Interesting observation that I had made several years ago, and it seems the phenomena is continuing; that is, how Hong Kong service industry people treat other Chinese like crap but readily accommodates "westerner" needs. I put the word westerner in quotations because in this case, the westerner is actually also ethnic Chinese, but one that is easily recognized as being a foreigner. The incident that happened with us, was trying to secure a 3 week Hong Kong hotel booking, but unfortunately one on very short notice. My wife, born in Shanghai, raised in HK, who obviously speaks very fluent Cantonese, Shanghainese, and Mandarin, couldn't get a room after trying nearly half a dozen places. She had spoken to all the hotels in Cantonese. Then, on a lark, I decided to call back one of those places but spoke only accent free American English to them; I was immediately connected to a manager executive who gave me a room right away, and with a discount, ready for immediate occupancy! This was in 2005. My wife just got off the phone with a friend who is presently on vacation in HK. They had booked three rooms, and their party speaks a mix of Chinese and English, depending on the generation. The kids all speak English, with the parent and other extended relatives speaking Mandarin and Cantonese. One of them, speaking Mandarin, called the housekeeping department and asked for extra blankets but was flatly told that none were available. An hour later, the daughter, using accent free American English, called from one of the other rooms and asked for a blanket; they promptly brought her two along with an extra pillow. Does anyone here have any experience that is similar? Comments?
i heard its because foreigners are viewed as guests. its like, i dont go and hang up my familiy members coats. but if i have guests in my house, ill be willing to do it.
The way my in laws (who live there) had explained it was even simpler; Americans (even Chinese Americans) tip better. Other Chinese, especially those from the mainland, have a reputation for being cheapskates.
haha so true about the tipping part, because my friend who is an international student from hk, her tipping is pretty bad, she once told me that people in china dont even tip in restaurants...so whenever i went out with her to eat, she would barely tip the waitor/waitress and i would give her a fuzz about it and she said she doesnt care O_O???
i most definitely agree with this. Just go to the Chinese restaurants in NYC and u'll see y i agreed.
Actually, prior to the 1980's very few Mandarin speaking Chinese lived in north America, the majority were all Cantonese speaking. This was because it was impossible for any mainland Chinese to leave China until Mao died and migration rules were relaxed. But, over the last generation, that is rapidly changing as more and more Chinese are leaving China for opportunity abroad, with the US and Canada being one of their favored destinations. Similar to Mexico, where there are billionaires but the large majority remain very poor, the bulk of China's population has not been the recipient of the economic success story that one often hears about in China. There are still masses of people who struggle just for daily survival, and many still flee China for better opportunity elsewhere.
I wouldn't be surprised, I have friends from mainland that never tip either even though service is good...
prejudice happens everywhere even among the same group like shanghainese does not like people in beijing and so on in singapore, the older generation has many to say about chines from different provinces like hokkian is like that, cantenonse is like that, teochew is like that.... tagging different ppl....but it has changed with younger generation
I bet they knew you weren't from HK just by your accent, mannerisms and clothes you wore. There are many things that we do as people which become dead giveaways of our regional origins. HK'ers are probably the keenest in being able to pick out where other Chinese are from. You may have spoken Canto to them, but they probably knew where you were from just by the way you spoke Canto. A small sampling of this can also be heard around New York's Dim Sum tables. If one ever sat and listened with closed eyes, to the various kinds of Cantonese spoken in a Dim Sum restaurant, one will begin to appreciate that there are subtle but distinct differences to the many other accents that pervade through our spoken Cantonese. As one becomes accustomed to listening to these differences, one can begin to pick up where people learned to speak Canto, giving us tremendous clues as to where people are from. That is, the Canto spoken in Vietnam is different from that spoken in Malaysia, and is vastly different from that spoken in North America, or even mainland China. So yes, while one can speak Canto in HK, it is difficult if not impossible to hide one's origins from the acute senses of the HK listener.
dude... it might be possible to tell the difference between a foreigner and local's cantonese... but hk'ers definitely can't tell where someone is from just by the accent.... at least not between american/canadian/australian. maybe curry cantonese is easier to tell...
this should be recorded in some form and bring it to the media, let them find out what gives and eventually it will bring to attention something like this exist...you might get good return for doing it u can tell by accents, Hongers have the UK accent on the English...u can tell when u meet them a lot...American has slightly different than Canadian by how words are pronounced... many UK english are not understandable in the US/CAN conversations just by listening to honger on english from the news...the person who speaks the kind of english on TVB's Pearl channel is fluent, that is not a typical honger english...
Actually, it's quite easy to pick out the Cantonese as spoken by ABC's and CBC's (what I consider collectively as North American Cantonese), from that spoken by regular HK'ers. The majority of these Cantonese speakers (who largely learned the dialect from their parents) are afflicted with what I call Dim Sum Chinese. The Cantonese they speak is really just a rudimentary conversational level or of very low language skill, as typified by what occurs in your average American or Canadian Dim Sum restaurant. Their limits is not just of syntax and tone, but also defined by the sheer lack of vocabulary. While useful for ordering shrimp or pork dumplings and engaging in meaningless light banter, it's does very little else. Discussion of anything substantive like politics, science, or the history of China and I wager that 99% of all North American Cantonese speakers (who had believe themselves to be "fluent" Canto speakers) would hem and haw like the tourists to the language that they really are. This is what makes them so easy to spot in a conversation. Even if they master the intonations, there's no escaping that they talk with the vocabulary of a six year old. If one tried to use such elementary linguistic skills while riding a cab in Hong Kong, the driver immediately knows the passenger is not a local. Using other cues (like clothing, mannerisms, physique, complexion) the hack will easily pick out a North American Chinese within seconds.
It's obvious that Hong Kongers discriminate mainlanders because they don't have manners. Main landers don't line up for bus (they simply push people aside so they can board the bus first and hopefully get a seat). They spit or urinate in public places. They talk loudly on trains and buses plus they will always put their belongings on the seats even if that means someone else have to be left standing instead of sitting on the seat that is occupied by knapsacks.
Hong Kong is a very bitchy society. They are more likely to help a foreigner because it's true that they believe that they will get tipped or more commission rather than the locals or the mainlanders. All because of they think that foreigners can somehow find a way to sue you whereas they think people in Hong Kong just accept being cut out and being treated badly. I can't say that I have been treated like that before maybe because although I do have a Chinese accent when I speak cantonese, but you could tell I was a BBC due to some of the wrong phrases and words that I use. I just have more problems with my appearance towards people in Hong Kong rather than being treated better or badly when I'm there.
omg let me clarify again.... i meant it's hard to tell the difference between north amercian cantonese AND canadian cantonese. BETWEEN THOSE TWO. not comparing to local...
Ah... Thank you for the clarification. My mistake. But frankly, any difference between Canadian Cantonese and American Cantonese, (collectively known as North American Cantonese) is moot to the average Hong Kong service employee as both tip well. There is little need to distinguish between the two.
