Avoid questions about income. Steer clear of religion and politics. And please, don’t ask foreigners visiting for the Beijing Olympics about their sex life.
These are just some of the conversational faux pas that a central Beijing district is warning against in a list of ”Eight don’t asks” aimed at deterring the most probing questions by the capital’s often forward citizens.
”Don’t ask about personal details or family background, don’t ask about income or expenditures, don’t ask about family assets,” read posters put up by the government of the city’s Dongcheng district, according to the Beijing News.
”Don’t ask about age or marital status, don’t ask about health problems, don’t ask about where their family lives, don’t ask about politics or religion and don’t ask about their love life.”
The ”Eight don’t asks” appear to be part of a wide-ranging makeover of the ancient capital aimed at presenting the best possible face to the world for the August 8 to 24 Olympics.
The campaign has included efforts to discourage crude behaviour, such as spitting and queue-jumping, as well as measures to improve the city’s notoriously polluted air and a clean-up of its ubiquitous sex industry.
Foreigners in China are often taken aback by questions that curious Chinese themselves appear to view as harmless chit-chat.
One of the most common is when overseas visitors are asked how much money they make, a question that typically makes foreigners squirm, partly because their salaries often dwarf those of most Chinese.
Chinese also show little shame in asking a person’s age and will tell someone they look ”fat”, which is meant as a compliment indicating that the person is leading a prosperous life.
Dongcheng district is home to the Forbidden City and other sites popular with foreigners, and is near to some key Olympic venues.
About 500 000 foreign tourists, athletes, dignitaries and others visitors are expected to descend on Beijing for the Games. — Sapa-AFP