East meets West

The Chinese graphic designer Yang Liu created the following images, that have been published in a book (there are a total of 47 images) called East meets West, by Taschen Verlag, Germany. Yang Liu moved in 1990 at the age of 13 from Beijing to Berlin, where she lives now, and expresses her opinion and views on both nations through the following images.
I have to say, that I agree with her.

The Germans have no fear addressing a problem, whereas the Chinese do everything possible to talk around it.

Germans are quiet in public, not only in restaurants. Chinese, as you can see here, are very loud. I have discovered that the smaller the city, the louder the people, not only in restaurants, but everywhere.

China is a country with a strong hierarchy. The boss will make you feel that he or she is the boss and you are a small and unimportant nothing who has nothing to say and should be grateful for your position. If you walk around the streets of any given place, you will see employees gathering either outside or inside their company, lined up and shouting slogans and having fiery speeches. You probably won't understand what is going on, and may find it funny, but it's very serious. They shout that they are grateful for the jobs they have, thankful to work at such a great company, will do everything possible to improve things and blah, blah, blah. Some companies ask their employees to take turns in holding a speech. My school holds such an event every Monday morning at 9am. I have witnessed it only once. My luck is that I don't work on Monday and that's why I don't have to be there or even hold a speech. 

Chinese are shy, introvert and have an inferiority complex - if they are not boss of a company.

I wouldn't say that Germans are particularly good at queueing, the Brits are the masters in this discipline, the Chinese however don't know what this word means. Make use of your elbows if you ever go to China, seriously.

Germans: Honey, does this dress suit me? No, you look fat in it.

Chinese: Honey, does this dress suit me? Yes my love, it looks perfect on you.

Germans and many other European nations have no fear telling the truth, even if it hurts. The Chinese however will either use some bloomy words, or tell you what you want to hear and won't tell you the truth.

Germans show it when they are not feeling well or are unhappy, Chinese on the other hand put a poker face on and don't talk about their true feelings.

Germans and other European nations know how to market themselves and present a good idea as an opportunity not to be missed. The Chinese on the other hand will do the opposite.

This is something that surprised me when I moved to China last year. I expected to see bicycles everywhere, because this is the image the TV sells us. The opposite is the case. Many cars, among them many SUVs and zillions of scooters and motorbikes. People show their wealth as best as they can, this is something that happens in the West, too. Whoever becomes wealthy (and doesn't have a higher education) buys a Porsche and shows off. The ones who ride a bicycle in China are either very poor, or like in the West, well educated, wealthy people who want to keep fit. 

A German always comes straight to the point, a Chinese doesn't and will confuse you with what they say and at the end, it either won't make sense or the answer won't have anything to do with the question. 

Not sure what Yang Liu wants to say here. Let me know if you understand it. My experience is that some people talk about money and some don't - in both countries.

If you would like to read more by me, here are my novel and my diary from Ar'ar, in the northern Saudi desert. Both available on Amazon as soft and hard copy.