It has been a month since I’ve moved to Beijing. Thanks for the advanced technology in Internet and software “freegate”, so that I can access Facebook and keep contact with my friends in Oasis. I am here in Beijing yet my root still lies in Hong Kong.
Beijing is a huge city that we HongKongers could never imagine. We spent lots of time in transportation which I think is not effective. The only benefit that is the price of Beijing MTR is very low – RMB2 for every station no matter how far you travel. This city is as hot as in HK but a little bit difference. HK is hot and humid that we could easily get sweat, just like we are living in an oven. On the other hand, Beijing is hot & dry. It is rare to get sweat here even you have been walking for 2 hours under the sun. What makes me hurt is the strong sunlight and we could easily get sunburn due to the latitude of this city. Sun glasses and sun scream is a must for living here.
If HK is an oven, BJ would be a roaster.
The mindset of Beijingers, especially the officials is different from that in our place. In Hong Kong, service-orientated attitude is very important but it is completely not the case in BJ, let me give you an example. Once I went to the railway tickets for my colleagues which required the identity document of the passenger. The ID number of the passenger is printed on the ticket to avoid speculation. I bought tickets for 4 of my colleagues and prepare all the related documents. I needed to buy 4 sets of round-trip tickets (totally 8 then). However, the officers only agreed to sell me the 4 tickets to the destinations and asked me to come back 10 minutes later to buy those for coming back. I was puzzled and wondered if there was any technical failure. After he sold me those 4 tickets he was off-duty --- I realized that he found my case too troublesome which required him to enter the ID number for 8 times that would delay he to off-duty. The story didn’t end. Then the other officer sold me the rest of the 4 tickets and I found the number format she entered was different from the previous tickets. I required her to change but her reply was logical: The previous tickets were sold by the other officer and he was off-duty, so it was none of her business and could not make any change. Should I persist a change; I would have to go to another box office. I said hello to her mum with Cantonese but went to the other window to line up for the change. In another occasion we went to the government department for enquiry at 11:50 am. The official said they were having lunch break (should start at 12:00!!) and we should come again at 1:30 pm (No service during lunch break). Without further reply, she set back and went for lunch. There was still exactly 10 minutes before the lunch break.
Such cultural difference here some time makes me frustrated but I like it. If we agree with what they do and further lower our bottom-line, what’s the difference between HK people and mainland Chinese? In recent years there’s a trend that we Hong Kong people should comply with China in order to get a share in such a huge market which sounds correct. Yet, some fundamental values and behavior shape our attitude and frame the Hong Kong spirit – Professional, Integrity, Faithful, Service-orientated...etc. If we give up such values, we lose our value. I hope when I return to Oasis and you won’t find me becoming a mainland uncle J
Pan Wong
Oasian at Beijing
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