I went shopping today for necessities such as bleach, laundry detergent and toothpaste. I tried out a store new to me, RT Mart. I reminded myself as I observed the crowd upon entering the store that it is the New Year Holiday here in China. And then as I pressed my way through the crowds I reminded myself that in order to move at all in a crowd in China that one must resort to behaving Chinese. If a person is inordinately polite, as learned in the states, that person will not get very far in the shopping trip. Waiting for people to move ends up meaning that a whole bunch of other people move and I end up observing them. I did at one point watch how a Chinese expert maneuvered past a shopping cart that was blocking the way in an aisle. It was shoved aside. I thought, okay, when in Rome do as the Romans do...when in China, do as the Chinese do. Survive. I must eat. Therefore I must try to get just a little bit pushier.
Now at the checkstand a totally different issue happened and I let the man who was trying to shoulder by me to be next in line know by my frosty expression that I was next and not he. Instead of a polite, "are you next in line?" the Chinese simply make themselves next in line.
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