Ryan’s recent Lost Laowai post on staying positive in China has gotten me thinking. (Not an easy task, I must tell you…)

The thing that does get on my nerves a bit are the expats that take a stoical “it’s all good” attitude and use it as a way to raise themselves above those of us that (seeing it for what it really is) disagree. Ironically, it would seem both complaining and complimenting China have become the method de jour for indicating that you really get “life in China”. You understand it better than the rest of us.

As I recently wrote elsewhere, I’m perfectly happy here for now, but I do bitch and complain sometimes. And I understand the impulse that causes others to do so as well, especially if they’re newcomers.

While nobody likes a person who whines all the time, in some situations I believe it’s perfectly fine.

  • If I see corrupt practices, it irritates me, and I feel the need to discuss it.
  • If I hear people talking crap about Japanese people, it irritates me - because it’s something that’s wrong and unnecessary.
  • If I someone tries to cheat me, I ask them “你的妈妈为你骄傲吗？ and I glare at them with a look of disappointment.

When you point a finger at someone, there are four fingers pointing back at youWhile I’m happy here with my current situation, I don’t think we should turn a blind eye to such things. Of course, we can fall back on saying “Ah well, this is China,” and it happens. But I’m glad to say that the culture of “mei banfa/there’s nothing I can do” is not something I’ve adopted.

Let me put this in my super-big extra-pink bold font:

Discussing negative aspects of a situation (i.e. Discussing the negative aspects of living in China) should not be flippantly passed off as “whining or complaining.”

P.S. China’s stolen-media-of-the-day: Seinfeld.

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