Umm...do I know you?

[rocket_ron]

For the past couple of months, Alfie and I have on occassion encountered a Chinese man on our morning walks. To begin with, I would greet him with a polite smile, which he would sometimes return, and we would continue our separate ways.  Last week, he walked past us with a smile and a 'good morning' in Cantonese. I reciprocated in kind and we

Comments

[maetang]

I'd be taken aback too.

At the same time, that reminds me about different attitudes to money. Like in the UK people don't ask each other certain questions about money or finances (eg: how much do you earn?) in casual conversation, but they would in Singapore.

Still, in either place, I wouldn't enjoy that question either!

[rocket_ron]

Yes, it is about different attitudes to money. Q reckons it's also a class thing within Chinese culture and says that he's familiar with that kind of attitude, whereas I may not be accustomed to it as my experience of Hong Kong culture is very different. Either way, it left me pretty gobsmacked!

[maetang]

I can imagine! I wouldn't have known what to say to him at all.