. Not everyone was talking loudly. Those who did looked visibly different from the city dwellers. Meaning to say, those who displayed such unpleasant behaviour appeared to be from the rural parts of the country. Then again, compartmentalising them would be myopic as well. Even in Singapore, there are people who speak in only two volumes -- loud and louder. But Singapore is largely urbanised to begin with, so where did these people come from?

Having said that, not all Singaporean Chinese detest China. I have friends who are in awe of its history, its wealth of poetry, its art, its landscape. So many of them have moved to China for work or study. They have expressed disappointment that the country is misunderstood. The politics of the country is another matter of course, but by and large, these Singaporeans have had wonderful experiences in China's cities and even their ancestral hometowns where they've made trips to.

But what about me, would I visit China again? Yes. I've always been fascinated with the country, specifically the western, 'restive' region of Xinjiang. Beijing too is a city I'd love to wander around at some point. Some people I know would shudder at the thought, but I'm not here to change their minds. I'm more interested in expanding my horizon further, to what that country has to offer. And if push comes to shove, I'd ask the Singaporean Chinese, who dislikes China, one simple question: don't you dig your nose too?