Forum trend: Seven false stereotypes about the Chinese

6. Chinese people are quiet

While Chinese students who study abroad are, most likely, the quiet, studious type, this is often far from the case in China. My students are proof of that. They love to yell out answers and laugh at the top of their lungs.

At the grocery store, I am often confused whether people are being friendly or fighting. It wouldn't matter if they were discussing their most recent Chinese chess match, or planning the next world war, they like to do it so everyone can hear.

The subway trains are filled with people answering their phones in boisterous voices, playing iPad games with the sound all the way up and destroying their ears by listening to music far too loudly.

To be fair, I’ve heard this same thing about Americans and Arabs. Maybe we all just need a little lesson in using our inside voices.

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