by Vic

Created on: April 21, 2008

If you are going to the 2008 Olympic games, you'll get much more from the experience if you prepare yourself a little. Trust me, I did a lot of research before heading off to China and still compared my first week in the country to the old Road Runner cartoons where they run off a cliff and don't fall until they look down (which I did shortly after arriving there).

First, learn some Chinese. Even a little bit helps. Tones matter, don't ignore them. If you make no effort to learn tones the only people you'll be able to communicate with in mandarin are other foreigners. Yes, this can be difficult, especially since language experts say it takes months for someone to even hear the tones easily, let alone pronounce them. In Beijing, they are a little more accustomed to hearing foreigners bungle through mandarin than in other parts of China, so in general it's easier to communicate badly here than anywhere else.

Second, learn some cultural things. The Chinese don't show emotion in public, if they upset you do not yell, curse or point. All this will accomplish is alienating them. Prior to your yelling outburst they wanted to help but couldn't, now they have no desire to help you, this is not a good situation. Smile pretty and let your frustration out later.
Many Chinese have never left the country. What seems an obvious self evident truth to you is not necessarily one for them. Many don't realize how different cultures can be, because they've never come in to contact with cultures too different from their own. This is not their fault.
The Chinese use a different method for counting. They use only one hand. Learn these hand signs, they are so useful and the Chinese will use them all the time. I always thought it was funny that the taxi drivers would tell me the fare using their hands not their words. It seemed to me that if I had learned enough mandarin to ask "how much" I probably knew the word for "8" better than I knew the hand symbol.
Take your own toilet paper when you go out, there won't be any in the public restrooms. Generally try to avoid most public toilets, although Beijing has made a definite attempt to up the quality of these in preparation for the games. The Forbidden City even had 4 star-rated toilets the last time I was there. I'm not sure how much credit I give the Beijing Tourism Department in knowing what is a good toilet and what is not, but as far as toilets in China are concerned, they were pretty nice. Practice your Asian squat many times before

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