As a cultural aside, we had an interesting dynamic in the China Visa Centre on Thursday. When we got there we were impressed by the shiny new entrance and huge waiting area (with comfortable seats!). But there were two lines to get into initially. At the front of the two lines was one clerk who would look over your documents before giving you a number. We were sent to Line Two. In Line One were at least 5 people already waiting. As we stood there thinking we would be waiting at least 5 peoples’ worth of time, the clerk looked up and called us forward. That sent several of the other people in Line One into fits, demanding to know why they were still waiting. But we went anyway. Why?

In China the bureaucrat rules! The person may seem like a lowly entry clerk, but their word can make or break your own attempts at whatever you are doing. In our case, let’s say we did what a good Canadian would do: We would say, “Oh no, please, these others were before me, we can wait.” But this would communicate the opposite of the intended meaning. Instead of appearing as polite people, we in fact would be telling the clerk that we think she did something wrong, either by not noticing those already waiting, or by not serving them first. And by saying it publicly we would also be putting her down, in essence, in front of those waiting. Those waiting would feel justified in their outrage and further berate the clerk. Pandemonium.

Her reaction would likely be as follows: She would stare at us, then glare at us, and proceed to serve everyone else, even those who came even later, and make us wait as retribution for our public rebuke of her. Once she ran out of excuses to ignore us, she would also have decided to make things difficult for us. All in all, in a moment of supposed Canadian politeness could turn everything upside down! So it pays to know a culture, and to follow its rules when need be.

Lineups