Stereotyping:

For the majority of Chinese all foreigners are pretty much the same. They seldom have a great distinction between Germans, French, Americans, Irish, British, Latin Americans and so on. This gross stereotyping adds to their massively out of date imagine of other nationalities. They think London is still foggy and all Englishmen wear bowler hats. Although it’s a very endearing imagine that they should still think of a romantic England, or France or America, it is nevertheless badly out of date. The inaccuracies of their statements are something to get used to – that said, it’s amazing how well-known historic figures are, such as Churchill, Newton and Shakespeare. Notable Chinese figures you can mention and impress your new friends with include Lei Feng (pronounced‘Ley Fung’- hero soldier who helped people), Sun Zhongshan (‘Sun Jungshan’- first post-dynastical leader), Li Bai (‘Lee-Bai’– poet who worked best when drunk!), Wang Xizhi(‘Wang Shijur’– ancient calligrapher) and of course, there’s Chairman Mao, or Mao Zedong, historic leader of the Republic. Finally, Da Shan is a Canadian contemporary celebrity famous for his perfected Chinese and who fronts several Chinese language TV programmes.