People's habits often tell about their mentality and lifestyle much better than any ethnographic or sociological research. Sometimes Russians are surprised by customs and traditions, as well as some national dishes of the Chinese. The same can be said about the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom. Certain habits of our compatriots can shock, strain or even frighten the Chinese.
Jump from the bath into the ice hole
The traditional Russian bath, in itself, causes genuine surprise among foreigners. Extremely high temperature, steam room with brooms, and sometimes abundant libations in the process of washing - all this seems to the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire to be a manifestation of the mysterious Russian mentality. But when the Chinese see naked people jumping out of a hot steam room right into an ice-hole or into a snowdrift, they are really scared.
The Russians explain to their foreign friends that they are doing this “for health reasons,” which makes them even more confusing. After all, the traditional medicine of the Celestial Empire does not recognize such cardinal methods of strengthening the body.
Grow body hair
It just so happened that by nature, most Chinese people do not have hair on the surface of the body. The legs, arms, stomachs and backs of men are usually devoid of vegetation. And those who differ in this sense from other people are often mocked here. In any society, it is not customary to stand out from the majority with its appearance, so the hairy inhabitants of the Celestial Empire carefully shave.
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As a rule, a Russian man does not know about such subtleties. Of course, for hygienic purposes, some of our compatriots shave their armpit hair, but they do not advertise this fact much, fearing ridicule and suspicion of non-traditional sexual orientation.
Different ideas about the culture of the body, which exist in the east and in the west, lead to the fact that slender Chinese are often frightened when they see tall, strong and hairy men.
Make scowling faces when meeting strangers
As in many countries of the world, in the Celestial Empire it is considered a good form to show off your benevolence. Polite smiles are social norms. Although the courtesy of foreigners is often far from sincere.
On the contrary, most Russian people, being in a public place among strangers, begin to frown. They stand, frowning, with an air that the Chinese who are accustomed to a different style of communication can really get scared. They will think they are hated for something.
Meanwhile, many travelers note that in the Celestial Empire since the times of the USSR, mainly a warm attitude towards our compatriots has been preserved.
Express your emotions openly with facial expressions
Russians believe that all Chinese are on the same face, not only because of the general skin color and eye shape. This opinion was formed, since in this country it is not customary to express your emotions with facial expressions. Like most Asians, Chinese citizens from childhood learn to walk in public with an impenetrable mask instead of a face, on which only a slight polite smile can be seen.
A Chinese person usually does not allow himself to frown or laugh in public. And so that facial features distort resentment, anger or pain is completely unacceptable.
Accustomed to seeing the open emotions of their compatriots, Russian people get lost looking at the same, meaningless expressions on the faces of Asians. But the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire themselves are frightened when they notice lively facial expressions. In their opinion, emotions distort people's appearance, make faces somehow wrong. Even if it is overflowing fun.
Fight opponents
The Chinese consider our compatriots to be very brave people. For example, drunken Russians can argue about something with their interlocutors during feasts. At the same time, a philosophical dispute about the meaning of life or a discussion of the work of the French writer Maupassant can really turn into a fight. And what can we say about personal showdowns.
Most of the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom are afraid of such manifestations of antisocial behavior. They do not understand how the participants in the fight, who recently destroyed everything around them, can again sit peacefully at the same table in half an hour, singing songs.
Discuss political news
Another feature of our compatriots is their interest in politics. Russians often debate among themselves, discussing the news. The Chinese tense up when they are drawn into lively controversies, for example, about Japanese foreign policy or the latest decisions of the Chinese Communist Party.
Therefore, meeting Russians, over the past few years, many residents of the Celestial Empire have tried to immediately smile and say: "Putin is good."
According to the stories of many travelers, with this statement the Chinese immediately show the people who came from Russia their correct political position. This means that they do not need long and well-reasoned convictions of the correctness of the actions of the leadership of our country in the international arena.
Orynganym Tanatarova