intercultural behaviour
Being in this multicultural country (Singapore), she has provided us with many intercultural experiences and has also allowed us to see many intercultural behaviors being acted out in many ways for us to see almost every other day. More recently, we have also seen the influx of many expatriates coming to Singapore to seek greener pasture for their careers as well as to experience the “Asian” culture. And these have contributed to the many races and cultures that we experience in Singapore. Also with each race, for example within the chinese race, there are also different cultures for different dialects such as teochew, hokkien, hakka, cantonese and hainanese. I myself is a teochew (glad to be one and also glad to be able to speak the dialect), and i can see many difference in cultural behavior and practices between different dialects.
And in this post, I would like to share some of my experiences (mainly with photos) when I went to my grandfather’s hometown in shatou, china. I was glad I had the opportunity to go back to my roots and experienced the authentic teochew culture back in China. It was definitely an eye-opener for me spending two weeks with in the village in shatou. I was the chaperone for my grandfather and grandmother. I accompanied them to china to take care of them while they make yearly their visits to their families.
It was quite a culture shock I must say. From roadside markets, toilets by the river, waste food buckets, eating vegetables fresh from the farm, roadside stalls selling kway chap and fried oysters, steamboat with my cousins, traditional village festivities, visiting schools, my grandfather’s house when he was a child, drinking tea, Macdonald’s servers speaking teochew, etc. Now i would like to let the photos do some work. Enjoy.
At the end of this trip, I was very glad that I was given this opportunity to revisit my roots. It was definitely a humbling experience for me. This trip allowed me to appreciate, value and respect the teochew culture at its purest form. Being able to speak teochew was advantageous because it has helped communicate effectively with my relatives to get to know them better and understand their daily struggles or challenges faced. Although we are all related by blood and come from the same ancestors, we are so different in so many aspects. I guess I am fortunate to be a Singaporean
Yoz!
Firstly, thanks for sharing the photos! it’s pretty interesting and give me a glimpse of what’s it like at shatou, china.However, I think maybe you want to explain what you mean by culture shocked or whether this trip has resulted in a change in your opinion towards the people there comparing your impression before you visit the place and after you visited the place and interact with the people there.
Hello Andrew!
Thank you for sharing the images, like they say, “pictures speak a thousand words”; how apt! The photos certainly portrayed how much it was an “eye-opener” for you, with the various activities or systems (toilets by the river etc.) that are not seen in Singapore.
However you may wish to elaborate on your first-hand experience, for e.g. did any unhappiness arise from your interactions with your relatives or people in Shatou due to thev ast cultural differences between you and them. Or perhaps how you handled the cultural shock?
Joanne
Hi Andrew,
I think you should be proud of yourself for being able to communicate effectively with your relatives in Teochew! Considering the diminishing proficiency in dialect with each generation (as some of us have pointed out during the lesson on fostering intercultural communication), you must be quite an asset to the Teochew community in Singapore.
From the list of native practices that you’ve highlighted in paragraph 3, I suppose I have an idea of the ‘culture shock’ you had. (I especially liked the part about the Teochew-speaking staff at MacDonald’s!)
Finally, just a question about some of the pictures: there is one which shows a row of men dressed in the Chinese jacket, and another which shows a sedan chair being carried along a street – are they part of a traditional Teochew wedding?
Thanks for sharing the pictures – they’re really interesting!
Bing Fu
Wah there are indeed alot of photos over here.
It is really good to hear from you saying that actually you enjoy that trip to revisit your roots.
My father had always wanted to bring me to AN XI to visit my roots too but I refuse to go.
For me, I would not really appreciate what they did back in China as I think I dont belong to there anymore and what is the point of revisiting then?
My mom did go back to MEI ZHOU to find the roots and she said she enjoyed alot.
And she told me that the Mc Donald staff were talking to her in HAKKA when she was ordering and she cant help from laughing till everybody in the shop staring at her.
As Bing Fu mentioned, it is really good that you know Teochew and that will really make you to fit in to the society well. Being able to speak various dialects did help alot to break the barrier and that is why I learned 3 of them in the old days haah.
I am kind of envy that you can actually open your heart and embrace them. I guess I would not be able to do so just like what my post has mentioned~
Cheers Andrew~
Haiyoo, Andrew, I had to tilt my head a full 90 degrees before I can check out some of the photos!
Just kidding =) Thanks for the sharing of the photos – much appreciated! Some of the photos certainly shed light on the differences in cultures (it will definitely be helpful if the photos come with captions to eliminate guessworks).
Nevertheless, although “pictures (do) speak a thousand words” as Joanne has shared, I would much prefer to have you “describe in writing” the intercultural scenario that you observed for Task 2.4, and to “present an interpretation in light of your understanding” of culture and the fundamentals of effective communication”.
Elaborating some of your observations will make a very good start – for example why ‘authentic teochew culture” back in China? How ‘inauthentic’ would that make the teochew culture in Singapore?
Thanks for the effort still, Andrew.
Hi all,
Sorry for overlooking task 2.4. Initially i thought it would be interesting to show you some pictures about intercultural behaviour in China.
Anyway I have since upload a new post that better illustrates intercultural behaviour.
Thanks all for your helpful comments.
Andrew